The Midwest Conference released its 2019 Football Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and Lake Forest College was ranked third in the North Division.
Voting is done by the MWC head football coaches. Each coach votes for the other five schools in the same division, as well as the six programs in the other half of the league. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting within in the division (six points for first, five for second, etc.).
The Foresters are moving to the North Division in 2019 after back-to-back runner-up finishes and 4-1 league records the last two years. posted their second straight 8-2 season in 2017 and came out on top in four of five MWC South Division games to place second in that half of the league. A dozen players on the team were named All-MWC South, including five returning players (punter Michael Bounds, linebackers Jordan McInerney and Johnny Laponte, offensive lineman John Colassaco, and tight end Noah Recker). Eight starters return on defense and five on offense in Jim Catanzaro's 11th season as head coach.
Lake Forest will open the 2019 season with four non-conference games, the first under the lights at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Thursday, September 5. After celebrating Homecoming against Knox College on October 6, the Foresters will open MWC North play the following week at Macalester College. After facing each member of the division, the team will be on the road for MWC Championship Week on November 16 against the team that finishes in the same place in the South standings.
2018 MWC Preseason Coaches Poll
| PLACE | NORTH TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | St. Norbert College (12) | 72 |
| 2 | Ripon College | 52 |
| 3 | Lake Forest College | 51 |
| 4 | Macalester College | 40 |
| 5 | Lawrence University | 24 |
| 6 | Beloit College | 13 |
| PLACE | SOUTH TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Monmouth College (7) | 66 |
| 2 | University of Chicago (5) | 65 |
| 3 | Illinois College | 46 |
| 4 | Knox College | 33 |
| 5 | Cornell College | 30 |
| 6 | Grinnell College | 12 |
