Drake football coach Todd Stepsis talks about his 2024 team
Drake football coach Todd Stepsis talks about his team and the upcoming season
Before the start of each season, Drake football coach Todd Stepsis and some of his players come up with a motto. The words represent what the Bulldogs want to accomplish and how they plan to play in the upcoming season.
The theme of this season: Raise the bar.
“How can we do better than last year, that was the big topic that everyone was asking,” Drake defensive lineman Finn Claypool said Monday during the Bulldogs’ media day. “That’s something that embodies the ‘raise the bar’ mentality. How can we be better than we were a year ago with the same people?”
The Bulldogs will look to build on their 2023 championship season with an even better performance in 2024. It all starts when Drake hosts Quincy at Drake Stadium on August 29th.
“We talk about how we do things better than ever before,” Stepsis said.
This group of Drake players has already accomplished a lot. Drake is coming off one of its best seasons in more than a decade, having finished 8-4 overall and 8-0 in the Pioneer Football League. The undefeated league record gave the Bulldogs their first PFL title since 2012 and their first sole conference title since 2004.
The motto “Raise the Bar,” which Stepsis and 12 of his players (one from each position group) chose, was a unanimous choice. Last season’s motto was “Be the Change.” The hope was that it would get the Bulldogs, who have struggled over the past few seasons, back on their feet.
It worked. The 2023 season was historic for the Bulldogs. But Stepsis and his players still see room for growth and further success. Some areas where they could improve are their non-conference play and how they deal with opponents in the PFL.
Drake went 0-3 in non-conference play last season, then lost to North Dakota State in the first round of the FCS playoffs. Drake’s run through the PFL schedule was also marked by close calls. With eight returning offensive linemen and eight defensive linemen, the Bulldogs see opportunities to raise the bar.
Stepsis said they hope to improve their winless record outside of the conference and play more consistently when the PFL rolls around. Then he has set his sights on winning at least one playoff game. If the Bulldogs can do that, they will be in uncharted territory.
“I think that would be fantastic,” said Stepsis.
It’s not unrealistic for a Bulldogs team to be tipped to win the PFL in the league’s annual preseason poll. Drake hasn’t won back-to-back titles since 2011-12. Claypool said he and his teammates started thinking about 2024 shortly after Drake’s season-ending loss to North Dakota State.
They saw who was coming back to them and what they had already accomplished, and thought that with some fine-tuning and improvement, they could be even more successful.
“We knew we had to do that this year. It didn’t necessarily need to be said, but we all felt it a little bit and I think that’s the expectation for our team: We want to win every single conference game we play by a long shot and do better than we did last year.”
Another PFL title would give Drake another automatic berth in the FCS playoffs, another chance to raise the bar.
“We don’t just want to be a running back in the PFL,” Drake offensive lineman Bennet Krebs said. “We want to make a name for ourselves nationally and establish ourselves as a top-25 program, as someone that can compete with the best of the best.”
Tommy Birch, a sportswriter and reporter for the Register, has been with the newspaper since 2008. He is Iowa’s 2018, 2020 and 2023 Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at [email protected] or 515-284-8468.
