The Linfield Wildcats enter the 2025 campaign as favorites to repeat as Northwest Conference football champions, according to the league’s preseason coaches’ poll. The Wildcats, who captured their 45th league title in 2024, collected five first-place votes and 47 total points to lead the rankings.
Whitworth followed closely in second with 42 points and two first-place votes, while Pacific Lutheran earned the remaining first-place vote and totaled 38 points for third. Lewis & Clark checked in at fourth with 26 points, with George Fox and Pacific (Ore.) tied for fifth at 24 points each. Puget Sound (15) and Willamette (8) rounded out the poll.
NWC play kicks off October 4, with the NWC regular-season champion earning the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Football Championship.
(Points awarded on an 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. Coaches could not vote for their own teams; numbers in parentheses indicate first place votes)
|
Team
|
Pts.
|
2024 NWC Finish
|
|
Linfield (5)
|
47
|
1st
|
|
Whitworth (2)
|
42
|
2nd
|
|
Pacific Lutheran (1)
|
38
|
3rd
|
|
Lewis & Clark
|
26
|
4th
|
|
George Fox
|
24
|
6th
|
|
Pacific
|
24
|
5th
|
|
Puget Sound
|
15
|
7th
|
|
Willamette
|
8
|
8th
|