Seeing some posts that ARC and OAC submitted a proposal for D3 to adopt the 5 year eligibility rule mirroring D1 and D2. Will be voted on next year, I believe in January.

If NCC or Wheaton lose a non conference game then for playoff positioning they are relying more on the CCIW opponents NPI's. Need to use at least 5 adjusted wins in the calculation. No WashU this year. Who else is going to step up in the CCIW?

Also NCC has Wheaton, Augie, IWU and Carthage at home.

Quote from: WUPHF on August 07, 2026, 03:10:09 PM

Quote from: Ron Boerger on August 07, 2026, 09:04:25 AMAs far as the enrollment drop, you're probably right, because it was their master's and not undergrad enrollment that declined.  The former went from 4,160 -> 2,873 while the latter increased slightly, from 2,813 -> 2,909.  Details:  Fall 2024 Fall 2025 (not blocked). 

The market for Indian international students went from boom to bust, seemingly overnight...

Yes, according to this article 40% of IIT students were international. They also call out cuts to research funding.

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/illinois-institute-of-technology-layoffs/

I don't know if this is same article mentioned in WSJ but this one is not behind a paywall.

https://nypost.com/2026/08/03/us-news/alarming-number-of-small-us-colleges-are-struggling-and-misusing-donations-to-stay-open/

Quote from: D3fanboy on July 31, 2026, 02:28:44 PMMount Union and Bethel are going to be NPI hunting in IL.  I have a feeling only one of them comes out alive

Yes, a road win for either one would probably get them 90+ game NPI points which is rare.
Reviewing the top 30 last year in NPI rankings, below are games where teams received
90+ game NPI points.  All road wins versus 9-1 or 8-2 teams in the regular season.

Alma win @ Hope  –  92.696 points.
UWL win @ UWW  – 92.485 points.
John Carroll win @ DePauw  – 92.051 points.
Hanover win @ Alma  – 91.74 points.
Berry win @ LaGrange  – 91.457 points.
Johns Hopkins win @ Muhlenberg  – 90.9 points.

Quote from: USee on July 30, 2026, 04:51:54 PMThe other thing I remember CarrolFan saying is that a road win vs a sub .500 team creates more NPI value than a home win vs a top 10 NPI team.

The link below has the final NPI's from last regular season. If you click a teams ranking you'll get a pop up with the individual game NPI's. You can sort net NPI which is the game NPI by clicking the column name to list largest to smallest.

2025 Final NPI's


Just a reminder of the formula as for some reason I forget how it works after the season.

To calculate game NPI.
40 points for a win.
60% of SOS which is opponents NPI or ONPI.
QWB (bonus). If ONPI greater then 54 then multiply ((ONPI - 54) * .25).

You add these 3 components up and for a road win multiply the sum by 1.1 and for a home win multiply by .9. So for a road win you increase the game NPI by 10% of the sum of the 3 components and for a home win you decrease the game NPI by 10% of the sum of the 3 components.

So how could a game NPI for a win be higher on the road vs. a .500 team than at home vs. a top 10 team.

Well a win is worth 40 whoever you play and on a road win you are going get an additional 4 points just on the win and on a home win you get 4 points reduced. So a road win is really worth 44 and a home win is worth 36. That's a 8 point swing.

Now when you beat the good team at home remember you're only using 60% of their SOS plus you end up reducing it by 10%. The .500 team on the road you goose up 10%.

In the original message you had IWU as A+. The cushion makes sense with more money and less students. I was comparing them to Wheaton since they both were listed as A+ and was like their finances don't seem to compare.

With all the talk about the the pool of students shrinking multiple schools in the CCIW posted strong new student enrollment numbers in 2025.

NCC Record Number of New Students

Carroll Largest Freshmen Class in School History

Carthage Largest Incoming Class in School History

IWU Largest Incoming Class in 15 Years

NPU 3rd Largest Number of 1rst Year Students in School History

This site shows revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities per school. The data looks like it's from 2024 and 2025.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits

I checked each school. I don't understand how Forbes comes up with the individual grades when I compare the numbers between schools. I was surprised for example at IWU's revenue though Forbes grades them A+.

Quote from: FiredCoachesPod on June 19, 2026, 10:53:29 AM

Quote from: USee on June 19, 2026, 09:37:03 AMSaw this on the OAC board and was curious how CCIW stacked up. Forbes annual College Financial Grades report came out. Schools with A+ to B+ grades are in strong positions. Anyone with a C grade or worse is on life support as an institution.

CCIW:
Wheaton College  A+  4.5
IWU  A+  3.86
Augustana  A-  3.74
Elmhurst  B+  3.43
Concordia UW  B 3.02
North Park  B  3.01
North Central  B-  2.91
Carthage  C+ 2.64
Millikin  C  2.14
Carroll  C-  1.99 

I don't believe this is accurate at all.

I'm no expert in Carroll's finances but last I saw they had a $110 million endowment and the following projects going on:

https://www.carrollu.edu/articles/news/2025/08/carroll-university-invests-$52-million-in-campus-i

Early ranking.

https://www.flofootball.com/articles/15952489-way-too-early-d3-football-rankings-for-2026-season

I don't know about UWRF 3rd with all their changes. Expecting a big year out of Bethel after last year. They have NCC #1 and Wheaton #7.

Listening to latest ATN 408, they mention Demir Ashiru is playing at UWO this season.

Quote from: GoIrish7 on May 12, 2026, 05:49:26 PMNCC stays far ahead of the pack. I think IWU and Millikin make some moves.


NCC 10-0

Wheaton 8-2
IWU 8-2
Augie 7-3
Millikin 6-4

Caroll No Schedule on site... 4-6 / 5-5?
NPU 3-7
Carthage 3-7

Elmhurst No Schedule on site... 1-9. Rockford should be a W if still on schedule. Unsure who 2nd non-con is.

IWU has their conference opener vs. Augie in Rock Island where they lost last season 42-21. We'll find out early in the season if they have any chance at 8-2. See how they come out of their first 3 games before playing Wheaton.

Quote from: GoIrish7 on May 12, 2026, 05:49:26 PMNCC stays far ahead of the pack. I think IWU and Millikin make some moves.


NCC 10-0

Wheaton 8-2
IWU 8-2
Augie 7-3
Millikin 6-4

Caroll No Schedule on site... 4-6 / 5-5?
NPU 3-7
Carthage 3-7

Elmhurst No Schedule on site... 1-9. Rockford should be a W if still on schedule. Unsure who 2nd non-con is.

Carroll schedule.

https://gopios.com/news/2026/4/1/2026-pioneer-football-schedule-released.aspx

This should be Elmhurst schedule.
9/5 Illinois College
9/12 @Rockford
9/19 Carroll
9/26 Augie
10/3 BYE
10/10 @Carthage
10/17 NCC
10/24 @IWU
10/31 Millikin
11/7 @Wheaton
11/14 @NPU

Quote from: Jbothe on May 10, 2026, 09:21:34 PMIs North Central expected to continue its domination? 

Who moves into the three spot in CCIW now that WashU moves on? 

I would think NCC continues their dominance in CCIW for all the reasons mentioned before. I think for them it's more about can they win it all? Who are the other teams stepping up this upcoming season in D3.

Augie went 7-3 last year. Hard to tell without rosters out but I'm guessing their QB is back. I would think they would have a chance at 3rd. IWU needs to improve their D especially against the run where they were 9th. I don't know if Carroll and NPU have figured out their QB situations for 2026. Don't know enough about the other teams.