D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast

Yep, we’re eight weeks into the season and it’s finally time to talk in-depth about the postseason — picks, prognostications, problems and the like. If you’re new to Division III, we’ll give you a quick roundup of how it’s set up and if you’re a veteran, we’re ready to talk about strength of schedule and who the top at-large candidates are. Will thre...

It was another really interesting week in Division III football, with four teams dropping out of the Top 25, two of them plummeting. Similarly, in a handful of conferences, the first-place team and the highest-ranked team in our poll changed over based on Saturday’s results. Pat and Keith break down where things changed in the Empire 8, the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the No...

We had a game with 17,000-plus fans, a top five team save its bacon in the final seconds, and just a ton of great finishes all around the nation this week. In fact, it’s pretty clear we can consider this the best week so far of the Division III football season. So Pat and Keith take some time to go through all of it — not just Whitewater-Oshkosh, but as many of those great finishes as...

Hard to start anywhere but with UW-Whitewater and Mount Union this week, as Whitewater comes away with a key win and the Purple Raiders looked a little shaky in their win vs. Ohio Northern. Plus we talk about a couple of key injuries, including two in the MIAC, we look at the big matchups in New Jersey and Iowa, hand out our game balls and more in this week’s podcast. The Around the Nation P...

There were a couple of big games and although we’ll spend a good amount of time talking about the St. Thomas-St. John’s game, that’s not all that went on this past Saturday. UW-Whitewater preserved Division III pride for a second consecutive year as the No. 2 Warhawks handled NAIA No. 2 Morningside, but the win didn’t come without questions. We hear from Whitewater coach Ke...

It was definitely a tough weekend for Linfield and Washington & Jefferson, and a great weekend for Mary Hardin-Baylor and Thomas More, and we had people at both games and talk with the people involved. But we also have to re-evaluate what we thought we learned about some teams in the first two weeks — is Delaware Valley’s win vs. Wesley, or Utica’s win vs. Ohio Northern as bi...

Benedictine avoided going 0-2 this week thanks to a big win, and Utica is on the opposite side of the ledger, starting off 2-0. Lots of discussion of Utica beating Ohio Northern, but also, some discussion of hope for the teams that are 0-2 and a word of caution for those happy about their hot start. The Around the Nation Podcast is a weekly conversation between Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan cover...

It never fails — once we start playing games, the surprise results start pouring in. Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan chat about a good number of them, then chat with Johns Hopkins coach Jim Margraff and look at some of the off-the-beaten-path highlights, the unusual stats and more from Week 1 of Division III football. Significant attention is paid to the Delaware Valley-Wesley game, the ETBU-...

Every August, Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman do about a 12-hour huddle to go through the process of ranking all 248 teams, ranking the conferences, editing some of the volumes of stories that come in for Kickoff and lately, drop a new podcast on you guys. So, expect to hear some talk about who the 2016 surprise teams will be, who is expected to drop a little further down the ladder, and oh yeah, w...

One of the questions we’ve focused on in our slate of offseason podcasts is to ask coaches what it would take for their school to get to the next level. And we don’t mean Division II. Earlier this offseason we asked what the distance is like between Wabash and the elite teams in Division III. Or this time, what separates Stevenson from reaching the level of Wesley, the power in Divisio...

D-III alumni are currently playing in Mexico, with D-III coaches on the sideline, while as the 2016 season gets ever closer, we start talking to coaches about what’s coming up in training camp. Plus, Pat and Keith talk about the preseason magazines — you know, the ones not titled Kickoff — and the typical crop of preseason rankings. Guests this month include Franklin coach Mike L...

We’re back with another Around the Nation Podcast for May, with Pat and Keith talking about the recent NFL draft and its aftermath, with Division III football players signing and others getting invites to rookie tryout minicamps with teams as well. But one of the best stories of the offseason so far has been a player from last year’s draft class, Concordia-Moorhead quarterback Griffin...

Yes, that’s right — an Around the Nation Podcast in April! Pat and Keith will be doing monthly podcasts during the offseason, and they’ll check in with newsmakers in and around Division III football. This episode features guests in Wabash coach Don Morel, Southern Virginia coach Joe DuPaix and Trinity (Texas) coach Jerheme Urban. The guests talk about some of the unique aspects o...

The 43rd championship season of Division III football is over, with Mount Union hoisting the trophy. But there was a little more business to do, including handing out game balls (which differed, perhaps, from the one the media on-site gave out), deciding the players of the year, looking ahead to next year and more. Plus, Adam Turer joins us to answer one of August’s burning questions. That a...

It’s just Mount Union and St. Thomas still standing with a shot at Walnut and Bronze in Division III football for 2015, and they each got there in dominating fashion. Pat and Keith talk about each semifinal, plus ATN columnist Ryan Tipps checks in to talk about Mount Union. The crew hands out their game balls and previews Stagg Bowl XLIII on this week’s Around the Nation Podcast. The A...

We were down to four games this week and that means we can focus a good amount of time on each one. So we pulled in an analyst to help us talk about each game, folks who were on the sidelines or in the press box for the four quarterfinals, including a former D3football.com All-American.  Pat and Keith talk about each those games, preview the semifinals and hand out their game balls on this week&#8...

After a disappointing first round, this was exactly what Division III football needed, including competitive games, a big play for the ages and more. Pat and Keith talk about each second round game, give their takeaways for each game, plus preview the quarterfinals and hand out their game balls on this week’s Around the Nation Podcast. The Around the Nation Podcast is a weekly conversation b...

Phew, that was ugly. UG-ly, with a capital U. And a G. In this case, we’re talking about most of the first round of the playoffs we have a coach talking about winning ugly, and another talking about the worst conditions he’s seen for football in 37 years of coaching. Oh, and there was like one good game, so we’ll take about that. But Pat and Keith talk about the flurry of activit...

So, one thing we know is there won’t be a rematch, a 10th game in the Stagg Bowl series in which UW-Whitewater leads Mount Union 6-3. We’ll talk about the committee’s choice to place the two teams on the same side of the bracket, plus some other … interesting pairings, and of course the omissions.  What did the committee get right? What did they miss on? What interesting st...

Wesley and Hardin-Simmons could have made it easy on the committee and on all the bracketologists in Division III who are trying to figure out where they’ll go in the playoffs. Instead, Salisbury upset the Wolverines and East Texas Baptist knocked off the Cowboys. What are the ramifications? What do the at-large bids look like now? (A hint, they look awesome.) Plus, which are the teams on th...

There are lots of teams looking for at-large bids to the playoffs. Problem is, there’s only six of them. If you are new to Division III, or new to playoff contention and don’t know how the D-III playoffs work, this is the week where Keith and Pat will walk you through it. Who are the best candidates for at-large bids? What is this whole pool thing about? We’ll talk it all through...

Lots of good showdowns this weekend to talk about, and we hit on a bunch, but that’s just the beginning.  What we’re really here to do is talk about the playoffs! Where do we know more about automatic bids? Which at-large teams have a good shot as it stands right now? Who might get the No. 1 seeds? There’s still three weeks left but it’s time to get in the swing of things....

There was one huge upset this week, but that left a lot of room to talk about other games as well. So in addition to Dubuque-Wartburg, let’s take a few minutes to focus on the “middle class” of Division III football, as it were. Or at least, teams trying to break into the Top 25, or trying to break through and win a conference. Which are the teams on the rise? What key highlights...

Well, there you go — a crack in the purple armor favored by UW-Whitewater. This gives hope to a lot of people around Division III, but should it? What have we really learned from this weekend’s games? We look at that story, plus, an extended breakdown of the Linfield Wildcats, after Pat made the trip to McMinnville, Ore. Plus, which are the teams on the rise? What key highlights happen...

Impressive midseason matchups lead to some readjustment, not just in the Top 25 poll but in playoff positioning. No, it’s not too early to talk about some conference races. Plus there was a Division III record set on Saturday, and a bunch of crazy endings to talk about. We look at those stories, plus, which are the teams on the rise? What key highlights happened below the radar? Pat and Keit...