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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 362: It never fails

We were waiting.

Waiting for WIAC play to get started, with its great games seemingly every week.

And waiting for UW-Platteville to face an opponent that our Top 25 voters could really measure them up against.

Count that a success! Platteville went into La Crosse, Wisconsin, and not only came away with a win, but did so in dramatic, stunning fashion. And UW-Whitewater got back on the winning track in front of so many people you wonder how they could keep track.

Patrick also took a tour of Division III football in Western Pennsylvania, with stops at Juniata, at Westminster and at Carnegie Mellon to see the hosts play Wilkes, Washington & Jefferson and Waynesburg, and you’ll hear from a number of people involved, plus Carnegie Mellon coach Ryan Larsen joins us to talk about the Tartans in Fast Five.

We’ll whip you through the big games in Division III from this past weekend. Plus, who’s having trying to get one in the 1? Who’s pulling through in the 2? What do we see in the 3? Who’s looking for more in the 4? Who’s looking alive in the 5? And, who’s in the mix in the 6? To see a list of all the teams talked about in this podcast, look at the list at the bottom of the post.

Math Correspondent Logan Hansen talks about the three biggest playoff leverage games for Week 6, plus gives his usual snapshot for how those top eight seeds are looking. How did that change after this past week’s games? Remember, my goodness, people, this is based on projection of how the season will play out and of course, teams with harder schedules might have a harder time making the top eight because they might not actually win all their games.

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 never seems to be enough, Greg and Patrick have to pick one more region to tell one more story about on the fly. 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.
Photo by UW-Platteville football

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ATN Podcast 313: All about the No. 1 votes

Well, folks, Keith McMillan has had enough, and after 30 or so podcasts on the sidelines, with Greg Thomas co-hosting, he’s back and ready to throw down. Ready to throw down about the Top 25 poll, that is. Keith couldn’t understand why anyone would be voting for Mount Union No. 1 considering all the high-quality opponents other teams have played in 2022.

So, once we dispense with the big games between UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse, and North Central and Wheaton, it’s a deep dive into the top five. Keith makes his case, Pat makes his, and occasionally Greg gets a word in edgewise. Seriously, though, these are good questions — in a year where so many highly ranked teams have played top-flight competition, who really has Mount Union played, and why is Pat voting for them?

Thiel snapped its 41-game losing streak on Saturday, the fourth-longest losing streak in NCAA Division III history. We chat with coach Sam Bauman about the Tomcats’ win, the calls he has gotten from fans and alumni, and his hopes for this program, which he took over as head coach. He’s our guest for our Fast Five.

In addition, Pat and Greg hand out game balls, spotlight two interesting things from each of Division III football’s six regions (as always), such as Plymouth State’s unexpected hot start, two Homecoming crowds that went home happy, plus 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 Ryan Bielat @rjbielat: Do you ever tire of being asked, “Why isn’t XYZ ranked higher?” You’d think more people would realize that teams exist beyond the sphere of their conference.

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, Doug Sasse, Doug Sasse, Tom Nettleton of d3photography.com