The Midwest Conference released its 2023 Football Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and Lake Forest College, which claimed the the league title in 2021 and was one of three co-champions last fall, was atop the rankings once again.
Voting is done by the MWC head football coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The Foresters received half of the 10 first-place votes and finished with 76 of a possible 81 points. Monmouth College was picked second in the poll, garnering three first-place votes and 73 points. Ripon College finished with 64 points and the University of Chicago 60. Both teams received one of the two remaining first-place votes..
Lake Forest has represented the conference in the NCAA Division III Playoffs each of the last two seasons and has won 17 of 18 league games during that span. The Foresters' 2023 roster features 13 players who have earned All-MWC honors, including graduate students Alex Bendler and Dante Esposito and senior Trenton Brail, who were also D3football.com All-Region selections in 2022..
Jim Catanzaro's 15th year at the helm of the program will begin with a night game at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Saturday, September 2, and Lake Forest will open league play the following week at Illinois College. Cornell College will be the opponent for the Foresters' home opener and annual Heroes Day game on September 14 and Homecoming is set for October 7 against Lawrence University. The regular season finale against Chicago on November 11 will also serve as the team's Senior Day and Parents Day game..
The league champion will earn a bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament while the runner-up will take on a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in the second annual Cousins Subs Lakefront Bowl on November 18.
| PLACE |
TEAM (First Place Votes) |
POINTS |
| 1 |
Lake Forest College (5) |
76 |
| 2 |
Monmouth College (3) |
73 |
| 3 |
Ripon College (1) |
64 |
| 4 |
University of Chicago (1) |
60 |
| 5 |
Illinois College |
51 |
| 6t |
Cornell College |
37 |
| 6t |
Knox College |
37 |
| 8 |
Beloit College |
22 |
| 9 |
Grinnell College |
19 |
| 10 |
Lawrence University |
11 |
