The prolific Cardinals offense has a numbers of weapons, not all of which can be pictured here. Photos by Doug Sasse. d3photography.com

By Greg Thomas
D3football.com

SALEM – North Central has won 29 consecutive games, and 57 of their last 59. They’ve won two of the last three national championships. The Cardinal offense has not been lower than third nationally in either total offense or scoring offense in that stretch. 

While it seems that things can’t possibly get better for the Cardinal offense, they found ways. 

North Central stands 36 points away from breaking the Division III record for points scored in a single season. The Cardinals have scored 187 more points than the closest competitor, Friday’s Stagg Bowl opponent Cortland. 

Most great offenses need great quarterback play and North Central has that in spades with junior quarterback Luke Lehnen. Lehnen was already known for his ability to break defenses down with either his arm or his ability to run, but in 2023, he has broken new ground in offensive efficiency and is likely to set a new single season record in passing efficiency. Lehnen went back to the fundamentals to improve on his already stellar play. 

He credits experience in helping him put his teammates in positions to make big plays. “A lot of it was footwork and being more calm in the pocket,” Lehnen said. “That’s something that I've always wanted to work on. There's a lot of times, it still happens occasionally, where I scramble when I don't need to. But using my proper footwork, stuff like that, and making accurate throws.”

It’s not just making accurate throws, although that is clear with Lehnen’s nation-leading 75.3% completion percentage. Lehnen’s experience is also helping him get the ball to his teammates faster and in positions to make big plays. “Also just being able to read defenses and know when to get the ball to who plays a big part in that accuracy going up and the efficiency going up as well.”

In front of Lehnen is an experienced offensive line that protects Lehnen and paves the way for a rushing offense that averages 7.71 yards per carry. 2022 D3football.com All-American Jeske Maples anchors that experienced group from his left tackle position. Maples is one of multiple multi-year starters and their tenure is something that he believes has helped North Central continue to get better in 2023. 

“I think that obviously plays a massive role in our success. Just having that chemistry. I know I can trust the guy to my right and to my left, and all the way down the line to do what they're supposed to do, because they've been doing it forever,” Maples explained. “We practice hard, we put ourselves in game-like situations, and I know each guy across the line is battle tested. They know what's gonna go and I know I can trust them. So that obviously makes a huge, huge impact on how loose I can play.”

When looking for ways to improve, Maples and his teammates on the offensive line have to be hyper-critical, sometimes even to the point of downgrading their performance on a given positive play for the Cardinal offense if they spot a minor technical mistake on the play. 

“We get graded every week, so that's the first thing you see again in Sunday meetings. You get a plus or minus every play, and a lot of times  even if you do your job, if you don't do it right, it's a minus. So you have to look with a critical eye.”  Maples continued, “It's really hard to see. It's more, I think, about being nasty and physical at the line of scrimmage. You can just see that if I'm moving people 10 yards downfield, even if I'm getting thrown off late and if they were to make the play 10 yards downfield, I'd rather have that than just being stalemated at the line. At least I'm getting movement. At least I'm driving people where they don't want to be going.”

Maples and his teammates across the Cardinal offensive line have been moving defenders out of the way to allow Cardinal rushers to accumulate 324.9 yards per game, second in the nation only to Springfield’s triple option offense. 

For North Central head coach Brad Spencer, whose career record is a perfect 29-0, finding improvement for the Cardinal offense has been about focusing on being a 2023 version of Cardinal offense rather than a continuation of the 2022 Cardinal offense. 

“In terms of our explosiveness this year compared to other years, our points per game are up. I think that has to do a lot with some of the guys we have running around and just how fast they are. It's allowed us to have 60-yard touchdowns instead of 30-yard gains at times,” Spencer said. “I think that's been the biggest difference. I don't think it's necessarily anything magical that we as coaches are doing, it's just our players are doing a great job of executing the game plan. We have continued to expand our offense in the pass and the run game to better fit who our personnel is right now. I told our guys at the beginning of the year we're not trying to be last year with Ethan Greenfield and Terence Hill. We're trying to be this version of Cardinal offense whatever that might be.”

This version of Cardinal offense has been devastating, particularly early in games. Among the many eye-catching statistics that can be attributed to North Central’s 2023 offense is that North Central has scored touchdowns on 77 of their 86 first half possessions. Put another way, on average, North Central fails to score a touchdown on less than one first half possession per game. 

For Spencer and the Cardinal coaching staff, the disciplined focus on just the next game and making course corrections in the immediate term is something that aids their longer term improvements. “Our approach is so focused on ourselves and being week to week. You have your long term goals and you know where you want to steer the ship, but you still have to put the oars in the water. I think if you're week to week and you're just focusing on correcting  what you don't feel like you're doing to your standard,  it's easier to not feel like, hey, we’re defending national champs. It's easier to feel like we want to go get a national championship.”

North Central is one win away from getting its third national championship in the past four tournaments, and they’re doing it with different scripts each time. 2019’s championship team was headlined by Gagliardi Trophy winning quarterback Broc Rutter and a high powered pass offense. The 2022 championship team leaned heavily on Gagliardi Trophy winning running back Ethan Greenfield. Spencer’s recognition of and ability to reset the board after each season has been key to North Central’s success. 

“You can't just hit copy and paste,” Spencer said. “I don't think that's been something that's been a challenge for us. I think it's always more about how do we go win this game? And then the bigger picture is how do we win the national championship.”