By Bill Rohn
Wyoming-Kentwood News Today Contributor
WKTV Friday Night Highlights Host
greer@wktv.org

Can Ferris State University win a third straight Division II football national championship? Or will Grand Valley win its fifth overall? And can Davenport finally beat the big boys?

One thing is for sure: Each of West Michigan’s Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) football teams hopes to win a league championship along its path to fall playoffs.

And there is plenty of optimism at Grand Valley, Ferris, and Davenport, as expressed at the recent GLIAC preseason “Football Media Day.”

The preseason gathering featured comments from coaches and players from all eight conference schools, plus the results of the GLIAC coaches’ preseason predictions as to 2026 final conference standings.

Defending DII national champion Ferris State topped the preseason poll, followed by Grand Valley, Michigan Tech, Davenport, and Saginaw Valley. Northern Michigan, Roosevelt U, and Wayne State were picked to finish sixth, seventh, and eighth.

Five in a row for Ferris?

In Big Rapids, Coach Tony Annese’s Bulldogs appear to be reloading again. Ferris has won four of the last five DII national championships, including crowns in 2024 and 2025. The Bulldogs were a perfect 16-0 last year, including an unbeaten 7-0 GLIAC record.

“None of the past matters, beyond knowing how it happened,” said Annese, whose Bulldogs have been ranked No. 1 in the national Division II Coaches’ preseason poll, but who also open their season on the road against No. 4 Pittsburg State, in Kansas. While playing a high-seeded opponent on the road on Aug. 27 may be a daunting task, Annese noted that, “All of the other GLIAC schools know us so well that we would rather play against other tough teams in the nation.”

Ferris’ first home game will occur on Friday, Sept. 4 against another 2025 playoff contender, Bentley University, at FSU’s Top Taggart field.

GVSU seeks “unconscious competence”

At Grand Valley, where the Lakers won four Division II national championships between 2002 and 2006, Coach Scott Wooster has emphasized preparation leading to an “unconscious competence” during play. Wooster referenced a style of play through which the Lakers will automatically demonstrate excellent fundamentals and precision performance.

The Lakers finished second in the conference in 2025 with a 5-2 record as part of a 7-3 overall performance. Spirits are high in Allendale where the football program recently reached an all-time high in season ticket sales.

Wooster has been particularly impressed by work done by as many as 92 Laker players at summer workouts, adding, “It’s all about preparation. You’ve got to chop wood and carry water to get ready and you do your chopping in the summer (well before the season starts), not in the winter.”

Grand Valley is ranked eighth in the nation in the DII Coaches’ preseason poll. As Wooster put it on media day, “We’ve got some dogs that will hunt and I would rather say ‘whoa’ than ‘giddyup.’”

The Lakers open play in Charleston, West Virginia, against the University of Charleston before their home season opener on Sept. 3 versus West Texas A&M.

Davenport must beat the ‘Big Boys’

At Davenport University, Coach Sparky McEwen and company have adopted a “compete every day and win every day” attitude prior to the coming season, during which the Panthers will seek their first wins against Grand Valley and Ferris, to say nothing of beating other GLIAC teams whom DU has beaten in the past.

Davenport, which began football in 2015, has steadily improved on a year-by-year basis, but the team has yet to beat the Bulldogs or Lakers, a key to conference championships and playoff runs.

McEwen — who played his college football at Ferris — professed excitement over a large squad, solid running backs, and a schedule that allows Davenport to play its first three games at home at Meyering field in Caledonia. DU opens play against visiting Gannon University at noon on Aug. 29.

Outstate GLIAC teams also seek wins

GLIAC schools outside West Michigan also have big plans. Michigan Tech, picked to finish third in the preseason poll, will operate under the leadership of Coach Dan Mettlach, who previously quarterbacked at Tech. Northern Michigan features sophomore running back Noah Dobert, who rushed for 243 yards and four touchdowns last season against Davenport. Wayne State and Chicago-area Roosevelt University also feature new coaches and new approaches.

Football players say the strangest things

The GLIAC Media Day was not without humorous moments. Asked what there is to do in the cold at distant Houghton, Mich., where Michigan Tech’s Huskies play, a Tech lineman offered this, “Well, we do have a bowling alley in town, and sometimes you can go ice fishing. That’s if there isn’t three feet of snow on the lake during the winter.”