football picked to repeat

The Muhlenberg football team is ready to move on to a new season, but the rest of the Centennial Conference wants to keep reminding the Mules of last year.

Muhlenberg was the overwhelming choice to repeat as Centennial champion, finishing first in the preseason poll of coaches and sports information directors, revealed at Media Day at the Hershey Lodge. The Mules garnered 14 out of a possible

CC Preseason Poll School 2007 Record Points 1. MUHLENBERG (14) 11-1 126 2. Dickinson 9-2 98 3. Ursinus 7-3 90 4. Johns Hopkins (2) 4-6 86 5. Moravian 6-4 77 6. Gettysburg (2) 6-5 72 7. Franklin & Marshall 4-6 52 8. McDaniel 1-9 29 9. Juniata 1-9 18

16 first-place votes (teams were not allowed to vote for themselves) and amassed 126 points to easily outdistance runner-up Dickinson (98).

The 28-point margin is the largest in the 20-year history of the poll.

Click on the picture for a video of head coach Mike Donnelly commenting on the Mules’ preseason ranking.

Muhlenberg was the preseason favorite only one time previously, in 2003.

“It’s kind of hard to say we don’t deserve it based on last year,” said senior safety David Mazzola, who along with fellow co-captain Eric Santagato represented the team at Media Day. “But we would probably prefer to be in the middle of the pack.

“Last year was great,” he added. “But everybody kind of realizes that the past is over and we’re ready to move on.”

No team has repeated as outright CC champion since McDaniel completed a run of four straight titles in 2000. Of the 19 previous teams to take the top spot in the preseason poll, nine ended up in first place alone at the end of the season, five others tied for first, three finished second and two – the last two, in fact – tied for third.

The Mules (11-1, 8-0 CC last year) return 17 starters, including 10 of 11 on offense. Among the returnees are nine All-CC picks.

Muhlenberg picked up its fourth national top-25 ranking earlier this week when D3football.com tabbed the Mules eighth in its preseason poll. ’Berg previously was ranked seventh by Sporting News, ninth by USA Today Sports Weekly and 22nd by Lindy’s.

Click here for the CC preseason media guide.