It’s sad to think that we are already phasing out of Great Non-Conference Game Season, but at least it is leaving us with some quality memories. Yes, Mary Hardin-Baylor and UW-Whitewater still get to grace us with their presence, and so do Springfield and UW-Platteville, and Johns Hopkins and Susquehanna, but … well, OK, we’ll hold on for one more week.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ranked teams got on the field this week in Week 2, as did the NESCAC, and Case Western Reserve managed to get through and finish a game. We’ll talk quite a bit about the new quarterback situation at North Central, and how the answer was not really what people thought it would be, or thought they had discovered. We’ll do the same with the quarterback situation at St. John’s, and we dive into UW-La Crosse’s first game as well as the opener for Bethel.

Plus, with a number of non-conference games over and done, we’ll take a suggestion from the mailbag and look at which conferences have surprised and which have disappointed so far through two weeks. The answers … well, they might surprise you a little, some of them.

We talk with Mount Union quarterback Mikey Maloney — Patrick Coleman went out to Grove City to see that game with Mount Union in person, and has a glowing report and an interesting Fast Five subject. Plus, Grove City coach Andrew DiDonato reflects on what his team went through in the 49-14 loss and what he sees his team needs to do to take that next step up the Division III ladder.

Patrick and Greg Thomas hand out game balls, Logan Hansen talks about which games in Week 3 have the most leverage, plus we take mailbag questions about the season’s first PAC showdown and whether it’s necessary to Fear the Moose, as well as whether Great Lakes states Indiana and Michigan can join Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin as producers of Division III championship teams.

All that and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

Bonus content links below:

• Extended interview with Geno DeMarco, 33-year head coach of Geneva
• Postgame interview with Grove City’s Andrew DiDonato
• Postgame interview with Shenandoah coach Scott Yoder
• Postgame interview with Mount Union receiver Nick Turner

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Photos by Ed Hall, Mount Union athletics; Braiden Foster, Wabash athletics; Colby athletics