ATN Podcast 361: Big wins from new faces

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Pat Coleman

With so many teams taking the week off, there was a big opportunity to step up and grab the spotlight, and boy did schools such as LaGrange and Bates do exactly that. Nothing like getting a double-digit game losing streak off your back.

Plus, a game of the week that absolutely looked like one, as we break down Carnegie Mellon at Washington & Jefferson. In addition, Patrick got eyes on Bethel for the first time this season as the Royals hosted St. John’s and we get his take on how the Johnnies look and how the new-look Bethel offense is shaking out.

And then Patrick has some words for the D3football.com Top 25 voter panel — some of them, at least.

Plus, Hope keeps running and running and ran its way into our Top 25 this week. Like we said in Podcast 360, they could run enough to keep the Alma offense off the field and they did just that. Flying Dutch coach Peter Stuursma joins us to talk about it in Fast Five.

We’ll whip you through the big games in Division III from this past weekend, catch up with a brand-new running back with an interesting background, see who had an overflow crowd and who will have to wait a long time to see if they are truly playoff material. Plus, who’s having fun 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 got a new bag of trick 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 5, 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, such as all the great finishes for various schools on Homecoming this past weekend. 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.

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Photo by Steve McLaughlin for Wesleyan athletics

ATN Podcast 277: The teams left standing

Posted on August 13, 2020 by Pat Coleman

This eternal offseason is destined to continue, but even into mid-August, things move so quickly that conferences, and individual schools which had been sure they were going to play football games this fall, have turned out to be headed back to the sidelines.

That leaves very few teams still in a position to play ball this fall, but we’ll talk to two schools who just had their season dashed this week and one which is still on course.

Adrian has 150 players on campus already and is looking to play up to its maximum five games, the number of games a team can play without using a year of its student-athletes’ eligibility. And they might want to go beyond that. Bulldogs coach Jim Deere talks about who they’ll play, who they are talking to, how they’ll keep the players safe and how important sports is to the college.

Simpson was among the schools that had its fall hopes dashed when the American Rivers Conference reversed course and changed its mind after previously saying their schools would play football in the fall. Storm coach Matt Jeter talked to us mere hours after the decision was announced and discusses the quick change, what happens to the student-athletes left in travel limbo, and how he might use his team’s 114 permitted days of football over the next academic year.

And we talk with Northwestern (Minn.), which had a five-game schedule lined up until every American Rivers Conference team slated to play had to drop off the schedule. The Eagles have to go back to watching from the sidelines as well, and coach Matt Moore talks to us about that process and more.

We discuss that and more in Podcast 277.

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

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Theme music: DJmentos. Photos by Simpson athletics, Adrian athletics, Northwestern (Minn.) athletics

Quick Hits Week 9: In a New York state of mind

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Greg Thomas

It is a huge weekend in the East region with a pair of high profile clashes amongst conference unbeatens. Our panel tackles the Empire 8 and Liberty League showdowns as well as letting you know which teams will help and hurt their regional ranking profiles before the NCAA releases the first rankings for 2019 on Wednesday.

Our regular crew is Keith McMillan, Ryan Tipps, Pat Coleman, Adam Turer, Frank Rossi and Greg Thomas.

— Greg Thomas

Which game is the Game of the Week?

Keith’s take: Brockport at No. 18 Cortland. Union-Ithaca works too, and there are 42,000+ folks who want the Cortaca rivals to remain atop the Empire 8 and Liberty League, respectively.	Ryan’s take: No. 25 Union at No. 8 Ithaca. The Bombers’ dynamic pass game against a Dutchman D that hasn’t given up more than two touchdowns in any game this season.	Pat’s take: Johns Hopkins at No. 6 Muhlenberg. The Blue Jays are mere points away from this being a battle of unbeatens, and might be able to play spoiler.
Adam’s take: Johns Hopkins at Muhlenberg. The rivalry is the ultimate test to see if Muhlenberg has really become the team to beat in the Centennial. The Mules have looked the part thus far.	Frank’s take: No. 25 Union at No. 8 Ithaca. It’s win and you’re in — and has Pool C implications. I explain this on today’s ATN Friday Podcast.	Greg’s take: No. 25 Union at No. 8 Ithaca. The first ticket to the 2019 playoffs is getting punched by one of these two teams Saturday at Butterfield.

Which Top 25 team is most likely to get upset?

Keith’s take: No. 6 Muhlenberg. There are people around the Johns Hopkins program who think the Blue Jays are better this year than last, even though the results don’t show it. This would be the time to show it.	Ryan’s take: No. 18 Cortland. I feel like Brockport’s season-opening loss has left this 6-1 team flying under many people’s radars most of the season.	Pat’s take: No. 18 Cortland. Probably someone needs to keep picking Cortland until they get upset, and I will take the short straw this time.
Adam’s take: No 18. Cortland. Brockport’s defense is the real deal, pitching three shutouts since allowing 33 points in a season-opening loss at Hobart. The top rushing and third down defense is also the fourth-best pass efficiency and total defense in the nation.	Frank’s take: No. 8 Ithaca (vs. No. 25 Union). In 2009, the last time Ithaca was No. 8 in the D3football.com poll, Union beat the Bombers. As long as the Dutchmen come in healthy and have great ball control, history will repeat itself, this time at Butterfield.	Greg’s take: No. 18 Cortland. The Golden Eagles have been largely off the radar since their week 1 loss to Hobart. Eight weeks later, that Brockport defense is as smothering as ever and are poised to take control of the E8 race.

Which conference leader or co-leader picks up a loss?

Keith’s take: Benedictine, vs. Aurora. There are lots of candidates, but I think the front-runners will pull a near clean sweep. The Fightin’ Beebes take control in the NACC in a shootout.	Ryan’s take: Benedictine. A de facto NACC title bout, co-leader Aurora has been more impressive throughout the season (though these last couple of weeks have been easier matchups).	Pat’s take: Hanover. Mount St. Joseph will be out to obliterate people the rest of the way and Hanover stands in the Lions’ way this week.
Adam’s take: Hanover. The Panthers go on the road to a Mount St. Joseph team playing with its season on the line. A Lions win would create a three-way tie atop the HCAC and keep MSJ’s postseason hopes alive.	Frank’s take: Denison (vs. DePauw). DePauw’s defense should have enough in the engine to make this a close enough game to win over the Big Red.	Greg’s take: Cortland qualifies, but I’ll give another here- Hanover. The Panthers are hot, but taking out Chaiten Tomlin in what is likely his last home game is a tall order.

Which game are you following that nobody else on this panel is following?

Keith’s take: McMurry at Hardin-Simmons. I just want to see how the Cowboys bounce back from last week’s last-second loss. The War Hawks are 0-7 with two recent nailbiter losses of their own.	Ryan’s take: Fitchburg State at Worcester State. Friday night, under the light, one of these teams will get their first conference win.	Pat’s take: Central at Simpson. If Central can’t handle Simpson, they can’t hope to challenge Wartburg in Week 10.
Adam’s take: Marietta at Baldwin Wallace. I’m still trying to figure out who, if anyone, can give Mount Union a decent challenge in the OAC. I’ve been bullish on the Yellow Jackets since Jim Hilvert took the reins. He has his team positioned for a second straight 7-1 start.	Frank’s take: Endicott at Western New England. It’s a huge CCC game between the co-leaders, and both teams can put up a crapload of points (wait, can I say that in Quick Hits?!).	Greg’s take: No. 15 Chapman at Pomona-Pitzer. The last significant hurdle between Chapman and a SCIAC championship, the Panthers will have to survive do-it-all QB Karter Odermann and the Sagehens under the lights.

Which team boosts its profile ahead of Wednesday’s first regional rankings?

Keith’s take: UW-Platteville, at home facing a 5-2 UW-Oshkosh coming off a 31-3 loss to UW-La Crosse, should make a move in the West.	Ryan’s take: Muhlenberg. While Hopkins isn’t the beast they were last year, they’re still an above-average team that make a Mules win meaningful.	Pat’s take: Bridgewater. Just by playing Emory & Henry, the Eagles’ strength of schedule stands to improve from .478 to around .499.
Adam’s take: Ithaca. The Bombers should be able to lock down the number one spot in the East with a win over fellow unbeaten Union.	Frank’s take: No. 18 Cortland (vs. Brockport). Cortland’s SOS will take a nice jump, and that’s going to be needed to help the Red Dragons to overtake Salisbury, especially if Ithaca loses against Union.	Greg’s take: No. 14 Wesley. The Wolverines won’t have too much trouble at TCNJ, but their already robust Pool C profile will be fortified with road wins by Delaware Valley and Endicott, who I expect will be regionally ranked on Wednesday.

Which team hurts its profile ahead of Wednesday’s first regional rankings?

Keith’s take: Western New England. The Golden Bears are at home, 6-1 and regionally ranked higher than Endicott, but the Gulls can be part of the big shuffle in the East rankings coming this weekend.	Ryan’s take: Bethel. Yeah, they beat Hamline (of course), but Hamline isn’t a win that resonates, piled on by expected losses this week by past Royals opponents St. Olaf, River Falls and Simpson. Bethel’s criteria stock drops.	Pat’s take: Union. Because a loss is imminent and while their SOS will increase, that won’t offset the defeat.
Adam’s take: Bridgewater. I think Emory and Henry can pull off the upset of the unbeaten Eagles.The Wasps have averaged 50 points per game during their current five-game winning streak. This would be a Top 25 upset in my poll.	Frank’s take: No. 10 Salisbury. Their next three games will kill their Strength of Schedule. With currently six undefeated teams (vs. D3) in the East, their SOS & results vs. regionally ranked opponents need to prop them up — but their remaining schedule doesn’t help.	Greg’s take: No 10. Salisbury. Our mock regional rankings had Salisbury grade out as the top team in the East. But Salisbury is about to get a triple whammy; CNU drops their SOS, East challenger Ithaca picks up a ranked win and their own SOS boost, and UW-Oshkosh loses touch with the West rankings. It’s a fickle game this.

We invite you to add your predictions in the comments below. Download the Around the Nation podcast on Fridays, where Pat and Keith review the Quick Hits that were prescient, and the Quick Misses that were terribly off base.