Drake football team hoping to 'raise the bar' in 2024

Before the start of each season, Drake football coach Todd Stepsis and some of his players come up with a theme. The words represent what the Bulldogs want to accomplish and how they want to play during the upcoming campaign.

This season’s theme: Raise the bar.

“How can we do better than we were last year is the big thing that everyone felt,“ Drake defensive lineman Finn Claypool said Monday during the Bulldogs' media day. “That’s something that the 'raise the bar' mentality (embodies). How can we be better than we were a year ago with the same people?”

The Bulldogs will try to follow up their 2023 championship season with an even better performance in 2024. It all starts when Drake hosts Quincy on Aug. 29 at Drake Stadium.

“We’re talking about how we do things better than we’ve ever done before,” Stepsis said.

This collection of Drake players has already accomplished a lot. Drake is coming off one of its best seasons in more than a decade after going 8-4 overall and 8-0 in Pioneer Football League play. The undefeated league record gave the Bulldogs their first PFL title since 2012 and first outright conference crown since 2004.

The "raise the bar" theme, selected by Stepsis and 12 of his players (one from every position group), was a unanimous pick. Last season's theme was "be the change." The hope was that it would push the Bulldogs, who had struggled the last few seasons, to regain their footing.

It worked. The 2023 campaign was historic for the Bulldogs. But the way Stepsis and his players see it, there’s room for growth and more accomplishments. A few of the areas they could improve on: their non-conference play and how they handled opponents in the PFL.

Drake went 0-3 in non-conference play last season and then fell to North Dakota State in the first round of the FCS playoffs. Drake’s run through the PFL schedule also had its share of close calls. With eight returners on offense and eight on defense, the Bulldogs see ways to raise the bar. Claypool, the PFL Defensive Player of the Year with 57 tackles a season ago, headlines the defense. Quarterback Luke Bailey, who threw for 2,557 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, also is back.

Stepsis said the team hopes to improve on its winless non-conference record and play more consistent when PFL play rolls around. He then has his sights set on winning at least one playoff game. If the Bulldogs can do that, they’ll enter uncharted territory.

“I think that would be fantastic,” Stepsis said.

It’s not unrealistic for a Bulldog team that is picked to win the PFL in the league’s annual preseason poll. Drake hasn’t won back-to-back titles since 2011-12. Claypool said that shortly after Drake’s season-ending loss to North Dakota State, he and his teammates started thinking about 2024.

They saw who they had coming back and what they had already accomplished and figured with some fine-tuning and improvement, they could be even more successful.

“We knew that’s what we have to do this year, that's something that wasn’t necessarily needed to be said but we all felt it a little bit and I think that’s the expectation of our team is we want to win every single conference game we play in by far and we want to do it better than last year.”

Another PFL crown would give Drake another automatic bid into the FCS playoffs. That would present another chance to raise the bar.

"We not only want to run it back in the PFL," said Drake offensive lineman Bennet Krebs. "We want to kind of make a name for ourselves nationally and really cement ourselves as a top-25 program as somebody who can compete with the best of the best."

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake football team hoping to 'raise the bar' in 2024