WACO, Texas – The University of Indianapolis football squad will open the 2016 season as the 16th-ranked team in Division II, according to the newly-released American Football Coaches Association preseason poll. The Greyhounds return 15 starters from a club that last year captured its fourth straight Great Lakes Valley Conference title.
 
Led by seventh-year head coach Bob Bartolomeo, UIndy welcomes seven offensive and eight defensive starters from last season's 10-2 squad. The 2015 Hounds swept through GLVC play on the way to earning a return trip to the NCAA DII playoffs.
 
UIndy, who was ranked 18th in the final AFCA poll of 2015, is the only GLVC team in the preseason rankings and is one of eight Super Region Four teams on the list, including No. 3 Grand Valley State.
 
Meanwhile, defending-national-champ Northwest Missouri State took 29 of 30 first-place votes to top the preseason coaches poll. West Georgia, who garnered the remaining first-place nod, came in at No. 2.
 
The Hounds kick off the 2016 season on the road with an important in-region contest at Hillsdale Sept. 3. The home opener comes seven days later when UIndy hosts crosstown Marian University in the "Monumental Matchup" Sept. 10.
 
For more information on the Greyhound football program, click here.


2016 AFCA DII PRESEASON POLL

RK	SCHOOL (1st-place votes)	'15 REC	PTS	FINAL '15 RK
1.	Northwest Missouri St. (29)	15-0	749	1
2.	West Georgia (1)	12-2	676	3
3.	Grand Valley St. (Mich.)	12-3	658	4
4.	Shepherd (W.Va.)	13-1	638	2
5.	Colorado St.-Pueblo	12-2	581	5
6.	Ashland (Ohio)	10-1	523	10
7.	Minnesota St.	10-2	466	13
8.	Indiana (Pa.)	9-3	364	19
T9.	Henderson St. (Ark.)	11-2	363	12
T9.	Texas A&M-Commerce	8-4	363	23
11.	Slippery Rock (Pa.)	12-2	360	7
12.	Ferris St. (Mich.)	11-1	359	6
13.	Humboldt St. (Calif.)	10-2	353	16
14.	Midwestern St. (Texas)	10-2	344	9
15.	North Alabama	9-3	330	15
16.	Indianapolis (Ind.)	10-2	276	18
17.	Tuskegee (Ala.)	10-3	241	11
18.	Colorado School of Mines	8-3	228	NR
19.	Minnesota-Duluth	9-3	196	NR
20.	Central Missouri	8-3	184	NR
21.	Assumption (Mass.)	11-2	144	17
22.	Catawba (N.C.)	9-3	140	25
23.	Sioux Falls (S.D.)	9-3	125	21t
24.	Emporia St. (Kan.)	11-3	124	8
25.	Augustana (S.D.)	9-3	119	24

Others Receiving Votes: Florida Tech, 107; Valdosta St. (Ga.), 99; Pittsburg St. (Kan.), 88; West Chester (Pa.), 82; Winston-Salem St. (N.C.), 74; Charleston (W.Va.), 60; Carson-Newman (Tenn.), 53; Colorado Mesa, 50; Harding (Ark.), 40; Albany St. (Ga.), 34; Virginia Union, 29; California (Pa.), 25; Angelo St. (Texas), 19; Azusa Pacific (Calif.), 13; Miles (Ala.), 11; Michigan Tech, 9; Delta St. (Miss.), 9; Western Oregon, 9; West Texas A&M, 8; Fort Hays St. (Kan.), 6; Bowie St. (Md.), 4; Saginaw Valley St. (Mich.), 4; Central Oklahoma, 3; Ouachita Baptist (Ark.), 3; Ohio Dominican, 2; Texas A&M-Kingsville, 2; Bemidji St. (Minn.), 1; McKendree (Ill.), 1; Newberry (S.C.), 1.