The Midwest Conference released its 2025 Football Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and Lake Forest College was second on the list.

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 finished with 75 points and received four first-place votes in the poll. They were just below Monmouth College with the Fighting Scots tallying 78 points and appearing in the top spot on six ballots. Illinois College and the University of Chicago tied for third place with 61 points apiece, 10 more than fifth-place Cornell College.

Lake Forest captured the program's third MWC title in the last four years in 2024, posting a perfect 9-0 record in league play. They also played in the second round of the NCAA Division III Playoffs for the first time and finished the season with an overall record of 10-1. The Foresters captured back-to-back league titles and made NCAA Division III Tournament appearances in 2021 and 2022 and are now 32-4 against conference opponents in the last four years.

Four All-MWC players will return for Lake Forest this fall, including First Team offensive lineman Vinny Colasacco and linebacker Blake Ware.

The 2025 season will be Jim Catanzaro's 17th as the Foresters' head coach and will begin on Saturday, September 6, with a neutral site game against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in Chandler, Arizona. Lake Forest will open league play a week later at Illinois College before hosting Monmouth on September 20. The team's Homecoming opponents will be Beloit College on October 11 and the regular season will conclude with the Foresters' Senior Day and Parents Day game against Chicago on November 15.

The league champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament while the the highest-placing team in the standings that does not qualify for the NCAA Playoffs will take on its counterpart from the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in the fourth annual Lakefront Bowl on November 22.