ATN podcast: Will they get in?

Cory Wipperfurth TD
Cory Wipperfurth’s touchdown catch against UW-Whitewater comes up in Keith’s breakdown of the game.
Photo by Daryl Tessmann for d3photography.com

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There have been lots of “nevers” this year in Division III and we’re potentially headed for another one right now. Since the advent of the automatic bid, the defending national champion has never been on the bubble on Selection Sunday. But UW-Whitewater may well be there even if it wins out, and Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan discuss the Warhawks’ chances as part of this week’s Around the Nation Podcast, sponsored by the City of Salem, hosts of Stagg Bowl XL. Tickets on sale now!

But amid the doom and gloom, there are bright points for the Warhawks. Plus, if this is your first look at UW-Oshkosh, we give you a good description of what the Titans are all about.

It was a channel surfing Saturday for both Pat and Keith, who got their eyes on a lot of games. It was a tough weekend for Illinois Wesleyan and Lycoming, who played two pretty similar games but saw their fourth-quarter nine-point leads vanish at the hands of Wheaton (Ill.) and Widener.

Plus: Why does this unbeaten Johns Hopkins team look better than the last one? Who could be the first team to clinch an automatic bid? What CCIW team might have the best shot at an at-large bid? Who is the stealth unbeaten? And who might be a top candidate for the Gagliardi Trophy … in 2014? All of those questions are discussed in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast.

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Postgame show

Here’s this week’s D3football.com reports and highlight packages.

And this week’s photo galleries from our friends at d3photography.com:

5 thoughts on “ATN podcast: Will they get in?

  1. If Whitewater gets in, as probably a 7 or 8 seed, That will make for one heck of a one versus eight match up (or 2 vs. 7)in the first round. I wouldn’t want that draw if I was a one or two seed. (Who might that be?……. Mount Union, St Thomas, Linfield, North Central..)

  2. I plan to listen to the podcast shortly. But here are some thoughts as I drove home Saturday night and looked at some of the playoff history in the WIAC. UW-EC got in with two loses several years ago, losing up at Bethel in a close 2nd round game. I think if UW-W gets one of the 7 Pool C’s, it assumes that UW-O takes cares of the last three weeks (along with UW-W winning out). I think if UW-O loses and still wins the conference, only one team gets in.

    Even if UW-W gets a Pool C, there could be the possibility they end up on a bracket on Mount’s side -which ends the two-team reign … The QB situation appears to be promising if Whitewater goes with the sophomore in place of Brekke – he appears uncomfortable in the pocket and even throwing a good deep ball. With a senior o-line, the running game is a bit of a puzzle.

    I could see a playoff situation where if UW-W gets in, they end up with a 2nd round game with UW-O (similar to the UW-W v. UW-L games in 05 and 06) so one team gets knocked out without the WIAC dominating one part of the playoffs. Who knows? The above scenario assumes both teams win their first round games. I would love to see how either schools stacks up against Saint Thomas and hope that these three schools are paired up in the same bracket in three weeks or so.

  3. With the way that Whitewater got treated a couple years ago by not getting a 1 seed. Will that have any effect on the committee potentially giving whitewater a boost into the playoffs? A weird view of it, but just wondering your thoughts.

  4. I don’t know if they might get that kind of a makeup call. The committee changed the rules so that they NCAA couldn’t force them to do that again — I think that was the makeup call.

  5. Thought it was worth bringing up because Keith talked about in the podcast of the possibility for the committee looking at the criteria differently, which was one way the Warhawks had a chance to get in yet. Not saying at all that this is going to happen, just something that comes to mind.

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