Through games of Oct. 22:
| Rank | School (No. 1 votes) | W-L | Points | Prev. |
| 1 | North Central (Ill.) (23) | 7-0 | 623 | 1 |
| 2 | Mount Union (2) | 7-0 | 597 | 2 |
| 3 | Mary Hardin-Baylor | 7-1 | 565 | 4 |
| 4 | St. John's | 6-1 | 519 | 5 |
| 5 | Linfield | 6-0 | 505 | 6 |
| 6 | Trinity (Texas) | 7-0 | 464 | 7 |
| 7 | Johns Hopkins | 7-0 | 450 | 8 |
| 8 | UW-La Crosse | 6-1 | 430 | 9 |
| 9 | Hardin-Simmons | 6-1 | 425 | 10 |
| 10 | UW-Whitewater | 5-2 | 402 | 3 |
| 11 | Bethel | 6-1 | 394 | 11 |
| 12 | Ithaca | 7-0 | 345 | 12 |
| 13 | Cortland | 7-0 | 340 | 13 |
| 14 | Delaware Valley | 8-0 | 286 | 14 |
| 15 | Wheaton (Ill.) | 5-2 | 257 | 15 |
| 16 | Wartburg | 7-0 | 256 | 16 |
| 17 | Randolph-Macon | 7-0 | 223 | 17 |
| 18 | Carnegie Mellon | 8-0 | 191 | 18 |
| 19 | Susquehanna | 7-0 | 189 | 19 |
| 20 | Albion | 7-0 | 138 | 20 |
| 21 | UW-River Falls | 5-2 | 112 | 22 |
| 22 | UW-Platteville | 4-3 | 95 | -- |
| 23 | Huntingdon | 6-1 | 82 | 21 |
| 24 | UW-Oshkosh | 4-3 | 74 | 24 |
| 25 | John Carroll | 6-1 | 58 | 25 |
Dropped out: No. 23 Washington U.
Others receiving votes: Washington U. 20; Central 19; Endicott 16; Ripon 10; Mount St. Joseph 7; Birmingham-Southern 6; Carleton 4; Claremont-Mudd-Scrips 4; Washington & Jefferson 4; Alma 3; Trinity (Conn.) 3; DePauw 2; Howard Payne 2; Lake Forest 2; Muhlenberg 1; Ursinus 1; Utica 1.
The D3football.com Top 25 is voted on by a panel of 25 coaches, Sports Information Directors and media members from across the country, and is published weekly. Points are awarded on a 25-24-23-22-etc. basis.
Photo credit: Linfield athletics photo by Ryan Gardner