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ATN Podcast 380: Goin’ on a trip

For the first time, we whipped out our passport to go abroad to cover a Division III football story. Twenty-six years into running the website and in the 19th year of the podcast and yes, there can still be new things. A number of Division III schools left the country to give their student-athletes an educational experience and to also play a spring football game, and we followed along with one of those teams and you can follow along with three of them in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

Plus …

This edition of the podcast is sponsored by GameStrat: The Most Reliable & Fastest In-Game Video Replay System on The Market. D-III football coaches should click here to learn more.

St. John’s went up to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to play the Winnipeg Rifles of the Canadian Junior Football League, and the Johnnies were hoping to learn a little bit more about what they have at quarterback. Since Aaron Syverson has graduated, the Johnnies were looking at five quarterback candidates, one of whom noped out before the trip even started. So four players got snaps up north on Saturday, May 17, and two are in the mix to get the start in Week 1 against Minnesota-Morris. You’ll meet them and hear what their receivers, offensive coordinator, and head coach Gary Fasching think of their performance, plus you’ll hear about the most Canadian thing ever that happened before the game and meet a few SJU transfers whose names you could be hearing this fall.

Carnegie Mellon went to Spain, and we’ll find out from coach Ryan Larsen what the Tartans were hoping to get out of their trip, since they lost so many starters and key contributors from a team which had Mount Union on the ropes in the fourth quarter of last year’s playoff game. And Hampden-Sydney took its team to Italy, where coach Vince Luvara had a quite different take on what was important for his program and his student-athletes.

Plus, you’ll be hungry after you hear about the great eating both teams did in Europe! Also, Patrick and Greg will give their take on the top five quarterbacks in D-III football since 1999, and will present two teams which could contend for conference titles after not making the playoffs last year, thanks to two great questions from our mailbag segment.

Patrick and Greg cover it all in the latest edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

The D3football.com podcast is a podcast that is weekly during the season and monthly in the offseason, by Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas. The podcast was started in 2007. 

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

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 Pat Coleman, Damara O’Malley, D3sports.com

 

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ATN Podcast 372: Flipping the script

Yep, we all thought we knew exactly what to expect from the round of 16 of the Division III football playoffs.

What did we get instead? Something way, way more interesting. That’s the national champion being ousted. That’s St. John’s falling at home on the final play of the game. And that’s a bracket with four quarterfinal games, three of which are being hosted by teams in Region 2 and none in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Ohio. (Shout out to Illinois as the fourth host!) Besides, Division III football isn’t scripted. It’s not the NBA.

Instead, we have Springfield, having beaten the No. 2 team in the nation and the defending national champion, then getting into a plane to play at No. 1 North Central. Did you have “getting on a plane” on your Springfield football bingo card? You know they’re looking forward to this, and the memories that form from such an event, and Pride coach Mike Cerasuolo joins us on the podcast for the first time since so long ago we hadn’t started numbering yet. (But it was Podcast 146, from May 2016, when Cerasuolo was first hired.) He talks about what the triple option actually is, how his team got past Cortland, and the challenge the Pride have ahead of them.

Plus, we hand out game balls, including one to a star running back who, actually, has really become a much better blocker this season. We run down all eight games and give our thoughts on the upcoming quarterfinal matchups. Plus we take three reader questions, one about those Road Dogs from Belton, Texas, one asking which team’s phase of the game or position group surprised us most and one about the Gagliardi Trophy. Plus, be the first people to learn when we will release the 2024 D3football.com All-America team!

The D3football.com podcast is a weekly in-season podcast by Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas, which was started in 2007. 

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

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 Mark Evrard, d3photography.com

 

 

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ATN Podcast 371: Measuring the fallout

Now everyone in the playoffs has played at least one postseason game, or if you look at it another way, more than 60% of the playoff games are already over. And people are in a hurry to dismiss the WIAC, and they’re in a hurry to crown NPI, because higher seeds have won 21 of the 24 games. (Of course, higher seeds have been at home in 23 out of 24 games, which might be a factor.)

What did we learn from these games? Of the remaining high seeds, which ones improved their standing, improved their chances of going deep into this bracket, and which ones’ chances are diminished? Patrick and Greg go through it all in this edition of the podcast. And most importantly, if the Texas Lutheran-Linfield game was dessert, what kind of dessert was it?

We hear from coaches and players involved in second-round games on Saturday, and we sit down with Johns Hopkins coach Dan Wodicka to talk about his team’s heart-stopping finish against Grove City, their defensive prowess and their offensive adjustments as the season has progressed. Wodicka, who played for and coached under the late Jim Margraff, talks about how playing at JHU made him want to coach there, and reminds us how the program is carrying on Margraff’s memory.

Plus, who is leading the staff pick-em contest that is better known as Quick Hits? Stay tuned to hear about whose picks are doing the best, and to hear a tribute to his performance so far. 

The D3football.com podcast is a weekly in-season podcast by Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas, which was started in 2007. 

Hit play, or subscribe to get this podcast on your mobile device. This podcast was re-published on Monday evening to try to get the feed on Spotify to recognize it.

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 Johns Hopkins athletics; Cortland athletics; Linfield athletics; Hope athletics