Wheaton, Ill. – Another first for the Wheaton College football team after last Saturday's historic 13-10 victory at then top-ranked North Central College. Wheaton is ranked No. 1 in the Week 6 Division III Top-25 Poll conducted by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).  The selection marks the first time in program history that Wheaton is ranked No. 1 in the AFCA Top-25 poll, joining their first-ever No. 1 ranking in this week's D3football.com Top-25 Poll.

Wheaton, ranked second in last week's AFCA poll, recorded 1,320 points and earned 50 of a possible 53 first-place votes. St. John's (Minn.) is ranked second with 1,232 points and one first-place votes, while UW-Platteville is third with 1,180 points. North Central falls to fourth place with 1,164 points and UW-Whitewater is fifth with 1,160 points as the Warhawks garnered two first-place votes.

The AFCA Top-25 Poll has been in existence since 1999, and today's Week 6 poll of the 2026 season is the 286^th poll all-time from the coaching organization. Wheaton is the tenth institution to reach the top spot in the poll. The Thunder football program joins: Mount Union, Pacific Lutheran, St. John's (Minn.), Linfield, UW-Whitewater, Mary Hardin-Baylor, North Central, Cortland, and UW-River Falls as the ten programs to be ranked No. 1 in the AFCA poll.

Wheaton returns home next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff against Carroll University.