post

ATN podcast: Wrapping up the season

UW-Whitewater experienced Division III nirvana after being out of the playoffs entirely for a year. That means it's possible for your team to do this as well. Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

UW-Whitewater experienced Division III nirvana after being out of the playoffs entirely for a year. That means it’s possible for your team to do this as well.
Photo by Larry Radloff, d3photography.com Subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in iTunes.

We had some final business to take care of on Friday night after UW-Whitewater’s 52-14 win vs. Mount Union in Stagg Bowl XLI. In addition to wrapping up the game, Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman talked about which players might have played themselves into All-America status

next season, discussed how they would rank the top teams after the last few weeks of the playoffs and decided who would be the 2013 D3football.com Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year as well as Coach of the Year, and why.

Hit play, or subscribe to get this podcast on your phone or portable device.

You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in iTunes. You can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3football/?feed=podcast

8 thoughts on “ATN podcast: Wrapping up the season

  1. Keith you had a great point. What if UMHB would have went for it on 4th down ((would not had to if the UMHB receiver not dropped the pass in the end zone) Also, our All American Diaz was suspended. Oh well! Could, should, would and if does not cut it at this level. Congrats to WW they deserve it.

    Great job once again guys. A big thank you from CRU Nation, see you in September.

  2. The 2 top teams played in the National Championship.

    Congrats to UWW on their victory!

    I disagree with the Final rankings w/Mount Union finishing @ #3. They had more wins than any other team (except UWW) @ 14 and the Gagliardi Winner.

    They were presented with the Runner-Up trophy after the game.

    Yes, MHB played UWW closer than Mount Union. MHB is a solid #3. WHo lnows on match ups if MHB would have played Mount Union as tough as they did UWW.

    The Stagg Bowl winner finsihed as #1 and the loosing team finishes as #2 with the NCAA III Runner UP trophy.

  3. I’ll be honest, I ended up a bit disappointed that despite what looked like a very interesting final 8 where at least one team not named UMU or UWW would make it to the Stagg, that is exactly what happened yet again. I liked the way St. Thomas mixed it up at least a little last year. 2013….not so much.

    I really thought this was the year for UMHB, but when given the opportunity to try and beat UWW with a TD late, they opted for the “Maybe we’ll get the back back” option. The Crusaders should have went for the win, not hoped for the win. And that isn’t hindsight, I was yelling it when I saw their FG unit trot onto the field.

    Linfield needs to stop blowing 3 score leads against lower ranked opponents (at least in the D3football.com poll) and winning some of these games later in the playoffs many are picking them to. This is the 3rd straight year the Wildcats have led by 3 scores, only to see their season end (prematurely in many people’s eyes).

    North Central had a golden chance against a UMU team that was beatable this year and couldn’t hold on when it needed to.

    Wesley keeps knocking on the door (very hard this year) but leaving when no one answers.

  4. Thanks, Pat and Keith, for providing hours of entertainment and informative dialogue over the course of the 2013 football season. Thank you also (along with all of the other contributors) for all of the work you put into the unparalleled content offered at d3football.com. All of your work makes following D3 football more fun and meaningful for all of us. Another job well done!!

  5. mucpurpleraider,

    I don’t think so, not after the beating UMU took in the Stagg. MHB beat Wesley 35-7 and could have scored a few more TD’S but pulled the starters after the 3rd qtr. And you are well aware of the 62-59 score in Alliance. Ask UWW who was the toughest team they played, according to their coach it was MHB. We were missing our all American DE to boot.

    UMU are young, so they will be hard to beat for years to come. . Good luck to them, not that they will need it.

    d3forme,

    You are correct, coach hoped for the win. I remember everyone around me that day was totally surprised when the FG unit came out after burning a valuable TO. It was a no brainer, go for the win. Don’t make it, WW has ball on their own 4, the wind in their face and we have 3 TO. Very disappointed on that decision!

  6. Bethel/North Central game would have been a lot different if they had their starting QB who went down the previous week. You can look no further than the NFL to see what happens when a team loses its starting QB. Their passing game was unstoppable all year with 5 great receivers. Playing in zero degree weather and without starting QB changed everything.

  7. Well, they would have played without their starting QB regardless, and they may not have given up as many points, but let’s be honest — North Central scored a lot of points at a time in which Bethel’s QB was not on the field.

Leave a Reply