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 American Football Coaches Association Division III Coaches' Poll - Preseason

Rank	School (1st Votes)	Record	Points	'25 Rank	First Game
1	North Central (50)	14-1	1322	2	Sept. 5 vs. No. 2 Bethel (Minn.)
2	Bethel (Minn.)	12-1	1228	5	Sept. 5 at No. 1 North Central
3	Mount Union	11-1	1202	6	Sept. 5 at No. 5 Wheaton
4	Johns Hopkins	12-2	1162	4	Sept. 5 vs. Ithaca
5	Wheaton	11-3	1030	7	Sept. 5 vs. No. 3 Mount Union
6	UW-Platteville	9-3	1025	11	Sept. 5 vs. Aurora
7	UW-River Falls (3)	14-1	961	1	Sept. 3 vs. Southern Virginia
8	John Carroll	12-2	930	3	Sept. 5 at Carnegie Mellon
9	Wartburg	10-1	904	14	Sept. 5 at Monmouth (Ill.)
10	UW-La Crosse	8-3	836	10	Sept. 5 at No. 11 St. John's (Minn.)
11	St. John's (Minn.)	10-2	835	8	Sept. 5 vs. No. 10 UW-La Crosse
12	UW-Whitewater	8-3	666	20	Sept. 5 vs. Carleton
13	DePauw	10-2	627	13	Sept. 5 at Rose-Hulman
14	Trinity (Tex.)	10-2	617	16	Sept. 5 vs. Texas Lutheran
15	Berry	11-2	567	9	Sept. 5 at Huntingdon
16	Hardin-Simmons	9-2	563	19	Sept. 5 vs. Chapman
17	Salisbury	10-2	482	12	Sept. 12 vs. McDaniel
18	Christopher Newport	10-1	382	18	Sept. 5 vs. Newport News
19	Hope	9-2	351	17	Sept. 5 at Denison
20	Mary Hardin-Baylor	7-3	305	NR	Sept. 4 at Rowan
21	Susquehanna	11-3	272	15	Sept. 5 at Union (N.Y.)
22	Coe	9-3	177	NR	Sept. 5 vs. Cornell (Iowa)
23	Randolph-Macon	9-2	137	21	Sept. 4 at Dickinson
24	Endicott	9-2	119	24	Sept. 5 vs. Eastern (Pa.)
25	Cortland	8-3	112	NR	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 AFA and its programs, visit http://www.afca.com/.