(Portions of this story taken from the Trinity University website)
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Trinity University Tiger football team has been ranked 24th in the Lindy's Sports Magazine Division III preseason poll.
Trinity returns 18 starters from last year's team that finished 10-1 overall, won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship, and earned a spot in the NCAA Playoffs. The team was undefeated through the regular season, but lost to McMurry in the opening round of the postseason.
The 2012 season will mark a new era in Trinity football, as the Tigers will compete as an independent school for the first time since 1988. Only two football-playing schools remain in the SCAC this season (Trinity and Austin College), which necessitates the move to independent status.
Trinity will still face its former SCAC opponents during the 2012 season, as those games were already set prior to the conference realignment. In fact, the 2012 SCAC champion will be decided based on the best record in games against all former SCAC opponents - as well as against Austin College - not just the winner of the regular season finale between Trinity and Austin.
Austin College will join those teams on the 2012 schedule, as will Howard Payne, future SCAC member Texas Lutheran, and 10th-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Tigers and Crusaders will meet in the regular season for the first time since 1999.
Head Coach Steve Mohr will embark on his 23rd season with the Tiger football team. Over the past 18 years, Trinity holds the third-best winning percentage among Division III schools - trailing only Mount Union College and St. John's University.
Lindy's Sports Magazine Division III Preseason Football Poll
1. Mount Union
2. Wesley
3. UW-Whitewater
4. St. Thomas
5. Delaware Valley
6. Widener
7. Redlands
8. Franklin
9. St. John Fisher
10. Mary Hardin-Baylor
11. North Central (Ill.)
12. Centre
13. Illinois College
14. Saint John's (Minn.)
15. Bethel
16. Cal Lutheran
17. Linfield
18. Salisbury
19. Thomas More
20. Wittenberg
21. Wabash
22. RPI
23. Birmingham-Southern
24. Trinity (Texas)
25. Monmouth (Ill.)
