D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast

Let’s see — the No. 1 Division III team beat the NAIA’s No. 1 team, SportsCenter spent significant time on two Division III campuses and we had a great, gutsy schedule of a non-conference game turn into a fantastic contest that was worth the price of admission. We look at those stories, plus, which are the teams on the rise? What key highlights happened below the radar? Pat and K...

We might question whether some teams are as good as we think, and some Top 25 voters might be asking the same questions. Other teams are right where everyone thought they would be. And in some places, there’s new excitement and new life for football. We look at those teams, plus, which are the teams on the rise? What key highlights happened below the radar? Pat and Keith answer those questio...

Some of the teams getting a fresh start this week are ones that didn’t play in Week 1, such as three of the top five teams in the country. Others are young programs who picked up signature wins, while even others are established programs that have been down on their luck. We look at those teams, plus, which are the teams on the rise? What was the most surprising result? Pat and Keith answer...

Actual games. Actual results. The 2015 Division III football season went from virtual to literal this week. What were the big surprises? What interesting games flew under the radar? Who are the teams on the rise after one week? Pat and Keith answer those questions, plus hand out their game balls, on this week’s Around the Nation Podcast. The Around the Nation Podcast is a weekly conversation...

Typically we’re not dropping the first Around the Nation Podcast episode of a particular season until after the first week of games, but the 2015 season is coming quickly and we’re looking forward to it. Like most seasons, you can hope that this season will feature a different shade of purple at the end. Or, perhaps no purple at all. It could happen. Let’s discuss some of the pos...

The crowd had something to get excited about in Alliance. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com Subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in iTunes . A Salem regular and a Salem newbie will meet Friday night for the 2012 Division III football national championship, as No. 1 Mount Union will face No. 4 St. Thomas in yet another matchup of purple programs. Could St. Thomas someday be a Purple Po...

Playoff spots will be going out left, right and center today, as we lock up a few more of the 23 automatic bids to the Division III football playoffs. Plenty of action going on, detailed on the front page. Our own Gordon Mann is calling the Delaware Valley-Albright game, and if I weren’t headed to St. Thomas-Bethel myself, that’s what I’d be listening to. Click here to listen . W...

In this week’s Around the Nation podcast, Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman talk about the conference races that got more clearer, those that got less clear, and they take a first look at the race for the two Pool B playoff spots. Hear the two D-III football experts talk about the weekend’s results, look at next week’s games, figure out life’s persistent questions and more. Fi...

Every preseason we rank the conferences for Kickoff, and while the rankings are based mostly on last season and a little on projections, as games get played things tend to change. It’s clear the MAC is moving back up the conference pecking order. Delaware Valley has forced its way into the lead story twice in three weeks, something which we would rarely do in September. But who is falling ba...

There are plenty of teams we can point to in the early going this season who are playing poorly. Three of them got upset on Saturday. So while we talk about what happened in the West Region this weekend, there are also some teams who are looking good, even better than expected, through this past week’s games. Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman take a look at those storylines and more in this wee...

There were surprise games and surprise teams in Week 2, from Delaware Valley to the Mississippi and points west. Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman attempt to cover them all in this week’s Around the Nation podcast. Click the play button below to listen. The player requires Flash. [display_podcast]

The Around the Nation podcast is back for a second season and this year, with Keith McMillan and I on opposite ends of the Division III landscape, it’s presented us some new challenges. Before, Keith and I always recorded together, in the same place, but now he’s in Washington, D.C., and I’m in Minneapolis. So it takes some technological stitching together and timing and such we...

Although there were 5,099 in paid attendance at the Stagg Bowl this past weekend, and many who traveled a long way despite not having their team there to root for, it’s highly unlikely anyone drove further in pursuit of college football in 2007 than Andrew Reed. Reed, who writes for SI On Campus , put more than 20,000 miles on his odometer this season in pursuit of the ultimate road trip. Re...

Gordon Mann joins Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman to help wrap up the 2007 Division III football season. Hear a lively debate on who should be No. 2 when the final poll is released, as well as their takes on what the 2007 season will mean upon reflection. This is the last ATN podcast of the season — thanks for listening and thanks for the hundreds of you who subscribed to it. We’ll also...

Alright, so here we are, at the culmination of more than 1,100 games and after 236 teams have been eliminated from contention for the 2007 Division III football national championship, with Mount Union and UW-Whitewater. The fans are already tailgating in the parking lot, getting ready for our 4 p.m. kickoff. We’ll keep you updated here throughout the day on all the goings-on and help you fol...

Keith McMillan and I broadcast the Mount Union/Bethel game Saturday from Alliance, Ohio, and although we had more than 4,000 people listening live at various points throughout the game, you may not have heard our halftime interview. We spoke to Dick Kaiser, the national chair of the Division III football committee, about the bracket, the new strength of schedule measurements, the final teams taken...

Fifteen weeks and 1,100 games have led to this, Stagg Bowl XXXV, between Mount Union and UW-Whitewater. If you’re new to Division III, these teams have met in the Stagg Bowl each of the previous two years as well. How have things changed since? What can UW-Whitewater do differently in 2007 than it did in 2006 and 2005? What will the Stagg Bowl be like with a healthy Pierre Garcon and Justin...

Go grab your coffee and sit down with us on a Monday morning for this week’s ATN podcast. Four games last week, two games this week. Plus, hear what Keith thought of the Wesley/Mary Hardin-Baylor game and Pat’s take on the Central/Bethel game. What’s coming up this week? Are we really destined for a threepeat Stagg Bowl? Listen in. [display_podcast]

So Keith McMillan and I were on the record as not being surprised at the eight teams which won in Saturday’s second round. The margins of victory? Definitely a difference. Does it matter that Bethel/UW-Eau Claire was so close? Which conferences made big leaps forward in Week 12 and 13? Who leaves the second round of the playoffs disappointed and who leaves them with an optimistic outlook? We...

We’re not sure what was more exciting, the games themselves in the first round or the rush of 16 games all underway at once. It seemed like you couldn’t hit refresh without getting some interesting new tidbit, whether it was Curry pulling away early or TCNJ winning late, Salisbury tying Muhlenberg in the fourth quarter or N.C. Wesleyan taking W&J to overtime. Plus, Keith and Pat, r...

Well, we survived another Selection Sunday, though the day has barely ended as I write this portion of the site. Four hours of sleep, up at 7:15, off to ESPNU, analyze the bracket, check graphics and pronunciations, go over highlights, write a script, go through a dress rehearsal and do the show. Then tape a segment for ESPNews (did anyone ever see that?) and another for online. Thankfully, the po...

Confused by tiebreakers? Oh yeah, definitely understandable. See, each conference sets its own rules for breaking ties for the automatic bid, and with the limited number of games played in any given football season, there’s not exactly a lot of data to work with. So this week, in the Around the Nation podcast, Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman not only run down how the remaining 10 conferences&...

There were more great games than one could count this weekend, so Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman took some extra time to go through them all. What does the weekend mean for Mary Hardin-Baylor and who is the third-best team in Division III after Mount Union and UW-Whitewater? Oddly enough, we discussed the final play of the Trinity/Millsaps game, like everyone else. What does Pool B look like after...

When you only have one game between Top 25 teams, that means we should come to expect upsets. As playoff season approaches, each upset becomes more magnified. Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman examine the consequences from Week 8 in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast. Plus, the week we’ve been waiting for is finally here — five games between Top 25 teams, including the No. 2/No. 3 show...

Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman did a whirlwind tour of Chicago on Saturday, visiting six stadiums, talking to five coaches and seeing one and two-half games. The night culminated in a great Division III atmosphere at Wheaton, where the lights, turf and new video board provided the perfect frame for a great game. Keith and Pat talk about what they saw and what happened elsewhere in Week 7 in this w...