Division III Playoffs, Round of 32: Triple Take’s score predictions

Hobart didn't schedule any Empire 8 contenders the past two seasons, but the NCAA committee has sent them an Empire 8 team in the playoffs for the second year in a row. This year it's Tom Dempsey and the Ithaca Bombers. (Ithaca athletics photo)

Hobart didn’t schedule any Empire 8 contenders the past two seasons, but the NCAA committee has sent them an Empire 8 team in the playoffs for the second year in a row. This year it’s Tom Dempsey and the Ithaca Bombers. (Ithaca athletics photo)

The playoffs are upon us. The five-week march to Salem happens in three phases. Before we get to the elite powers facing off in the semifinals and Stagg Bowl, with national broadcast coverage, and before we get to the really competitive games of Rounds 2 and 3, there’s this Saturday.

The first round, from about noon ET to 4 p.m., is a rush of as many as 15 games going on simultaneously. Every game kicks off at noon local time, which means all but Chapman at Linfield start within an hour of one another. Many of you will be watching one game in particular. For those who won’t, or for those who will have one eye on the game they’re attending while furiously refreshing the D3football.com scoreboard, Pat Coleman, Ryan Tipps and I are at your service.

This is different from the regular-season Triple Takes. We’re offering scores only, not paragraphs of insight. It is an exercise in setting the national expectation. It has nothing to do with proving our predictive powers, gambling or bragging rights, although each of us will correctly predict all but a few of the winners. The scores and the line of consensus advise you on what to expect, so that when you’re sifting through 15 game scores on Saturday afternoon, you’ll recognize a surprising result in the making. (Like Wartburg over Illinois Wesleyan last year, after we all picked IWU, for example.)

— Keith McMillan

UW-WHITEWATER QUADRANT
Keith’s take:  UW-Whitewater 52, Macalester 7
Ryan’s take: UW-Whitewater 45, Macalester 3
Pat’s take: UW-Whitewater 45, Macalester 6
Consensus: The defending champions should dominate in the Scots’ first playoff game ever.

Keith’s take: Wabash 27, Franklin 17
Ryan’s take: Wabash 41, Franklin 21
Pat’s take: Wabash 53, Franklin 31
Consensus: How much scoring we expect varies, but the Little Giants should win this 4-5 matchup by double digits.

Keith’s take: St. John’s 31, St. Scholastica 10
Ryan’s take: St. John’s 38, St. Scholastica 7
Pat’s take: St. John’s 38, St. Scholastica 17
Consensus: The Johnnies see Kurt Ramler again, and send the Saints to another unceremonious first-round exit.

Keith’s take: Wartburg 35, St. Thomas 21
Ryan’s take: Wartburg 34, St. Thomas 20
Pat’s take: Wartburg 54, St. Thomas 35
Consensus: For all the talk about it being a tough draw, we’ve got the Knights by two or three touchdowns.

MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR QUADRANT
Keith’s take: Widener 31, Muhlenberg 21
Ryan’s take: Widener 49, Muhlenberg 21
Pat’s take: Widener 42, Muhlenberg 35
Consensus: We’re varied on how close the Mules keep it, but the Pride roars on.

Keith’s take: Delaware Valley 42, Christopher Newport 35
Ryan’s take: Delaware Valley 41, Christopher Newport 37
Pat’s take: Delaware Valley 56, Christopher Newport 31
Consensus: The Aggies have one of the most generous defenses in the field, so they’ll have to win a shootout.

Keith’s take: Linfield 28, Chapman 21
Ryan’s take: Linfield 28, Chapman 13
Pat’s take: Linfield 27, Chapman 24
Consensus: Basically a repeat of the Week 1 matchup, with a bit more scoring.

Keith’s take: Mary Hardin-Baylor 52, Texas Lutheran 24
Ryan’s take: Mary Hardin-Baylor 56, Texas Lutheran 17
Pat’s take: Mary Hardin-Baylor 48, Texas Lutheran 13
Consensus: Not quite 72-16, but not quite close.

WESLEY QUADRANT
Keith’s take: Wesley 56, Hampden-Sydney 21
Ryan’s take: Wesley 45, Hampden-Sydney 10
Pat’s take: Wesley 42, Hampden-Sydney 20
Consensus: The Wolverines pick up where they left off the last time they played a D-III opponent.

Keith’s take: MIT 24, Husson 21
Ryan’s take: MIT 34, Husson 31
Pat’s take: Husson 20, MIT 15
Consensus: This could go either way, and we all expect a grind.

Keith’s take: Johns Hopkins 34, Rowan 17
Ryan’s take: Johns Hopkins 27, Rowan 17
Pat’s take: Johns Hopkins 24, Rowan 10
Consensus: The Profs just don’t have enough offensive variety to keep up with the Blue Jays.

Keith’s take: Hobart 24, Ithaca 22
Ryan’s take: Ithaca 24, Hobart 20
Pat’s take: Ithaca 24, Hobart 21
Consensus: We effectively picked the same score, in a toss-up. (We each make our choices without looking at the others) Hobart is a No. 2 seed, but would it be an upset if it lost to the Empire 8 champs?

MOUNT UNION QUADRANT
Keith’s take: Wheaton 31, Benedictine 6
Ryan’s take: Wheaton 42, Benedictine 7
Pat’s take: Wheaton 54, Benedictine 0
Consensus: At least the Eagles, who rallied from 1-4 to win the NACC, have a short ride home.

Keith’s take: John Carroll 35, Centre 13
Ryan’s take: John Carroll 45, Centre 14
Pat’s take: John Carroll 45, Centre 21
Consensus: Going toe-to-toe with Mount Union in Week 11 portends success more than going 10-0 in the SAA.

Keith’s take: Washington and Jefferson 28, Wittenberg 24
Ryan’s take: Wittenberg 38, Washington and Jefferson 21
Pat’s take: Washington and Jefferson 34, Wittenberg 31
Consensus: This is one of the few places Pat and I see potential for a narrow upset; Ryan disagrees.

Keith’s take: Mount Union 49, Adrian 13
Ryan’s take: Mount Union 66, Adrian 7
Pat’s take: Mount Union 54, Adrian 3
Consensus: The Bulldogs run into a bulwark.

We invite you to add your predictions in the comments below, or tweet at us at @D3Keith, @NewsTipps and @d3football. Download the Around the Nation podcast on Mondays, where Pat and Keith review the picks and the highlights from Round 1.

8 thoughts on “Division III Playoffs, Round of 32: Triple Take’s score predictions

  1. Ithaca only has to travel about one hour. They are the surviving E-8 champs. Beating St John Fisher at their place was impressive. St John Fisher is as good as or better than half the teams in the field. Let’s face it, my Statesmen have not played anybody except St. Lawrence. Also, Hobart stumbled in the last two regular season games, turning the ball over 5 times at SLU and then Rochester shot themselves in the foot several times with stupid penalties. Hobart could very well be 8-2. Ithaca’s losses in the E-8 were very close and losing at Cortland is nothing to be ashamed of, especially the way IC lost. Bottom line, the LL is not the E-8 and Ithaca is more battle tested than Hobart. While I hope I am wrong, Ithaca 24 Hobart 17.

  2. I’ll do a play off of a couple of your categories for the regular season:

    THEY WILL BE ON YOUR RADAR:
    Muhlenberg and Chapman are two teams many may not be all that familiar with that could be competitive on Saturday.

    HIGHLY SEEDED TEAM MOST LIKELY TO LOSE: Wartburg. St. Thomas is playing their best football of the year and is a program who has advanced deep into the playoffs.

    THE PRESSURE IS ON: John Carroll. Last year’s unceremonious first round dumping needs to be completely eradicated if they hope to earn an OAC showdown rematch.

    WHAT TEAM THAT WEARS PURPLE AND HAS A NICKNAME THAT REPRESENTS A BIRD THAT DOESN’T EXIST WILL REMIND EVERYONE DURING THESE PLAYOFFS THAT READING TOO MUCH INTO ONE SINGLE RESULT IS PURE FOLLY?
    UW-Whitewater.

  3. I don’t know about everyone else but I think there are a couple of other games with red flags on offense in Kumerow’s absence, bleedpurple. It’s not just one game for me.

  4. The Rowan-Johns Hopkins matchup is very intriguing. On one hand, Rowan is probably the toughest defense JHU has faced all year. On the other side, JHU is arguably the most balanced offense Rowan has faced this year. Also of note, Rowan is most definitely battle-tested with who they have played this year and that will be in their favor come Saturday. The Profs definitely need to throw some surprises in on offense because you know JHU is going to do everything in their power to bottle up Marcelin. Without JHU being able to make a deep playoff run the past few years, you have to wonder that if Rowan can score early and get a lead, if the Blue Jays will be able to fight against the “here we go again” mentality.

  5. UW-Whitewater 52, Macalester 10
    Wabash 38, Franklin 31
    St. John’s 42, St. Scholastica 13
    St. Thomas 38, Wartburg 35 (OT)

    Widener 45, Muhlenberg 35
    Delaware Valley 49, Christopher Newport 42
    Linfield 42, Chapman 21
    Mary Hardin-Baylor 56, Texas Lutheran 17

    Wesley 63, Hampden-Sydney 24
    MIT 28, Husson 20
    Johns Hopkins 42, Rowan 10
    Hobart 28, Ithaca 24

    Wheaton 56, Benedictine 6
    John Carroll 45, Centre 24
    Washington and Jefferson 31, Wittenberg 30
    Mount Union 56, Adrian 7

  6. MIT – makes the front page of the WSJ nice! good pub for D3 and a good story about that program.

    Well SJF didn’t make the cut, but here’s my take.

    IC over Hobart, — Liberty League should not host a home game.

    Rowan over Hopkins – JHU had its heart broken v Wesley last year, maybe they bound back, but Rowan is from a decent conference that has played tough competition so I’m going with them.

    This is Wesley and MHB’s year though.

  7. Pingback: Division III playoffs: Triple Take sets the expectations for the Round of 32 | D3football.com Daily Dose

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