Not happy with the NCUN name. I do understand that the President and Board of Trustees felt it was important to work university and Naperville into the name while retaining North Central, but this sure seems like the clumsiest of ways to do it. As others have pointed out, North Central University Naperville seems to label us as another school's branch campus.  I'm not sure that's an improvement on the community college-esque North Central College.

Personally, I prefer the branding contained in the current logo, which keeps the NCC name, includes the founding year (1861) to avoid misidentification as a community college, and identifies the school as Naperville's University.

Quote from: The Third Division on January 09, 2026, 05:58:12 PM2026 D3 Football Map is here.

visit TheThirdDivision.com to see it!

I don't see Millsaps.

Quote from: Raider 68 on September 05, 2026, 04:13:34 PMNot surprised by the result. Wheaton was due. The Color man for the game Doug Fairchild, I think, was one of the best I have heard for his knowledge of the game at any level!

I believe the Wheaton analyst is an NFL veteran and a frequent poster on d3boards.  He's really good.

Quote from: cubs on January 06, 2026, 10:57:35 AMIt's interesting/entertaining to go back and read some of the predictions from before the game... The common theme seemed to be that the River Falls defense would struggle to stop North Central. Ironically, that unit posts a shutout in the second half against the vaunted North Central offense despite just one turnover, albeit an incredible individual play by a d-lineman in the 4th quarter.

While Blaha was the best player on the field, that that River Falls defense stood tall and deserves a ton of credit for the Stagg Bowl victory!

Agree!  If some omniscient being had told me before the game that the NCC defense would limit UWRF's offense & Blaha to 24 points, I'd have felt pretty confident the Cardinals would win.  UWRF D vs. NCC O was the difference.

Quote from: robertgoulet on January 05, 2026, 08:56:14 AMOne thing that completely missed me when I was thinking about this matchup was that Wilson is in his 1st season as starting QB, is only a true sophomore and has not really been tested for more than 1/2 a game. Should have expected some growing pains, I guess.

Going to take a look at the NCC 2 deep and see what they lose going into next year, at some point.

Stagg Bowl passing stats of NCC first-year QBs

	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Long	Sack
Lehnen vs. UMHB	18	27	202	1	3	30	3
Wilson vs. UWRF	18	28	194	0	2	30	3

Eerily similar, eh?
I recall vaguely that Lehnen went on to do pretty well in years 2-4, so I'm hoping for the same from Wilson!   

Quote from: RFBredux on December 11, 2025, 02:03:00 PMWut?!

https://willamette.edu/bettertogether/

Seems a bit like a Claremont Colleges Northwest?

See also https://www.otterbein.edu/news/otterbein-university-and-antioch-university-establish-coalition-for-the-common-good/

Yes, NPI is now the only criterion used to select Pool C teams. As soon as the final game was played on Saturday of week 11 the NPI scores, Pool C teams, and positions of the top 4 seeds within the bracket were locked in.  The drama came in projecting the remainder of the bracket. I'm sure Pat discussed this in a podcast, but I don't know which one. You can see the final NPI ratings and the 13 Pool C teams determined thereby at D3 Datacast.

https://northcentralcardinals.com/news/2025/12/10/north-central-mourns-loss-of-former-football-coach-jeff-thorne.aspx

Quote from: BDB on December 07, 2025, 10:04:52 AMWe've got 2 local teams in the quarter finals that are about 45 minutes apart.

Western Wiscy forecast for Saturday is 3 above. Naperville probably plenty cold too.

Good times. Dress warm fredfalcon!

Naperville forecast is a balmy +9°.

In order to minimize air travel it's customary for the playoff bracketeers to pair 2 west coast teams and 2 Texas teams in opening games.  In 2024 both of these games among 'island' teams occurred in the 1st round.  The west coast winner was then sent to 5th seed NCC in round 2. I could see that happening again, as Whitworth & Chapman are likely destined for a 1st round matchup given their current NPI rankings of 32 & 37 among probable playoff teams.

(This year the teams on the Texas island, Hardin-Simmons & Trinity, have high NPI scores, so their contest may be delayed until round 2.)

Well then, why IS WashU soon to be a CCIW football excommunicatus?  I've never heard a good reason. 

Quote from: CarollFan on November 02, 2025, 09:51:17 AMUpdated NPI's.

https://d3datacast.com/npi/fb/

NCC #4
Wheaton #27
Augie #53
WashU #59
IWU #108
Carroll #140
Carthage #150
NPU #155
Millikin #185
Elmhurst #216

More importantly, Wheaton is #10 among likely Pool C candidates. Per Logan Hansen's simulations, Wheaton has pretty nearly a lock on a Pool C spot. https://loghan.shinyapps.io/hansen-ratings-diii-football-season-simulation-distributions/

Quote from: GusD on October 09, 2025, 10:16:43 PMDon't know how common this is in the CCIW or any other conference around the country for that matter, but after North Central's big win over Wheaton Sat night they put on a pretty darn nice fireworks display. 💥 💫 ✨

Regarding the postgame festivities... I'm just relieved NCC was victorious. That postgame light show & fireworks would have felt wrong after a loss!

Quote from: WUPHF on September 17, 2025, 03:19:57 PM

Quote from: CarollFan on September 17, 2025, 01:47:01 PMCCIW announcement on CUW

From the press release:

The Falcons sponsor 30 sports overall – 25 NCAA sports, two emerging NCAA sports and three non-NCAA sports. CUW sponsors 22 of the CCIW's 26 sports.

Concordia sponsors shooting and triathlon, but not bass or walleye fishing.

I did not realize that triathlon was a college sport, but I learn something every day.

Women's triathlon is indeed a (non-NCAA) college sport, though just 41 schools across all divisions sponsor it currently. In addition to CUW, both Millikin and NCC have varsity programs, and NCC's team has finished 1st or 2nd among D3 schools since 2017. 

Example: Of the three football games played at CCIW stadia in weeks 1 & 2, only Elmhurst's 9/13 game is available. The IWU & NCC games are not.