NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Wheaton was picked to defend its College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) football title according to a conference-wide preseason coaches’ poll announced Thursday.
 
The Thunder (11-1, 7-0), under the direction of head coach Mike Swider, won the poll with 61 points and five first place votes after winning back-to-back CCIW titles and earning the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Football Championship in 2014 and 2015. Wheaton, which won its 19th CCIW title in program history last season, was recently ranked eighth in the D3football.com Preseason Top 25.
 
North Central (7-3, 6-1) was second in the preseason coaches’ poll with 60 points and four first place votes as the Cardinals finished second last season in Jeff Thorne’s first year as head coach. The Cardinals have won 11 CCIW titles including eight in a row from 2006 to 2013 under the direction of Thorne’s father John. North Central was ranked 13th in D3football.com’s preseason poll.  
 
Illinois Wesleyan (7-3, 4-3) placed third in the coaches’ poll with 49 points, while Carthage (5-5, 4-3) was fourth with 41 points as the Red Men jumped from sixth place in 2014 to a tie for third with the Titans in 2015.
 
Augustana (4-6, 3-4) was fifth with 39 points, followed by North Park (3-7, 2-5) in sixth with 25 points.
 
Carroll (6-4, 5-2 in Midwest Conference), competing in the CCIW for the first time since 1991, was seventh with 21 points, while Millikin (2-8, 1-6) and Elmhurst (4-6, 1-6) rounded out the poll with 15 and 13 points respectively.
 
Voting is done by the CCIW's head football coaches. Each coach votes for the eight other schools in the conference in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (eight points for first, seven for second, etc.). Coaches do not vote for their own teams.
 
The CCIW football season begins Saturday, September 3 with Carthage hosting Aurora, Elmhurst traveling to Loras, Millikin traveling to Greenville, Wheaton hosting Benedictine, Carroll hosting Lakeland, Augustana traveling to Mount St. Joseph, North Park hosting Anderson and North Central traveling to Robert Morris. Illinois Wesleyan will open its season against an international opponent as the Titans play host to Monterrey Tech-State of Mexico campus.
  
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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Carthage College (Kenosha, WI), Elmhurst College (Elmhurst, IL), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, IL), Millikin University (Decatur, IL), North Central College (Naperville, IL), North Park University (Chicago, IL) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL). During the 2015-16 academic year, the CCIW honored over 1,600 academic all-conference recipients, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans, 36 CoSIDA Academic All-District recipients and over 100 all-Americans.