Tuesday, July 12, 2005

DES MOINES, IOWA - The Drake football team is ranked No. 23 in Street & Smith's College Football 2005 Yearbook Top 1-AA Top 25 poll.

The Bulldogs were just one of three nonscholarship programs recognized in the preseason poll, joining Penn from the Ivy League which was ranked No. 22, while LaSalle was ranked No. 25.

Furman was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, while defending NCAA 1-AA national champion James Madison was ranked No. 2.

Rob Ash, entering his 17th year as head football coach at Drake, has 14 starters back from last year's squad which posted a 10-2 record winning the Pioneer Football League title with a 20-17 victory at Morehead State.

The Bulldogs will open their 112th year of intercollegiate football playing at Northern Iowa Sept. 1.

Street & Smith's College Football Yearbook dedicates 18 pages (the most of any preseason college football annual) of overviews for NCAA Division 1-AA football with predictions for each of the 15 1-AA conferences, as well as a preseason top 25.

Here is Street & Smith's 1-AA Top 25 poll:

1. Furman
2. James Madison
3. Montana
4. New Hampshire
5. Southern Illinois
6. Eastern Washington
7. Delaware
8. Georgia Southern
9. Grambling State
10. Western Kentucky
11. Hampton
12. Northwestern State
13. William & Mary
14. Lehigh
15. Alabama State
16. Cal Poly
17. Wofford
18. Lafayette
19. Texas State
20. Appalachian State
21. Jacksonville State
22. Penn
23. Drake
24. Coastal Carolina
25. La Salle