The Cortland football team is ranked 23rd nationally in the 2026 D3football.com preseason poll.

The Red Dragons finished 8-3 last season. Cortland won its fifth straight Empire 8 title with a 7-0 league mark and earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament. The Red Dragons lost at Springfield, 21-7, in the first round.
 
Under second-year head coach Tom Blumenauer, the Red Dragons will open the season with road contests at Grove City College, a 2025 NCAA at-large selection, on Sept. 5 and at defending Liberty League champion Union College on Sept. 12.
 
Cortland's home opener and Empire 8 opening contest will be versus Hartwick on Sept. 19. The Red Dragons also host league games versus Morrisville on Sept. 26, St. John Fisher on Oct. 24 and Alfred State on Oct. 31. Cortland's road slate in the conference includes Utica on Oct. 3, Alfred University on Oct. 17 and Brockport on Nov. 7.
 
The regular season closes Nov. 14 with the annual Cortaca Jug game versus Ithaca College. That game will be held at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx as the rivalry match returns to the storied facility for the first time since 2022.
 
Cortland is a combined 53-8 over the past five seasons. The Red Dragons won Empire 8 titles with 6-0 records in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and 7-0 records in 2024 and 2025.