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ATN Podcast 367: Close calls

A couple of key teams had a couple of close calls, and they were games that we were keeping a close eye on on Saturday. In Podcast 367, we’re talking about Cortland pulling out its narrow win over Brockport to clinch the Empire 8 conference automatic bid, as well as Mount Union’s similarly narrow win against Marietta to clinch the automatic bid from the Ohio Athletic Conference.

What did we learn from these games? Did Cortland or Mount Union get moved down on Patrick or Greg’s ballots? Did Brockport or Marietta move up? And what can we take away from Hardin-Simmons picking up that second win against Mary Hardin-Baylor?

And who has rizz?

Those are the burning questions we start the show with.

In addition, Cortland coach Curt Fitzpatrick will join us to talk more about the strength of that Brockport defense, how he got his team’s offense jump-started, why they don’t run a bunch of gadget plays, and where Saturday’s new leading receiver came from, plus getting ready for the Cortaca Jug rivalry game with Ithaca.

Logan Hansen will break down teams’ chances of getting that top eight seed, plus who the projected 12 at-large teams are once the dust settles on Saturday after the Week 11 games. Also, who will benefit if there is an upset or two among those key games this week? Plus we highlight even more stories from around each region of Division III football, and you probably know who the favorites are in the playoffs, but we tell you who the dark horse teams might be that could win a couple games in the bracket. And Dem Spicy Boys are back, or at least one particularly spicy running back.

The D3football.com podcast is a weekly in-season podcast by Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas, which was started in 2007. New episodes are published weekly during the season.

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.
Mount Union athletics photo by Ed Hall Jr.

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ATN Podcast 365: Hope is not lost

This past week, a number of teams had their shot. They had the opponent they wanted to play on the field in front of them. They generally even had that game at home, in front of their home fans.

But in Week 8 of the 2024 Division III football season, it didn’t really break as these teams hoped. Not for Ursinus, not for Coe, not for Case Western Reserve, not for Washington U. Not even for St. Olaf, if you want to dig down that far.

In the past, that would generally be it. A chance at reaching the Division III playoffs was going to be a stretch. But not anymore, not with 12 at-large teams, a 40-team bracket, and an NCAA Power Index rating system that just might save some of these teams.

Who has hope? Patrick and Greg break it down with analysis, rather than overreaction.

Marietta made the Top 25 this week for the first time in program history, and Pioneers coach Andy Waddle sits down with us for Fast Five. This is a program that has come a long way, but still has its two biggest games of the regular season yet to come, and both are on the road.

Plus, Patrick and Greg hand out game balls. Patrick pulls out a highlight clip from 21 years ago, and yes, a number of clips from this past weekend. Plus we go through more highlights from Region 1 through Region 6, we answer a couple of reader questions in the mailbag, and not only does Greg wax poetic in On the Spot, we Axe poetic as well. Plus, it’s our 365th podcast — we now have a podcast for every day of the year. So that’s a thing.

The D3football.com podcast is a weekly in-season podcast by Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas, which was started in 2007. New episodes are published weekly during the season.

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.
Jason Kapusta, Westminster (Pa.) athletics; Wheaton athletics photo by Michael Hudson photography; Marietta athletics photo by Rebecca Wheeler Photography

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ATN Podcast 358: Did that really happen?

Listen, this podcast is fun to put together and we think and hope that it is informative, but we are always trying to do more. So this week, since we’ve finally had some games played, we’re adding a couple of new wrinkles to the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

First of all, since this season the at-large bids and the seedings are basically all going to be done by computers, we figured we’d better get you all ready for that, so we’ve invited back our Math Correspondent, Logan Hansen. In his Football Analytics 3:01 segment, he’s going to spend exactly 3 minutes, 1 second of your time talking about who is key in the running for those top eight spots in the new NCAA Power Index, that thing we call NPI. We’ll tell you more about what that means. He’ll also spotlight some of the big games — key leverage games and games that will shape the playoff picture.

When you ask Patrick and Greg what the most shocking result was from Week 1 and they both say the same thing, that says a lot. It’s a quick run through the top games from this past week, plus the implications and some of the history.

We also hand out game balls to the top performers, pick out the stats of the week, and run through region by region to get some of the other stories you might have missed. And since that didn’t seem to be enough, Greg and Patrick have to pick one more region to tell one more story about on the fly. At a roll of the dice, you never know what they might end up talking about — even a JV game?

Plus we chat with Calvin head coach Trent Figg, just minutes after his team defeated Oberlin in dominating fashion in the program’s first-ever football game. There’s that and so much more in this week’s podcast, so give it a listen!

The D3football.com podcast is a weekly in-season podcast by Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas, which was started in 2007. New episodes are published weekly during the season.

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.
Texas Lutheran athletics photo by Nick Trumble