The Drake football team wants to return to championship contention this season. The Bulldogs last won the Pioneer Football League title in 2000, the ninth-straight winning season under coach Rob Ash. Since then, the Bulldogs have posted three straight non-winning seasons. Experience will be a plus this year as Drake returns 20 starters from last year’s team that finished six-and-six. One of the few losses from last season was standout running back Jonathan Taylor and Ash says they’ve had more scrimmages to help find a replacement. Ash says the defense suffered for a few years in part because so many assistant coaches were hired by bigger programs. There were no changes this year. Two years ago, Drake yielded an average of 39-points per game. Last year that number was reduced to 25 and Ash expects more strides this season. The Bulldogs open the season September 2nd at Southwest Missouri State.