Findlay, Ohio - The American Football Coaches' Association (AFCA) announced their annual Preseason Coaches Poll on Tuesday, August 18 ahead of the 2026 season and the Oilers, which earned a playoff bid last season, find themselves slotted in at No. 16 in the country in the ranking. This is just the second time in program history that Findlay has appeared in an AFCA Preseason Poll with the last coming back in 2018 the the Oilers started that campaign ranked No. 25.
 

Rank	School	2025 Record	2025 Rank
1	Ferris St. (31)	16-0	1
2	Harding	15-1	2
3	Kutztown	14-1	3
4	Pittsburg St.	10-3	6
5	Minnesota St.	10-4	8
6	Colorado St.-Pueblo	10-2	11
7	Central Washington	10-2	13
8	Northwest Missouri St.	9-3	17
9t.	Grand Valley St.	7-3	NR
9t.	UIndy	11-2	10
11	Western Colorado	10-3	12
12	Minnesota-Duluth	10-2	16
13	Ashland	10-3	15
14	Virginia Union	9-3	21
15	Newberry	12-2	4
16	Findlay	10-2	19
17	Frostburg St.	11-3	14
18	UT Permian Basin	11-3	5
19	Wingate	9-3	NR
20	Augustana (S.D.)	9-2	25
21	Albany St.	12-2	7
22	Western Oregon	8-3	NR
23	Johnson C. Smith	10-2	18
24	Ouachita Baptist	7-4	NR
25	Indiana (Pa.)	7-4	NR