The second NCAA regional rankings have been released. These are the last we’ll see before the playoff pairings are announced on Sunday.
Remember that regional rankings primarily take regional games into account. 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.
Teams which have clinched automatic bids are in bold.
EAST
1 Delaware Valley 9-0 9-0
2 Salisbury 7-1 8-1
3 Montclair State 8-1 8-1
4 Kean 8-1 8-1
5 Widener 8-1 8-1
6 Western New England 9-1 9-1
7 Hobart 6-1 6-1
8 Endicott 9-1 9-1
9 St. John Fisher 7-2 7-2
10 SUNY-Maritime 7-1 7-2
Also clinched but not ranked: Norwich
NORTH
1 Mount Union 8-0 9-0
2 Wabash 8-0 9-0
3 North Central (Ill.) 7-1 8-1
4 Franklin 7-0 8-1
5 Case 8-0 8-1
6 Illinois Wesleyan 8-1 8-1
7 Wheaton (Ill.) 7-2 7-2
8 Baldwin-Wallace 7-2 7-2
9 Heidelberg 7-2 7-2
10 Wittenberg 5-2 7-2
Also clinched but not ranked: Albion, Benedictine.
SOUTH
1 Mary Hardin-Baylor 8-0 9-0
2 Johns Hopkins 8-0 9-0
3 Trinity (Texas) 9-0 9-0
3 Wesley 4-1 8-1
5 McMurry 6-1 7-2
6 Hampden-Sydney 8-1 8-1
7 Centre 7-1 7-1
8 Thomas More 8-1 8-1
9 Louisiana College 6-2 7-2
10 Christopher Newport 7-1 7-2
WEST
1 UW-Whitewater 7-0 9-0
2 St. Thomas 10-0 10-0
3 Linfield 7-0 8-0
4 Cal Lutheran 7-1 7-1
5 Dubuque 8-1 9-1
6 Monmouth (Ill.) 9-1 9-1
7 Redlands 7-1 7-1
8 St. Scholastica 9-0 9-0
9 Illinois College 9-1 9-1
10 Wartburg 7-2 7-2
So is that really a TIE in the South Region or did the NCAA just make a typo? Can’t say I’ve ever seen a tie in the rankings before, and why move Trinity positionally above Wesley if the are indeed tied?
I asked the NCAA this question last week when there were ties. Still awaiting a response.
SUNY-Maritime lost to Norwich who won the ECFC AQ, so they shouldn’t be in bold.
Thanks, fixed that.
With things still unsettled in the East, I like that I see Illinois College at #9 and the second Pool C in the West. I think that bodes well for #4, #5 and #6 teams!
Barring an upset in the 11th week, I think that McMurry and Redlands are in the first 4 off the table. I think that that Del Valley and Wesley wins help Kean with Pool C chances in the East!
Ranked last week…”once ranked, always ranked”.
East — Lycoming
North — Albion
South — Wash & Lee
West — St Olaf, Lewis & Clark
Trintiy being fourth certainly looks better for a south/north UMHB bracket. We have to see how many one loss teams survive this week.
Do we still NOT see the final regional rankings?
Last year football refused — they were the only sport we cover, I believe, that didn’t release its final regional rankings. But I say final ones we see before the bracket, which is true either way.
I am a little surprised that Huntingdon is not getting more love from the rankings. They are two and one against ranked opponenets. Seems a stretch that two two loss teams from the same conference would get bids
Will McMurry be left out of the post-season – last year in Div III and with 2-losses [one was 82-6]might be cause for pause, even ranked #5 in the South Region
If Illinois College squeaks into the West, any chance that Monmouth plays Dubuque? And would Monmouth host based on better Region record?
Monmouth could play Dubuque regardless of whether Illinois College gets in. And in general, the higher seed would host. (And the seeding is based on the regional rankings.)
Brackets anyone?
West
St. Scholastica at UW Whitewater
Redlands at St. Thomas
Cal Lutheran at Linfield
Monmouth at Dubuque
North
Albion at Mount Union
Benedictine at North Central
Illinois Wesleyan at Wabash
Case at Franklin
South
Christopher-Newport at Mary-Harden Baylor
Thomas More at Johns Hopkins
Hampden-Sydney at Trinity
McMurray at Wesley
North
Norwich at Delaware Valley
Widener or loser of Montclair/Kean game at Salisbury
Endicott at Winner of Montclair/Kean game
Hobart at Western New England
This puts the only 2 or more loss teams that did not win their conferences in the East bracket. The East bracket is by far the most difficult to predict right now because there are so many teams still in the hunt. Also, this bracket guesstimation is based on the premise that all teams stay in their respective regions for their playoff rounds. We all know that is not a certainty.
If the NCAA decides that they want no two loss teams in the playoffs that did not win their conference then this bracket set-up will need to be adjusted so that some teams from the South or North get put into the East bracket. This would then allow other teams with one loss a chance to play in the playoffs – specifically Centre from the South and Illinois College from the West and there may be others. Also, this bracket never took into account the SOS numbers that are published on all teams.
On another thought tangent, if a 2 loss team is allowed into the bracket one would hope that the SOS number would also eliminate some of those two loss teams from the East Region in favor of teams that have been ranked during the season that also have two losses in other regions. This would also cause shifting of some teams into other regions to allow these “stronger” two loss teams in.
Lastly, I must confess I don’t have a real good feel for where all the teams are located in the South and I suspect that Christopher-Newport is more than 500 miles from Mary-Hardin Baylor, so that matchup may not occur. In the West Region there will have to be flying involved to get all 3 of those West coast teams in the first round.
What do you all think?
Would like to see an East bracket without Mount Union but have a feeling the Raiders will once again be the obstacle for the East teams to get by.
Oops – just realized that the bottom bracket should be labeled East not North.
Honestly, I can’t see 2 teams from Texas because the travel costs involved. UMHB and Trinity are in. McMurry may be out. That would not fair to a great McMurry team. The fair thing would be to have McMurry at Trinity and have a lower ranked team at UMHB.
sorry…I meant 3 teams from Texas.
Salisbury is 6-0 in the conference and 8-1 overall, please correct!
No. It says at the top of the page that this is the regional record.
Ok then they are undefeated in the region since Wesley is from the South correct? What regions are CNU and Apprentice considered to be?
Please read the link provided at the top. “For more information about the playoff format and how participants are determined, check out our FAQ.”
Noted, thanks. I just read through this and by definition all of Salisbury games were regional. 6 in the conferance and 3 non-conferance but Wesley, CNU and Apprentice are less than 200 miles away from SU. So shouldn’t the record be 8-1 for both regional and overall?
Apprentice is not a Division III member, and no game against a non-Division III school can ever be a regional game.
We have Salisbury’s regional record correct.
Ok, never knew that, just assumed Apprentice was as they were in the ACFC with SU until this year and their players get nominated and sometimes play in the d3football.com All American game.
you dont think wheaton college gets in?
Bethel would beat St. Scholastica by 75 points if they decided to, but St. Scholastica is in and the Royals probably aren’t :/
St. Scholastica secured the bid by winning their conference. Most people realize it is not a real strong conference, but they ran the table and did what UW-W and MU did… get the conference automatic. Sure, Bethel has a good team and would probably beat them, but Bethel can’t complain. Their fate was sealed when they got their second loss. It’s pretty rare that a two loss team gets a pool C bid.
Wheaton is toast this year my friend
I wish we had a D3football.com All-American game!
John, it’s highly unlikely for Wheaton. You’d need to hope for a good number of losses elsewhere, and it’s just so unlikely that they would take three CCIW teams.
I will take a shot at a bracket. My older son played for Mount Union so I never payed much attention to the bracket woes. My younger son is at Monmouth, so now I find myself trying to understand the whole process.
North
Albion at Mount Union
Il Wesleyan at Wabash
Benedictine at North Central Il
Case at Franklin
South
Christopher Newport at Mary Hardin-Baylor
Thomas Moore at Trinity Tx
Hampden Sydney at John Hopkins
Centre at Wesley
East
Norwich at Delaware Valley
Montclair St at Salisbury
Hobart at Kean
Widener at Western New England
West
Redlands at St. Thomas
St. Scholastica at Whitewater
Cal Lutheran at Linfield
Dubuque at Monmouth
Eventhough Wesley has a great SOS, doesn’t it hurt them playing 4 non-region games? I mean 5 region wins would not usually be good enough to even make the playoffs. Also a team from Delaware and Maryland in the South? I am confused. Anyone help educate me on this?
Sorry I meant the d3 Senior Classic Game in Salem, VA. Per their website, “players will have earned the honor to play against their best peers in a showcase for all to recognize the talent laden D-III football level.”
From what I’ve learned from the past and in talking with folks from the website, if Redlands and Cal Lutheran are both in the field, they will have to play each other in the first round due to D-III travel limitations. Although we wouldn’t mind having another crack at Linfield (for the 6th time in the last 24 months), a Redlands game would be Cal Lutheran’s first home playoff game since 1979.
I thought that Conference foes could not meet in the first round.
That’s true, unless geography dictates it.