LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Shepherd University Rams football team was selected No. 1 in the 2023 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s East Division Football Preseason Poll, as voted on by the league’s head coaches. With this year’s honor, the Rams have earned the top spot in the PSAC Football East Division Preseason Poll for three consecutive seasons.
 
Shepherd earned five first-place votes in the poll and is coming off a season in which they went 13-2 overall (7-0 PSAC), claimed the PSAC East title, and advanced all the way to the NCAA semifinals. The Rams led the conference scoring (39.2 points per game), rushing (176.7 yards per game), passing (312.5 yards per game), and total offense (489.3 yards per game) but will have to reload after losing six All-Americans, including standout quarterback Tyson Bagent.
 
The Kutztown Golden Bears were voted No. 2 in this year’s poll, with two first-place votes. The team, which has had eight straight winning seasons, finished 2022 with an 8-3 record and returns multiple parts of the conference’s top-ranked defense (252.6 yards allowed per game), which was also the eighth-best mark in all of Division II.
 
West Chester took third place in the poll while collecting a single first-place vote. The Golden Rams’ 170.4 rushing yards per game ranked second in the conference and the team returns its entire offensive line from a season ago.
 
Ranked fourth is East Stroudsburg, who look to improve on four wins and a fifth-place finish in the East Division in 2022 by returning a whopping 16 starters, including nine on the defensive side of the ball.
 
Voted fifth in the poll is Millersville University. The Marauders’ five victories last season totaled the team’s most since 2006, with a fourth-place finish in the East their best since the 2000 season.
 
Placing sixth is Shippensburg, who finished 2022 with five wins but closed the season strong—winning a pair of games, including a 35-28 overtime victory over Gannon University, which finished tied with IUP and Slippery Rock with 6-1 conference records in the West Division.
 
The Bloomsburg Huskies (a 4-7 overall record in 2022 along with a seventh-place finish in the PSAC East) were voted seventh in this year’s poll.
 
Rounding out this year’s poll is Lock Haven University in eighth, who continues to rebuild under second-year head coach Dan Mulrooney.
 
2023 PSAC Football East Division Preseason Poll

1. Shepherd (5)
2. Kutztown (2)
3. West Chester (1)
4. East Stroudsburg
5. Millersville
6. Shippensburg
7. Bloomsburg
8. Lock Haven

*number of first-place votes in parentheses
 

 
For more information, please reference:
 
2023 PSAC Preseason Notes
2023 PSAC Quick Facts (courtesy of each institution)