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ATN Podcast 366: Understanding the playoffs

Most years, we dedicate some space on the website or some time in our podcast to really give newcomers to Division III football a bit of a primer as to how the playoffs are structured, how at-large bids are determined, the whole 10 yards. But this year, let’s face it — we’re all newbies in some manner. Nobody has ever actually put together the Division III football bracket in this manner.

So, forget what you learned last year, or any of the previous 10 or more years. All that is out the window. You’ve been hearing about NPI — the NCAA Power Index? If you’ve been hearing angry things, well, hey, we don’t love the system either, but it’s what we have, so we’re going to give it to you straight. Patrick and Greg spend the top of the show detailing what we know about the 40-team playoff bracket, how it will be constructed, what it means to be a Top Eight seed and more. Then Logan Hansen will talk a little more about what goes into the NPI and how it’s calculated, and lastly we’ll take your questions in our mailbag segment, and there were a lot of questions, so we took several more than usual.

Five teams clinched automatic bids to the playoffs this week as well, and save themselves from having to worry at all about NPI. That includes Susquehanna, and we’ll talk with River Hawks coach Tom Perkovich in our Fast Five conversation. And we go through our usual run of high points from Region 1 through Region 6, Greg gets put on the spot about a swing state, Patrick does weather on the 8’s, and more.

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

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Theme music: Power 2 by DJmentos.
Susquehanna athletics photo by Brandon Love

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ATN Podcast 315: Lookin’ alive in the 5

We talk about all six regions, multiple times, in each D3football.com Around the Nation podcast, For example, this week, who’s lookin’ alive in Region 5?

Ripon is lookin’ quite alive as the Redhawks remain unbeaten here in what coach Ron Ernst has announced is his final season. The team is tied for first in the Midwest Conference after knocking off Lake Forest on Saturday, and Ernst joins us for a Fast 5 minutes to talk about the team, how it has come together, and whether anyone has presented him with a keepsake on this farewell tour through the Midwest Conference.

Also from the 5, a stat of the week detailing exactly how dominant the North Central run game was this past weekend. Plus a little safety dancing from Dubuque’s win at Coe, Concordia (Wis.) heading for a conference championship showdown, and more.

How does UW-River Falls’ loss at Platteville affect the playoff at-large bid picture? Greg Thomas just wrote about it last Thursday in Around the Nation and there will be more talk about it now.

In all, 48 schools merit serious mention in this week’s podcast. Who’s getting it done in Region 1? Who’s blue in the 2? What’s the score in the 4? Who’s tryin’ to survive in the 5? Plus, who’s in the mix in the 6, and what is the sound of 19,000 cats, anyway?

In addition, Pat and Greg hand out game balls, spotlight the unexpected in Stat of the Week, make guesses about Week 8 games and more. There’s a list in small type at the bottom of this page of all the teams that are talked about.

Fan question in our mailbag from Jeff Seidel @seideljeff: Taking recent playoff success into account, dating back to 2018, how does JHU, Muhlenberg, Sus and Ursinus compare to the top 4 in other conferences? Especially since several 2018 kids are still playing at Hop?

Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.

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

Full episode: [display_podcast]

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 Larry Radloff, d3photography.com

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ATN Podcast 289: Clarification, celebration and separation

We got a little clarification in some conferences. We had celebrations of some big wins. And we got separation — or at least, some key players did.

Week 6 of the 2021 Division III football season promised to be exciting, and frankly, it overdelivered. To the tune of Matt Clarke rolling up 318 receiving yards for William Paterson. Or already highly decorated return man A.J. Jackson returning two punts for touchdowns in the span of just a few minutes.

We’ll give you our take on the big games, like the one in Wisconsin, the one in New York, the one in Oregon, the one in Pittsburgh and the one in Texas. But we also have William Paterson coach Dustin Johnson on for a tight five minute interview. A 3-3 season might not seem like much to you, but for WPU, three wins is already more than they’ve had since 2014. We’ll hear a broadcast beg their team not to kick to Jackson, only to see them to do it again, the very next time.

Our surprising results come from Illinois and Massachusetts. Our off-the-beaten-path highlights come from Illinois and western New York. Our stats of the week, from Oregon and Ohio. Hear the broadcasters who are on the ball and those who are offbase.

Plus, what will it take to get a home game in the playoffs? Which two teams should play for the Old Musket Ball? That and much more in episode 289.

Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast is a regular conversation covering the wide range of Division III football.

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

Full episode: [display_podcast]

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

Mentioned in the pod:

Here’s how to find us on some of the major podcasting apps:

Theme music: DJmentos.
Photos: William Paterson athletics; Steve Frommell, d3photography.com