Southeastern Louisiana ranked No. 15 in Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25

HAMMOND, La. – The reigning Southland Conference champion Southeastern Louisiana University football team is ranked 15th in the 2023 Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 released Monday.

Southeastern is one of three schools nationally to be ranked in the final FCS top 25 in each of the past four seasons. The entire poll is available at https://theanalyst.com/na/2023/08/defending-champ-jackrabbits-voted-a-unanimous-no-1-in-the-fcs-preseason-top-25-poll/.

SLU topped the Southland Conference preseason poll and placed a league-high 17 student-athletes on the preseason All-SLC teams released last month. The Lions are one of two conference teams in the preseason poll, as UIW is ranked seventh. McNeese is among the programs receiving votes.

Both of Southeastern’s 2022 FCS playoff opponents – Samford (No. 9) and Idaho (No. 8) – are represented in the preseason poll. Reigning national champion South Dakota State tops the poll and is joined by North Dakota State, Montana State, William & Mary and Holy Cross in the top five.

Southeastern will be looking to advance to the FCS playoffs for the third straight season for the first time in program history. The Lions have advanced to the second round in the postseason three times in the past four seasons.

The Lions opened the opening week of fall camp Monday with its first full team workout after the opening week of split-squad practices. SLU will return to the practice field Tuesday at 9 a.m.

Southeastern opens the 2023 season with three straight nonconference road contests, beginning with a Sept. 2 trip to Mississippi State. The game versus the Bulldogs kicks off at 3 p.m. in Starkville, Mississippi and will be televised on SEC Network and can be heard on the Southeastern Sports Radio Network (Kajun 107.1 FM, The Highway 104.7 FM, The Boss 103.7 FM/WFPR 1400 AM).

Season and single-game tickets for the 2023 home football season, which includes visits from HCU (Sept. 23), Tarleton State (Sept. 30), Lamar (Oct. 14), McNeese (Nov. 4) and Nicholls (Nov. 18) are available online at https://vivenu.com/event/2023-football-2klkar.

2023 Stats Perform FCS Preseason Top 25 Poll
Rk. Team (First-place votes) | Points

1. South Dakota State (56) | 1,400
2. North Dakota State | 1,329
3. Montana State | 1,294
4. William & Mary | 1,172
5. Holy Cross | 1,113
6. Furman | 1,035
7. UIW | 935
8. Idaho | 932
9. Samford | 885
10. Sacramento State | 881
11. New Hampshire | 798
12. Southeast Missouri | 768
13. Weber State | 744
14. Montana | 711
15. Southeastern | 710
16. UC Davis | 513
17. North Dakota | 479
18. Richmond | 387
19. North Carolina Central | 330
20. Mercer | 293
21. Rhode Island | 169
22. Delaware | 166
23. Northern Iowa | 155
24. Eastern Kentucky | 137
25. Gardner-Webb | 129

Others Receiving Votes: Central Arkansas 110, Chattanooga 84, Jackson State 71, Southern Illinois 66, Youngstown State 66, FAMU 65, UT Martin 65, Elon 61, Austin Peay 40, Fordham 28, Yale 18, Villanova 8, McNeese 7, Abilene Christian 6, St. Thomas 6, Saint Francis 5.

2023 Southeastern opponents in bold italics.