Oct. 25, 2012 – Amidst preparations for this Saturday's Northern Athletics Conference football with Benedictine University, the 2012 Concordia University Chicago football team earned some national recognition this week with a #25 ranking in the Oct. 22 American Football Coaches' Association (AFCA) poll.
           
The Cougars broke into the AFCA rankings following their Oct. 20 win over Aurora University by a 38-34 score. The victory improved the Cougars to 7-0 on the season, 4-0 in the NAC with a one-game lead over Concordia University Wisconsin and Wisconsin Lutheran College. Concordia-Chicago controls its own destiny, and wins over Benedictine this week and Lakeland College on Nov. 3 will give the team its first-ever berth in the NCAA III playoffs.
           
While the AFCA ranking pleases seventh-year head coach Lonnie Pries, he will not let any Cougar heads swell as they get ready for Saturday's game. “All year, we have taken the approach that our focus is one game at a time, the game directly in front of us,” states Pries. “Benedictine has been consistently the strongest program in our conference the last few years, and our guys know that to win at their place, we probably have to play our best game of the season so far to come away with a win.”
           
The AFCA poll can be viewed at http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=2261.