2022 D3football.com Preseason Top-25 Poll
2022 UW-La Crosse Schedule
La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse football team is ranked 12th on the 2022 D3football.com Preseason Top-25 Poll released Tuesday. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas), the defending National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III champions, is ranked first on the preseason poll. North Central College (Ill.) is ranked second while the University of Mount Union (Ohio) is third, UW-Whitewater fourth and St. John's University (Minn.) fifth.
UW-River Falls is ranked 18th and UW-Oshkosh 19th on the preseason poll. UW-Stout is receiving votes.
UWL finished 9-3 overall and 6-1 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) in 2021, earning its first NCAA III Championship appearance since 2006. The Eagles earned a 58-23 win at Albion College (Mich.) in the first round of the national championships, their first playoff victory since 2006. The 58 points were the most for UWL in a playoff game. UWL fell 34-20 at top-ranked North Central (Ill.) in the second round of the 2021 national playoffs.
UW-La Crosse finished 9-3 overall and 6-1 in the WIAC last season.
The Eagles' nine wins in 2021 were the most since finishing 9-2 in 2006. UWL's six conference victories were the most since going 6-1 in 2006. Earning one of five at-large bids to the NCAA Division III Championships, UWL made its 12th appearance (1983, 1991-93, 1995-96, 1999, 2002-04, 2006, 2021) in school history in the NCAA III Championships, including ninth trip to the second round.
UWL finished 11th in the final 2021 D3football.com Poll and 12th in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).
Matt Janus enters his third season as UWL's head coach in 2022. He was named head coach on February 5, 2020 after serving as interim head coach since December 12, 2019. The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 public health threat.
Fourteen members of UWL's squad earned 2021 All-WIAC honors under Janus, including seven first team selections.
Jake Simuncak was named the WIAC Special Teams Player of the Year. Simuncak was also named to the Associated Press All-America Second Team and D3football.com All-America Fourth Team.
Elijah Alt earned 2021 Associated Press All-America Second Team accolades and D3football.com All-America Third Team honors. The Eagles'
Ryan Daines was voted to the AFCA All-America Second Team
UWL opens its 2022 season Saturday, September 3 hosting Dakota State University (S.D.) at 4 p.m.
The 2022 conference schedule features three teams ranked in the final 2021 AFCA and D3football.com Top-25 Polls. UW-Whitewater was third in the final D3football.com and AFCA Poll Polls while UW-River Falls was 20th on D3football.com and 22nd on AFCA. UW-Oshkosh received votes on both polls.
