ATN Podcast: Snow, records, clinching

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Pat Coleman

Alex Tanney is the third Tanney to play football at Monmouth, but will be known as the best in the family
Monmouth athletics photo

Records fell, as did snowflakes and the chances of anyone else winning any of eight conference titles. The Centennial, PAC, MIAA, MWC, MIAC, WIAC, UMAC and SCIAC each got the ultimate clarity on Saturday: automatic bids.

We talk about those, the records set by Mike Zweifel and Alex Tanney, the interesting things the purple powers did and really, much more. Check the list of tags at the bottom of this page to see who’s discussed.

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Plus, here’s the first look at this week’s D3reports, as well as Division III football highlight reels. These will also appear on the front page on Monday afternoon.

Game Day: Is it AQ time?

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Pat Coleman

Wesley has had the upper hand in the Route 13 rivalry, winning nine of the past 12. But Wesley may be the underdog this year.
Case Western Reserve athletics photo

There won’t be any automatic bids handed out in the Route 13 rivalry between Wesley and Salisbury but there could be plenty of playoff impact. Wesley could find itself far out on the bubble with a loss, while Salisbury’s chance at a top seed hangs in the balance with every game.

Elsewhere, Johns Hopkins could clinch the Centennial Conference automatic bid with a win against Ursinus and Monmouth can clinch the MWC by beating Carroll. Mount Union can clinch the OAC with a win and a Baldwin-Wallace loss to Muskingum. St. Scholastica can clinch the UMAC with a win Friday night and a Eureka loss on Saturday. Thomas More can clinch the PAC with a win and a Waynesburg loss.

Two of Division III’s career records could fall Saturday as well, as Monmouth’s Alex Tanney could break the career touchdowns record of 148 held by Westminster (Mo.) quarterback Justin Peery and Dubuque’s Mike Zweifel is aiming at the all-divisions record for career receptions held by Peery’s teammate, Scott Pingel.

Plus there are only about 110 other games. Chime in about any of them on our live game day chat below or by using the #d3fb hashtag on Twitter.

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=42edebbb02" >3football.com Game Day chat, 2011 Week 9</a>

ATN Podcast: All about the defense

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Pat Coleman

Mount Union might be struggling on offense but you can’t beat them if you can’t score.
Mount Union athletics photo by JT Higgins

Records could fall, bids could be clinched, but the key story of this past week was big defensive performances by the top teams. UW-Whitewater’s defense may well have won it the game at Oshkosh, Mount Union shut down and picked off Capital, St. Thomas did its job at Bethel and North Central more than did so at Illinois Wesleyan. But as we caution, don’t forget special teams.

And there seems to be a bit of a pecking order emerging for those six at-large playoff bids. Who is in the drivers seat, as much as anyone can be for an at-large bid? Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan name six teams. They discuss that and more in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast. See the list of tags at the bottom of this post to see who else is discussed.