SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Dakota Wesleyan University football was tabbed to finish ninth out of 11 programs in the Great Plains Athletic Conference preseason poll, the conference announced on Tuesday. The poll is a survey of the conference’s head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own team. This season, the Tigers’ third under head coach Alex Kretzschmar, marks the ninth year in a row DWU has been picked to finish in the bottom half of the conference in the preseason poll. Dordt grabbed four first-place votes and 94 points, with Northwestern (Iowa) nabbing the remaining top vote and 82 points. 2026 GPAC preseason football coaches pollTeams listed by preseason rank, point total and first-place votes in parentheses.