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ST. LOUIS – The Pioneer Football League released their 2024 Preseason Coaches' Poll on Tuesday afternoon. The Bulldogs came in at fourth with Drake, St. Thomas and Davidson taking the top three spots. The PFL will present its 2024 Preseason All-PFL Teams Wednesday.
 
Drake, the defending Pioneer Football League champs, received eight of the 11 first-place votes from the league's coaches and earned 98 of a maximum 100 points available, with coaches unable to vote for their own teams.
 
St. Thomas, the 2022 PFL Champion, followed Drake in the poll with 87 points including one first-place vote. Davidson also received a first-place vote and totaled 81 points to finish third in the poll.
 
Butler (72 points) and San Diego (67) were picked to finish fourth and fifth, with San Diego receiving a first-place vote. The pair rounded out a group of teams that are the clear frontrunners entering the season.
 
Dayton (49 points) opens the second half of the Preseason Coaches' Poll. They were followed by a trio of teams tightly packed in the poll: Presbyterian (39 points), Marist (37), and Morehead State (35). Valparaiso (22) and Stetson (18) rounded out the 11-team poll.
 
The upcoming 2024 season marks the 32nd year of the Pioneer Football League. The league will feature 11 teams, each playing an eight-game schedule to determine the league champion and recipient of the automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Championship.
 
The 2024 schedule gets underway Thursday, August 29, with a four-game slate followed by the league's remaining seven teams on Sat., August 31. The 2024 PFL Championship race gets underway with a four-game slate on Sat., Sept. 28.
 
Butler was picked 10th in the 2022 Preseason Coaches' Poll, but finished fourth in the league standings with a 5-3 PFL record (7-4 overall). They moved up to fifth in the 2023 Preseason Poll and would once again finish fourth in the standings with an identical 5-3 record.
 
Butler opens the 2024 campaign at home against Upper Iowa. That contest will be played on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 1 PM. Three of Butler's four non-conference games will be held at the Bud and Jackie Sellick Bowl. They travel to Murray State in Week 2, but return to campus to face Hanover on Sept. 14 and VUL on Sept. 28.
 
The PFL home opener doubles as Homecoming Weekend this year with BU hosting Morehead State on Oct. 5. The Battle of the Bulldogs will follow on Oct. 12 with Butler playing at Drake. Dayton comes to town on Oct. 19 and the month comes to a close with BU playing at Davidson on Oct. 26.
 
The final month of the season features home games vs. Stetson and St. Thomas. The Tommies are in Indy for Senior Day on Nov. 16. The Annual Hoosier Helmet game will be played at Valpo on Nov. 9 and the regular season wraps up at Presbyterian on Nov. 23.
 
About the Pioneer Football League
The Pioneer Football League is the only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The PFL is a truly national conference with members on each coast and throughout the nation's heartland. Butler University, the University of Dayton, Drake University, and Valparaiso University were among the league's founding members in 1993, with Davidson College, Marist College, Morehead State University, Presbyterian College, the University of San Diego, the University of St. Thomas, and Stetson University joining to form the current 11-team league.
 
Pioneer Football League 2024 Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Drake (8) - 98 Points
2. St. Thomas (1) - 87 Points
3. Davidson (1) - 81 Points
4. Butler - 72 Points
5. San Diego (1) - 67 Points
6. Dayton - 49 Points
7. Presbyterian - 39 Points
8. Marist - 37 Points
9. Morehead State - 35 Points
10. Vaparaiso - 22 Points
11. Stetson – 18 Points
- First-place votes in parentheses
- 10 points awarded for a first-place vote, with one point less for each succeeding place
- Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team