Tag Archives: Pacific

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ATN Podcast 424: Tricks, treats and improbable feats

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Halloween weekend delivered more than its share of improbable endings. Exactly what chance did Dickinson have to do what it did at Carnegie Mellon? How did Johns Hopkins win on a play that wasn’t even legal a year ago? What did Azusa Pacific do to improve from Week 1 to Week 9?

Patrick and Greg break down those finishes and the biggest Week 9 storylines: Wheaton’s recurring slow starts, UW-Whitewater’s improving offense, the de facto OAC title game between Baldwin Wallace and Mount Union, and the crowded races in the SAA and Centennial.

In addition, DePauw coach Brett Dietz joins the Fast Five to discuss the Tigers’ quarterback change, Jack Kazmierczak’s patience and efficiency, Harry Pratt’s emergence on defense, and taking the Monon Bell game to Ball State while DePauw’s stadium is under construction.

We’re getting more and more long field goals at the Division III level. How many are we really talking, and why are we getting better kickers? We talked to some coaches to dig into this.

We go region by region, we hand out game balls, the mailbag makes us talk about the best defensive players in D-III and Whitewater-Platteville. Biggest WIAC game since when?

Patrick and Greg cover it all in Around the Nation Podcast No. 424.

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Photos: Baldwin Wallace athletics photo by Erik Drost; Mount Union athletics; UW-Whitewater athletics photo by Olivia Zinnani

Long field goal data

Season 50+ 55+ 60+ Long Kicker
2013-14 13 2 1 62 Matthew Aven, CMS
2014-15 13 0 0 54 Andrew Franks, RPI
2015-16 15 0 0 54 Sean Murray, Redlands
2016-17 10 0 0 53 Tyler Stolen, Buena Vista
2017-18 10 2 0 55 Nathan Hierlihy, Redlands; Spenser Thompson-Meyers, St. Norbert
2018-19 10 1 0 55 Jon Alberts, Central
2019-20 9 2 0 58 Tim Branneky, Westminster (Mo.)
2020-21 0 COVID
2021-22 6 1 0 55 Doug Cummings, Gettysburg
2022-23 17 2 1 60 John McArdle, Bethany
2023-24 13 1 0 55 Will Goodman, Chicago
2024-25 15 1 0 56 Tim Kissinger, Lebanon Valley
2025-26 17 1 0 57 Aidan Ellison, North Central
2026-27 17 5 0 56 Sean Lee, CMS and Sean Ryniec, North Central
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ATN Podcast 384: Looking ahead

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Games kick off two days from now, so there’s no time like the present for a Week 1 preview! Patrick and Greg take you through Division III football’s opening week, going region by region with a region Game of the Week and more games to watch in each region, Region 1 through Region 6.

Plus, we bring back J.P. Williams, the NCAA’s liaison for the Division III football championship, aka the person at the NCAA who runs point on the football season, playoffs, and the committee. This part of the conversation is about some more hot-button issues around the Division III football playoffs, such as, seriously, artificial noisemakers. That’s an issue being discussed. So is trying to stagger the start times of the quarterfinals so that they overlap a little less. Great, now how about the first three rounds? Anyone? And are wearables or radios in helmets coming to the Division III playoffs this season?

And listen, you might not be happy with the possibilities for the Stagg Bowl, the Division III football championship game. It’s hardly set in stone yet, but consider this your first warning that it might be … interesting. Listen for more.

Plus, the season is here, and if you’ve listened to our podcast over the past several years, you might remember that big occasions sometimes call for big productions. There is one of those in this podcast, as We’ve Got Our Eyes on 2025.

Patrick and Greg have this and more in the latest edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

Mailbag topics include: Which games in Week 1 could most upset the apple cart and change expectations for the Division III football season? And, what three games this week need to have a rivalry trophy and a title? And check the bottom of the podcast page for the names of teams mentioned in the episode — it’s a big number!

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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 D3sports.com; Aurora athletics; Grove City athletics

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ATN Podcast 359: Definitely not a slow week

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Sometimes Week 2 of the Division III football season can be a bit of a letdown.

We know — teams generally improve the most between Week 1 and Week 2, says every football coach ever. But for the fans, Week 1 is a huge rush, and Week 2, well, some conferences are on bye and with fewer games, some years it just doesn’t stack up.

For the record: 2024 was not one of those years. Instead, how about a fantastic Week 2, with some course corrections on the field, and some more in the D3football.com Top 25 as well.

We’ll whip you through the big games in Division III from this past weekend, chat with a 24-year-old and introduce you to a 26-year-old Air Force veteran who has plenty to share with his younger teammates. We’ll hear from the wide receiver who transferred from Aurora to North Central only to have his season opening game against … Aurora. And much more. 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 3, plus give a snapshot for how those top eight seeds are looking. There’s a surprise team, according to the numbers!

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, such as the team which scored 30 points in the fourth quarter to rally from behind and win. 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.

Plus we chat with St. John’s quarterback Aaron Syverson, right after his team finished defeating Wartburg and giving him some much needed relief from a bad afternoon in 2022. 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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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.
Salisbury athletics photo by FOTOJOE PHOTOGRAPHY INC./Hannah Reagle