WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University football team has been picked to finish fourth in the 2024 Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Coaches Preseason Poll.

BW, who was picked third a season ago and finished fourth, was selected fourth with 59 points by the league's coaches.  Defending OAC Champion the University of Mount Union was the unanimous first place choice with 80 points and 8 first place votes.  Crosstown rival John Carroll University, who is playing its final season in the OAC, was slated second with 74 points and two first place votes.  Marietta College, who finished third last year, was tabbed in third with 63 points.  Rounding out the top five was Heidelberg University was with 47 points.

The Yellow Jackets and eighth-year head coach Jim Hilvert return 46 letterwinners, 13 starters, 10 Academic All-OAC honorees and two All-OAC players from last year's squad that finished with an overall record of 6-4 and 6-3 mark in the league.

BW opens the 2024 season on Saturday, September 7 when it hosts longtime rival Wittenberg University in the 46th Lee Tressel Shrine Classic on the Tressel Field inside the George Finnie Stadium at 12 p.m.

Full OAC preseason poll (first-place votes in parentheses), followed by points:
1. Mount Union (8), 80
2. John Carroll (2), 74
3. Marietta, 63
4. Baldwin Wallace, 59
5. Heidelberg, 47
6. Muskingum, 41
7. Ohio Northern, 35
8. Capital, 19
T9. Otterbein, 16
T9. Wilmington, 16