The NCAA released its first 2009 regional rankings today.
Teams are listed with their regional record first, followed by their overall record. For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.
We will pass along any needed corrections in regional records to the NCAA.
East Region
1. Albright 6-0 7-0
2. Alfred 6-0 6-0
3. Delaware Valley 5-0 6-1
4. Kean 6-1 6-1
5. Rowan 6-1 6-1
6. Montclair State 6-1 6-1
7. Springfield 6-1 6-1
8. Lebanon Valley 6-1 6-1
9. Union 5-1 5-2
10. Curry 6-1 6-2
North Region
1. Mount Union 6-0 7-0
2. Otterbein 7-0 7-0
3. Wittenberg 5-0 7-0
4. Case Western Reserve 6-0 7-0
5. Mount St. Joseph 7-0 7-0
6. North Central (Ill.) 6-1 6-1
7. Wabash 5-1 6-1
8. Wheaton (Ill.) 6-1 6-1
9. Illinois Wesleyan 6-1 6-1
10. Trine 6-1 6-1
South Region
1. Wesley 3-0 7-0
2. Mississippi College 6-0 6-1
3. Washington and Jefferson 7-0 7-0
4. Hampden-Sydney 8-0 8-0
5. Mary Hardin-Baylor 4-1 6-1
6. Thomas More 7-0 7-0
7. Centre 6-1 6-1
8. Huntingdon 3-0 6-1
9. Dickinson 6-1 6-1
10. DePauw 5-1 5-1
West Region
1. Linfield 6-0 7-0
2. Central 8-0 8-0
3. St. John’s 8-0 8-0
4. UW-Whitewater 5-0 7-0
5. Monmouth 8-0 8-0
6. St. Thomas 6-1 6-1
7. Coe 6-1 6-1
8. Occidental 5-1 5-1
9. Cal Lutheran 5-1 5-1
10. UW-Stevens Point 4-1 5-2
I have sent these corrections to the NCAA. Anyone see any others?
For those who want to compare against the strength of schedule numbers:
http://www.d3football.com/strength-of-schedule/2009
No surprises for me re the East Region. The MAC and the NJAC have so far been the best (at least the most “consistent”) conferences to date IMO.
Nice story re Alfred. Could be a “trap” game for them against Rochester this weekend. The Jackets have been tough all year and the Saxons are a bit banged up post-SJFC.
Looking fwd to seeing the result of the Albright-DVC match up on Nov 7.
Anyone have any news on the status of Alfred’s Secky and Hendrix? They were both injured in the SJF game.
This post may ruffle a few collective feathers, but take it or leave it.
Is Whitewater’s 4th place ranking (in the West) real? April fool’s Day was nearly 6 months ago… it’s time to put your serious face on, D3football.com.
Clearly, a few team’s may have a better strength of schedule than that of UW-Whitewater’s, but that isn’t because UW-Whitewater prefers “cupcake” teams. One of the NAIA school’s they’ve beaten 38-3 has gone on to be 6-0 since. The Warhawk staff struggles to find nonconference games with D3 opponents (and quality opponents at that), but coaches would rather not blemish their record and devalue their own ranking, and rightfully so.
Finall Question: Does anyone in the nation (including the teams in the West Region) really expect a result anything short of the one that has replayed itself over and over and over (and over) again?
Not sure why you call us out — these are the NCAA rankings. We put our serious face on the D3football.com Top 25 every week.
One other thing, Keegs…
The Regional Evaluation Committees have specific criteria that are listed in the Handbook that they must use in the regional rankings.
It is a tough job that they have, especially when the siupport staff at the NCAA cannot publish an accurate handbook in numerous D-III sports, but the Handbook is what the members of the NCAA have created to determine the championship.
http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/champ_handbooks/football/2009/09_3_football.pdf
I am shaking my head that Albright is NO 1 in the East. They haven’t played anyone. They will be crushed by Del-Val on 11/7/09, just like last year!
yurks64…your not the only one
I would be absolutely shocked if 10-0 Whitewater (assuming they win out), isn’t a #1 seed. The West Region is head and shoulders the best division, and a “West” team should get a top seed in a different division.
Whitewater still plays 5-2 Stevens Point and 5-2 La Crosse. I don’t know if regional rankings is the only thing that the NCAA uses, but i have a hard time seeing them giving the undefeated, WIAC champion, 4 time national title game participant Warhawks anything less than a top seed. Granted, we don’t have a team the calibur of Mary Hardin Baylor on the schedule this year…
Whitewater had to travel to Linfield in 2005, and started the now infamous 4 year run. Its only fair that Linfield travel to Whitewater in 2009 to return the favor.
Perkins Stadium is a HUGE advantage for the Warhawks, but they haven’t lost to a Division III team on the road in almost five years (1 home loss to UWSP and 3 losses on a neutral field to MUC)
Yurks64:
Perhaps Del Val will handle Albright easily. The defense certainly played well against them last year. Or perhaps Albright is a year wiser, a year better and maybe a little healthier than Del Val. In any event I think it’s better for the team to focus on King’s first.
Some more WIAC info…
WIAC is now 39-23 all time in Division III playoffs, including 3 national titles (1992 UW-L, 1995 UW-L, and 2007 UW-W, and 3 national-runner ups (UWW- 2005,2006,2008)
WIAC is 22-13 since the playoff field expanded from 16 teams to 32.
A big piece of Central’s West ranking is based on their OOC win over UW-Stevens Point. Whitewater (with a win) on Saturday could negate that advantage.
a big piece of Linfield’s West ranking is based on UWW playing 0-7 Puget Sound. Linfield plays them shortly and will make those mutual wins (and schedule weakeners) a wash…
I don’t know a whole heck of alot about St. John’s schedule, but i believe the Hawks have beaten St. Johns 3 times in the past 4 playoff seasons (granted all 4 games were in Whitewater)
Not to reply to myself… but at first glance, i might move Mount Union to the east region and move Whitewater or St. John’s to the #1 seed in the North region.
I wonder why they don’t they make the North Region into a Midwest Region? Having a North and East region seems overkill. South looks fine, and the west region having FIVE top-10 teams is simply absurd
Warhawk, i agree… they need to move out some of the top teams from the West.
The criteria for determining the regional rankings may be set and I’m sure we can argue from every angle who has the tougher schedule. I’d love nothing more than to have St John’s / Whitewater / Linfield all in different regions. Of course that won’t happen… we’ll beat each other and the winner will play Mount Union.
It is obvious that whitewater would move to the north and mt union to the east at playoff time. You UWW fans can calm down.
Gordon,
All good points. Kings is much improved this year. I am not sold on Albright though. They have the 131st hardest schedule this year as opposed to Del-Val who has the 7th hardest in D3. I am not sure if they are improved or they have been beating up on weaker opposition. I guess we will find out on November 7th at Del-Val where they are tough to beat!
Pat or Keith,
Why does the E8 winner still get a pool A bid even though the conference only now his 6 teams?
A team left this season. They have a two-year grace period to get back up to seven teams before losing their AQ.
Pat,
UMHB is ranked 5th in the South Region. Do you think they will get a pool C bid? I can’t believe W&J is ranked higher. They had a close game against St. Vincent and they play in a very weak conf. UMHB DESTROYED them last year.
Its not about last year, Purple Crush. W&J has not lost a game this year…. yet 😉 The Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) is ALOT better than you are giving it credit for. Thomas More 7-0 is also in the PAC, Geneva is 6-1, and Waynesburg beat Wooster this year. Wooster was talking NCAC Title and Playoffs this year.
Now… is it the strongest conference? Hell no, but its alot better than “very weak”. I respect MHB’s program and was shocked when they lost… but injuries sound like they’ve really taken a toll down there in Belton. It happens… I’m not sure though, how you could move MHB up in front of where they are based on the criteria for the Regional Rankings. Its based on IN-REGION wins and losses and OVERALL wins and losses.
I do think MHB gets in the playoffs because there’s alot of football to be played. I also think W&J is gonna be there right with them in the pool c talk. Hopefully its not Thomas More.
Oh and BTW, Pat…..
Most of us really appreciate the “serious face” you put on weekly with D3football.com
WarhawkBadger — UW-W’s run has been spectacular but I dont think the NCAA takes past teams into consideration for the rankings.
There are 5 great teams in the West Region and I think the “other 4” don’t want to play Whitewater in the playoffs… understandable. Its too bad travel distance is a consideration at the Division 3 level, but its what we have to work with — at least our championship is decided on the field, unlike FCS.
It is really too bad the ACFA and Div. III Top 25 polls are not somehow “factored into the equation” when the final 32 are put together. It does seem odd to me that UW-Whitewater, who is ranked number 2 in both polls has a bit of dip in the regional rankings. Yes, I realize from reading over the handbook how the criteria are applied, but you would think in this day and age that the two polls would also factor in the process.
My gut tells me that this will motivate UW-Whiterwater and hopefully make them an even better/hungrier/focused team as the next three weeks transpire leading up to the playoffs brackets. Perhaps being “under the radar” and not a 1 seed will take some pressure off, if that is what transpires.
Last year’s games I saw at Willamette and at MHB helped toughen them up and good competition only sharpened UW-W’s work against Mount Union in the Bowl Game. To use a boxing analogy, you need a good group of sparring partners and good opponents to be a champ, esp. when faced with any adversity in a championship game. I think the last 4 Stagg Bowls have proved this, regardless of the outcome.
Purple Crush ….my guess is that we’ll both be “parked” in front of the TV for “selection Sunday”. One can only hope that the “CRU” is given another opportunity to prove just how good they are. But, I personally don’t have a good feeling about it…..I keep thinking about 2000 and 2003….I would have bet a “huge” amount of money in 2003 that they would be a pool C selection. (I’m sure happy I couldn’t find anyone to bet me!!).
That is the nature of division 3 football. One loss and you have to sweat. No one is exempt including those programs like UMHB. With that said, I do think that they will get in if they win the rest of their games.
mille 125: oh….yeah…I agree with you …noone is exempt. But, that doesn’t ease the mind of us rabid CRU fans….:)
Help me understand… University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is rank #2 in the nation; Plays in the WIAC Conference which is considered one of the toughest if not the toughest conference in DIII; UWW is undefeated with a winning spread of 30+ points per game…and it’s fourth in the West Region!?
I have not studied the handbook or policies related how this is determined, but then again I don’t understand the BCS Rankings either…
For everyone’s information: In Wisconsin we have one DI BCS team and all other public Unversity of Wisconsin (UW) System Teams are DIII (WIAC). There are no DII football teams in Wisconsin. In the past some DII teams have played WIAC teams, lost and were unable to recover due to the consequences of a DII team losing to a DIII team. To that effect, it has become difficult to find teams willing to play WIAC teams. which means WIAC teams are traveling all over the country to find teams to play (repect is due to those NAIA, DIII and DIAA teams willing to test themselves aginst WIAC Teams). WIAC is often referred to as DII teams playing DIII Football.
To Purple Crush,
Again I would stay that the PAC is definitely not the best conference but certainly not the worst. Grove City lost to Dickinson by 5 and should have won that game. Bethany plays undefeated Otterbein very tough even though the final score was 28-7. Geneva, W&J, and Thomas More are all solid teams.
It is completely unfair to compare teams based on what happened last year.
I think all you need to do is look at common opponents. Whitewater beat Puget Sound 42-7; Linfield won 54-36. UWW beat UWSP 41-12 in Stevens Point; Central won 22-21 at home. St. Johns played UWRF and UWEC and won by margins much closer than UWW did.
Whitewater is clearly the best of these four teams.