ATN Podcast: Welcome to October

Hobart football
Hobart has run out to a 5-0 start. And it’s too early to talk top seed, but we’ll do it anyway.
Hobart file photo by Kevin Colton
UW-Platteville slings
The sight of two gunslingers in slings is not a good one for UW-Platteville
Photo by J. Jensen, D3sports.com

With Mount Union firing on all cylinders on offense, crushing it on defense and by the way, also doing so on special teams, it seems like a foregone conclusion that the Purple Raiders are going back to the Stagg Bowl. And we’d have agreement on the Around the Nation Podcast … except that the Around the Nation guy does his best Lee Corso impression.

Is it too fast, my friend? Perhaps. But there are other teams that look like they could have the stuff to reach Salem, even if UW-Whitewater isn’t one of them at the moment.

Pat and Keith talk about that and more in this week’s Around the Nation Podcast. Plus the revolving door playing the role of “No. 2 team in the OAC,” the three key two-point conversion attempts that could have sunk Top 25 teams and the two that saved one of them. The thought of the top seed in the East makes its first appearances, as does that word “clarity.” And Pat, who has now seen UW-Whitewater play three times, gives us his most important takeaways from the three-time defending champs.

Plus we talk about the late comeback by Hanover, the surprise win by Catholic, Mississippi College’s choosing Division II and what that does to the American Southwest Conference and more.

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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

Plus, here’s this week’s D3football.com reports and highlight packages.

And this week’s photo galleries from our friends at d3photography.com:

ATN Podcast: Past performance not indicative

Huntingdon's Tyler Robinson
Tyler Robinson caught two TD passes for Huntingdon in a win at Hampden-Sydney.
Huntingdon athletics file photo

As much as the Division III landscape was turned upside down last week, it reset this weekend, with Buffalo State losing big to Alfred, Brockport State losing at Kean and UW-Whitewater winning big. But the struggles by Wesley to win at Louisiana College and the occasional offensive woes from Whitewater make us reconsider what we believed about their preseason quarterback situation. Why do we like Justin Sottilare and Lee Brekke so much in 2012 based on what they did in 2010? And then contrast that with Mount Union, which isn’t going with its 2010 quarterback at all.

Plus we talk about Wabash’s surprise loss, Huntingdon jumping into the Top 25, Mary Hardin-Baylor’s season, Widener’s 90-point drubbing of Wilkes, Western Connecticut’s near upset and much more.

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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

Plus, here’s this week’s D3football.com reports and highlight packages.

A view to an upset

Buffalo State happy time
Adam Hurd and Briane Greene celebrate after Buffalo State’s win against UW-Whitewater.
D3sports.com photo

If you’re looking for the last time a team ranked No. 1 in the D3football.com Top 25 lost in the regular season, you can stop checking. There just isn’t one to speak of. This is a truly rare event in Division III football, and Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman run through the history of regular-season losses, talk about the game, the direction of the UW-Whitewater program and Buffalo State and much more. (Plus, there’s even more on the game story page, with highlights and longer postgame interviews.)

It was a huge game but it wasn’t the only one. Pat and Keith dig into the UMHB-Wesley game, the Linfield-Cal Lutheran game, the Tommie-Johnie game and more. We say so long to the Courage Bowl we knew and loved, talk about the NATHC-MIAA challenge, Sul Ross State’s big victory, plus opportunities seized by Baldwin Wallace, Heidelberg, Hobart, Thiel, Rockford, Rowan and more.

Plus: Why you might or might not want Pat Coleman at your game, some teams who seized the day (and some who just missed), and if you want to more know about who we talked about, check the tags at the bottom of this post.

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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

Plus, here’s this week’s D3football.com reports.