After a 15-0 season that culminated in the program’s third Stagg Bowl victory in five years, North Central College football enters 2025 as the number one ranked team in the d3football.com preseason poll for a third straight season.
Cardinals develop into a national powerhouse
The Cardinals received 24 of 25 first place votes in the season opening poll, with Mount Union, who North Central defeated 41-25 in the national championship game, receiving the other first place vote. CCIW rival Wheaton Academy is ranked number 17 in this year’s poll. The Cardinals host the Thunder in the annual Battle for the Little Brass Bell game on October 4th. Johns Hopkins University, Susquehanna University and St. John’s University to round out the top five.
NCC football has advanced to five consecutive national championship games, winning titles in 2019, 2022 and 2024. The Cardinals have not lost a regular season game since the middle of the 2019 season, a streak that has reached 45 games.
Replacing a legend at quarterback
The biggest question mark for head coach Brad Spencer is who will take the reigns at quarterback following the graduation of two-time Gagliardi winning quarterback, Luke Lehnen. In addition to leading North Central to a pair of Stagg Bowl wins, Lehnen set new NCAA Division III records for most touchdown passes (162), consecutive games throwing a touchdown (59), yards gained in a career (15,985) and highest career passing efficiency (211.9).
North Central will kickoff the 2025 campaign at home against UW-Oshkosh at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 13th.
