D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast

Sure, UW-Platteville losing theoretically opened up a playoff spot, but that doesn’t mean anyone should breathe easy. Even if you don’t count Platteville, there are at least eight more teams vying for at-large spots. (And there are only five spots.) If you want one of them, what are your chances? How can your chances improve? You can find out more in this week’s D3football.com Ar...

There were more than a couple of games that all came down to exciting endings at about the same time on Saturday, and there are plenty of games from this past week and future weeks that are fairly intertwined. We make all the connections for you in this week’s D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. (If you think there’s a conspiracy, we urge you to listen in and decide for yourself....

A little bit of rain (OK, a lot of rain), a little lightning, half the usual Thunder and a few unbeaten teams getting their first loss made up a good part of the news in Week 7. This was definitely a common sight, and in the case of the Wheaton-North Central game, it didn’t end on Saturday, and it’s still not over. We break down the first half of that game, plus the Oshkosh win over Pl...

All of a sudden we drop a few big games into the mix, set a couple of Top 25 ballots on fire, and then it’s not too early to talk about strength of schedule, and the playoffs, and how at-large bids might be even more at a premium this year than usual. Pat and Keith talk first about the games that caused all that upheaval, then later dive into a couple of playoff scenarios. Plus, find out who...

Once upon a time, this patient got up off the table, but now Pat or Keith (hint, not both) is ready to call an end to the UW-Whitewater dynasty. See, yes UWW has lost three games before in a season during this run, but not three of the first four. And that may be the difference-maker, because for the Warhawks to even get to 7-3 is a challenge, both agree. In addition to that big story, there&#8217...

Aside from “the Target Field game” there were another 99 games played on Saturday, and on top of that, there was all sorts of other news in the past week to cover. Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan talk about the situation at Wheaton, the mourning at Wooster, and the hope that Occidental will play Saturday before ever getting to the Heidelberg-John Carroll game or any of the other events...

Every year there’s at least one game that is worth an entire podcast on its own, and that’s the Stagg Bowl. Well, the Tommie-Johnnie game didn’t decide the national title, not even the MIAC title, but it was an event worthy of breaking out and talking about on its own.  Pat Coleman and Adam Turer hand out game balls, talk with the coaches, describe the atmosphere and what this me...

Offensive numbers catch the eye, whether it’s 98 points or this week’s 79 or 332 receiving yards and six touchdowns. But Keith has this thing about defense also being part of the game, and that’s hard to argue, as long as we still play 11 on a side. In this week’s D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast, Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan take a look at some of the places wher...

We certainly spent some time talking about teams that have lost unexpectedly through the first two weeks: UW-Whitewater, St. Thomas, UW-Whitewater again, Thomas More to name a few. But in this week’s D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast, Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan turn their attention to the teams that won those surprise games, where they began the season, what we should have expecte...

Lots of cool and interesting things happened in the opening weekend of Division III football. Of course, many of them were overshadowed by the 98-0 win by St. John’s over St. Scholastica. Nobody here at D3football.com is suggesting someone ran up the score, though. Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman have a different thought in mind. Pat and Keith run through all the top news, the hidden highligh...

The offseason is officially over and it’s game week for Week 1. With that in mind, Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan are ready to drop a new podcast on you.  It’s been a busy August around D3football.com, with Pat and Keith spearheading all the coverage in Kickoff 2017 and Pat driving a thousand-plus miles to talk to visit six Division III football practices. Pat and Keith discuss the cov...

Hey, we know, we didn’t have a May podcast. That’s totally because we planned to bring you an extra-long podcast in July. Yes, we have a podcast and a half for you because there’s way too much to talk about. Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan give their take on the D3football.com preseason Top 25 , first off.  Also, that blue turf just looks too cool, doesn’t it? Luther College...

Psst … it’s possible to have a D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast without Keith McMillan, as long as we have someone from Around the Nation to fill in. So this month, while Keith is unavailable on assignment, Pat Coleman will be joined by current ATN columnist Adam Turer to fill the big shoes. This month there are plenty of teams shuffling conferences to talk about, plus Adam rev...

We’ve talked a lot already about the Stagg Bowl leaving Salem, which is big news in Division III circles, and now it’s time to take a look at the first of our new hosts, Shenandoah, Texas. Although the first Stagg Bowl in Woodforest Bank Stadium isn’t for another 20 months, we talked with the championship’s host to get an early idea of what they have planned, and it should...

One of the big topics of discussion right now in Division III football, and in college football as a whole, is preseason practice time, including what seems to be likely — the end to two-a-day practices in camp. It’s certainly important to coaches, who have already planned their August camp, especially in Division III, where spring ball is not the same as at the other levels. With us t...

Members of this past year’s senior class are chasing their dreams of pro football right now, and next year’s senior class has players hoping to do the same. In light of that, the February edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast talks with three Division III alumni who are living that dream, in various stages of their career. For former UMHB linebacker and D3football.com...

The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast returns to offseason mode, including discussion of the latest news from Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan as well as a range of interviews from around Division III. The January podcast features new John Carroll coach Rick Finotti, who was gracious enough to join us on his fifth day of work at JCU, along with Gagliardi Trophy winner Carter Hanson of St. Joh...

It was a tension-filled battle to decide Stagg Bowl XLIV and a great game to boot Pat and Keith were joined by the rest of the on-air crew from the D3football.com Stagg Bowl XLIV audio broadcast, including Adam Turer, Frank Rossi and Kevin Niehus, for this final ATN Podcast of 2016. We discussed the championship game, interviewed UMHB quarterback Blake Jackson live and debated and ultimately deter...

Our podcast team was truly around the nation this week, as Keith McMillan was in Belton, Texas, and Pat Coleman was in Oshkosh, Wis., for the two national semifinals. What results is an informative breakdown with commentary from players and coaches at both games, along with a quick look at the future for John Carroll and Mount Union and Pat and Keith’s key players to watch on offense and def...

You’ve been asking for this for years, haven’t you? John Carroll and UW-Oshkosh advanced to the national semifinals, meaning there will be at least one team in the Stagg Bowl for the first time. And Mount Union survived an offensive shootout at Alfred, meaning the defending champs are still alive, with a trip to face the No. 1 team in the offing. Pat and Keith talk through it all, plus...

When you’re down to just 16 teams and eight games, we can take the time to go through each of them, and it was a week which made Keith very happy. There was a lot of defense to talk about for this former Division III safety. Defenses came up big in expected places, such as Whitewater, Wis., or University Heights, Ohio, but the other games featured some surprisingly stout defensive performanc...

Whether you were among the excited, with no rooting interest, or among the tense, with your season hanging in the balance, the 3 p.m. hour-plus in the Eastern Time Zone on Saturday was a great time to be a Division III football fan. Three games came down to the final play, and Pat and Keith talk about them all in detail, as well as the other 13 first-round games, in this week’s Around the Na...

We’re still feeling really good about this bracket — about the teams selected, about the first-round pairings, about so much of it. We’ll hear from the NCAA committee chair, Jack McKiernan, gets Keith’s view on watching his alma mater clinch an automatic bid and talk about that John Carroll-Mount Union game. Plus, we’ll discuss who got the best and the toughest draws,...

About half of the automatic bids have been handed out to the Field of 32 teams which will play for the 2016 Division III football championship. But while two of the remaining ones will be battled out head to head this week, and some are cut-and-dried if teams take care of business, there’s still a lot of intrigue and a lot of moving parts. What might the at-large bids look like? Pat and Keit...

We started our deep dive into the playoffs on last week’s edition and we know we had a lot of new listeners — now we have to really talk about some of the automatic bids. Some conferences have pretty interesting races here in the final two weeks of the regular season and Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan look closely at the PAC, where two teams could finish unbeaten and never play each ot...