ATN podcast: Down to eight

Mary Hardin-Baylor's Leo Gutierrez
Leo Gutierrez was the fourth of four Mary Hardin-Baylor players to rush for more than 100 yards Saturday.

A strong ground game; playing strong defense. These are the tenets of teams that go deep into the playoffs, and they were things that all eight winners had in common in Saturday’s second round. (Other than UW-Whitewater on defense.)

Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan break down Saturday’s playoff games, from the thrillers at St. Thomas and UW-Whitewater to the snoozers at Mary Hardin-Baylor and Wesley. At least those two teams will meet in what is expected to be an epic on Saturday in the quarterfinals.

Plus we have an MIAC rematch and more coming up in this week’s games with the much-awaited UW-Whitewater/North Central showdown.

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Game Day: No more turkeys

Wesley's Ellis Krout
Ellis Krout and Wesley’s offense will be facing their stiffest defensive test of the season, at least on paper.

Alright, so, we have those bad first-round games out of the way, and only one unranked team in the round of 16. (And that’s only because we were forced to have one with unranked Alfred and unranked SUNY-Maritime facing off.)

If you’re sitting at home, not willing to shiver off that extra helping of mashed potatoes or slice of pumpkin pie by sitting in the stands, join in on the blog below. Or via Twitter, by using the #d3fb hashtag. Plus we have our own broadcasters at games today — all the links on the Scoreboard page.

Join in!

Triple Take, Our second wind

Sixteen teams are left, but half of them come from just four conferences.

The CCIW, MIAC, NJAC and OAC each went 2-0 last week.

Pat Coleman, Keith McMillan and Ryan Tipps continue the countdown to Salem, once more not picking just the winners but the scores as well.

And, worth being said again from last week, these postseason Triple Take predictions are not intended to be lines on the games, but rather a broad test of outcome vs. expectations.

Let’s see what’s to be said about Round 2:

Wesley Bracket
Ryan: Wesley 31, Montclair State 17
Keith: Wesley 24, Montclair State 14
Pat: Wesley 24, Montclair State 13

Ryan: Mary Hardin-Baylor 38, Thomas More 31
Keith: Mary Hardin-Baylor 35, Thomas More 28
Pat: Mary Hardin-Baylor 49, Thomas More 21

Mount Union Bracket
Ryan: Mount Union 42, Delaware Valley 14
Keith: Mount Union 31, Delaware Valley 21
Pat: Mount Union 42, Delaware Valley 10

Ryan: Alfred 21, Cortland State 13
Keith: Cortland State 20, Alfred 17
Pat: Cortland State 23, Alfred 21

St. Thomas Bracket
Ryan: Linfield 38, St. Thomas 27
Keith: St. Thomas 28, Linfield 27
Pat: Linfield 31, St. Thomas 30

Ryan: Bethel 21, Wheaton 20
Keith: Wheaton 24, Bethel 23
Pat: Wheaton 30, Bethel 21

North Central Bracket
Ryan: North Central 34, Ohio Northern 27
Keith: North Central 35, Ohio Northern 23
Pat: Ohio Northern 21, North Central 17

Ryan: UW-Whitewater 45, Trine 17
Keith: UW-Whitewater 49, Trine 21
Pat: UW-Whitewater 42, Trine 17