MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Defending champion Aurora University has been named the favorite to capture the 2025 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) football crown according to the annual preseason poll released Tuesday.
Aurora secured 162 points and all 18 first-place tallies in the poll, which consists of votes from the league's head football coaches and athletics communications professionals. The Spartans finished 9-2 overall and 8-0 in league play to win the 2024 crown. Aurora received a first-round bye in the NCAA Division III Football Championship before falling 49-21 at Hope College in the second round. The Spartans
enter the 2025 season having won 46 consecutive league games.
St. Norbert College, which finished second a year ago with a 7-1 league record and defeated Monmouth (Ill.), 20-14, in the Lakefront Bowl, was a clear choice for the runner-up spot in the poll with 139 points. Wisconsin Lutheran College secured third place with 109 points, just ahead of Concordia University Wisconsin (104) and Benedictine University (99). Lakeland University (77 points) finished sixth, and Concordia University Chicago edged Rockford University, 50-49, for seventh place. Eureka College rounds out this year's poll in ninth place with 21 points.
National Preseason Rankings: Aurora enters the 2025 season ranked 22nd in the D3football.com Preseason Top 25 and 24th in the AFCA Division III Preseason Coaches Poll. Additionally, four players were named to the D3football.com Preseason All-America Team. Aurora junior safety
Andrew Nordland was named to the second team, while Aurora junior defensive end
JP Chaney, Rockford junior linebacker
Joey Alvarez, and St. Norbert senior guard
Lucas Tappy were third-team selections.
Fall 2025 Schedule: Concordia Wisconsin will be the first NACC program to take the field this fall, traveling to Greenville, Pennsylvania, to face Thiel College on Friday, Sept. 5.
The remainder of the NACC gets underway the following day - Saturday, Sept. 6 - with eight home contests. St. Norbert hosts Wabash, Beloit travels down Interstate 39 to face Rockford, Wisconsin Lutheran welcomes St. Scholastica, Minnesota-Morris is at Concordia Chicago, Buena Vista travels to Benedictine, Lakeland hosts Carthage, Aurora hosts UW-Platteville, and Eureka hosts Knox in their annual Lincoln Trophy game.
The 36-game NACC slate begins on Saturday, Sept. 20 with Concordia Chicago hosting St. Norbert, Benedictine traveling to Aurora, Rockford entertaining Eureka, and Concordia Wisconsin venturing to Wisconsin Lutheran, while Lakeland is idle. The Muskies jump into league play the following weekend (Sept. 27) on the road at Rockford.
The highest-placed team in the league standings - once all necessary tiebreakers have been applied - will receive the NACC's automatic berth in the 2025 NCAA Divison III Football Championship. For the past three seasons, a second NACC program has received a berth in the Lakefront Bowl. At this point, however, bowl organizers have not made a decision regarding the 2025 edition of the game.
2025 NACC Football Preseason Poll
| Institution |
Points |
| Aurora (18) |
162 |
| St. Norbert |
139 |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
109 |
| Concordia Wisconsin |
104 |
| Benedictine |
99 |
| Lakeland |
77 |
| Concordia Chicago |
50 |
| Rockford |
49 |
| Eureka |
21 |