Wow, what a day of football. And the day ended for us a lot like the Miracle in the Mud day ended. In this case, it was with both Pat Cummings and Keith McMillan driving home glued to their cellphones as I had two phones, one to each of them, sitting on the speakers of my laptop.

That’s how it came down in 2000: Keith and I were driving back from a game at Widener and my wife set up a phone next to the computer speaker, allowing me to listen and relay the play by play to Keith.

I hope this wasn’t the de facto national championship game in McMinnville, today. I have to believe Mount Union is going to have something to say about it. But kudos to UW-Whitewater for carrying the WIAC flag into the semifinals and not just phoning it in.

Kudos also to Wesley, for taking its Cinderella run to the semis as well. I don’t know if they’ve got much of a chance at Whitewater, but not sure how many gave them a chance at UMHB either. This is a great run for that program.

Capital put on a good show as well in falling short. Lewis Howes, who set a Division III single-game receiving record a few years back at Principia, wanted to see what he could do at a higher level. Today we found out (12 catches, 245 yards, four TDs).

What’s left of Rowan makes the trip to Alliance, Ohio. The two haven’t met since Dec. 11, 1999, when Rowan upset Mount Union and ended the Purple Raiders’ then-record win streak.

Should be an interesting week.

This isn’t my favorite week of the season, to be sure. I’ve been sitting in Minneapolis all week, with no Division III game within driving range this Saturday. Now, the reason I’m here instead of at home isn’t particularly heartening either, but that’s another story. I’m here.

I’ll be listening in to all four games as much as possible on Saturday. Good luck to all the participants and our broadcast crews in the field.

With every passing week, the Wesley 47-0 debacle loss at Brockport State gets more and more puzzling. How could this team go up to Brockport, field conditions aside, and not put up one single point? My trip to Wesley the next week to see them pound Salisbury began the puzzlement — it was obvious this was a good team, with the ability to win a playoff game or two, but to become the first non-Texas team to win a playoff game in the Lone Star State since 2001?

Incredible. And that’s coming from me, after picking Wesley as the cinderella team in the bracket on the ESPNews selection show.

Another home game on turf. Then a trip West for the winner. Who knew.

Mount Union pulls another Mount Union and rolls a quality opponent. I know Capital is a familiar opponent, but that bodes well for Mount Union, which has had a tendency to pound OAC teams the second time around.

Even though St. John’s helped UW-Whitewater out, Whitewater would have won on its own today. Five of the seven fumbles were forced and defensively, Whitewater was making plays even when not taking the ball away. Other than a brief period in the third quarter, St. John’s couldn’t stop Justin Beaver and Derek Stanley burned the Johnnies defense for a pair of big plays when they needed them.

West Region final should be a dandy. So should the South. Not so sure about the East, if Rowan has found its stroke again it might not be much different than last year’s Rowan/Delaware Valley regional final.

No stupid e-mail of the week, at least not ones I have with me, so we’ll have to suffice with the …

Bad karma moment of the weekend: Two St. John’s fans independently coming up to me and asking me why UW-Whitewater passed them in the poll a few weeks ago. Never a good idea right before a head-to-head matchup.