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Tennessee Tech has been voted the favorite in the OVC-Big South Football Association preseason football poll for the 2025 campaign by the league’s head coaches.
Tennessee Tech was one of four teams that shared the Association Championship a year ago, the team's first Conference crown since 2011.
The Golden Eagles picked up five of the nine first-place votes and 57 points to claim the top spot. That was one point ahead of UT Martin, who received two first-place votes and 56 points. The Skyhawks have won or shared four-straight league football crowns (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). Southeast Missouri, who also shared the Association title last year, picked up the other two first-place votes and 53 points and was tabbed third.
Lindenwood, who has completed the reclassification process to Division I and is eligible for the FCS Playoffs for the first time, was picked fourth (39 points) and followed by Western Illinois (30), Eastern Illinois and Gardner-Webb (24 points apiece), Tennessee State (23) and Charleston Southern (18).
The 2025 season will kickoff on Thursday, August 28 when Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood and UT Martin open play. Western Illinois begins its season a day later, with the final five teams (Charleston Southern, Gardner-Webb, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech) beginning on Saturday, August 30.
The Association-portion of the 2025 season will start on Saturday, September 13 when Lindenwood travels to Charleston Southern. The first full weekend of Association play will be on Saturday, October 4 when eight teams are in action. The nine OVC-Big South teams will once again play a full eight-game round robin schedule with the Association champion receiving an automatic bid to the FCS Playoffs.
2025 OVC-BIG SOUTH PRESEASON POLL
| Rk - School (first-place votes) |
Points |
| 1 - Tennessee Tech (5 first-place) |
57 |
| 2 - UT Martin (2) |
56 |
| 3 - Southeast Missouri (2) |
53 |
| 4 - Lindenwood |
39 |
| 5 - Western Illinois |
30 |
| 6t - Eastern Illinois |
24 |
| 6t - Gardner-Webb |
24 |
| 8 - Tennessee State |
23 |
| 9 - Charleston Southern |
18 |
Note: points are based on a weighted system, with first-place votes receiving 8 points, followed by 7 points for second-place, and so on. Coaches could not vote for their own team.