Author Archives: Pat Coleman

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ATN Podcast 401: One semifinal for the ages

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One of the two semifinals was a classic, fit for kids from 1 to 92 … if you can handle stress, that is.

And we aren’t just spouting cliches when we say this is as good as it gets — in the history of the national semifinals since automatic bids were added and the playoffs expanded beyond four rounds in 1999, there have been only two years where both semifinals were close. It’s far more likely that both of them are two-score games! So to get not just one good one, but one epic one, well, that’s great.

When Kaleb Blaha threaded the tiniest hole to find Blake Rohrer, and Rohrer ran untouched to the end zone for a 79-yard touchdown against Johns Hopkins, it not only sent the Falcons to the Stagg Bowl for the first time ever, it united a community, and was another memorable moment in a friendship between the two. They talk about it, how they met, how Blaha recruited Rohrer to come out for the UW-River Falls football team, and how the River Falls community reacted on Saturday night, in Around the Nation.

At North Central, the Cardinals got the best passing performance of the season from Garet Wilson, and Jack Rummell had some amazing catches and runs. What did Wilson say to him before a third-and-8 play, and how did Rummell respond? We also hear from transfer defensive end Eli Renick, and chat with coach Brad Spencer about what’s next for North Central as they head to their sixth consecutive Stagg Bowl.

Plus, for Johns Hopkins, what does this run ending mean for the state of the program? And for John Carroll, it’s the end of two years where Nick Semptimphelter was able to play football for the Blue Streaks with tight end Terrence Rawls, who was not just his high school teammate, but a literal member of his family. He talks about that, and coach Jeff Behrman talks about Semptimphelter.

Patrick and Greg also hand out game balls and we take your questions in the mailbag. That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007.

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

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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

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Theme music: Power 2 by DJmentos.
Photo by Caleb Williams of d3photography.com

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ATN Podcast 400: A final four for No. 400

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It’s a milestone podcast, but we’re not quite to the final stage of the Division III football season. You can’t blame us for getting dressed up — OK, maybe just Greg decided to dress up for the audio podcast. But answering the call to the Final Four ball were who most people thought they were in our predictions this week: Johns Hopkins, John Carroll, North Central and UW-River Falls.

And instead of doing the blow-by-blow of each game — because, let’s be honest, the average margin of victory was nearly 20 points — let’s hear from people in the middle of each of these games. So we’ll be joined by John Carroll cornerback Dylan Crasi, who spent the first half on the sidelines but made his presence known right away in the third quarter. We’ll talk to North Central quarterback Garet Wilson, whose first year in Division III since coming from Oklahoma State has been a revelation for both Division III and for him. We chat with UW-River Falls coach Matt Walker about the schematic and playbook choices the Falcons made this week, how they kept players warm (seriously, there was a detailed plan). And Keith McMillan talks to Johns Hopkins offensive lineman Michael Nwosu and defensive lineman Graham Hodge about their play on a day where the Blue Jays’ line play was huge.

Plus, the coaching carousel continues to turn as Ithaca loses a second consecutive coach to the Ivy League. Sewanee makes a hire who has much more D-III experience than the last guy they hired. And Lawrence didn’t even give its new coach six months before cutting him loose?

Patrick and Greg also hand out game balls and we take your questions in the mailbag segment, and Patrick gives an early Stagg Bowl prediction? That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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 Mike Atherton, Caleb Williams of d3photography.com; Berry athletics photo by Nico Klementzos; North Central athletics photo by Steve Woltmann

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ATN Podcast 399: A day to remember

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When the previous “biggest win in school history” is from the 1950s, replacing the entry at the top of the list means something.

Sure, you could quibble over whether a win against Syracuse from seven decades ago, or a national quarterfinal win at Brockport in 2002, or a quarterfinal win at UW-Whitewater in 2016 should be next on the list, but no regular season win, even one against Mount Union, compares with beating Mount Union at Mount Union in the playoffs.

A win of this nature is so iconic that the head coach’s phone blows up, and so does the feed of everyone else even remotely associated with John Carroll football. The traffic on D3football.com nearly doubled in the course of 10 minutes. There’s no pretending this is an ordinary win.

And to John Carroll’s credit, they didn’t try to. We chat with Jeff Behrman, the JCU head coach, about having confidence in kicker Colin Schuler after a missed chip shot in the first overtime nearly cost them the game, about the key final play of the game, and about the team’s return to campus, the reception, and what’s next for the Blue Streaks. We bring back in former co-host Keith McMillan to break down the play, what he saw on video from his perspective as a former Division III football starting safety.

Mailbag questions came hard for this game. The one we chose to answer was whether this means that JCU is up to Mount Union’s level or if Mount Union has slipped and there’s just one elite team. The answer is perhaps no different than it was when Keith and Greg Thomas wrote a column under the headline “Today, we are all Mount Union” after the 2022 Stagg Bowl, for we are all chasing North Central.

We take your mailbag questions. We have postgame audio from all eight games and break them all down. Keith also sits down with Johns Hopkins coach Dan Wodicka and safety Sam Bourdo. Bethel’s David Geebli talks about recovering from fumbling on the first snap of the game. Susquehanna’s Josh Ehrlich takes the blame for the River Hawks’ slow start. Matt Walker talks about UW-River Falls’ slow start, although it was fairly brief. Jesse Scott talks about what they saw that was familiar in DePauw’s run defense. Berry safety Chaz Pope talks about his game-sealing interception. There’s those clips and much more in this podcast. Plus we drop some scoop as to when we will release our All-America team, we answer whether we really thought Johns Hopkins lost some shine after the F&M loss and we bring the receipts to prove it (they’re all on the website).

Patrick and Greg also hand out game balls, bring you through the stats of the week and we take your questions in the mailbag segment. That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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.
John Carroll athletics photo by Jose Figueroa; North Central athletics photo by Steve Woltmann; Wheaton athletics photo by Michael Hudson Photography