Tag Archives: UW-River Falls

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ATN Podcast 403: A year to remember

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It isn’t quite the best Stagg Bowl of all time, but surely there’s nobody in River Falls, Wisconsin, who cares about that as UW-River Falls brought Walnut and Bronze home to the town of 16,000 on Monday after a 24-14 win against North Central in Stagg Bowl LII.

Kaleb Blaha, with 419 yards of total offense, and three total touchdowns responsible for, with one final NCAA record to his name, was a deserving Most Outstanding Player of the Stagg Bowl, and you could make a case for a number of defensive players as well, as many made big plays throughout the night and down the stretch to ensure that the Falcons would fly home with the trophy.

After the game, Patrick Coleman, Greg Thomas and postseason regular Keith McMillan sat down to discuss the big game, perhaps crack open a beverage, hand out game balls, hear the highlights, point out the interesting stats and give their big picture perspective on the big game and on the 2025 season. What was the good, what was the bad, and sure, what was the ugly of 2025?

We also formalized the announcement of the D3football.com Offensive Player of the Year, D3football.com Defensive Player of the Year and D3football.com Coach of the Year.

That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007.

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Photo: Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

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ATN Podcast 402: Welcome to Canton!

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Coming to you from Canton, Ohio, it’s our Stagg Bowl preview edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas are joined by Keith McMillan, as well as Seth Howard of the Left Hash Podcast and D1 Rejects, a former UW-River Falls quarterback and assistant coach who will be our sideline reporter for our audio broadcast of Stagg Bowl 52. (Watch on ESPN, then mute the sound and listen to us!)

Patrick, Greg and Keith talked with a number of players and both head coaches at Friday’s media day, and we bring a sampling of those conversations, of which you’ll hear or see more on our pregame coverage. Hear what UW-River Falls safety Andre Hall thinks about the pace of the game compared to the pace of practice. Cortez Jones and North Central coach Brad Spencer talk about what you’ll see when the offensive is playing well. Falcons Gagliardi winner and quarterback Kaleb Blaha talks about how it felt to get a few extra days off between games and our panel discusses both the mental and physical benefits of getting that time back.

North Central’s J.P. Sullivan talks about carrying on the tradition of great Cardinals defensive linemen. River Falls receiver Blake Rohrer discusses the Falcons wide receiver group. Cardinals receiver Thomas Skokna talks about the possibly unexpected way he and quarterback Garret Wilson built their chemistry. Falcons linebacker Gage Timm talks about how the UW-RF season has prepared them for this moment and coach Matt Walker talks about the important thing he had to do before he could commit to the Top Gun offense.

UW-Oshkosh coach Peter Jennings joins us to talk about coaching against each of these teams this season, and how you can’t play the comparative scores game when looking at his Titans’ games against North Central and UW-River Falls. Plus, we take your mailbag questions, talk about coaching changes and much more.

That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007.

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.
File photo

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ATN Podcast 401: One semifinal for the ages

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One of the two semifinals was a classic, fit for kids from 1 to 92 … if you can handle stress, that is.

And we aren’t just spouting cliches when we say this is as good as it gets — in the history of the national semifinals since automatic bids were added and the playoffs expanded beyond four rounds in 1999, there have been only two years where both semifinals were close. It’s far more likely that both of them are two-score games! So to get not just one good one, but one epic one, well, that’s great.

When Kaleb Blaha threaded the tiniest hole to find Blake Rohrer, and Rohrer ran untouched to the end zone for a 79-yard touchdown against Johns Hopkins, it not only sent the Falcons to the Stagg Bowl for the first time ever, it united a community, and was another memorable moment in a friendship between the two. They talk about it, how they met, how Blaha recruited Rohrer to come out for the UW-River Falls football team, and how the River Falls community reacted on Saturday night, in Around the Nation.

At North Central, the Cardinals got the best passing performance of the season from Garet Wilson, and Jack Rummell had some amazing catches and runs. What did Wilson say to him before a third-and-8 play, and how did Rummell respond? We also hear from transfer defensive end Eli Renick, and chat with coach Brad Spencer about what’s next for North Central as they head to their sixth consecutive Stagg Bowl.

Plus, for Johns Hopkins, what does this run ending mean for the state of the program? And for John Carroll, it’s the end of two years where Nick Semptimphelter was able to play football for the Blue Streaks with tight end Terrence Rawls, who was not just his high school teammate, but a literal member of his family. He talks about that, and coach Jeff Behrman talks about Semptimphelter.

Patrick and Greg also hand out game balls and we take your questions in the mailbag. That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. The D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a weekly conversation about NCAA Division III football, and has been running since 2007.

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.
Photo by Caleb Williams of d3photography.com