Tag Archives: Whitworth

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ATN Podcast 422: Some of the numbers almost mean something

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Week 7 in Division III football brought dominant defense, dramatic finishes and a playoff picture that is beginning to take shape, even if the current NPI still needs much more data before it tells the full story.

UW-Platteville put together an almost incomprehensible defensive performance against UW-River Falls, while Maryville forced five turnovers to upset Trinity (Texas) and continue its remarkable turnaround after an 0-3 start. St. John’s survived a serious challenge from Concordia-Moorhead, and Hope erased a 15-point halftime deficit to defeat Adrian.

Hope coach Peter Stuursma joins us to discuss the halftime adjustments, his three-headed backfield and an electric homecoming atmosphere.

We hand out game balls to two big backfield performers from Saturday, talk about why two Division III football teams keep playing each other and a which conference contender is getting its injured quarterback back at exactly the right time.

Logan Hansen returns with Analytics 301 to examine the race for those coveted top eight seeds, likely at-large candidates and four Week 8 games that could reshape the postseason picture.

Then we go region by region: For example, Bridgewater wins with eight points after the clock hits zero, Texas Lutheran’s Malik Johnson makes NCAA history, Baldwin Wallace keeps building its case, Millikin and Illinois Wesleyan go wild in the final two minutes, and UW-Eau Claire takes another step forward.

We also revisit some of the “drunkest” games we’ve ever seen, ask whether anyone is truly driving the Centennial Conference race, and discuss Division III’s unusual run of in-season coaching changes.

Patrick and Greg cover it all in Around the Nation Podcast No. 422.

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Photos: UMass Dartmouth athletics file photo by Calder Troutman Photography cgtshots; Andy McNeill for UW-Platteville athletics; Maryville athletics file photo

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ATN Podcast 421: A Bell game that deserves a name

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A No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown under the lights produced a 2-0 halftime score, a virtual walk-off field goal, a new No. 1 team in the country and maybe the latest entry in Little Brass Bell lore. Wheaton finally got the trophy back, plus Rowan finally got past Salisbury, and Washington & Lee reminded everyone why nobody enjoys defending the option for 22-play drives.

North Central spent most of the night looking for the breakout run. Wheaton made sure it never arrived. How did Wheaton hold North Central to 0.9 yards per carry? Which defender piled up 18 tackles, 6½ tackles for loss and the game’s biggest interception? And how will this Bell game be remembered, or named?

Which championship contender survived a goal-line stand at the 5-yard line? And who needed just six possessions to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the season?

Who earned game balls after defining wins? Which conference winning streaks now sit atop Division III football after North Central and Randolph-Macon saw theirs come to an end? Who finally got on the scoreboard? And which bizarre play featured one interception, four laterals and a big long touchdown?

Plus, Jesse Scott joins us for Fast Five after the biggest win of his tenure, Logan Hansen updates a playoff race that suddenly looks more wide open than ever, and we debate whether there has ever been a season with this many legitimate national-title contenders.

Trinity continued making its case in the NESCAC, Muhlenberg won another thriller against Franklin & Marshall, Millsaps stayed in the SAA race behind a backup quarterback, and Wilmington nearly landed a statement win against Hanover.

And looking ahead: Can Merchant Marine survive a crucial NEWMAC test against Salve Regina? Will Dickinson keep rolling when it visits Franklin & Marshall for the Conestoga Wagon Trophy? Can LaGrange take control of the USA South race at Brevard? Will Linfield and Whitworth once again decide the Northwest Conference? And who is best positioned to wear the crown now that Division III has a new No. 1?

Patrick and Greg tackle all this, plus your mailbag questions, in the latest edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

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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

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Photos: Michael Hudson Photography for Wheaton athletics; Keith Lucas, Sideline Media; Salisbury athletics

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ATN Podcast 397: Now you see it, now you don’t

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We thought this year we were going to get to work on staggering playoff game times, so we don’t have eight of the best games going on at the same time. We thought we were going to get to work on getting video review for officials at games before the semifinals. OK, that at least is happening in some places, but otherwise, we found out on Saturday we need to go back one year and work on 2024’s thing some more — having all of these games on ESPN+.

When you look back at this podcast years later, yes, this is the one where the first-round playoff streaming was a borderline disaster. Essentially half of our opening eight games had some streaming issue, one of them so severe that it never got on the air at all.

That’s bad. That’s a problem. The NCAA folks will talk to ESPN about it this week, but it’s also the NCAA that puts all of this work on overworked sports information professionals in a division where we already expanded the basketball season so that these folks are working winter sports and football and any other fall sport that might still be in its playoffs at the same time.

But the action on the field was really good, so we’ll spend the last 85% or so of the podcast talking about that. About the big plays that fueled Susquehanna’s win. The way the final drive of the Chapman-Whitworth game ended. How Muhlenberg came away with the win against Union. What Springfield did to keep Cortland in check. How LaGrange overcame some difficulties to advance.

It’s also the end of the season for eight more teams, and the end of careers for many. At Grove City, this was a season with challenges, and this team got through them to rally and get to the playoffs, and rally when down big in the second half. Patch Flanagan’s career at Union ends on a high note personally, even if he could not will his team into the second round. Crown grew up a lot this season and achieved things never done before in the program’s history. We talk about all that and more.

And our guest is Casey Shine, head coach of Chapman. He’ll tell us what was going through his head when his quarterback took a taunting penalty that left the door open for a Whitworth comeback.

We also hand out game balls, bring you through the stats of the week, we look at a bunch of second round games, and we take your questions in the mailbag segment. That and more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

Postgame news conferences:

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

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Theme music: Power 2 by DJmentos.
Susquehanna athletics photo by Michael Lipscomb; photo by Chapman athletics