LiDarral Bailey ran for 110 yards and threw for 123 for Mary Hardin-Baylor. UMHB athletics photo

There were a bunch of teams with big wins, the ones we like to call signature wins. The ones that used to be talked about openly as being necessary for playoff consideration, back when we used to have 16-team brackets and not-so-strictly followed playoff criteria.

That’s not the case anymore, but those wins are still key in terms of national exposure, respect and rankings. Pat and Keith talk about some of the key wins this weekend in this week’s Around the Nation podcast.

Also, there are plenty of unbeaten teams remaining, including teams that aren’t ranked. Why aren’t they ranked? Keith and Pat run through the list, plus some of the other surprise teams. That and more in this week’s podcast. See the list of tags at the bottom of this post to see who else is discussed.

Around the Nation Podcast [ 56:33 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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

Plus, here’s the first look at this week’s D3reports, as well as Division III football highlight reels. These will also appear on the front page on Monday afternoon.

Also, this week’s photo galleries:

• St. Thomas vs. St. John’s
• UW-Whitewater vs. UW-Platteville
• Cal Lutheran vs. Redlands

Adrian · Augsburg · Bethel · Birmingham-Southern · Cal Lutheran · Centre · Curry · Dubuque · Endicott · Hobart · Huntingdon · Lewis and Clark · Mount Union · Muskingum · Ohio Northern · Redlands · Salisbury · Springfield · St. John's · St. Olaf · St. Scholastica · St. Thomas · Trine · Trinity (Texas) · Wartburg · Wesley · Wittenberg · Worcester State

One of the things for us about traveling a long distance for a game is that it’s like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. We get on an airplane for a highly touted matchup and sometimes it becomes a rout pretty early on.

And that’s not just in Alliance, Ohio.

But Keith McMillan’s trip to Boston got him a thriller, and a chance to see the NEFC in action for the first time, as Widener traveled to Curry. The game came down to the final play, and you can hear more about it, plus hear from the winning coach in this week’s podcast.

Pat Coleman’s much shorter trip resulted in a thrilling finish as well, as UW-Eau Claire gave up an intentional touchdown to get the ball back and nearly made St. John’s pay for it before falling 35-27. Hear St. John’s quarterback Joe Boyle’s reaction as he realized the Blugolds were letting his teammate head into the end zone without opposition.

Of course, those weren’t the only games which happened this weekend. Keith and Pat talk about scheduling with some chutzpah, a sleeper team that’s getting its offense together and how all the upsets this week affect Top 25 considerations and beyond.

Click the play button below to listen.

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

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Around the Nation · Curry · freak injury · Hardin-Simmons · intentional TD · Ithaca · Linfield · Mount Union · Ohio Northern · podcast · Springfield · St. John's · Union · UW-Eau Claire · UW-Whitewater · Widener

After today the only teams that won’t have played are in the NESCAC, so the Division III football season will be in full swing.

I’ll be at St. John’s, where the No. 11 Johnnies host UW-Eau Claire. Keith McMillan is in Massachusetts, where Curry will play host to Widener. And you’ll be wherever you are, of course, so keep us up to date, even if it’s in front of your computer surfing through games. (That’s also one of my favorite places from which to track Division III football.)

We went through the other big games yesterday in the Triple Take, so I won’t repeat. But there are intriguing games in the Liberty League, especially, with Hobart traveling to Dickinson, Union hosting No. 8 Ithaca, and RPI opening its brand-new Division III football palace.

Elsewhere, I’ll be interested to see the results of “Air Raid vs. Wishbone” as McMurry hosts Austin College. DePauw’s tumultuous offseason finally comes to an end when the Tigers travel to Anderson. Could this year’s Augsburg/Wartburg game live up to the last two years? That seems hard to imagine, but it’s one of a handful of intriguing night games, along with McMurry/Austin, East Texas Baptist/Redlands, UW-Platteville/Dubuque, Buffalo State/St. John Fisher and even Carroll/Beloit.

Chime in with what you know, plus follow us on Twitter, since we’ll be following everyone else and passing along the most interesting tidbits that way.

Anderson · Augsburg · Austin · Beloit · Buffalo State · Carroll · Curry · DePauw · Dubuque · East Texas Baptist · McMurry · Redlands · St. John Fisher · St. John's · UW-Eau Claire · UW-Platteville · Wartburg · Widener

So our predictions weren’t great this week. But picking five road teams to win in the second round of the playoffs was more than a lot of people could have pictured. Two seventh seeds advancing? Well, we did nail that one, at least.

Keith McMillan did the home game this past week, so he watched and listened to pretty much everything, while Pat Coleman took the trip west to Willamette. And the red-eye home. Still catching up on sleep.

But while that happens, you can get their take on a great weekend of Division III playoff football.

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

Or you can click the play button below to listen.

Around the Nation Podcast [ 34:36 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Cortland State · Curry · Franklin · Hobart · Jeff Donovan · Mary Hardin-Baylor · Millsaps · Monmouth · Mount Union · North Central (Ill.) · UW-Whitewater · Wabash · Wartburg · Washington and Jefferson · Wesley · Wheaton (Ill.) · Willamette

A lot of things went according to plan this week. Triple Take was a more accurate predictor of who would win than the NCAA’s actual seedings were.

And yes, all four No. 7 seeds advanced.

Plus, Keith McMillan was at the bracket’s biggest shootout, between Franklin and Otterbein. But we run through the games in all four brackets plus take a first look ahead at the second round in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast.

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

Or you can click the play button below to listen.

Around the Nation Podcast [ 40:08 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Around the Nation · ATN podcast · Curry · Division III · football · Franklin · Otterbein · playoffs · seedings