Slippery Rock, IUP ranked in preseason top 25 football polls
A pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division football rivals are ranked in the Division II top 25 by a pair of national college preview magazines.
Slippery Rock is No. 9 in the Street & Smith’s poll and No. 11 in the Lindy’s Sports rankings. Both preseason lists were released Monday morning.
IUP checks in at No. 20 in Lindy’s poll and No. 23 for Street & Smith’s.
Slippery Rock enjoyed a memorable run in 2019 which included three games in the NCAA national playoffs. As the No. 8 seed, The Rock made it to the semifinals before falling to No. 4 Minnesota State.
SRU finished with the best record in program history at 13-1.
It was The Rock’s second-ever trip to the national semifinals and first since 1998 as they finished ranked No. 6 in the final American Football Coaches Association poll.
The team will look to replace All-American quarterback Roland Rivers who threw for 4,460 yards and 52 touchdowns against only seven interceptions. He added 700 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground.
The Rock landed five players on last year’s Associated Press Division II All-American teams, and redshirt seniors Chad Kuhn (defensive end), Henry Litwin (wide receiver) and Jermaine Wynn (wide receiver) are back to lead the way in 2020.
Kuhn, a Kiski Area product, led the PSAC and was ninth in the nation with 11.5 sacks in 2019. He recorded 58 tackles and forced two fumbles.
IUP finished the 2019 season with a 10-2 overall record and posted the program’s fourth NCAA Division II playoff appearance in the last five seasons.
It also was the program’s 13th 10-win season all-time and the fourth since 2012.
The Crimson Hawks finished 21st in the AFCA poll.
IUP returns 10 starters — six on offense and four on defense — including all-region selections in running back Justice Evans and Apollo-Ridge product Duane Brown, a junior receiver.
Brown finished 2019 with 19 total touchdowns (13 receiving) and caught 47 passes for 937 yards.
West Florida, the defending Division II national champion, is ranked first in both polls. Minnesota State checks in at No. 4 in the Lindy’s poll and No. 6 in Street & Smith’s.
IUP tentatively is scheduled to open its updated nine-game 2020 season Sept. 19 at Kutztown. Slippery Rock, which will play 10 games this season, is slated to host Michigan’s Wayne State University on Sept. 12.
SRU has a date with Shepherd (No. 15 Street & Smith’s and No. 19 Lindy’s) set for Nov. 14.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
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