FERRUM — Ferrum coach Dave Davis disagrees with the judgment of some of his USA South peers.

Ferrum, coming off its first NCAA Division III playoff appearance since 1990, was picked to win the USA South title this season in the league coaches’ preseason poll. But Davis, who returns only four offensive starters, begs to differ.

“That’s ridiculous,” said Davis, whose team went 9-2 last fall. “It’s not worth the paper it’s written on. … There’s not a lot of logic put into it.”

The Panthers tied for the USA South regular-season title last fall and earned the league’s automatic playoff bid because they had beaten co-champ Methodist. The players, at least, are confident they can get back to the postseason.

“We’ve got the team to do it,” quarterback Jermaine Pitts said. “We most definitely have the talent.”

Ferrum led Division III in rushing offense (361.4 ypg) last season and ranked 14th in scoring offense (39.9 ppg) with its option scheme, which employs three running backs.

But the ground game is a question mark this season because Davis must replace halfbacks Terrell Mulford, who ran for 1,079 yards and 15 touchdowns, and Dustin Hamoy. Hamoy ran for 686 yards and nine TDs and caught a team-high 14 passes.

“We’ve got a lot of [halfbacks], most of them young,” Davis said. “All of them can run, but that’s only a part of our offense. You have to block in our offense, and you have to know who to block. That’s where we’re having trouble right now, developing that understanding.”

The other elements of Ferrum’s ground game are back, though. Pitts ran for 849 yards and nine TDs, and fullback Jacob Hawkins (Floyd County) rushed for 719 yards and five TDs.

Pitts, who will be a four-year starter, finally became an effective passer last season. He completed 44 of 90 passes for 952 yards and 14 TDs with five interceptions.

Ferrum lost four starters on the offensive line, but Davis is pleased with their replacements.

Davis is changing his defense, switching from a 4-3 set to a 4-2-5 so he can add a fifth defensive back. The addition of another safety means linebacker Matt Spangler (Northside) has lost his starting job.

“We had to restructure our defense because everybody’s throwing the ball so much,” said Davis, who lost four starters on defense. “We had to … get more athletes on the field that could match up with them better.”

For the first time since 1984, Ferrum won’t play Emory & Henry this season. Davis said Wasps second-year coach Don Montgomery decided to drop Ferrum this year but agreed to play the Panthers again next year once he realized the “importance” of the series.

Ferrum wasn’t informed it was being dropped until late last spring. Davis wasn’t able to find a replacement, so Ferrum will play only nine games this season.

Ferrum will get a big test on Sept. 16 when five-time defending ODAC champ Bridgewater pays a visit. The teams haven’t met since 1999.

BC replaces Chowan, which is in the process of moving up to Division II. This is the first time since 1992 that Chowan isn’t on the schedule.

Ferrum’s other nonleague foe is Guilford. The teams have met annually since 1995, but Guilford is dropping Ferrum after this season in favor of a weaker foe — Southern Virginia. Guilford coach Kevin Kiesel said the Buena Vista school is “more academically like us.”