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ATN Podcast 394: All the Falcons, and Knights, and Panthers

Two top 10 teams square off, and one team does something it hasn’t done in a quarter century. Yep, that’s a big deal. Heck, UW-River Falls hadn’t beaten UW-Whitewater that handily since the 1980s. We have talked about Kaleb Blaha fairly often on this podcast in the last few years, and that’s because he’s darn good, and was a big-game player on Saturday.

Three of the 27 automatic bids to the playoffs have already been handed out, and we give our assessment of how Wartburg, Concordia Wisconsin and Hanover will likely fare, what type of seeding they might end up with, and the like. Plus there are several head-to-head games for conference automatic bids this weekend, and we’ll talk through those as well.

Of course, you’ll never guess whether home teams or road teams won the big games in the WIAC. OK, maybe you’ll guess.

Plus, one time drove perfectly all day in Division III, and another drove perfectly long, more than 12 minutes?! Patrick and Greg hand out game balls. We take four mailbag questions, and make good use of Logan Hansen’s D-III NPI Simulator in the process. Who should you root for or against if you need an at-large bid? There are answers out there for you.

Logan Hansen talks about which teams still have a chance of getting an at-large bid and at least one of them may surprise you! We go around each region for even more stories and much more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

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.
Photos by Wade Gardner, d3photography.com; Hanover athletics; Photo for Concordia (Wis.) athletics by Katelyn Cardinale

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ATN Podcast 392: Consistency comes through

We’re getting ever closer to Selection Sunday, and closer to automatic bids being clinched. We’ve already discussed how few unbeaten teams there are this time of year compared to previous years, and of course, we had one more go down on Saturday when Wartburg defeated Central.

Wartburg has been really consistent at the top of the American Rivers Conference, or near the top of it. Head coach Chris Winter isn’t the only head coach who has been part of this run, but the Knights coaching staff has been really consistent over the years. We talk with Winter about how the program achieves this consistency while turning players over year after year, we hear about the key offensive guys who are healthy and the defensive starter who could be on the Owen Grover upward trajectory.

Plus, we look at the Whitewater offense, with its moments of brilliance, and try to decipher what they need. We take four mailbag questions, everything from deciphering which conferences have benefited the most from the NPI system and playoff expansion, to which play in the North Central game was most impressive, to whether there should be a cutoff for record for at-large teams, to which game — of a limited set of choices — we would choose to go see in Week 11 if we have to book travel now.

(Spoilers: The travel was already booked, and we’ll tell you where Patrick Coleman will be in Week 11.)

Plus, Patrick and Greg hand out game balls, one for one of the craziest endings to a game you could describe from Saturday’s games. We talk about how long it’s been since New England College had won a game before the Pilgrims beat Maine Maritime on Saturday — it’s longer than you think! We dive into the double SCIAC double overtime games, and the controversial ending between DePauw and Denison, and whether River Falls needs Kaleb Blaha on Saturday (it wouldn’t hurt!).

We spotlight the unusual stats of the week, Logan Hansen talks about which teams have the best chance of getting a top-eight seed and protected home field in the playoffs, we go around each region for even more stories and much more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

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.
Photo by Wartburg athletics

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ATN Podcast 387: 3-0 after three weeks

For some teams, a 3-0 start is precisely in the plan. For others, 3-0 is perhaps a pipe dream, or a first-time occurrence.

In this week’s edition of the podcast, we talk about a few of each as we wrap up Week 3 of the Division III football season.

Johns Hopkins was given just about a 50% chance of starting the season 3-0, with some top-flight competition on the docket. But they got the job done, and we learned a little bit about the Blue Jays in the process. We’ll tell you what we’ve seen and coach Dan Wodicka will do the same.

UW-Whitewater vaulted itself into the same top echelon as the rest of the WIAC contenders with a big win down at Mary Hardin-Baylor. What did we see that bodes well for the Warhawks and what does this do to the Cru’s playoff chances? We’ll discuss.

Plus, a number of teams are surprising at 3-0. How about Calvin? The Knights are in just their second season of varsity football and got to 3-0 in dramatic fashion on the road, against a team from a tough conference. How about Hampden-Sydney? The Tigers moved to 3-0 and did it in dominant fashion, and on the ground. And Lewis & Clark, you know, the school that hired away Linfield offensive coordinator Brett Elliott, the Gagliardi Trophy-winning quarterback, and made him head coach? The Pioneers got the job done with defense on Saturday, and Greg Thomas talks with Elliott in our Fast Five.

Plus, we’ll dive in and take four of your mailbag questions, about the SAA, how many teams we think are in the top tier of Division III, whether D-III’s wins against D-II schools and an FCS program mean that Division III is getting better, and what’s up with Coast Guard.

Patrick and Greg Thomas hand out game balls, Logan Hansen talks about which teams have a better than 50% chance of making the playoffs as an at-large team if needed, we go around each region for the happy and sad stories and much more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

All that and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

Mentioned link below:

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 David Morris, UMHB athletics; Ashley Sap, Calvin athletics; Johns Hopkins athletics