Defending FCS national champ North Dakota State is the favorite to win the 2025 Missouri Valley Football Conference crown as announced by the Conference office on Monday, July 21.   A panel of league coaches, communications directors, and media conducted the voting.   In addition, the MVFC has released a player "Watch List" to highlight the league's top student-athletes heading into fall camp.

The Bison received 39 of a possible 42 first-place tallies and 417 total points to outdistance South Dakota State (355 points) and South Dakota (349 points).  All three teams reached the national semifinals in 2024.

It marks the 12^th time since NDSU joined the league in 2008 that the Bison have been picked to win.   The Jacks were favored in both 2023 and 2024.   Illinois State’s spot (4^th) is its highest pre-season pick since 2019.   Youngstown State was last picked in the upper division in 2018.   South Dakota matched its highest preseason pick as an MVFC member (3^rd) – The Yotes were also picked third in 2024.

 

Team (1st-Place Votes)	TOT
1. North Dakota State (39)	417
2. South Dakota State	355
3. South Dakota (3)	349
4. Illinois State	292
5. Youngstown State	211
6. Southern Illinois	208
7. North Dakota	196
8. UNI	130
9. Indiana State	105
10. Murray State	47

 

Pos	First	Last	School
QB	Aidan	Bouman	South Dakota
QB	Beau	Brungard	Youngstown State
QB	Chase	Mason	South Dakota State
QB	Jim	Ogle	Murray State
QB	Elijah	Owens	Indiana State
QB	Cole	Payton	North Dakota State
QB	Tommy	Rittenhouse	Illinois State
QB	DJ	Williams	Southern Illinois
RB	Barika	Kpeenu	North Dakota State
RB	Plez	Lawrence	Indiana State
RB	Julius	Loughridge	South Dakota State
RB	Jawaun	Northington	Murray State
RB	Charles	Pierre Jr.	South Dakota
RB	Sawyer	Seidl	North Dakota
RB	Wenkers	Wright	Illinois State
RB	Ethan	Wright	Youngstown State
RB	Gaven	Ziebarth	North Dakota
RB (FB)	Truman	Werremeyer	North Dakota State
TE (FB)	Scotty	Presson Jr.	Illinois State
TE	Derek	Anderson	Northern Iowa
TE	Austin	Bray	Youngstown State
TE	Javon	Charles	Illinois State
TE	Dallas	Holmes	South Dakota
TE	Aidan	Quinn	Southern Illinois
TE	Lance	Rees	Indiana State
TE	Ryan	Schwendeman	Southern Illinois
OL	Seth	Anderson	North Dakota
OL	Blake	Anderson	Northern Iowa
OL	Liam	Becher	North Dakota
OL	Ben	Buxa	North Dakota
OL	Quinten	Christensen	South Dakota State
OL	Cam	Dye	Southern Illinois
OL	Griffin	Empey	North Dakota State
OL	Noah	Fenske	Southern Illinois
OL	Trent	Fraley	North Dakota State
OL	Sam	Hagen	South Dakota State
OL	Adrian	Hawkins	South Dakota
OL	Keean	Kamerling	Northern Iowa
OL	Van	Keen	Youngstown State
OL	Desmeal	Leigh	Youngstown State
OL	Jake	Pope	Illinois State
OL	Landon	Woodard	Illinois State
WR	JK	Carter	Murray State
WR	Vinson	Davis III	Southern Illinois
WR	Jaiden	Ellis-Lahey	Northern Iowa
WR	Isaiah	Garcia-Castaneda	South Dakota State
WR	Eddie	Kasper	Illinois State
WR	Tysen	Kershaw	Northern Iowa
WR	Bryce	Lance	North Dakota State
WR	Lofton	O'Groske	South Dakota State
WR	Rashad	Rochelle	Indiana State
WR	JC	Roque Jr.	Northern Iowa
WR	Daniel	Sobkowicz	Illinois State
WR	Mike	Solomon	Youngstown State
WR	Max	Tomczak	Youngstown State
WR	Ky	Wilson	Youngstown State
DL	Jake	Anderson	Illinois State
DL	Toby	Anene	North Dakota State
DL	Kobe	Clayborne	South Dakota State
DL	Caden	Crawford	South Dakota
DL	Jaxon	Duttenhefer	North Dakota State
DL	Nick	Kessler	Illinois State
DL	Reis	Kirschenman	South Dakota State
DL	Jack	Kriebs	Northern Iowa
DL	Owen	Ostroski	Northern Iowa
DL	Franz	Reisz	Northern Iowa
DL	Jackson	Stortz	Northern Iowa
DL	Michael	Voitus	Youngstown State
DL	Donnie	Wingate	Southern Illinois
LB	Colin	Bohanek	Southern Illinois
LB	Nate	Ewell	South Dakota
LB	Logan	Kopp	North Dakota State
LB	Tucker	Langenberg	Northern Iowa
LB	Lucas	McAllister	Indiana State
LB	Malachi	McNeal	North Dakota
LB	Tye	Niekamp	Illinois State
LB	Joe	Ollman	South Dakota State
LB	Chris	Presto	Southern Illinois
LB	Lance	Rucker	North Dakota
LB	Braxton	Sampson	Indiana State
LB	Chase	Van Tol	South Dakota State
LB	Mike	Wells	Youngstown State
LB	Dallas	Westhoff	Indiana State
LB	Preston	Zandier	Youngstown State
DB	Koby	Bretz	South Dakota State
DB	Jonathan	Cabral-Martin	Northern Iowa
DB	Anthony	Chideme-Alfaro	North Dakota State
DB	Kimal	Clark	Indiana State
DB	Jailen	Duffie	North Dakota State
DB	Darius	Givance	North Dakota State
DB	DJ	Harris	Youngstown State
DB	Ryan	Jones	North Dakota State
DB	Zach	Lewis	North Dakota
DB	Jeremiah	McClendon	Southern Illinois
DB	Shadwell	Nkuba	Illinois State
DB	Jayden	Oliver	South Dakota State
DB	Michael	Olowo	Northern Iowa
DB	Makahi	Shahid	Youngstown State
DB	Jorge	Valdes	Indiana State
DB	Tim	White	South Dakota
LS	Ryan	Algrim	Southern Illinois
LS	Caleb	Bowers	North Dakota State
LS	Dylan	Calabrese	Illinois State
LS	Byron	Floyd	Youngstown State
LS	Kaydon	Olivia	South Dakota State
P	Hayden	Futch	Illinois State
P	Paul	Geelen	Southern Illinois
P	Brendon	Kilpatrick	Youngstown State
P	Tom	O'Hara	Murray State
P	Harry	Traum	Indiana State
PK	Paul	Geelen	Southern Illinois
PK	Andrew	Lastovka	Youngstown State
PK	Will	Leyland	South Dakota
RS	Jackson	Williams	North Dakota State
AP	RaJa	Nelson	North Dakota State