NAPERVILLE – Less than a year removed from its fourth consecutive trip to the Stagg Bowl, North Central received 14 of a possible 25 first-place votes to claim the top spot in Wednesday’s D3football.com preseason poll. Wheaton, last season’s CCIW runner-up, was slotted ninth.
 
The Cardinals notched 614 points in the poll, nine ahead of last season’s national champion Cortland, which received the other 11 first-place votes on Wednesday. NCC went 14-1 a year ago, its only loss a 38-37 defeat to Cortland on Dec. 15 in the Stagg Bowl. The decision ended the Cardinals’ 29-game win streak that included a 28-21 win over Mount Union in the 2022 national title game.
 
Including Wednesday’s announcement, NCC has been the nation’s top-ranked team in 32 of the last 39 polls from D3football.com since the 2021 preseason.
 
NCC is scheduled to begin the 2024 season on Saturday, Sept. 14 at reigning Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference champion Aurora at 6 p.m.
 
Wheaton cracked the preseason top-10 after winning 10 games and qualifying for the second round of the Division III playoffs last fall. Wednesday’s poll marked the 12th consecutive season the Thunder have appeared in the preseason Top 25 released by D3football.com.
 
Wheaton’s season opener is slated for Saturday, Sept. 7 at 1 p.m. at Wisconsin-Oshkosh.