D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast

That's how dark it was in Spokane, Washington, when Linfield and Whitworth were playing in overtime. That's just one of several intriguing storylines from Saturday, including the way the Central-Wartburg game ended. You'll want to hear Keith's take on whether the Central receiver got the ball across the plane of the goal line in overtime, and also how he would describe the game if Central had lost. Plus, they talk about the surprise of the Ithaca-RPI game, and how that sets up this weekend's Cortaca Jug showdown with Cortland. And Keith got to see the ODAC championship being decided between Bridgewater and Randolph-Macon, and talked with the victorious quarterback afterward. Pat and Keith talk about an inspiring moment in Division III from Saturday. Plus, they will help you make sense of results that don't make sense. And they go off the beaten path for highlights, spotlight their surprise results, the big stats and more from Week 10. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

This is where stuff gets tight. We already have some of our traditional season-ending rivalry games going on this weekend (Bronze Turkey, The Drum, Amherst-Williams) and the chase for the Walnut and Bronze is in full swing. We start by talking about the regional rankings, first with NCAA Division III football national committee chair Jim Catanzaro, where we ask him about some of the oddities at the bottom of the East and West Region rankings. Plus, his Lake Forest team essentially plays in a conference semifinal on Saturday against St. Norbert. Then Pat and Keith have a viewers' guide for everyone on the bubble. We'll tell you who you need to root for, or against, on Saturday. Plus, Pat and Keith make up a rivalry trophy for a South Region game this week. Keith picks six winners and also has to mock a famous (or infamous) broadcaster, while Pat crosses the country to pick winners. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is also sponsored by The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum and their limited-edition Mount Union football bobblehead. 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.

We expected some great games. Some of the great games were unexpected. And if your team is 3-5, you might well get some mention in this podcast, even if you're not Concordia-Moorhead. Didn't we tell you that kicking would be an issue for St. John's? (Psst, we did, in Podcast 252.) We check in on the big games in New York, where the Liberty League and Empire 8 had automatic bids up for grabs, including postgame interviews. In addition, Pat and Keith talk about their teams on the rise. One of them gives a game ball to a player who threw as many interceptions as completions on Saturday. Keith talks about a Top 10 team he thinks is overranked. They'll help you make sense of results that don't make sense. And they go off the beaten path for highlights, spotlight their surprise results and more from Week 9. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

The final few weeks of the regular season get started, well, now, as we have key showdowns in the state of New York, and Iowa, and Pennsylvania, among others. Plus, if you are looking for a better understanding of how the mock regional rankings that we put together work, well, we welcome back our chief bracketologist, Greg Thomas. He'll tell you what goes into the mock rankings, and the real ones which we will see on Nov. 6, then Pat and Keith talk about how the field is selected and who the at-large teams might be at this point. Plus, Pat and Keith make up a rivalry trophy for a North Region game this week. Keith picks six winners and also has to mispronounce school names, as if he were working for a national network, while Pat has to pick games in keeping with Thursday night's Halloween. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

Lots of eyes on this game. Lots of views on Twitter videos. Lots of people tying to knock down Mary Hardin-Baylor's game-winning field goal. It's great that we live in an era when we can see all of this video in real time, and then over and over again afterward. So UMHB wins by one, but loses the No. 1 spot. All of this is worth a good amount of discussion, and that's what Pat and Keith give it. In addition, Cortland nearly got derailed from an unbeaten run to the Cortaca Jug game, and The Streak turned 64. Plus, there was a rare daily double when it comes to giving out game balls, while one off-the-beaten path highlight was a washout. And we have another announcer-less highlight, because Division III. And also, more Maine. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

Looking at big games in Texas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia and Delaware, plus predictions on games from all across the map as we get you set for Week 8 of the 2019 Division III football season. We've got a few teams playing from positions they're not used to, either. This week, we're joined by a couple of gunslingers in red and white -- they are Cortland quarterback Brett Segala and St. John's quarterback Jackson Erdmann. Erdmann talks about what it's like to "break in" a new receiving corps full of sophomores, while Segala talks about the goals that Cortland has after missing out on a few close games in 2018. Plus, Pat and Keith make up a rivalry trophy for a South Region game this week. Keith picks six winners and also picks a winner sight unseen, while Pat has to make up words. Totally on brand. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

One of Saturday's big games was well-known, well-promoted, and lived up to the hype of 19,508 fans. The other was played in front of a little bit fewer people, and was hardly predicted. So when the Johnnies beat the Tommies, sure, we knew that would be a big deal -- but when Birmingham-Southern knocked off No. 7 Berry ... Berry had two chances to get back into the game in the third quarter, but Birmingham-Southern held firm. We talked with Panthers coach Tony Joe White about his team's game plan, their star running back, and the mess created at the top of the Southern Athletic Association. Plus, Keith gave his game ball to an offensive line, while one off-the-beaten path highlight was a Maine event. Someone threw nine touchdowns. UK soccer teams were cited. And rushing yards were a big negative. Plus, are the Johnnies a national title contender? Pat has seen them the past two weeks against top-notch competition and reveals where he moved SJU to on his Top 25 ballot. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

There's a big game between huge rivals going on in Minnesota this weekend, but also another 115 games in Division III, including a battle of unbeatens in the NESCAC. We're going to give about the same amount of time to the St. John's-St. Thomas game as we will to Wesleyan-Middlebury, where the attraction is more than just the change of seasons and the fall colors visible from Middlebury's picturesque campus. Bob Ritter, Middlebury head coach, is our guest on Podcast 251, and yes, for those who want to know, he talks about what NESCAC people really feel about not playing in the NCAA Division III playoffs. Plus, Pat and Keith have to make up a rivalry trophy for another key East Region game this week. Keith picks six winners and also tells his D3football.com origin story. Pat has to rank games from least to most interesting and Keith has to pick numbers. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

Yes, this is podcast No. 250. At this point, the milestones come fairly frequently, so we won't bore regular listeners with too many old clips or stories about strange places we've recorded this podcast, but we couldn't let a round number go unmentioned. This is the week Chapman played its way into the D3football.com Top 25, and Bethel nearly played itself out of the Top 10, and UW-Whitewater methodically got past UW-Platteville. But it's also the week where an off-the-beaten-path highlight meant a team that has struggled got to celebrate a win, and another team celebrated a win 8 seconds too early and had it cost them. Plus it's a week where one team had just five first downs and won, and an offensive juggernaut was held to 90-some yards passing, and there were four touchdowns in a 126-second span. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. 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.

This was shaping up to be a perfectly normal week with awesome Division III football games, and then the news broke, that UMHB was being told it had to give up the 2016 Division III football national title. UMHB is appealing this decision. But it could well go through. We'll open with a sound bite from Randy O'Rear, the UMHB president, and a couple of quotes from coach Pete Fredenburg, and then Pat and Keith will run down the context, what it all means, whether it's right, and how it's not like when Thomas More vacated the NCAA Division III women's basketball title. (Even though it's being treated like it is.) We also talk to Wheaton coach Mike Swider, whose team had a pretty big win last week against North Central. But his Thunder teams have beaten North Central before and then not run the table, so there are some things to talk about there. Swider talks about motivating his team, what motivates him beyond being a football head coach, and exactly how many Wheaton head coaches were upset by the injury to quarterback Spencer Peterson last Saturday. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Plus, the guys make plenty of Subaru references, pick winners in about two dozen of Saturday's Division III games, and generally get you ready for 2019's Week 6 by trying to create an alternate trophy for a game which already has one.. 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.

We've often said in the course of writing about and covering Division III that you can find everything in Division III. That is definitely true in football, where when you have more than 110 games, there are bound to be interesting and unexpected performances. For example, Pat and Keith this week bring you multiple games in which teams rallied from fourth-quarter two-touchdown deficits to win. But there are also big games that are not surprises, such as Wheaton and North Central playing another classic, and some that are, such as Texas Lutheran's unexpected prowess scoring with its defense. Plus, the most surprising result for one of these two was a game in the MIAA, but not the one you think it is, and we have another classic no-broadcaster Division III highlight where anyone who knows the rules about offside can have a laugh, or shake their head. Plus, find out which Super Bowl head coach performed the ceremonial coin toss at a D-III school, and where, and we definitely invite you to assemble the Around the Nation Podcast drinking game. Or just give us a thumbnail sketch. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Plus, the guys hand out their game balls, find the off-the-beaten-path highlights and more from Week 5. 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.

There are lots of teams in Division III which you have questions about, and you're not alone. We have the same questions about a handful of teams, and in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast, Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan tackle a few of them. Are they on track or overperforming so far? It's buy or sell on the podcast. And then, we have lots of questions for Salisbury coach Sherm Wood. His team is back in action this week after two consecutive bye weeks, and the win against UW-Oshkosh is kind of a distant memory, even though it's the last game they played. How did the Sea Gulls keep the guys busy for two weeks? Plus, Wood talks about whether he ever thought he would be a long-time head coach at his alma mater, where the program has grown, and whether it can break through past the national quarterfinals. Also, Wood and one of his proteges are two of a small number of black head coaches in Division III football, and he talks about that as well. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Plus, everyone talks about their games to watch, we get Keith's one-liners, Pat has to spell his name and Keith has to keep it close, and much more in Podcast 247: The one with buy or sell. 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.

We come through the first month of the 2019 NCAA Division III season with a significant number of teams which are unbeaten, but not ranked. We hardly have time to talk about them all, but we’ll do as many of them as possible in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast. And of course, there were a number of thrilling games, including one significant upset, on Saturday. Pat Coleman and guest host Greg Thomas take you through all the big games, talking about the impact of UW-Eau Claire’s win vs. St. Thomas on the rest of the West Region and more. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Plus, the guys hand out their game balls, find the linebacker who kicked the game-winning extra point this week as an off-the-beaten-path highlight, congratulate another D-III coach to get to 200 wins and find a little hair metal as well. Pat and Greg 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.

North, South, East and West, we'll be looking for great games to come out of the woodwork. Nothing is going to stack up to the awesomeness that was Week 3, but whenever you feel like a week doesn't have much to watch for, that's when things will blow up. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Meanwhile, North Carolina Wesleyan is the latest D-III team to take on D-I FCS school Stetson. Why are so many teams playing Stetson? Coach Jeff Filkovski talks with us about that, his team's ups and downs this season and how they are building a stadium specifically for Homecoming. Plus, Pat and Keith get put on the spot, the crew tells us about the right games to watch on Saturday, and it's predictions galore for Week 4. 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.

It was a strong day of games when we had our noon kickoffs, and it got even better by 7:00. Then when the 10 p.m. games kicked off, and heated up, and ended up in upsets, we knew we had just witnessed one of the great sets of games in ... years? Hard to tell. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Meanwhile, Mike Maynard has no interest in seeing his 200th career win celebrated, and tells D3football.com contributor Greg Thomas about it. UW-Whitewater lost its quarterback on the first play of the game. Wheaton held the Illinois Wesleyan offense in check. There was a surprise upset in the Ohio Athletic Conference. By now you probably have seen the story, and the effect on the Top 25. But in addition to those games, UMHB showed more signs of struggle and promptly lost six of its first-place votes. Is it time for panic for the Cru? Plus, Pat and Keith hand out their game balls, point out the teams likely to rise and fall in the Top 25, and all the rest of the categories. 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.

This week is the last gasp of non-conference play for some schools, where the Northwest and SoCal will be battling it out all down the line, and the MIAA and NACC will be doing so as well. Plus conference play gets started with two huge games in the CCIW, and the MIAC gets underway. Guest Mike Schmidt, the head coach at UW-La Crosse, talks about his team's 2-0 start and how he and his staff use analytics to get the right guys the ball and in the right spot in the lineup. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life, gottahaveitfanfoams.com. Plus, we coin the Schenectica Cup, Keith has to pick teams to win based on their mascot and Pat has to pick them by vowel, and there's a Mug, and five one-liners and no ... the points don't matter. Except where they do. 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.

With Keith McMillan on assignment this week, it was left to Pat Coleman to find a new co-host. No small task, perhaps, to find someone to sit in for the guys who wrote more than 100 Around the Nation columns and has co-hosted about 239 podcast episodes. But it turned out it wasn't hard to find someone to step in. Enter Lake Forest head coach and NCAA committee chair Jim Catanzaro. (And cue the music!) This isn't someone taking Keith's lines and running with them. Jim writes his own material, makes his own sausage and, yes, tells us what to expect in a couple of key areas on Selection Sunday, depending on what else happens this season. This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Plus, Pat and Jim hand out their game balls, point out the teams likely to rise and fall in the Top 25, and all the rest of the categories, plus hear from UW-La Crosse coach Mike Schmidt about his team's big win and from Linfield coach Joe Smith about his team's big trip. Pat and Jim 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.

We nearly had to break the glass and bring out our emergency guest host, but eventually Keith McMillan awoke from his short fall's nap and joined Pat Coleman for another edition of the podcast. This week on our game day podcast edition, we were joined by Hobart coach Kevin DeWall, who talked about his team's big win against Brockport, as well as coaching his alma mater, what kind of car he got handed the keys to when he took over the program and the fact that Hobart can't escape Joe Germinerio. Plus, what is the deal with Hobart and William Smith Colleges, anyway? This edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is sponsored by Gotta Have It: 3D Fan Foam Wall Signs for the D-III fan in your life. Plus, Pat and Keith react to the pending retirement of Wash U coach Larry Kindbom, a milestone of sorts on tap for Saturday, and the crew goes over all the big games coming up in Division III as well as the Battle for the Golden Kilt. 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.

When you have actual football games to base opinions off of, rather than just what you see or know on paper, your preconceived notions get challenged, rewritten, or perhaps affirmed. And for Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan, that's one of the best things about getting the season started. Who expected to see Brockport go out and get blown off the blocks? Or to see Montclair State lose to Southern Virginia? Or to see Denison beat Ohio Northern? Those are just a few of the surprise games on the docket for Pat and Keith to talk about, and Denison coach Jack Hatem joins them to talk about the Big Red's new quarterback, how they felt about being picked third in the conference coaches' poll and the general atmosphere from their opening night win. Plus, Pat and Keith hand out game balls, look at the teams rising and falling in the D3football.com Top 25, dive into the interesting stats and more from Week 1. 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.

If you are new to Division III football with the start of the season, welcome. If you are new to this podcast, welcome. If you are a longtime listener, hey, you're welcome as well and it's nice to have you back. It's nice to have games back as well. After a nine-month offseason, Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan are pleased to have actual games to talk about and get ready to kick off the 2019 season. On our first game day podcast of the season, we get you set for the season by talking about all of the things that make Division III unique, such as the lack of cross-country travel and the lack of non-conference games in general, and we tell you why we can't make comparisons to Division I. Pat and Keith and contributors go around the horn to preview their game to watch for this weekend, which kicks off Thursday night all across the country, plus Pat details a quarterback you likely haven't heard of, but should, and Keith goes all presidential, in a way. There are predictions and more games to keep an eye on than you can shake a stick at. 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.

The podcast is back! It almost wasn't, as Pat Coleman explains. And just when you think you have D-III figured out, you have teams jumping conferences, conferences dumping teams and conferences which might want to expand. Pat and Keith McMillan have it all in the August podcast. Guests: Chuck Yrigoyen, American Rivers Conference commissioner; Glenn Caruso, St. Thomas; Christian Ozolins, Buffalo State.

If you're Muhlenberg, coming off a trip to the national quarterfinals with very few seniors, there's a lot to make noise about, and meanwhile, there's a lot of reason that St. Thomas and the MIAC could make noise going into 2019, except nobody's talking. That, and the longtime CCIW commissioner and former Division III football national committee member Chris Martin joins us to talk about the landscape of Division III as he gets set to leave his job. That's Muhlenberg coach Nate Milne shouting on our cover image ... the coach on the right, that is. The coach on the left is Glenn Caruso, who, like everyone at St. Thomas, has made no public comment regarding the attempts of schools such as St. Olaf to oust the Tommies from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Pat and Keith will talk about the MIAC issues, what could happen to UST going forward, while Milne talks about Muhlenberg's successful season and what's to come. (Plus, Pat Coleman finally found a coach he can talk to about singing.) Chris Martin, who is stepping down after 17 years as commissioner of a very stable conference, talks about the D-III big picture and what might need to be done about the playoff crunch.

Bet you thought we forgot. No, spring is here, spring practice is underway in many places and yes, there is/was a March podcast.This month we start looking forward at the 2019 Division III football season, chatting with Gagliardi Trophy winner Jackson Erdmann of St. John's about what's ahead for the Johnnies this season, the state of his throwing shoulder and how he's spending his time now that he needs just one class to graduate.We're also joined by William Paterson head football coach Dustin Johnson. A former Division III quarterback himself, Johnson is heading into his second year as the head coach of the Pioneers and talks about the challenges of turning around a program which hasn't had a winning record since 1993. Plus Johnson played professional football, and talks about his experience and what guys have to do to get ready for playing football beyond college.Wrapping it up, Keith McMillan talks about the research he did this spring for an unexpected writing assignment: picking the preseason Top 25 and writing a preview for Street & Smith's football preview magazine. Yep, they write the articles for those things in March. What can you learn about a team six months before the season starts? Keith has the rundown.Pat and Keith talk about it all, as well as the latest coaching changes 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.

We're joined this month by new Aurora coach Don Beebe, whom you might better know as a former NFL player, one who played in six Super Bowls and provided a quite memorable highlight in one of them. He talks about his new position, his first as a collegiate head coach, including how he watches film on recruits.We also have Colten Bartholomew on this month's show. Bartholomew writes for the La Crosse Tribune, and broke a story last month that was quite fascinating, where he found that a former offensive coordinator at UW-Whitewater emailed his team's playbook to a Division III football head coach, who then forwarded it to yet another D-III head coach. We get the details. Wrapping it up, we have a roundtable discussion about a proposal to change the regional breakdown in Division III football from the current and long-standing four regions to as many as six. Why is this necessary? What issues could it raise? We talk it through.

We're all still generally in the aftermath of the 2018 Division III football season, and we talk with three people who are in that realm as well. Our offseason podcasts typically include three long-form interviews, and we start with Greg Chimera, the interim head coach at Johns Hopkins. He played and coached for Jim Margraff, who died unexpectedly earlier in January at the age of 59, and he tells us what the program is going through and what he would want future Blue Jays to know about Margraff. We also chat with Jon Drach, who recently finished his first season as the head coach at Wilkes after a long career as an assistant at Hobart. Drach brought a lot of former Hobart people to Wilkes with him, and also brought Wilkes back from an 0-10 season in 2017 to a 5-5 mark, so we talk about that success and what might be next. Plus, we hear from former Mary Hardin-Baylor linebacker Tevin Jones, who was unable to play for the Cru this year because of an issue stemming from his mental health. He talks with Frank Rossi about the battle to get his life back together. Pat and Keith talk about it all, as well as the latest coaching changes and a listener featured question in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

The 44th D3football.com Around the Nation podcast of the calendar year is the one in which we get to talk about Stagg Bowl XLVI, the 24-16 win by Mary Hardin-Baylor, and discuss the postseason awards. In this pod we discuss, debate, and then announce the D3football.com Offensive Player of the Year, the D3football.com Defensive Player of the Year and the D3football.com Coach of the Year. Adam Turer, Greg Thomas and Frank Rossi join Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan for this podcast, and Adam brings in an interview with Stagg Bowl Most Outstanding Player T.J. Josey, who ended up at the same wings establishment as our crew after the game. Plus, who should be No. 2, or No. 3? And what did each of us take away from the 2018 season? The guys 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.

The crew is all in place for the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, and Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan are joined by Frank Rossi and Greg Thomas. (Adam Turer was in a big old jet airliner.) We'll get you up to date on the latest going on with each team: Who's healthy? Who's out? What will they do to replace them? Plus, we'll tell you why neither team has been able to practice in this beautiful Woodforest Bank Stadium. And we'll chat with Mary Hardin-Baylor receiver T.J. Josey and Mount Union linebacker Danny Robinson, plus break down each side of the ball for both teams. The guys talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

Same faces in a new place, as Mount Union and Mary Hardin-Baylor will head down to Shenandoah, Texas, this week. Keith was in Alliance and Pat was in Belton to cover the semifinals and give their take on their game, plus everything surrounding the two semifinal games. Plus, we brought in a guest to help us talk more X's and O's and break down each side of the ball for Mount Union and Mary Hardin-Baylor. And Pat and Keith also take a look at the seasons Johns Hopkins and UW-Whitewater had, and see where they now fit in the national picture after semifinal defeats. Pat and Keith talk about it all in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

Staggered starts! One game at noon, the other at 3:30! Replay! Video review! That's what the semifinals are all about. In both of them, we have teams which have met before. In the case of Mary Hardin-Baylor and UW-Whitewater, they've met five times, with the Warhawks winning them all, dadgummit! Keith's keys to the game, Pat's picks to click, and someone from Mount Union who wasn't prohibited from talking to us highlight Around the Nation Podcast 230. (It's a good conversation with Joe Mertens, a senior at UMU who does play-by-play on WRMU and has known these players for four years.) 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.

Whether pounding the rock, running a non-wildcat, throwing deep down the field or just being what we thought you were, there's a storyline for each game on Saturday. Jackson Erdmann finishes the game with a separated shoulder and Mary Hardin-Baylor finishes with a pair of interceptions and a three-point win. And, as T.J. Josey says, it's a game the Cru sorely needed. UW-Whitewater's rock-pounding and defense has looked comfortingly reminiscent of the Warhawks of old. Like 2011 old or so. Meanwhile, Mount Union put Josh Petruccelli behind center and Muhlenberg couldn't do anything about it. And Johns Hopkins looked fantastic on offense -- enough so that Keith McMillan was ready to say something about the Blue Jays' trip to Alliance. Pat and Keith talk about it all, first the high points, then all the points, in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

We've got one national semifi... no, sorry, four national quarterfinals, and we think three of them are shaping up to be pretty good, as RPI can certainly hold its own against Johns Hopkins, UW-Whitewater and Bethel should be a clash of similar teams and UMHB and St. John's will give each other what should be the best test either of them has faced this year. Of the eight head coaches on the sideline this upcoming Saturday, two of them have particularly challenging jobs ahead, preparing for those toughest tests, and since we've already talked to Pete Fredenburg this season on the podcast, we sit down with Gary Fasching, head coach of St. John's. He talks us through what a team has to do to prepare for not only a top-notch opponent, but a long trip, on Podcast 228. Pat, Keith, Adam Turer and Frank Rossi preview the four games, then Pat and Keith discuss them as well as we get you one complete hour of pregame coverage in your Game Day edition of the national quarterfinals on the 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.

Well, how about that, with RPI getting a big upset win, and Johns Hopkins getting a large win to send Frostburg to Division II on, and St. Norbert giving a valiant effort and Mount Union looking all Machine-like? No, we know -- many of you are not happy with the unbalanced way the bracket was laid out, and some of you are talking about reseeding the bracket. There are definitely positives and negatives to this -- the NAIA does it, and college baseball does it as well, so Pat and Keith talk a little bit about what that looks like, and how it could work, if Division III were to ever give it a shot in football. In addition, Pat and Keith each give their individual take on all eight second-round games. Who did they want to see do the same, but better? Who was playing at ludicrous speed? What does Keith have to say to those who don't watch Mount Union until the semifinals? Plus, what did Tyler Messinger have to deliver about his great rushing afternoon for Johns Hopkins? 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.

Sixteen teams play eight games over a course of four hours on Saturday, in the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. And we should be in line for some great games, now that we've gotten through the first round. Exactly how good? Pat ranked all eight games from worst to best, with one particular matchup getting particularly high marks. In addition, we talked with Rod Sandberg, coach of Whitworth, whose team hasn't been to the second round in a while, about the challenges the Pirates face not only with their St. John's opponent as well as traveling halfway across the country. We also chat with Johns Hopkins coach Jim Margraff about his team's success in bouncing back from an early-season loss and heading to Frostburg State this weekend. Pat, Keith, Adam Turer and Frank Rossi preview all eight games and get you ready for our noon kickoffs in our Game Day podcast for Week 13. 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.

Keith McMillan pleaded for a first round of the playoffs that didn't stink. And he got it, if nothing else, because his alma mater, Randolph-Macon, upset John Carroll. Now, your mileage may have varied. With a margin of victory of nearly 34 points on average, these were not great games. With a near quadruple monkey stomp and several other games that looked like the usual top seed vs. No. 8 seed contests, there weren't many worth watching for a neutral Division III fan. Unless, of course, you hooked into the Randolph-Macon win, or St. Norbert's upset of Trine, or Muhlenberg's dramatic finish at Delaware Valley. Hear highlights from Saturday, postgame commentary from teams advancing to the Round of 16, and more in the 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.

If the second round of the playoffs is your big turkey dinner with all the trimmings and every side you could want, then the first round is like that tray of vegetables and dip that you end up nibbling on while you wait. You can smell that turkey, the stuffings, the greens, the bread, but you have to wait. We all have to wait. And now, not only do we have to wait, but we're hungry. Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan get you all lined up for Saturday's first-round games, with the usual previews from Adam Turer and Frank Rossi. Plus, we hear one Division III quarterback remind us exactly why it's so important to be able to run the ball in the playoffs, and we'll talk with Mark Baltz, the Division III coordinator of officials. He tells us how officiating crews get selected and what type of evaluations they go through in the playoffs, not to mention how far they can travel. Plus, there's a well-known former NFL player who is now a Division III football head coach, and Andrew DiDonato, the head coach at Grove City, has some advice for Earlham and all those who are trying to pick a football program up off the mat. That and more in the 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.

That line up top is what the national committee chair told us when talking about new restrictions on travel for the NCAA playoffs, as the NCAA clawed back one of the first-round flights the committee had previously been given to play with. What else did Jim Catanzaro say? We asked about seeding Mount Union and John Carroll to meet up in the quarterfinals, about whether St. John's deserved a No. 1 seed, and about who were the last teams left on the board when the final at-large team was selected. You might be surprised to hear what the committee thought about Linfield's loss to an NAIA team, and what the committee chair's take was when the North Region rankings looked unlike the other three regions. Plus our intrepid podcast hosts, Pat Coleman and guest host Frank Rossi, go through what the committee got right and wrong, the best matchups, toughest roads, and still have time for game balls, hidden highlights (and lowlights) and the interesting stats from Week 11. That and more in the 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.

Often this time of year we do a projected Division III NCAA Tournament field, but this year we're so busy making podcasts that we didn't do one. Instead, Pat and Keith are doing both at the same time: talking through the process of selecting at-large teams right on this podcast. This is a projected playoff field if the season ended today. All six teams that we got to choose can affect their playoff resume on the field on Saturday, and for that matter, so can all of the teams with automatic bids. Even those who are already in the field could impact their seeding with a loss or by winning while others around them lose. And those are just the normal scenarios. We could see crazy scenarios, such as, say, last year when Carnegie Mellon committed a penalty and had a punt blocked to kill its potential upset of Case Western Reserve. What are the unlikely, but awesome scenarios that could occur? Greg Thomas threw a few out there and we discuss those as well. Plus Kevin Bullis tells us how his UW-Whitewater team is looking entering Week 11, Keith asks Pat what could go wrong with this projection and Pat asks Keith to figure out what the Mayors Cup is. That and more in the 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.

The number of teams in the tournament now is up to 13 teams which have clinched automatic bid to the 2018 Division III playoffs. But even though some parts of the Division III playoff picture got clearer, others got cloudier -- and that's even assuming you could see the picture on Saturday. It wouldn't be a stretch to say some of us were shut out of some of the big games. We went mailbag this week and let your Twitter questions guide us through the first half of the podcast, talking about which regions seemed most likely to get at-large bids, whether Brockport would get a No. 1 seed or two teams from the West Region might get the nod. Would Baldwin Wallace get an at-large bid with a loss on Saturday? With a win? Plus game balls, the week's interesting stats and more 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.

This is where we get to crunch time. We could hand out as many as 15 of the 23 remaining automatic bids to the NCAA Division III playoffs on Saturday, and so you can follow along, we go through each of the remaining conferences, rather exhaustively, to tell you who can clinch on Saturday, what they need to do, and who might be waiting until Week 11. All 122 games on Saturday will take place in an 11-hour period, meaning results are going to be coming in fast and furious. Before the games start, set aside some time to get Pat and Keith's take on what will happen in Week 10. Plus, Adam Turer joins in to talk about his story about Wabash in Thursday's ATN column and what he takes away from the experience. And our guest is Hanover coach Matt Theobald, who is hoping his team can pull off two big wins and garner itself a share of the HCAC title. 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.

The first set of regional rankings came out on Wednesday, and our team went through all four regions and looked to see what made sense and what was out of place. You see, the first regional rankings don't take into account results against regionally ranked opponents, because that relies on a previous regional ranking and ... there isn't a previous ranking yet, just the current one. Does that mean the next ranking will look a lot different? Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas, our chief bracketology expert, go through each region and tackle the big questions and where things might change. He's our guest host for this special edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. In addition, the placement of Hardin-Simmons and Centre brought out a lot of questions, as did the placement of Cortland and Salisbury. We explore those and others in this 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.

Yep, three teams have clinched their automatic bids to the NCAA Division III football playoffs, with 23 more to go, plus five true at-large bids. And it's those at-large bids which will receive a ton of attention ... first off, because they're the most difficult decisions the committee will make, and secondly, because those teams are going to be candidates to get a first-round home game, and perhaps win a game or two. Who played their way into consideration? Who played their way out? Which teams are being set up for multiple home games in the tournament, should they win out? Plus, how did Pat and Keith deal with this weekend's losses on their Top 25 ballots? Who had amazing games that were just a bit under the radar? Which conference has games that just aren't competitive at all? And everyone's favorite backup quarterback wasn't a backup this week. Plus game balls, the week's interesting stats and more 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.

Our Friday podcast is our game day special, the one you listen to when you know to know everything about the upcoming week's games. Pat and guest co-host Frank Rossi of In the Huddle go through a half-dozen big games, then a half-dozen one-liners, and Frank makes six picks at the end to see if he can take them to the house. Basically, this entire podcast consists of putting Frank on the spot, as he was called to fill in for Keith McMillan. We waited for the full class period before leaving, though, since Keith must have a Ph.D. in Division III football. Our guest this week is Western New England coach Jason Lebeau, who talks about how you find Division III schools with football everywhere in New England, what it's like taking over at your alma mater as a first-year head coach (sound familiar?) and talks about his players to watch so far this season. Plus, Pat clucks like a chicken and talks like a computer, and Frank autocorrects Pat on his six incorrect picks from last week's batch of 25. That and more 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.

Are you new to Division III football? Is your team in playoff contention for the first time in a while? Are you a coach of a team which hopes to be in the playoffs someday? Or do you feel like you're an expert when it comes to the Division III football postseason? If you fit any of these categories, this episode of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast is a must-listen. That's because we have brought in Division III football national committee chair (and Lake Forest head coach) Jim Catanzaro to talk about how the playoff process works, how teams are paired up, and everything you need to know about the playoffs. If you're a head coach, he'll tell you what the members of the committee want to see from a playoff contender's non-conference schedule when considering them for an at-large bid to the playoffs. Do you think that the current selection criteria aren't enough for a committee to make a decision on so few non-conference games? He'll let you know what other factors might get used, and how much "human element" is involved. There's no excuse for not understanding how the playoffs work -- this is your playoff introductory class. And Keith and Jim talk about old-school hip-hop, too. That and more 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.

Well, there were some interesting losses and some unexpectedly narrow wins on Saturday. While that didn't change the playoff picture as much as it changed the Top 25, there were still some key changes. There's one team out there specifically that has to feel much better about its playoff chances after this week, and Pat and Keith talk about that and more in the latest D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast. So, with Wesley dropping out of the picture, who's next up? There are plenty of possibilities, plus Frostburg State still has Salisbury to play, and Frostburg didn't exactly look like world-beaters on Saturday. You can hear Bobcats coach DeLane Fitzgerald's reaction on this edition of the pod, then find out where they ended up on Pat and Keith's Top 25 ballots. Plus, what team do Pat and Keith make up the vast majority of the votes for? All those nuggets are in this pod, plus game balls, the off-the-beaten-path highlights and everything you've come to expect from our Monday wrapup podcast. That and more 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.

Our Friday podcast is our game day special, the one you listen to when you know to know everything about the upcoming week's games. Pat and Keith go through a half-dozen big games, then a half-dozen one-liners, and Keith makes six picks at the end to see if he can take them to the house. But on one Division III football campus, there was a lot more going on this week than just preparing for a football game. Our guest is Averett coach Cleive Adams, whose team and campus had about six inches of rain dumped on it in very short order this week when the remnants of Hurricane Michael blew through. He tells us about how his team stayed safe and tried to put that aside to prepare to face the USA South's defending champion, Huntingdon. Plus, Pat makes 25 picks, from west to east, and Keith picks an animal to punch above its weight class. That and more 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.

Every Sunday night we take questions from listeners and followers on Twitter with the intent of answering the best one on the Monday podcast. When listeners turn around and give us 10 additional good questions, well, we need to do another entire podcast! Pat and Keith tackle the following: What's the most interesting conference race? Does the CCIW race make the conference seem stronger or weaker? How far can the Johnnies go if they make the postseason? Will UMHB secure more votes for No. 1? Who is most likely to get upset later in the season? How much better is Brockport this year than last year? What part will Marietta's momentum play this week vs. John Carroll? Will Delaware Valley win the MAC? Can a team from the East Region compete on the national stage? How do you leave Randolph-Macon out of the Top 25? And do not go away when that's done. We talked with Averett coach Cleive Adams about what his team and his university is struggling with in the aftermath of Hurricane Michael. You can hear a preview on this podcast, with the full interview to come on Friday.

The Johnnie-Tommie game definitely fits the bill of someone taking down the big dog, and so does WashU's win vs. Wheaton. Both get a good amount of discussion, especially with the state of the CCIW standings and the D3football.com Top 25. Why isn't WashU ranked? You'll hear some of that in this podcast. Plus, a reader question prompts a discussion of what separates the power teams in Division III from everyone else. Is it geography? Is it coaching? What were the most surprising results in Week 7? When does a chain of results become useless for trying to make out your Top 25 ballot? And when will Earlham win a game? That and more 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.

This weekend's key games include one game for first place, and a bunch of games that could help determine who remains in the playoff hunt. And now, heading into Week 7, there's just enough reason to begin to really talk about the playoffs. If you're new to playoff consideration, we'll give you a quick rundown of how the NCAA calculates and tabulates strength of schedule and where you can find the latest numbers. This weekend we have the Tommie-Johnnie game, plus a key game in the WIAC and tough tests for playoff contenders in the Empire 8, OAC, MAC and for the one Centennial team which plays this week. Our guest on this week's podcast is Redlands coach Mike Maynard, plus Pat and Keith and company preview the big games in Week 7. 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.

A weekend of big games begged the question for D3football.com Top 25 voters as to which team should be No. 1. While there are 19 voters who picked Team Alliance Purple as No. 1, there are now six in Team Belton Purple's camp. Are you of the mind that "the champ is the champ until they lose," or are you more likely to favor whoever is playing better at the time? Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan lay out the arguments for Mount Union and for Mary Hardin-Baylor in this week's podcast. (And just maybe someone might consider Team Purple St. Paul if the results work out.) On Sunday, Pat Coleman and Adam Turer each got a chance to weigh in on the legacy of John Gagliardi, and Keith McMillan does as well. Plus, we give you the key takeaways from the top 10 shootout and the top 10 shutouts, and Pat talks to the team that snapped a 33-game losing streak. That, along with game balls and much more 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.

There are six huge games between ranked teams (or ranked teams and unbeaten teams) this week, and this is a week Pat will be on the road, as he is heading out to Los Angeles to see a pair of games involving evenly matched teams at each end of the SCIAC. Big games abound: No. 7 Hardin-Simmons at No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor; No. 5 Frostburg State at No. 6 Wesley; No. 10 UW-Oshkosh at No. 8 UW-Whitewater; No. 9 St. John’s at Bethel; No. 20 RPI at No. 23 Ithaca; and No. 19 Case Western Reserve at No. 12 Washington & Jefferson. We'll preview each of those. Plus, our guest this Friday is Marietta coach Andy Waddle. His team is one of the surprising 4-0 teams through five weeks, and he talks about what goes into the decision to go for a two-point conversion at the end of the game, even when it bucks the conventional wisdom. He talks about where his current running back, Tanner Clark, stacks up with some of his program greats, and we put him on the spot about the purple power that Marietta faces at the end of each season. Pat and Keith also give us a quick overview of a half-dozen more games, and then they put each other on the spot. And this week, nobody has to rhyme their answers.