NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Fresh off an impressive win Saturday over 13th-ranked Susquehanna, the Christopher Newport University football squad has moved into the Top 25 in the new national poll from D3football.com. Paul Crowley's squad is 3-0 and ranked 23rd in the new poll released on Sunday afternoon.

The national ranking is the first for CNU since Week 4 of the 2016 season, Matt Kelchner's final season as Head Coach, when the Captains started 4-0 and were ranked 22nd in the nation. Saturday's impressive 41-27 victory over Susquehanna marked the first CNU victory over a ranked team since that same 2016 season when the Captains defeated 17th-ranked Wesley College at TowneBank Stadium. Christopher Newport concluded the 2016 campaign with a 7-3 record.

Saturday's victory also matched the all-time CNU winning streak of eight straight games set in 2008, when the Captains opened with a loss and then won eight consecutive games before falling in the season finale. The Captains won their final five games last season prior to taking the first three of 2025, which is CNU's 25th season in program history.

Christopher Newport will be looking to set a new school winning streak when the Captains open play in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Saturday in Glassboro, N.J., against Rowan University. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. It will be the first of seven straight NJAC games, and Rowan was 2-0-1 in its non-conference schedule following a victory on Saturday at Lycoming, 34-23.

The complete poll from D3football.com:
 

Rank	School (No. 1 votes)	W-L	Points	Prev.
1	North Central (Ill.) (22)	3-0	621	1
2	Mount Union (3)	3-0	599	2
3	Johns Hopkins	3-0	575	3
4	St. John's	3-0	523	4
5	UW-La Crosse	2-0	486	5
6	Salisbury	3-0	468	6
7	UW-Platteville	3-0	447	8
8	Wartburg	4-0	444	7
9	UW-Whitewater	3-0	432	10
10	Hardin-Simmons	3-0	416	9
11	UW-River Falls	3-0	405	11
12	Bethel	3-0	379	12
13	DePauw	4-0	324	14
14	Wheaton (Ill.)	2-1	272	17
15	UW-Oshkosh	2-1	228	19
16	John Carroll	3-1	217	21
17	Carnegie Mellon	2-1	207	20
18	Trinity (Texas)	3-0	206	22
19	Central	4-0	164	23
20	Hope	3-1	109	15
21	Mary Hardin-Baylor	1-2	108	16
22	Cortland	3-1	100	24
23	Christopher Newport	3-0	88	--
24	Hampden-Sydney	4-0	63	--
25	Susquehanna	2-2	52	13

Dropped out: No. 18 Grove City; No. 25 Berry.

Others receiving votes: Linfield 35; Berry 31; Wabash 23; Maryville 19; Randolph-Macon 16; Baldwin Wallace 16; Alma 14; Muhlenberg 8; Brockport 7; Lewis & Clark 7; Utica 6; Grove City 4; Monmouth 2; Ursinus 2; Washington & Jefferson 2.

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.