Lake Forest College football enters the 2026 season ranked No. 2 in the Midwest Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, released Thursday, July 30, trailing only defending champion Monmouth College.

Only Monmouth ranked higher.

The Foresters collected 90 points and two first-place votes from the league's 11 head coaches. Monmouth tallied 99 points and topped nine of 11 ballots, according to the conference's announcement. University of Chicago (80 points), Illinois College (77), and Ripon College (59) rounded out the top five.

The ranking reflects a program on a sustained run. Lake Forest went 7-3 overall and 7-2 in conference play last season, captured MWC titles in 2021, 2022, and 2024, and is 39-6 in league games over the past five years, according to the college's athletics department. The team is chasing its fourth conference championship in six years and ninth in school history.

Four First Team All-MWC selections return this fall: quarterback Ethan Springer, tight end James Jordan (also named 2025 MWC Newcomer of the Year), linebacker Blake Ware, and punter Jakob Gump. In 2025, the Foresters averaged 42.3 points per game, a school record that ranked 18th nationally, while allowing just 14.3 points per contest.

Head coach Jim Catanzaro begins his 18th season leading the program. Catanzaro, the winningest coach in Lake Forest football history, notched his 100th career victory with a 38-0 rout of Ripon College on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. He also serves as the college's assistant vice president for athletics, a role he assumed in May 2025.

"We have experienced tremendous success in the past and I am going to do everything I can to support our student-athletes, coaches, and administrative staff as we pursue even loftier goals going forward," Catanzaro said in May 2025, when he was named to the athletics director post.

The season opener has a personal angle for the coach: Greenville University, the Saturday, Sept. 5 opponent at Farwell Field, is Catanzaro's alma mater, where he started every game and earned all-conference honors on both sides of the ball. The game also doubles as the program's annual Heroes Day, a community-service tradition.

Lake Forest opens conference play against Grinnell College approximately two weeks after the home opener. Homecoming against Lawrence University is set for October 13, and the regular season wraps up at the University of Chicago on Saturday, Nov. 14.

The MWC champion earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament. The Foresters are 54-13 at Farwell Field over the last 14 seasons, giving residents plenty of reason to walk through the gates this fall.