WACO, Texas -- The Augustana Vikings football team is receiving votes in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coaches Preseason Poll, the organization announced Monday.
Augustana checks in with seven points in the receiving votes category to open the 2026 season. The Vikings were picked to finish third in the CCIW Coaches' Preseason Poll last week after posting a 7-3 overall record and a 6-3 mark in conference play in 2025, with two of the team's three losses coming against ranked opponents. Head coach Steve Bell returns 17 starters, including three all-conference selections from a season ago, as he enters his 11th season at the helm of the Vikings.
2026 AFCA Division III Coaches' Preseason Poll
2026 American Football Coaches Association Division III Coaches' Poll - Preseason
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- North Central (50), 14-1, 1322 points, 2025 rank: 2, first game: Sept. 5 vs. No. 2 Bethel (Minn.)
- Bethel (Minn.), 12-1, 1228 points, 2025 rank: 5, first game: Sept. 5 at No. 1 North Central
- Mount Union, 11-1, 1202 points, 2025 rank: 6, first game: Sept. 5 at No. 5 Wheaton
- Johns Hopkins, 12-2, 1162 points, 2025 rank: 4, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Ithaca
- Wheaton, 11-3, 1030 points, 2025 rank: 7, first game: Sept. 5 vs. No. 3 Mount Union
- UW-Platteville, 9-3, 1025 points, 2025 rank: 11, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Aurora
- UW-River Falls (3), 14-1, 961 points, 2025 rank: 1, first game: Sept. 3 vs. Southern Virginia
- John Carroll, 12-2, 930 points, 2025 rank: 3, first game: Sept. 5 at Carnegie Mellon
- Wartburg, 10-1, 904 points, 2025 rank: 14, first game: Sept. 5 at Monmouth (Ill.)
- UW-La Crosse, 8-3, 836 points, 2025 rank: 10, first game: Sept. 5 at No. 11 St. John's (Minn.)
- St. John's (Minn.), 10-2, 835 points, 2025 rank: 8, first game: Sept. 5 vs. No. 10 UW-La Crosse
- UW-Whitewater, 8-3, 666 points, 2025 rank: 20, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Carleton
- DePauw, 10-2, 627 points, 2025 rank: 13, first game: Sept. 5 at Rose-Hulman
- Trinity (Tex.), 10-2, 617 points, 2025 rank: 16, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Texas Lutheran
- Berry, 11-2, 567 points, 2025 rank: 9, first game: Sept. 5 at Huntingdon
- Hardin-Simmons, 9-2, 563 points, 2025 rank: 19, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Chapman
- Salisbury, 10-2, 482 points, 2025 rank: 12, first game: Sept. 12 vs. McDaniel
- Christopher Newport, 10-1, 382 points, 2025 rank: 18, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Newport News
- Hope, 9-2, 351 points, 2025 rank: 17, first game: Sept. 5 at Denison
- Mary Hardin-Baylor, 7-3, 305 points, 2025 rank: NR, first game: Sept. 4 at Rowan
- Susquehanna, 11-3, 272 points, 2025 rank: 15, first game: Sept. 5 at Union (N.Y.)
- Coe, 9-3, 177 points, 2025 rank: NR, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Cornell (Iowa)
- Randolph-Macon, 9-2, 137 points, 2025 rank: 21, first game: Sept. 4 at Dickinson
- Endicott, 9-2, 119 points, 2025 rank: 24, first game: Sept. 5 vs. Eastern (Pa.)
- Cortland, 8-3, 112 points, 2025 rank: NR, first game: Sept. 5 at Grove City
*– Record and ranking in final AFCA Division III Poll of 2025
Others receiving votes: UW-Oshkosh, 53; Linfield, 47; Alma, 40; Franklin & Marshall, 33; Monmouth (Ill.), 28; Washington & Jefferson, 28; Central (Iowa), 22; Chapman, 22; LaGrange, 20; Springfield, 20; Whitworth, 16; Eastern (Pa.), 11; Grove City, 9; Hampden-Sydney, 7; Augustana (Ill.), 6; Baldwin-Wallace, 6; Concordia (Wis.), 6; UW-Stout, 6; Wabash, 6; Adrian, 4; Hanover, 4; Calvin, 3; Muhlenberg, 3; Washington (Mo.), 3; Carnegie Mellon, 2; Illinois Wesleyan, 2; Union (N.Y.), 2; Utica (N.Y.), 2; Lake Forest, 1; Rowan, 1.
For more information on the AFCA and its programs, visit http://www.afca.com/.
