Youngstown State is ranked 23rd in the American Football Coaches Association preseason poll.

The Penguins are one of seven Missouri Valley Conference schools in the poll.  All eleven schools received votes.

Rank School (1st votes) 2023 Pts. Season Opener
1 South Dakota St. (25) 15-0 649 Aug. 31 at Oklahoma St.
2 North Dakota St. 11-4 614 Aug. 29 at Colorado
3 Montana 13-2 576 Aug. 31 vs. Missouri St.
4 Montana St. 8-4 518 Aug. 24 at New Mexico
5 South Dakota 10-3 512 Aug. 29 vs. Northern St.
6 Villanova 10-3 502 Aug. 29 vs. No. 23 Youngstown St.
7 Idaho 9-4 473 Aug. 31 at Oregon
8 Chattanooga 8-5 403 Aug. 31 at Tennessee
9 Furman 10-3 392 Aug. 31 at Ole Miss
10 Sacramento St. 8-5 382 Aug. 29 at San Jose St.
11 Southern Illinois 8-5 370 Aug. 31 at BYU
12 Richmond 9-4 353 Aug. 31 at Virginia
13 Central Arkansas 7-4 339 Aug. 31 at Arkansas St.
14 UAlbany 11-4 275 Aug. 31 vs. LIU
15 UIW 9-2 259 Aug. 31 vs. Northern Colorado
16 William & Mary 6-5 196 Aug. 29 vs. VMI
17 UC Davis 7-4 164 Aug. 31 at California
18 Lafayette 9-3 157 Aug. 29 at Buffalo
19 Western Carolina 7-4 144 Aug. 29 at NC State
20 Illinois St. 6-5 143 Aug. 31 at Iowa
21 Tarleton 8-3 137 Aug. 24 vs. McNeese
22 North Dakota 7-5 131 Aug. 31 at Iowa St.
23 Youngstown St. 8-5 97 Aug. 29 at No. 6 Villanova
24 Nicholls 6-5 91 Aug. 31 at Louisiana Tech
25 Florida A&M (1) 12-1 71 Aug. 24 vs. Norfolk St.

 
Others Receiving Votes: Weber St., 66; North Carolina Central, 53; Eastern Illinois, 50; UT Martin, 38; Austin Peay, 35; Northern Iowa, 33; Harvard, 32; Yale, 31; Mercer, 27; Holy Cross, 20; Howard, 20; Alabama St., 17; Northern Arizona, 17; Elon, 16; Alcorn St., 9; Duquesne, 7; North Carolina A&T, 6; Fordham, 5; Gardner-Webb, 4; Indiana St., 3; Missouri St., 3; Butler, 2; Eastern Kentucky, 2; Southeast Missouri St., 2; Eastern Washington, 1; Murray St., 1; Samford, 1; Utah Tech, 1.