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ATN Podcast 350: Wrapping up an amazing 2023

We wrap up another season, here on the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. Perhaps not as well as the Cortland defense wrapped up Luke Lehnen on the two-point conversion attempt pictured here on the page, but we try.

Was this the best Stagg Bowl ever? We’ve only seen about half of them in person, but our crew does its best to answer that question. Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas are joined by Keith McMillan, Ryan Tipps, and Frank Rossi and James Baker of In the Huddle. Plus, Cortland sports information director Fran Elia, a podcast superfan, stops by to chat, and we talk with and congratulate Cortland football fans who were getting a bite to eat and a cold beverage at the famous Mac and Bob’s in Salem, Virginia.

Our crew hands out game balls, and talk about the unsung big plays of the game. Calling a time out? Sure. Fourth-down scramble? Definitely.

Is this a changing of the guard? Great question. Will the Stagg Bowl return to Salem at some point after this? We discussed it before, but after the game, maybe things seem different. 

Plus, Patrick has some news as to the order of quarterbacks the next time awards are handed out. You’ll want to hear, complainers.

This edition of the podcast is sponsored by d3photography.com, the licensed photography bureau contracted by D3sports.com.

The crew discusses, in this edition of the podcast.

The D3football.com podcast is a weekly in-season podcast by Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas, which was started in 2007.

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

Full episode:

You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in Apple Podcasts, and many other places. 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

Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps:

Theme music: Power 2 by DJmentos.
Photo: By Dan Hunter, d3photography.com

      

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ATN Podcast 324: The Road to Annapolis is complete

It’s No. 1 vs. No. 2, just as everyone expected, as North Central and Mount Union advance to play in Stagg Bowl XLIX in Annapolis. While this is a rematch of teams that played in the second round in 2019, then in the semifinals the next season (2021), this particular rematch turns the tables.

It’s unusual not just in that it’s the first one being played outside of Alliance, Ohio. It’s also now a flipping of the old paradigm. Suddenly it’s North Central, playing in the Stagg Bowl for the third consecutive time, that is the program with all the players with Stagg Bowl experience, while Mount Union hasn’t played in the game since 2018, and hasn’t won it since 2017.

This edition of the podcast is sponsored by the hosts of Stagg Bowl XLIX, and we look forward to seeing all of you in Annapolis, Maryland, for the Division III football championship game on Dec. 16.

We sit down for a long postgame conversation with North Central’s Brad Spencer after his team’s win against Mary Hardin-Baylor. And we don’t, or can’t, with Mount Union’s Geoff Dartt. We certainly try, and we try multiple times a year, and we’ll talk more about that — it’s something we haven’t talked much about publicly. Meanwhile, we’ll hear from the Mount Union coach and players solely via the team’s postgame news conference.

Plus, we take reader questions, one from a reader who isn’t satisfied merely to have his team win, but questions why people didn’t pick North Central to win by more. (The answer is simple, and we’ll give it to you on the podcast.) And another prompts a good discussion of which games on North Central’s and Mount Union’s schedule provide the best opportunity to gain insight on how this week’s game will be played.

This is the first of three podcasts to come this week. The next will drop Friday morning and preview the Stagg Bowl, and the following one will drop on Saturday morning and give our breakdown of the game, plus our rationale as to why we chose whomever we end up choosing as our Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.

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

Full episode:

Links mentioned in this podcast:

You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in Apple Podcasts, and many other places. 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

Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps:

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Photos by Thomas Nettleton, d3photography.com; Dean Reid, d3photography.com

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ATN Podcast 323: Down to a fantastic four

No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 12 are the four teams left in contention for a trip to Annapolis, Maryland, for Stagg Bowl XLIX. Mary Hardin-Baylor took down Bethel with a fourth-quarter surge, while Mount Union eased past Delaware Valley, North Central trounced Ithaca and Wartburg did the same to Aurora.

The key story at Wartburg? Just the mere fact that Nile McLaughlin was in the lineup at quarterback for the Knights. For Mary Hardin-Baylor, it was KJ Miller’s 65-yard touchdown catch and run. We’ll hear him talk a little about that. We hear from North Central’s Luke Lehnen and Mount Union’s Braxton Plunk as well after they quarterbacked their teams to victory.

Pat and Greg give out their game balls, one on offense and one on defense, and you can learn more about the status of the big postseason awards that are coming in the next week, plus find out which players were on Pat and Greg’s Gagliardi Trophy ballot.

This edition of the podcast is sponsored by the hosts of Stagg Bowl XLIX, and we look forward to seeing all of you in Annapolis, Maryland, for the Division III football championship game on Dec. 16.

Plus, the end of the season at Bethel and Delaware Valley also marks the end of careers for key players in this run. The end of the 2022 football season for the Royals leaves coach Steve Johnson feeling a little emotional, and Delaware Valley defensive back Blaine Netterman talks about having played with the Nobile brothers since sophomore year of high school, and the future of the Del Val program.

Plus, what’s the difference between rebuilding and reloading? How do those elite teams remain at that level?

Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.

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

Full episode:

Links mentioned in this podcast:

You can subscribe to the Around the Nation Podcast in Apple Podcasts, and many other places. 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

Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps:

Theme music: Power 2 by DJmentos.
Photos by Juiie Drewes, Wartburg athletics; Mary Hardin-Baylor athletics