Posted: Oct 12, 2015

Good Fortune Helps Cobbers Climb

MOORHEAD, Minn. (10/12/15)—Concordia was narrowly able to escape with a win at Carleton on Saturday and used that same good fortune to jump into the top 20 in the D3football.com national rankings.

Concordia also jumped spots in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll this week. The Cobbers were in the No. 24 spot in last week's AFCA rankings and have now climbed three spots to the 21st spot in the poll.

The Cobbers were ranked 23rd in last week's D3football.com poll and moved all the way to No.19 this week thanks to losses by No.14 Rowan, No.18 Cortland State, No. 20 Wittenberg and No.22 Hobart on Saturday.

Concordia is currently riding a three-game winning streak. The Cobbers' 27-24 victory over the Knights helped the team move to 5-1 in all games and 3-1 in conference play. CC is now in a two-way tie for third place in the conference standings. Concordia and Bethel are tied with 3-1 marks and are chasing league leader Gustavus at 4-0 and St. Thomas who owns a 3-0 mark in league play. The Cobbers still have to play both the Gusties and Tommies.

Concordia owns a 3-0 record on the road in 2015 and is 2-1 at home this season.

The Cobbers are currently ranked in the top 25 in the nation in first downs offense, third down percentage, fourth down conversion percentage, red zone defense and tackles for a loss allowed.

Concordia is third in the nation in fourth down conversion rate as they have made 13 of the 14 fourth-down attempts they have tried this season. CC is also ninth in tackles for a loss allowed having only allowed Cobber ball carriers to be tackled behind the line of scrimmage an average of 3.5 times per game. Concordia's other top 15 stat ranking comes from third-down completion percentage. The Cobbers are 11th in all of Division III in that category. The team is successfully made first downs on 40 of its 76 (52.6%) third down plays this year.

Concordia will be looking to keep their winning streak going when they host Augsburg on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 1 p.m.

D3football.com Top 25 (Week 6)
No. School (1st place votes)
1. Mount Union (19)
2. Linfield (6)
3. Mary Hardin-Baylor
4. Wesley
5. UW-Oshkosh
6. UW-Whitewater
7. Wheaton (Ill.)
8. Wartburg
9. St. Thomas
10. Wabash
11. Johns Hopkins
12. Thomas More
13. UW-Platteville
14. St. John's
15. Hardin-Simmons
16. Washington and Jefferson
17. North Central (Ill.)
18. John Carroll
19. Concordia-Moorhead
20. Illinois Wesleyan
21. Albright
22. Rowan
23. Salisbury
24. Ithaca
25. Texas Lutheran

Others receiving votes: Gustavus Adolphus 48; DePauw 43; Washington and Lee 42; Whitworth 32; Cortland State 25; Franklin 21; Bethel 14; Albion 11; Rose-Hulman 10; Framingham State 7; St. Lawrence 6; Chicago 5; Western New England 5; Wittenberg 5; Delaware Valley 4; Hobart 4; Maryville 4; Utica 4; Amherst 3; Ohio Northern 2; Berry 1; Centre 1; Gettysburg 1; Hendrix 1.

AFCA Top 25 (Oct. 12)
1. Mount Union (Ohio) (38)
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) (2)
3. Linfield (Ore.) (2)
4. Wesley (Del.)
5. Wheaton (Ill.)
6. Wartburg (Iowa)
7. St. Thomas (Minn.)
8. Wis.-Oshkosh
9. Johns Hopkins (Md.)
10. Wabash (Ind.)
11. Wis.-Whitewater
12. Thomas More (Ky.)
13. Hardin-Simmons (Texas)
14. Wis.-Platteville
15. St. John's (Minn.)
16. Illinois Wesleyan
17. Albright (Pa.)
18. Washington & Jefferson (Pa.)
19. John Carroll (Ohio)
20. Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.)
21. Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.)
22. North Central (Ill.)
23. Rowan (N.J.)
24. Albion (Mich.)
25. Washington & Lee (Va.)

Others Receiving Votes: Whitworth (Wash.), 49; DePauw (Ind.), 48; Ithaca (N.Y.), 45; Gettysburg (Pa.), 41; Western New England (Mass.), 36; Bethel (Minn.), 34; Texas Lutheran, 32; Olivet (Mich.), 23; Salisbury (Md.), 23; Cortland St. (N.Y.), 20; St. Norbert (Wis.), 17; Rose-Hulman (Ind.), 9; Guilford (N.C.), 8; Denison (Ohio), 5; Framingham St. (Mass.), 5; Kean (N.J.), 4; Amherst (Mass.), 3; Hobart (N.Y.), 3; Ohio Northern, 3; Wittenberg (Ohio), 3; Huntingdon (Ala.), 2; Trinity (Conn.), 2; Chicago (Ill.), 1; Utica (N.Y.), 1.