Minnesota State University, Mankato was selected by the league coaches as the preseason favorite in the NSIC for 2026. The Mavericks received 10 first place votes (coaches cannot vote for their own team) and amassed 166 points, 12 points ahead of the defending NSIC Champions, Minnesota Duluth, which was second with 154 points and three first place votes. Augustana was third with 145 points and the final first place vote. UMD was also the top pick in the North Division while MSU was on top of the South Division poll with each school receiving six first place votes.
Again in 2026, the NSIC will have 14 teams. The schedule will be broken into two divisions (north/south). Each team will play 10 conference games that will count towards the NSIC Overall Championship, of which six divisional games will count towards the NSIC North/South Division Championships. In all, three league champions will be awarded (Overall Champion, North Division Champion, South Division Champion). Ties will not be broken for overall or division champions.
The NSIC Football schedule is set to begin on Thursday, August 27 with non-conference action.
New for the 2026 season, the NSIC Network is now powered by Midco Sports Plus, the conference’s new streaming home for exclusive live and on-demand coverage of all 16 NSIC member institutions. Fans can stream every home regular season conference and non-conference home football game, along with NSIC championship events, through a monthly ($15) or annual subscription (less than $7 per month). Subscriptions are available at MidcoSportsPlus.com or through the Midco Sports Plus app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Fire TV and Roku.
2026 NSIC PRESEASON POLL
| RK. | OVERALL POLL | POINTS | RK. | SOUTH DIVISION | POINTS | |
| 1 | Minnesota State (10) | 166 | 1 | Minnesota State (6) | 36 | |
| 2 | Minnesota Duluth (3) | 154 | 2 | Augustana (1) | 29 | |
| 3 | Augustana (1) | 145 | 3 | Sioux Falls | 27 | |
| 4 | Sioux Falls | 126 | 4 | Wayne State | 22 | |
| 5 | Wayne State | 125 | 5 | Winona State | 16 | |
| 6 | Northern State | 106 | 6 | Concordia-St. Paul | 9 | |
| 7 | Bemidji State | 97 | 7 | Southwest Minn. St. | 8 | |
| 8 | MSU Moorhead | 86 | ||||
| 9 | Winona State | 83 | RK. | NORTH DIVISION | POINTS | |
| 10 | Minot State | 52 | 1 | Minnesota Duluth (6) | 36 | |
| 11 | University of Mary | 51 | 2 | Northern State | 29 | |
| 12 | Concordia-St. Paul | 34 | 3 | Bemidji State (1) | 25 | |
| 13 | Jamestown | 29 | 4 | MSU Moorhead | 23 | |
| 14 | Southwest Minn. St. | 21 | 5 | Minot State | 15 | |
| 6 | University of Mary | 10 | ||||
| 7 | Jamestown | 9 |
