MILWAUKEE, Wis. (naccsports.org) --- Aurora University, which saw a streak of six straight Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) football titles snapped last fall, has been selected as the favorite to capture the 2026 crown according to the annual preseason poll released Thursday.
Aurora secured 149 points and 12 of 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 8-3 overall and took second in the league with a 6-2 mark, capping the season with a 49-14 victory over Illinois College in the SmileyCookie.com Lakefront Bowl.
Defending champion Concordia University Wisconsin, emerged from a tight pack for the runner-up spot with 132 points and three first-place votes. The Falcons went 9-2 overall and 8-0 in league play to the win the 2025 crown, falling to Coe College, 44-7, in the first round of the NCAA Division III Football Championship.
St. Norbert College secured third place with 122 points, just ahead of Benedictine University with 115 points. The Eagles received two first-place votes. Wisconsin Lutheran College (90) sits fifth, followed by Lakeland University (74), Concordia University Chicago (59), Rockford University (38), and Eureka College (31; 1 FPV).
National Preseason Rankings / Preseason All-Americans: Aurora is receiving votes in the D3football.com Preseason Poll, while Concordia Wisconsin is receiving votes in the AFCA Division III Preseason Coaches Poll. Additionally, three players were named to the D3football.com Preseason All-America Team. Aurora senior defensive end
JP Chaney was named to the first team, Lakeland sophomore cornerback
Zelmarious Banks was named to the second team, and Rockford linebacker
Joey Alvarez was named to the third team. It is the second year in a row that Chaney and Alvarez have been named on D3football's preseason list.
New Coaches: There will be one new head coach in the NACC in 2026 as
Dion Jordan takes over at Eureka. Jordan, an eight-year NFL veteran who was selected third overall by the Miami Dolphins in the 2013 NFL Draft, has spent the last two seasons as the associate head coach in the Red Devils program. In that role, he played a major role in coordinating the Eureka defense.
Fall 2026 Schedule: Rockford and Lakeland will get a jump on the rest of the conference with their season openers. Rockford makes the short trek up Interstate 39 to face Beloit on Thursday, Sept. 3, while Lakeland travels to Carthage the following day (Friday, Sept. 4).
The remainder of the NACC gets underway that Saturday (Sept. 5). Benedictine travels to Buena Vista, St. Norbert hosts Carroll (Wis.), Concordia Chicago is at Minnesota-Morris, Concordia Wisconsin heads to Ripon, Wisconsin Lutheran ventures to St. Scholastica, Aurora is at No. 6 UW-Platteville, and Eureka hosts Knox in the annual Lincoln Trophy game.
The 36-game NACC slate begins on Saturday, Sept. 19 with Wisconsin Lutheran hosting Lakeland, Rockford traveling to Concordia Chicago, Concordia Wisconsin entertaining Aurora, and St. Norbert venturing to Eureka, while Benedictine is idle. The Eagles jump into league play the following Saturday (Sept. 26) at home against Eureka.
The highest-placed team in the league standings - once all necessary tiebreakers have been applied - will receive the NACC's automatic berth in the 2026 NCAA Divison III Football Championship. For the fifth consecutive season, a second NACC program will receive a berth in the SmileyCookie.com Lakefront Bowl, slated for Saturday, Nov. 21, at Carroll University's Schneider Stadium in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
2026 NACC Football Preseason Poll
| Institution |
Points |
| Aurora (12) |
149 |
| Concordia Wisconsin (3) |
132 |
| St. Norbert |
122 |
| Benedictine (2) |
115 |
| Wisconsin Lutheran |
90 |
| Lakeland |
74 |
| Concordia Chicago |
59 |
| Rockford |
38 |
| Eureka (1) |
31 |