Linfield has gone 9-0 with Mickey Inns at quarterback this season. Photo by Rusty Rae

Usually we have some complaints about the bracket, so much so that there’s a category in the annual predictions column asking what the committee blew.

It’s not so much this time. There are a couple things that would have been better if fixed, and we’ll touch on those, but it’s not a deal-breaker. Unless, say, you’re Hobart.

Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan run down the brackets, give their surprises, look at some of the great matchups potentially ahead in the second and third weekends and have just a word of warning for UW-Whitewater fans. That and much more in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast. Scroll to the bottom and read the tags to see which teams are mentioned in this week’s show.

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Plus, here’s this week’s D3football.com reports. Keith checks in from Randolph-Macon, Ryan Tipps from Wabash-DePauw and more.

Albion · Baldwin-Wallace · Benedictine · Cal Lutheran · Case Western Reserve · Centre · Christopher Newport · Delaware Valley · Dubuque · Endicott · Franklin · Hampden-Sydney · Heidelberg · Hobart · Illinois College · Illinois Wesleyan · Johns Hopkins · Kean · Linfield · Mary Hardin-Baylor · McMurry · Monmouth · Montclair State · Mount Union · North Central (Ill.) · Norwich · podcast · Randolph-Macon · Redlands · Salisbury · St. John Fisher · St. Olaf · St. Scholastica · St. Thomas · Thomas More · Trinity (Texas) · UW-Whitewater · Wabash · Wesley · Western New England · Wheaton (Ill.)

Redlands quarterback Chad Hurst led four second-half scoring drives in the Bulldogs’ win.

The opening weekend of the season is exciting enough without all these hear-stopping finishes we had. North Central … Otterbein … Delaware Valley … Mississippi College … Bridgewater … Illinois College. Plus a big Top 25 matchup and much more to talk about.

The Around the Nation Podcast is a weekly discussion between D3football.com Executive Editor Pat Coleman and Deputy Managing Editor Keith McMillan, who writes the Around the Nation column. It’s the first analysis of the week that was. The show tends to run anywhere between 30 and 60 minutes per week — fit it into your lunch hour.

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Plus, we want you guys to get in on the act as well. See below for more:

Alma · Bethany · Bridgewater (Va.) · Central · Coe · Cornell · Delaware Valley · Endicott · Framingham State · Frostburg State · Gallaudet · Geneva · Guilford · Hardin-Simmons · Heidelberg · Illinois College · Lycoming · McMurry · Millikin · Millsaps · Mississippi College · Monmouth · Muhlenberg · North Central · Olivet · Otterbein · podcast · Redlands · Rowan · Salve Regina · Shenandoah · St. Thomas · St. Vincent · Stevenson · Trine · Union · UW-La Crosse · UW-Oshkosh · UW-Stevens Point · UW-Whitewater · Wartburg · Willamette

Will Linfield take down the top seed next?

Pat and Keith go game by game through the bracket, with their reactions on each of the 16 first-round games. Upsets? Yeah, maybe not so many, but we still learned a bit and hey, there are going to be blowouts in the first round of any tournament.

Plus, a look forward to next week’s games and Keith’s reactions to the brackets in general.

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a lot of games · Montclair State · podcast · Wesley

Pat and Keith spend a fair amount of time on the three Top 25 matchups from this past week, including the playoff implications and what we learned from them. Also, what do we make of Wittenberg’s road struggle at Allegheny? Are Mount Union’s five turnovers on Saturday a concern? Plus the big games in upstate New York, next week’s showdowns and more in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast.

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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.d3blogs.com/d3football/?feed=podcast

Alfred · Allegheny · Ben Wartman · Central · Coe · Concordia-Moorhead · Cortland State · Emory and Henry · Franklin · Hardin-Simmons · Hobart · Illinois Wesleyan · Kean · Linfield · Louisiana College · Mary Hardin-Baylor · Middlebury · Monmouth · Montclair State · Mount St. Joseph · Mount Union · North Central (Ill.) · podcast · Puget Sound · Randolph-Macon · Springfield · St. John Fisher · St. John's · St. Norbert · St. Thomas · Thomas More · Trinity (Conn.) · Utica · UW-Eau Claire · Washington and Jefferson · Wheaton (Ill.) · Whittier · Willamette · Williams · Wittenberg

Three weeks into the season a fair amount of the non-conference schedule is in the books, games that provide the basis for much of what we do in terms of ranking conferences twice a season. This week Keith and Pat discuss not only the big games from the past weekend but also take a snapshot of which conferences exceeded expectations and which underperformed.

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ASC · CCIW · Delaware Valley · E8 · ECFC · Hardin-Simmons · IIAC · Mary Hardin-Baylor · McMurry · MIAC · Mississippi College · MWC · NWC · OAC · Ohio Northern · Otterbein · PAC · podcast · UMAC · USAC · Wesley · WIAC