LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA – Heading into their second year as a member of the Southland Conference, the University of the Incarnate Word was picked to finish ninth heading into the 2015 football season as voted on by the league's coaches and sports information directors, the league announced Wednesday at its annual media day at L'auberge Resort.
The Cardinals are coming off a season that saw them finish 2-6 in the conference and 2-9 overall. They return seven starters on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball as well as their place kicker, punter, long snapper, holder and top kick returners on special teams. Leading the offense will be sophomore
Trent Brittain (Eastland/Eastland HS) who started every game in 2013, but he suffered a season-ending injury on the 11
th play of the season. In 2013, he was one of the top freshmen in the nation after passing for 1,893 yards and 11 touchdowns. His top target will be Southland preseason first team tight end
Cole Wick (Hallettsville/Sacred Heart Catholic HS) who had 20 catches for 350 yards last year.
On the defensive side of the ball, junior defensive lineman
Corey Lee (Humble/La Porte HS) is the top player. He earned second team all-conference honors last year while making a school record 14.5 tackles for loss. The signal caller of the defensive unit is inside linebacker
Padyn Giebler (Ivan/Stephenville HS), a 4-year starter. He led the team with 76 tackles in 2014 and has 157 tackles in his career.
Sam Houston State was the top pick by both the coaches and the SIDs, receiving eight first-place votes and 98 points total in the coaches' poll and nine first-place votes and 99 points in the SID poll. Southeastern Louisiana, co-champions with Sam Houston last season, earned one first-place vote from the coaches along with McNeese State and Central Arkansas. In the SID poll, the Cowboys and Bears split the remaining two first-place tallies. Coaches and SIDs could not vote for their own team.
The Bearkats, who posted a 7-1 mark in conference play last season, return 21 starters and 54 lettermen, including the preseason all-conference quarterback junior Jared Johnson and sophomore defensive end P.J. Hall, the reigning conference freshman of the year. The Bearkats reached the semifinals last season for the third time in four years.
Southeastern Louisiana, which advanced to the Division I postseason for the second consecutive year, was picked second in the coaches' poll, receiving 86 points, and third in the SID poll, picking up 77 points.
Stephen F. Austin, which tied for third last season at 5-3, was tabbed second by the SIDs with 87 points and fourth by the coaches with 73 points. The Lumberjacks will be led offensively by quarterback Zach Conque, last year's newcomer of the year.
McNeese State was slated third by the coaches with 79 points and fourth by the SIDs with 75 points. The Cowboys, who have not posted a losing season since 2004, return 17 starters and 64 letterwinners.
Northwestern State was slotted fifth by the coaches and sixth from the SIDs after earning 60 and 51 points, respectively. The Demons, who ended 2014 at 4-4 in conference, return 15 starters and 53 letterwinners, including all-conference wide receiver/return specialist Ed Eagan, who was second in the FCS last season with 180.5 all-purpose yards per game.
Central Arkansas earned 66 points from the SIDs to finish fifth in the polling while garnering 57 points from the coaches to place sixth. The Bears finished 5-3 in Southland play last season. Led by all-conference defensive end Jonathan Woodard, the league's top defensive player last season, UCA returns 16 starters and 56 letterwinners.
Rounding out the final five spots in both polls is Abilene Christian followed by Lamar, UIW, Nicholls and Houston Baptist.
2015 Southland Conference Preseason Polls
| Coaches' Poll | |
| Pl. | School (First-place votes) | Pts. |
| 1. | Sam Houston State (8) | 98 |
| 2. | Southeastern Louisiana (1) | 86 |
| 3. | McNeese State (1) | 79 |
| 4. | Stephen F. Austin | 73 |
| 5. | Northwestern State | 60 |
| 6. | Central Arkansas (1) | 57 |
| 7. | Abilene Christian | 49 |
| 8. | Lamar | 46 |
| 9. | UIW | 26 |
| 10. | Nicholls | 16 |
| 11. | Houston Baptist | 15 |
| | | |
| Sports Information Directors' Poll | |
| Pl. | School (First-place votes) | Pts. |
| 1. | Sam Houston State (9) | 99 |
| 2. | Stephen F. Austin | 87 |
| 3. | Southeastern Louisiana | 77 |
| 4. | McNeese State (1) | 75 |
| 5. | Central Arkansas (1) | 66 |
| 6. | Northwestern State | 51 |
| 7. | Abilene Christian | 48 |
| 8. | Lamar | 41 |
| 9. | UIW | 25 |
| 10. | Nicholls | 20 |
| 11. | Houston Baptist | 12 |
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