Duquesne football team picked to win NEC in preseason poll
Duquesne received seven first-place votes from conference football coaches and is the favorite to win the Northeast Conference.
Sacred Heart received one first-place vote and was picked second followed by Central Connecticut, Wagner, Bryant, St. Francis (Pa.), Robert Morris and newcomer Long Island.
Duquesne is the reigning champion. The Dukes finished 9-4 and defeated Towson State, 31-10, in an FCS first-round playoff game before falling to South Dakota State, 51-6.
This is LIU’s first season in Division I after spending time in Division II, including a stint in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.
The NEC teams also are stepping up their schedules.
Robert Morris will visit the Mid-American Conference for Buffalo. Wagner will face Connecticut and will battle ACC power Miami in 2020. Duquesne has a game scheduled at Hawaii in 2022 and West Virginia in ’23, and St. Francis (Pa.) will play Akron in ’22.
The Colonials finished last season with a 2-9 record.
Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.
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