Carson-Newman Ranked No. 22 in AFCA Preseason Division II Coaches' Poll

August 13, 2018

WACO, TEX. – The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) released its 2018 Division II Preseason Coaches' Poll on Monday (Aug. 13) and the Carson-Newman Eagles are picked No. 22.

The South Atlantic Conference preseason favorite, the Eagles return 10 of 11 starters from a defense that led the SAC in rushing defense and produced the Eagles' second best rush defense since 2000. Carson-Newman allowed just 95 yards per game on the ground and had the best total defense, allowing just 278 yards per game, and they had the second best scoring defense in the SAC, allowing 19.3 points per game.

The Eagles will open the season on August 30 against another Top-25 team, when they travel to No. 2 West Florida.

2018 American Football Coaches Association Preseason Division II Coaches' Poll

August 13, 2018

Rank	School (1st votes)	2017 Rec.	2017 Pts.	Rank*	Season Opener	Head Coach
1.	Texas A&M-Commerce (13)	14-1	748	1	Aug. 30 vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville	Colby Carthel
2.	West Florida (14)	11-4	721	2	Aug. 30 vs. No. 22 Carson-Newman	Pete Shinnick
3.	Minnesota St. (2)	13-1	691	4	Aug. 30 vs. Southwest Minnesota St.	Todd Hoffner
4.	Indiana (Pa.) (2)	13-1	666	3	Aug. 30 at No. 15 Ashland (Ohio)	Paul Tortorella
5t.	Fort Hays St. (Kan.)	11-1	591	8	Aug. 30 vs. No. 18 Central Missouri	Chris Brown
5t.	Northwest Missouri St. (2)	9-3	591	16	Aug. 30 vs. Missouri Western St.	Rich Wright
7.	Harding (Ark.)	11-4	550	6	Aug. 30 at Henderson St. (Ark.)	Paul Simmons
8.	Ferris St. (Mich.)	11-2	503	5	Aug. 30 vs. East Stroudsburg (Pa.)	Tony Annese
9.	Central Washington	11-1	494	7	Sept. 1 at Eastern Washington	Ian Shoemaker
10.	Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	8-3	478	NR	Aug. 30 vs. No. 13 Indianapolis (Ind.)	Matt Mitchell
11.	Midwestern St. (Texas)	10-1	473	11	Sept. 1 vs. Humboldt St. (Calif.)	Bill Maskill
12.	West Alabama	10-3	470	12	Aug. 30 vs. Lenoir-Rhyne (N.C.)	Brett Gilliland
13.	Indianapolis (Ind.)	11-1	402	13	Aug. 30 at No. 10 Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	Bob Bartolomeo
14.	Colorado St.-Pueblo	9-3	401	17	Sept. 1 vs. Dixie St. (Utah)	John Wristen
15.	Ashland (Ohio)	11-2	350	10	Aug. 30 vs. No. 4 Indiana (Pa.)	Lee Owens
16.	Shepherd (W.Va.)	10-1	332	14	Sept. 1 at Notre Dame (Ohio)	Ernie McCook
17.	Assumption (Mass.)	11-2	292	9	Sept. 1 vs. Kutztown (Pa.)	Andy McKenzie
18.	Central Missouri	9-3	209	NR	Aug. 30 at No. 5t Fort Hays St. (Kan.)	Jim Svoboda
19.	West Georgia	9-4	196	19	Sept. 1 vs. Catawba (N.C.)	David Dean
20.	Sioux Falls (S.D.)	9-3	158	20	Aug. 30 vs. Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.)	Jon Anderson
21.	Winona St. (Minn.)	10-2	134	15	Aug. 30 at Wayne St. (Neb.)	Tom Sawyer
22.	Carson-Newman (Tenn.)	8-3	118	NR	Aug. 30 at No. 2 West Florida	Mike Turner
23.	Ohio Dominican	7-3	105	NR	Aug. 30 vs. California (Pa.)	Kelly Cummings
24.	Ouachita Baptist (Ark.)	9-3	102	NR	Aug. 30 at Northwestern Oklahoma St.	Todd Knight
25.	Findlay (Ohio)	10-3	101	22	Sept. 1 at Kentucky Wesleyan	Rob Keys

*– Ranking in final AFCA Division II Poll of 2017

Others Receiving Votes: California (Pa.), 89; Delta St. (Miss.), 74; West Chester (Pa.), 74; Colorado Mesa, 66; Bowie St. (Md.), 60; Virginia St., 51; Minnesota-Duluth, 41; Albany St. (Ga.), 39; Florida Tech, 36; Colorado Mines, 34; Shippensburg (Pa.), 31; Tuskegee (Ala.), 26; Wingate (N.C.), 25; Azusa Pacific (Calif.), 22; Valdosta St. (Ga.), 22; Pittsburg St. (Kan.), 21; Notre Dame (Ohio), 18; Eastern New Mexico, 17; Edinboro (Pa.), 15; Missouri Western St., 14; Bloomsburg (Pa.), 13; Emporia St. (Kan.), 11; Central Oklahoma, 9; LIU Post (N.Y.), 8; Slippery Rock (Pa.), 8; Augustana (S.D.), 5; Fairmont St. (W.Va.), 5; Humboldt St. (Calif.), 4; Catawba (N.C.), 3; Fayetteville St. (N.C.), 3; Hillsdale (Mich.), 3; Southern Arkansas, 1; Washburn (Kan.), 1.

For more information on the AFCA and its programs, visit www.afca.com or follow us on Twitter @WeAreAFCA.

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