ST. LOUIS – The Pioneer Football League released its Preseason Coaches' Poll and for the seventh consecutive year, San Diego has been picked to win the regular-season race. 

Morehead State was picked eighth after finishing 4-7 in 2016.

The PFL will announce its preseason All-PFL teams, Tuesday morning.

"We are excited about the upcoming season and believe that we can compete for a PFL title, just like we did in 2015. That season, we were picked near the bottom of the league and used that as motivation throughout the season. We're looking to do the same in 2017," said head coach Rob Tenyer.

The Eagles graduated quarterback Austin Gahafer and wideout Jake Raymond, who both left Morehead with several PFL records.

Redshirt sophomore running back Trevor Jones returns after rushing for 500 yards and nine touchdowns in a pass-dependent offense last season. Second-Team All-PFL defensive lineman Colt Briggs also return for the Eagles.

San Diego, which won the 2016 regular-season title then advanced to the second round of the FCS Championship, again received the coaches' nod to win the 2017 PFL title. The Toreros were chosen just ahead of Dayton in polling that was dominated by the two teams. San Diego and Dayton combined to receive all available first-place votes and claimed all but two of the possible second-place votes.

The Toreros received nine first-place votes and a lone second-place vote to finish with 99 of the maximum 100 points possible. Dayton earned two first-place votes and eight second-place votes, finishing with 92 points.

A group of four teams – separated by just seven points – were closely bunched behind the leading duo. Marist was picked to finish third with 69 points, followed by Drake in fourth place with 67 points. Campbell and Jacksonville were picked to finish tied for fifth with 62 points each.

Behind the top six were Butler (49), Morehead State (42), Stetson (29), Valparaiso (24) and Davidson (10).

The upcoming 2017 season marks the 25th year for the Pioneer Football League – the nation's only non-scholarship, football-only NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The league will feature 11 teams each playing an eight-game schedule to determine the league champion and recipient of the automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Championship.

The 2017 schedule gets underway Thursday, Aug. 31 when Morehead State and Campbell open their home schedules while Jacksonville opens up on the road. The league's other eight teams begin the schedule the following Saturday. The PFL regular-season race gets an early Week 2 start when Stetson travels to Marist, Sept. 9. The first full week of the PFL schedule follows two weeks later with a five-game slate, Sept. 23.