Drake Football is coming off its two most successful seasons in their history winning the FCS Pioneer League in 2023 and 2024 which included their first ever FCS playoff appearances.
Shortly after the end of the season Coach Todd Stepsis was named head coach at the University of Northern Iowa Panthers (UNI). That coaching move opened the door for Joe Woodley to land the head coaching job after leading the Grandview University Vikings to their second NAIA National Title.
Coach Woodley is coming to Drake and taking over one one of the top football programs in the FCS Pioneer league (the only non-scholarship FCS league in the country).
The upcoming 2025 season marks the 33rd year of the Pioneer Football League. The league has 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 best place to start with a preview is share the numbers over the past 4 years on the Bulldog program.
In looking at the numbers over the past four years – Drake has made Year-over-Year Offensive and Points per game scored gains. They have also improved defensively statistically.
When you look at the Drake Bulldogs progress over the last four years what jumps off the page is how in 2023 and 2024 Drake was an amazing 10-1 in one-score games.
In looking at the trend lines with an 8-4 Record in 2023, if you did not see the actual win-loss record and one-score game record, it statistically was more likely a 4-7 record.
If you dive deeper into the 2023 season the Bulldogs had in the first three weeks games against #17 North Dakota and #1 South Dakota State and lost a OT game against Northwestern College. In Week 3 in 2023 they lost 70-7 to South Dakota State at game at Target Field in Minneapolis where the Twins play. It was a rough 0-3 start to the season.
Whatever was said on that bus ride back to Des Moines from Target Field that Saturday night must have been the Drake Version of the “Win One for the Gipper” speech. The Bulldogs ran off 7 straight wins winning close game after close game (6 One Score Game wins) to win the league make it to the FCS playoffs.
Then in 2024, the Bulldogs again kept that string of one-score wins going on their way, and won the league and made the FCS playoffs in back-to-back years.
The players and coaching staff deserve an incredible amount of credit for getting off the canvas in Minneapolis and going 16-4 since week three of 2023.
Will that string of One Score Dominance repeat itself in 2025?
Coach Woodley comes in with a 25-1 record the past two years, but the Vikings dominated most of their opponents and only had a single one-score game (which I saw them win in person last fall). Close games have not been common for Coach Woodley the past few years. He is now leading a team of Bulldogs who have supreme confidence in tight contests and have won 10 straight one-score games.
The Boys in Blue have been rolling sevens and elevens at the table every time a game is tight – since week 3 in 2023. Now let’s look to this year, and lets start with the 2025 Drake Schedule. When you look at the schedule, the word: Challenging is a great description.
The Bulldogs open the season on Thursday, August 28th in Des Moines against Iowa’s Only Division 2 NCAA Football team the Upper Iowa Peacocks from Fayette, IA, who are coming off arguably their best DII season ever, so that may well be a close contest. New Coach and staff, opening week on a Thursday night makes that game interesting.
The 2025 Drake Schedule in weeks 2 and 3 to put it kindly is daunting. Traveling up to South Dakota and South Dakota State to play two of the top teams in the FCS is a huge challenge. Traveling to any of the four FCS Football schools with Dakota in their name (North or South) is facing a team that is a legitimate national title contender.
If Drake can get to the conference schedule 1-2 and as healthy as possible, they will have a legitimate chance to win the Pioneer League Championship in 2025.
The Preseason poll for the Pioneer League has Drake picked for second . The University of San Diego was chosen as the Pioneer Football League’s preseason favorite in the league’s 2025 Preseason Coaches Poll, which was released on July, 27th, 2025. *Source: Pioneer Football League
Of course, all coaches will say one game at a time, never look ahead, and that is true. As an observer, I took a look ahead. and that week 5 game in San Diego looks like a big contest for the Bulldogs. That road game will likely play a role in determining the league championship
San Diego picked up five first-place votes and was not ranked lower than third by any of the league’s head coaches to earn the poll’s top spot with 94 points. St. Thomas, with 72 points, including a first-place vote, was third in the poll with 72 points. So, the November 8th game at Drake is one to circle on your calendar. St. Thomas has a very proud football history in DIII and now FCS and will show up with a lot of fans from Minnesota wearing purple for that game.
Drake Roster Overview – 122 Players on the Fall 2025 Roster – 30 Former Iowa High School Players playing for the Bulldogs to follow closely this fall are listed below.
In looking at the schedule if I had to set a floor, I would say 5 wins with a ceiling of 8 or 9 wins and the Pioneer League championship trophy.
Drake’s schedule is daunting with the two South Dakota schools. Then in league play from the Pioneer preseason poll they face @San Diego (1), St. Thomas (3), and @Butler, @Dayton, and Moorehead State (ranked 4-6). So, they drew the top 5 teams besides themselves, which were chosen to contend for the title.
Any change at the top with a head coach creates variables, but Drake replaced a top coach with Joe Woodley by convincing him to come crosstown after winning a NAIA national title. Coach Joe Woodley helped build the Grandview Vikings into a National Champion as an assistant coach under his father, and then as head coach again.
Coach Woodley was at Grandview when they started their program in 2008, and the last 5 years went 72-5 as a head coach. That’s a top resume. As a former Iowa High School and Cyclone star with 21 years coaching in Iowa, he knows every program, and has probably been to just about every field where they play high school in the state.
He is an Iowan through and through and has proven for two decades that he and his staff know how to recruit talent. The new era of Drake Football is going to be fun to follow.
I am excited to drive over to Drake Stadium and see that opening night clash against the Upper Iowa Peacocks as the Joe Woodley era kicks off, and watch the many Iowa High School Football stars on each roster suit up for the Peacocks and Bulldogs.
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