(Portions of this story courtesy of Texas Lutheran University and D3Football.com)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs, defending champions of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, received votes in the opening D3football.com preseason Top 25 poll of 2014.
The poll, in its 12th season, is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, sports information directors and media members from across the country and is published weekly during the season. The first weekly poll will be conducted on Sept. 7, following the first weekend of games.
The defending national champion, University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, received all 25 No. 1 votes. Mount Union was ranked lower than No. 2 in the preseason for the first time since 2005.
TLU's Oct. 25 home opponent, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, came in at No. 2 in the preseason poll. The Cru advanced to the national semifinal last season and fell to the eventual national champion Whitewater, 16-15.
The Bulldogs received 18 voting points in the preseason poll. If the poll stretched past the top 25, the Bulldogs would have a preseason ranking of No. 36.
TLU comes off an 8-1 season in 2013. The Bulldogs went 3-0 in the SCAC and won the conference crown, the first conference football title in school history.
The Bulldogs return 51 lettermen (19 offense, 27 defense, 5 special teams) and 21 starters (7 offense, 9 defense, 5 special teams) for 2014.
The 2013 Bulldogs' eight wins in a season were the most in school history since the 1976 NAIA-II semifinal team won 10 games.
In 2013, TLU finished the year with the third-best total offense in all of NCAA Division III. The Bulldogs averaged 521.2 yards of total offense per game.
The Bulldogs open the 2014 season on September 6th in their new on-campus stadium, Bulldog Stadium. The Bulldogs host Sul Ross State at 6 p.m. The stadium will be formally dedicated prior to kickoff that day.
D3football.com preseason Top 25 poll
| # | School (1st votes) | Rec | Pts | Prev. |
| 1 | UW-Whitewater (25) | 15-0 | 625 | 1 |
| 2 | Mary Hardin-Baylor | 13-1 | 583 | 2 |
| 3 | Mount Union | 14-1 | 580 | 3 |
| 4 | Linfield | 11-1 | 510 | 4 |
| 5 | Wesley | 10-3 | 505 | 7 |
| 6 | North Central (Ill.) | 13-1 | 500 | 5 |
| 7 | Bethel | 12-1 | 491 | 6 |
| 8 | UW-Platteville | 10-2 | 434 | 9 |
| 9 | St. John Fisher | 10-3 | 376 | 8 |
| 10 | John Carroll | 9-2 | 330 | 13 |
| 11 | St. Thomas | 8-2 | 316 | 20 |
| 12 | Hobart | 10-1 | 294 | 14 |
| 13 | Wittenberg | 10-2 | 244 | 10 |
| 14 | Johns Hopkins | 10-1 | 226 | 12 |
| 15 | Rowan | 9-3 | 201 | 23 |
| 16 | Wabash | 9-1 | 191 | 22 |
| 17 | Wartburg | 9-3 | 175 | 15 |
| 18 | UW-Oshkosh | 8-2 | 171 | 11 |
| 19 | Pacific Lutheran | 8-2 | 169 | 17 |
| 20 | Heidelberg | 8-2 | 165 | 21 |
| 21 | Hampden-Sydney | 9-3 | 164 | 18 |
| 22 | Thomas More | 9-1 | 145 | 25 |
| 23 | Ithaca | 9-3 | 140 | 16 |
| 24 | Wheaton (Ill.) | 8-2 | 139 | -- |
| 25 | Franklin | 8-4 | 75 | 19 |
Others receiving votes: Millsaps 47; Illinois Wesleyan 43; Maryville 35; Lycoming 34; Concordia-Moorhead 32; Redlands 29; Washington and Jefferson 23; St. John's 21; Salisbury 21; Chapman 20; Texas Lutheran 18; Willamette 16; Cortland State 15; Cal Lutheran 9; Guilford 5; Framingham State 2; Muhlenberg 2; Louisiana College 2; Washington U. 1; Wesleyan 1.
