Great American Conference football coaches view Arkansas Tech University as being part of the upper echelon of the league as the beginning of the 2017 season draws near.
The Wonder Boys received 80 points in the GAC preseason football poll, sixth-most among the 12 teams in the conference.
Southern Arkansas University is the coaches’ pick to win the GAC title. The Muleriders earned five first-place votes and a total of 110 points in the balloting to edge out defending GAC champion Harding University (2nd, 107 points) for the role of 2017 league favorite. The Bisons also earned five first-place votes.
The remaining two first-place nods went the way of Henderson State University, which collected 106 points in the poll to finish third.
Ouachita Baptist University (4th, 90 points), Southeastern Oklahoma State University (5th, 82 points) and ATU round out the top six.
The second half of the GAC preseason poll begins with Southwestern Oklahoma State University (7th, 60 points). The University of Arkansas-Monticello (8th, 44 points), Northwestern Oklahoma State University (9th, 40 points), East Central University (10th, 38 points), Oklahoma Baptist University (11th, 24 points) and Southern Nazarene University (12th, 11 points) complete the poll.
Arkansas Tech will begin its 103rd football season by hosting nationally 22nd-ranked Southern Arkansas for a 7 p.m. GAC contest at Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field in Russellville on Thursday, Aug. 31.
Party at the Plaza, the pre-game tailgating celebration outside the stadium on Centennial Plaza, will begin at 5 p.m. Admission to the game will be free for those with valid ATU identification cards.
