Two-time defending national champion College of DuPage will begin the 2023 season at the top of Division III football.
 
The Chaps received all 25 votes and all five first-place votes in the preseason ranking announced Monday by the NJCAA.
 
The ranking marks the 26^th consecutive time the Chaps have been ranked inside the top three since the NJCAA recognized non-scholarship football in 2021.
 
National runner-up North Dakota State College of Science is second with 16 votes. Minnesota State Community and Technical College is third (11 votes). Nassau CC and Hocking are tied for fourth with three votes a piece and Rochester C&T is fifth.
 
The Chaps open Thursday night at Division I Ellsworth. COD takes on No. 5 Rochester on Sept. 2 in Rochester, Minn., and play No. 2 NDSCS on Sept. 16 in Wahpeton, N.D.
 
COD plays Hocking twice — the first in the Chaps' home opener Sept. 9 and at Hocking on Oct. 21.