When asked for their predictions for the upcoming Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football season, they almost exactly picked the teams in the same order that they finished in 2024.

Unfortunately, that left Northern Michigan University chosen for last place after the Wildcats posted their second straight 0-11 season a year ago under now third-year head coach Shane Richardson.

NMU was left behind the 8-ball when for the 2023 season when Richardson inherited a team decimated by transfers, and hasn’t gotten better since as far as the win-loss column goes.

In this poll, Northern missed the seventh-place spot occupied by Roosevelt by a single point in the eight-team league.

The Wildcats were 0-7 in league encounters a year ago, while Roosevelt — one of three Lakers in the GLIAC — was just ahead of them at 1-6 in conference and 1-9 overall.

At the top, defending national champion Ferris State was not quite a unanimous pick at No. 1, though that’s probably mostly due to the strength of the league.

The Bulldogs, 14-1 overall and 7-0 in the GLIAC after a 49-14 win over Valdosta State (Georgia) in the national title game, received six of the eight first-place votes from the coaches, along with 47 poll points. Since coaches can’t vote for their own team, that really means FSU received all but one possible first-place vote.

Last year’s league runner-up, Grand Valley State, was picked second again with one first-place vote and 41 polling points after these Lakers were 10-1 overall and 6-1 in league.

Next comes Saginaw Valley State, 7-4 and 4-3, one of three teams with those exact records a year ago. The Cardinals earned the remaining first-place vote and 38 votes overall.

The other two teams that tied SVSU slotted into the next two positions. Davenport was picked fourth with 31 points, then Michigan Tech with 28.

And the three teams that struggled the most take up the bottom three spots. Wayne State, picked sixth with 16 points after 2-9 and 2-5 records, Roosevelt and NMU all had their wins against each other, the Warriors beating both Roosevelt and Northern, while Roosevelt took out NMU in overtime at the Superior Dome.

Now, though, the Wildcats are looking forward to the start of this season, which as of today can be said to be later this month, Thursday, Aug. 28, at 6 p.m. at home against nonconference foe Minnesota State-Moorhead.

NMU features six home games on its 11-game slate, with a game to follow every weekend after the opener except for the last weekend of September. Northern wraps up its schedule, at home again, on Saturday, Nov. 16 vs. Wayne State.

Homecoming is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, in the dome against Davenport. This first of two battles vs. the Panthers will be the one that counts in the GLIAC standings.

Fans can still buy season tickets at the NMU Tickets website, nmu.universitytickets.com, with single-game tickets going on sale starting Monday.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the poll

. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.