Football
8/8/2024 2:30:00 PM
Jon Holtz, Athletic Communication
The five-time defending PSAC West champion Slippery Rock football team was picked to finish first in the division when the PSAC Preseason Coaches Poll was announced Thursday.
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LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The five-time defending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division champion Slippery Rock University football team was picked to win a sixth straight division title when the PSAC Preseason Coaches Poll was announced Thursday.
The Rock received all six of the first place votes from the other head coaches in the PSAC West to sit atop the preseason poll. California (Pa.) was picked second, followed by Indiana (Pa.) rounding out the top three. Gannon was picked fourth, followed by Seton Hill, Edinboro and Clarion rounding out the seven teams in the poll.
“It’s nice to be picked first in the West but we know that preseason polls don’t mean anything,” said SRU head coach Shawn Lutz. “We have high expectations for our program and our goals have not changed. Our goals are always to win the division, win the PSAC title and compete for a national championship. Our guys are excited to get things going when camp starts next week.”
The PSAC West will feature just six divisional games this season after Mercyhurst left the league this summer.
Defending PSAC champion Kutztown was picked to win the Eastern Division with six first place votes. Shepherd was picked second with one first place vote and East Stroudsburg was picked third with one first place vote. West Chester was picked fourth in the East, followed by Lock Haven, Millersville, Shippensburg and Bloomsburg.
Slippery Rock enters the 2024 season looking for a sixth straight PSAC West title and a sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Playoffs. The Rock went 12-2 last year with a perfect 7-0 record in the PSAC West, eventually reaching the NCAA quarterfinals.
SRU has put together 14 consecutive winning seasons, which ranks ninth among all active streaks in Division II entering this fall. The Rock are tied with Colorado School of Mines for the second longest active playoff streak among all teams in the country, trailing only Ferris State.
Slippery Rock will have very little time to settle into the 2024 season with back-to-back NCAA playoff teams scheduled in the first two weeks of the season. Defending Northeast 10 Conference champion New Haven will visit SRU Sept. 7 before The Rock travel to PSAC East power Shepherd Sept. 14.
The full PSAC Preseason Coaches Poll and some brief notes about The Rock football team heading into the 2024 season can be found below and in the quick facts document linked above.
PSAC WEST PRESEASON COACHES POLL (1st place votes)
1. SLIPPERY ROCK (6)
2. California (Pa.)
3. Indiana (Pa.) (1)
4. Gannon
5. Seton Hill
6. Edinboro
7. Clarion
PSAC EAST PRESEASON COACHES POLL (1st place votes)
1. Kutztown (6)
2. Shepherd (1)
3. East Stroudsburg (1)
4. West Chester
5. Lock Haven
6. Millersville
7. Shippensburg
8. Bloomsburg
LUTZ READY FOR EIGHTH SEASON AS HEAD COACH
Shawn Lutz enters his 29th overall year at Slippery Rock and his ninth year (eighth season of competition due to COVID) as head coach in 2024. In seven seasons in charge of the program, Lutz owns a 70-19 overall record with five trips to the NCAA Playoffs, five PSAC West titles, three trips to at least the national quarterfinals and one appearance in the national semifinals. The 70 wins are the most among all PSAC head coaches over the last seven seasons.
KINGS OF THE WEST
Slippery Rock has lost just two PSAC Western Division games since Oct. 21, 2017 and is 35-2 against the Division since then, including 33-2 in the last five full seasons that all resulted in PSAC West titles. The Rock have won or at least shared nine of the 12 PSAC West titles dating back to 2011, easily leading all programs in the Division. SRU head coach Shawn Lutz is 38-4 against the PSAC West in the last six seasons and 41-8 against the Division in his career as head coach.
PLAYOFF STAPLES
Slippery Rock has reached the NCAA Division II Playoffs in each of the last five seasons and has made a playoff appearance in eight of the last 10 seasons. The Rock reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2018, made the national semifinals in 2019, reached the first round in 2021, made the second round in 2022 and reached the quarterfinals in 2023. Slippery Rock’s current streak of five straight trips to the playoffs is tied with Colorado School of Mines for the second-longest active streak among all Division II programs, trailing only Ferris State for the longest active playoff streak.
WINNING SEASONS STREAK
Slippery Rock has put together a winning season in each of the last 14 years, which ranks ninth among all Division II programs for the longest active winning seasons streak in the country. The only other program in the PSAC with more consecutive winning seasons currently is California (Pa.), which has strung together 19 winning seasons entering 2024.
AMONG ELITE COMPANY IN RANKINGS
Slippery Rock was one of just 12 Division II teams to appear in every AFCA national ranking poll in 2023 beginning with the preseason poll all the way through the final poll. The Rock finished the year ranked No. 10 in the final AFCA national poll in 2023. SRU has been ranked in every single national poll since the final poll of the 2018 season was released.
WE’VE PLAYED A LOT OF FOOTBALL
Slippery Rock has played 67 games over the last five seasons, which is the most games played among all Super Region One schools. The Rock are averaging an impressive 11.0 wins per year over the last five seasons.
PRESEASON NATIONAL RECOGNITION
Slippery Rock was ranked No. 10 in the Lindy’s Sports preseason poll that was released earlier this summer. The Rock had three individual players mentioned in that publication with tight end Kam Kruzelyak and cornerback Josh Stokes being named preseason All-Americans and Notre Dame (Ohio) transfer running back Idris Lawrence being named the “Newcomer of the Year.”
RETURNING ALL-PSAC PLAYERS
Slippery Rock returns five All-PSAC honorees from last season with QB Brayden Long, TE Kam Kruzelyak, OL Joe Cooper, DB Eddie Faulkner IV and DT Munchie Johnson all set to return.
17 STARTERS RETURNING
Slippery Rock will return 17 players that started at least five games last fall, including nine on the defensive side of the ball and four on the offensive side of the ball. The Rock also return all of its specialists from a year ago and the top kickoff return specialist in program history. Headlining the list of returners is Harlon Hill finalist quarterback Brayden Long, who was the PSAC West and Super Region One Athlete of the Year in 2023. Long ended up being named the PSAC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Rock also return All-Americans Josh Stokes and Eddie Faulkner IV in the defensive secondary and All-American tight end Kam Kruzelyak.
KEY LOSSES
The biggest losses come on the offensive side of the ball as The Rock will have to replace four starting offensive linemen and two of the top 10 receivers in the country. Kyle Sheets was a consensus All-American that is currently playing for the Kansas City Chiefs after ranking sixth in the country in receiving yards a year ago. SRU must also replace slot receiver Cohen Russell, who was eighth in the country in receiving in 2023 as he and Sheets were the only two teammates in Division II with at least 1,100 yards each. Perhaps more importantly, SRU must replace four offensive linemen that all earned All-PSAC honors in their career. The Rock started the same OL group in all 14 games last year and will be without All-American Yuriy Hryckowian (LT) and All-PSAC honorees Colton Rossi (LG), Jeff Burkhart (C) and Nick Stazer (RG). SRU will also have to replace starting running back Khalid Dorsey, who rushed for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns, and its top two tacklers in linebacker Kyle Kudla (97 tackles) and safety Selvin Haynes (84 tackles).
IMPACT TRANSFERS
Slippery Rock will look to a combo of redshirt freshmen, true freshmen and transfers to fill the voids mentioned above with the expectation that many transfers will fill those spots. The most notable transfer skill players are running back Idris Lawrence, a 2023 All-American and two-time All-MEC athlete from Notre Dame (Ohio) who has rushed for more than 3,000 yards in his career and wide receiver Rashawn Harvey, who led West Liberty with 971 receiving yards and nine TD last year. Lawrence ranked No. 4 in Division II in rushing yards per game (127.2) in 2023 and Harvey was No. 8 in Division II in receiving yards per game (97.1) in 2023. SRU will also see offensive line transfers Cade Cameron (Quincy), Marshall Futrell (UNC Charlotte) and Anthony Jackson (Gannon) competing for spots on the line. The biggest impact transfers on the defensive side are linemen Todd Hill (Pitt), Thomas Lane (McNeese State) and John Brown (West Liberty). Hill was a three-time All-NEC linebacker at Duquesne before sitting out last year at Pitt.
FEATURED EVENTS ON THE SCHEDULE
The Rock will host just five home games during the regular season in 2024. The Sept. 7 season opener against New Haven will be the annual Hall of Fame game with the SRU Hall of Fame Class of 2024 being inducted that weekend. The Sept. 28 game against Edinboro is the lone home night game on the schedule this fall and will be the nightcap to the annual Slippery Rock VillageFest. Homecoming is set for Oct. 12 against Gannon. SRU will celebrate its seniors and host its Salute to Military and First Responders Nov. 9 against Seton Hill before closing the regular season Nov. 16 against Bloomsburg. That date is also set for the PSAC Championship game where the West Division winner will host the East Division winner, which means there could be schedule changes throughout the league.
TICKET INFORMATION
Season ticket packages and season reserved parking packages are on sale now, as well as single-game tickets and single-game reserved parking. For all ticket information and links to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE.
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Publish date : 2024-08-09 06:34:23
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