Playoffs! NCAA Divsion III

[SWC75]

Here is the field for the NCAA Division III playoffs, with the team name, the state they are in, (if it’s not already part of the name), the won-loss record, the points for and against, who they lost to, their ranking, their all time post season record, (including NAIA and other NCAA divisions and small college bowl games, and championships won.

WASHINGTON & LEE of Virginia (8-2, 368-278). Lost to Franklin & Marshall 28-35 on 9/1 and Bridgewater St. 14-31 on 10/20. Unranked. All-Time: 0-3. No titles.
At
HOBART of New York (10-0, 389-148). No Losses. Rank: #7 All-Time 4-8. No titles.
　
WITTENBERG of Ohio (9-1, 390-152) Lost to Wabash 24-27 on 10/6. Rank: #24. All-Time: 20-12. Titles: Poll 1964, NCAA Division III 1973, 1975.
At
HEIDELBERG of Ohio (9-1, 374-134). Lost to Mount Union 14-33 on 10/27. Rank: #12 All-Time 1-0, (bowl game). No Titles
　
FRANKLIN of Indiana (8-2, 417-186). Lost to Mount Union 7-45 on 9/1 and Butler 13-42 on 9/8, (and then won 8 in a row). Rank: #16 All-time: 3-5. No Titles.
At
ADRIAN of Michigan (9-1, 235-112), Lost to Carthage 17-20 on 9/1, (and then won 9 in a row). Unranked. All-Time 0-2. No titles.
　
FRAMINGHAM STATE of Massachusetts (10-1, 379-133), Lost to Endicott 7-34 on 9/1, (and then won 10 in a row). Unranked. All-Time: 0-0. No titles.
At
CORTLAND STATE of New York (8-1, 337-180), Lost to Buffalo State 31-49 on 9/1, (and then won 8 in a row). Rank: #18. All-time 4-7. No titles.
　
MOUNT IDA of Massachusetts, (8-2, 355-237). Lost to Springfield 42-49, 9/15 and Gallaudet 22-29 on 11/3. Unranked. No titles.
At
WESLEY of Delaware, (8-1, 259-133). Lost to Mary Hardin-Baylor 32-35 on 9/15. Rank: #6. All-Time: 18-8. No titles.
　
BRIDGEWATER ST. of Massachusetts, (9-1, 284-151). Lost to Framingham State 0-16 on 9/21. Unranked. All-time: 0-2. No titles.
At
WIDENER of Pennsylvania, (9-0, 461-155). No losses. Rank: #9. All-Time 15-10. Titles: NCAA DIII 1977, 1981.
　
ROWAN of New Jersey, (7-2, 259-101). Lost to Merrimack College 7-20 on 9/8 and Cortland State 21-24 on 10/20. Rank: #25. All-Time: 30-13. No titles.
At
SALISBURY of Maryland (8-2, 350-137) Lost to Wesley 7-17 on 9/8 and Ithaca 14-21 on 10/27. Rank: #11 All-Time: 7-8. No titles.
　
WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON of Pennsylvania (8-2, 256-197). Lost to St. John Fisher 24-28 on 9/8 and Thomas More 18-54 on 10/6. Unranked. All-Time 21-21-1. No titles.
At
JOHNS HOPKINS of Maryland (9-1, 337-142). Lost to Franklin & Marshall 12-14 on 11/3. Rank: #19 All-time: 2-3. No titles.
　
CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT of Virginia (6-4, 241-240). Lost to Salisbury 16-40 on 9/1, Hampden-Sydney 20-42 on 9/8, Lagrange 6-20 on 10/13 and Methodist 29-30 on 11/10. Unranked, (they won their conference’s automatic bid). All-Time: 2-8. No titles.
At
MOUNT UNION of Ohio (10-0, 517-45- that’s right, 45!) No losses. They had a streak of 6 consecutive shut-outs from 9/15-10/20. Rank: #1 All-Time 73-13. Titles: NCAA Division III: 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 (10)
　
LOUISIANA COLLEGE (8-2, 350-233), Lost to Wesley 22-25 on 9/22 and Mary Hardin-Baylor 3-30 on 10/13. Rank: #23 All-Time 3-2. No titles.
At
MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR of Texas (10-0, 496-180). No losses. Rank: #2 All-Time: 18-10. No titles.
　
ST. NORBERT of Wisconsin (8-2, 269-195). Lost to John Carroll, (in Dublin, Ireland) 3-40 on 8/31 and Monmouth 9-31 on 9/29. Unranked. All-Time 1-8. No titles.
At
ST. THOMAS of Minnesota (10-0, 362-143). No losses. Rank: #4 All-Time: 8-5-1. No titles.
　
ELMHURST of Illinois (9-1, 328-211). Lost to North Central 10-44 on 9/29. Rank: #17. All-Time: 0-0. No titles.
At
COE of Iowa (10-0, 399-110). No losses. Rank: #10 All-Time 2-7. No titles.
　
BETHEL of Minnesota (8-2, 306-180). Lost to St. Thomas 0-37 on 10/13 and St. Olaf 17-24 on 11/3. Rank: #21 All-time: 6-6. No titles.
At
CONCORDIA-CHICAGO (10-0, 404-239). No losses. Unranked, (despite the undefeated record). No titles.
　
ST. SCHOLASTICA of Minnesota (8-2, 283-125). Lost to Whitworth 13-28 on 9/1 and Northwestern of Chicago 13-14. Unranked. All-Time: 0-1. No titles.
At
WISCONSIN-OSHKOSH (10-0, 388-128). No losses. Rank: #5. All-Time: 0-0. No titles.
　
PACIFIC LUTHERAN of Washington (7-2, 302-195). Lost to California Lutheran 23-37 on 9/8 and Linfield 24-31 on 9/29. Rank: #20. All-Time: 1-0. All-Time 32-15. Titles: NAIA DII 1980, 1987, 1993, NCAA DIII 1999 (4)
At
LINFIELD of Oregon (9-0, 403-146). No losses. Rank: #3 All-Time: 30-19 Titles: NAIA DII 1982, 1984, 1986, NCAA DIII 2004 (4)
　
NORTH CENTRAL of Illinois (8-2, 392-147). Lost to Wisconsin-Lacrosse 17-21 on 9/1 and Wheaton 21-35 on 11/3. Rank: #13 All-Time 6-7. No titles.
At
CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN (8-1, 410-218). Lost to Linfield 30-33 on 9/15. Rank: #8 All-Time 4-7 Titles: NAIA DII 1971

Comment: One have of the Mount Union-Whitewater stranglehold on this title has needed. They’ve met for the last seven national championships and at leas tone spot in the final will be earned by someone else, for which I’m grateful. One of the reason I’ve always enjoyed watching the small college championships is to see schools that just had been names in the Sunday paper come alive for me. We used to get different schools each year, much of the time, anyway. Mount Union had dominated the division from 1993-2004, winning seven titles in that time and having winning streaks of 54 and 55 fames, the two longest in NCAA history. Wisconsin-Whitewater patterned their program after that of Larry Kehres, the Mount Union coach, who has an absurd career record of 327-24-3, (he’s a ringer for Tom Osborne and Tom can only wish he won this much), even to the pint of having similar school colors and uniforms. It looked like Mount Union was playing itself. Whitewater finally got to the finals in 2005 and have made it every year through last year. They lost three of the first four confrontations with Mount Union but came back to even dominate the Purple Raiders by winning the last thee titles and 45 straight games. All of that was awesome but it reached the point of being boring. It ended for Whitewater this year with three losses, (Buffalo State did the honors, breaking their winning streak with a 7-6 win at Whitewater), and no invitation to the tournament.

But Mount Union is very much in the tournament with one of their greatest and most dominant teams, which is saying something. They gave up a score in their first game to Franklin, (who is in this tournament), winning 45-7. They then shut out their next six opponents by a total of 342-0. The closest of those games was the last one, which they won 51-0. Heidelberg, (also in the tournament) managed two scores on them in a 33-14 game, the closest anyone got all year. They then won their final two games by 38-7 and 59-17. It would be a huge upset if they didn’t win this but they’ve been upset in the playoffs before after a dominant regular season.

The Pac Lutheran-Linfield match-up is a battle of old rivals, (who already had a close game this year), with almost identical resumes. Wittenberg was the closest thing to Mount Union before Mount Union. They were the winningest school in college football in both the 1960’s and 1970’s and won two of the first three DIII titles. But that was a long time ago. Widener also won a couple of titles many years ago and Cal Lutheran won an NAIA DII titles 40 year as ago. Wisconsin-Oshkosh has no history in their tournament but they won the conference Whitewater is in, so they deserve some respect.

Hopefully we get somebody who can, at least, compete with Mount Union. I also hope we don’t just go back to Mount Union-Whitewater next year.

 

[SWC75]

FIRST ROUND

Washington & Lee came in as the most prolific rushing team in Division III with 364 yards per game but Hobart had what it took up front to limit them to 188 yards while running for 288 of their own and go on to win 38-20. Steven Webb ran for 99 yards and three scores. Bobby Dougherty ran for 81 more and a score and quarterback Nick Strang passed for 986 yards and scored a TD of his own.

In the battle of the Bergs, Heidelberg scored on four of it’s first five possessions to take a 28-6 first half lead over Wittenberg. But the Tigers, who won two of the first three DIII titles back in the 70’s, (the closest thing to Mount Union in their time), stormed back to win 52-38. Reed Florence was 31 for 49 for 346 yard and 5 scores. The “Student Princes”, (I kid you not), helped out by fumbling two kick-offs. This is what happens when royalty takes on the working class.

Franklin used a 28 point second period to eliminate Adrian 42-10. The Grizzlies mauled the Bulldogs, 511 yards to 225. Quarterback Jonny West threw for 303 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Cortland State dodged a bullet when a Framingham extra point bounced off the left upright with 3:38 left. The Red Dragons got their arms around a squib kick and got a couple of first downs, one on 4th and 1 to run out the clock. Melike Van Alstyne ran for 227 yard for Framingham but Justin Autera got 1221 for Cortland and Kordel McInnis caught a couple of TD passes.
Wesley sent Mount Ida back to the rocking chair, 73-14. Justin Sottilare three 6 touchdown passes and the Wolverines had a season high 247 rushing yards.

Widener, another school with a couple of titles back in the old days, broke a 7-7 halftime tie with a 37 point second half to bury Bridgewater State, 44-14. The “Pride” had a 463-195 edge in total offense, including 317 passing yards from quarterback Chris Haupt.

Joe Benedetti of Salisbury rushed for 125 and two scores to lead the Seagulls to a 17-9 win over Rowan. The Professors had to go with their back-up quarterback due to a neck injury to Louie Bianchini. His replacement Paul Hamersma was 24 for 46 but for only 155 yards, 1TD and two interceptions.

Johns Hopkins is more noted for lacrosse but they are making noise in football these days. Washington & Jefferson certainly ahs a ringing in their ears after a 10-42 loss. Like Rowan, the presidents lost their quarterback early in the game but the Blue Jays put this away early anyway. On their first possession they were stopped on downs in W&J territory. They then scored the next three times they got the ball and led 28-3 at the half. Jonathan Rigaud rushed for 155 yards and score and Robbie Matey passed for 282 yards and 5 scores.

Christopher Newport had no chance at all against Mount Union. It was 49-7 at halftime and 72-14 at the end. The Purple Raiders had 326 yards rushing and 315 passing. The Captains had 101 total yards. Kevin Burke passed for 264 yards and 3 touchdowns. Chris Denton returned a punt 80 yards for a score and five different players had rushing touchdowns for the winners.

Quarterback LiDarral Bailey ran for 124 yards and two scores and passed for 267 and three more scores as Mary Hardin-Baylor swamped Louisiana College for the second time this year, 59-20. In their first meeting, “The Cru” didn’t score until the 30th minute of their first b=meeting but then exploded for 30 points after that in a 30-3 win. Here they blew out to a 42-6 halftime lead and coasted. They gave up 432 yards, mostly after the contest was decided but had an awesome 674 yards of their own.

In a Holy War, Saint Thomas proved more worthy than Saint Norbert, 48-17. Brenton Braddock, (how’d you like to try to tackle a guy with a name like that?) ran for 166 yards on 24 carries and 4 touchdowns, one on an 82 yard burst. The “Tommies” broke a scoreless tie with a 27-0 second quarter that ended any suspense.

Elmhurst was lignin up for a tying field goal against Coe in a 21-24 game when “Kohawks” (you gotta love these nicknames) coach Steve Staker called a time-out. During the time-out Elmhurst Coach Tim Lester decided to go for it. Quarterback threw a 7 yard pass to Corey Thonn for what turned out to be the winning score in a 27-24 thriller. The yards were virtually even, 429-415. Scottie Williams rushed for 196 yards and a score for the winning Blue Jays while Brendan Leiran had 181 yards and a score for the Kohawks.

In another thriller, Bethel of Minnesota defeated Concordia of Chicago 24-23 by batting down a two point conversion with 18 seconds left. Bethel had almost put it away with 7 minutes to go but quarterback Erik Peterson’s attempt to break the plane of the end zone with the ball was knocked out of his hands. Peterson completed 16 of 23 passes for 161 yards and Marshall Klitzke rushed for 134 yards for the winners.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh ran over Saint Scholastica 55-10, rushing for 413 yards. Cole Myhra ran for 198 yards and Nate Wara added 128 more. Scholastica had been giving up only 88 yards a game on the ground but were outclassed by the Titans. The Saints will now return to the peace and quiet of their devotional studies.

Pacific Lutheran and Linfield are virtual twins, both tiny, (about 5000 students between them), schools from the Pacific Northwest who won three NAIA titles each and then switched over to the NCAA and won a title each there. They played each other on 9/29 and Linfield won 31-24. They did it again last week, only it was even closer at 27-24. The “lutes” out-gained the Wildcats but suffered 5 turnovers and 6 sacks, which allowed Linfield to hold them off enough to win. Chad Coburn rushed for two scores for the winners and Mickey Inns threw for 210 yards. Kyle Warner caught 12 passes for 205 yards but couldn’t catch up to a 4th down pass with 33 seconds left.

It was not a good week for the Lutherans as California Lutheran went down hard to North Central, 21-41, giving up 528 yards total offense. The visiting Cardinals took control immediately with a 24-0 first quarter. Lutheran never got within 17 after that. Running back Nick Kuric gained a career high 250 yards on 20 carries, including a 79 yarder on the second play from scrimmage. Their defense forced four turnovers, got 4 sacks and held the Kingsmen to 324 total yards.

 

[SWC75]

2nd round pairings:

HOBART of New York (11-0, 427-168). No Losses. Rank: #7 All-Time 5-8. No titles.
Vs.
WITTENBERG of Ohio (10-1, 442-190) Lost to Wabash 24-27 on 10/6. Rank: #24. All-Time: 20-12. Titles: Poll 1964, NCAA Division III 1973, 1975.
The Tigers have the greater history but it’s ancient history to the players on these teams. This should be a close one.

FRANKLIN of Indiana (8-2, 459-196). Lost to Mount Union 7-45 on 9/1 and Butler 13-42 on 9/8, (and then won 8 in a row). Rank: #16 All-time: 4-5. No Titles.
Vs.
MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR of Texas (11-0, 555-200). No losses. Rank: #2 All-Time: 19-10. No titles.
The “Cru” has had more success in the national playoffs and will certainly be favored but Franklin overcame those two early blow-outs to go 9-0 (439-109) since. They will be a formidable opponent.
　
CORTLAND STATE of New York (9-1, 357-199), Lost to Buffalo State 31-49 on 9/1, (and then won 8 in a row). Rank: #18. All-time 5-7. No titles.
Vs.
WESLEY of Delaware, (9-1, 332-147). Lost to Mary Hardin-Baylor 32-35 on 9/15. Rank: #6. All-Time: 19-8. No titles.
Wesley has had a lot of success in the playoffs in recent years and have won their last two games by 120-14. They will be a tough opponent for the Red Dragons.

WIDENER of Pennsylvania, (10-0, 505-169). No losses. Rank: #9. All-Time 16-10. Titles: NCAA DIII 1977, 1981.
Vs.
SALISBURY of Maryland (9-2, 367-136) Lost to Wesley 7-17 on 10/8 and Ithaca 14-21 on 10/27. Rank: #11 All-Time: 7-8. No titles.
Salisbury beat Rowan in part due to an injury to their quarterback. A fully healthy Widener should be a more formidable opponent.

JOHNS HOPKINS of Maryland (10-1, 379-152). Lost to Franklin & Marshall 12-14 on 11/3. Rank: #19 All-time: 3-3. No titles.
Vs.
MOUNT UNION of Ohio (11-0, 589-59- that’s right, 59!) No losses. They had a streak of 6 consecutive shut-outs from 9/15-10/20. Rank: #1 All-Time 74-13. Titles: NCAA Division III: 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 (10).
Nobody in this division is going to do anything with Mount Union. Book title #11.

ST. THOMAS of Minnesota (11-0, 410-160). No losses. Rank: #4 All-Time: 9-5-1. No titles.
Vs.
ELMHURST of Illinois (10-1, 355-235). Lost to North Central 10-44 on 9/29. Rank: #17. All-Time: 1-0. No titles.
The Blue Jays are a newbie to the post season and were not as strong a team in the regular season so pray to the Saint.

BETHEL of Minnesota (9-2, 330-203). Lost to St. Thomas 0-37 on 10/13 and St. Olaf 17-24 on 11/3. Rank: #21 All-time: 7-6. No titles.
Vs.
WISCONSIN-OSHKOSH (11-0, 443-138). No losses. Rank: #5. All-Time: 1-0. No titles.
Oshkosh is another newbie but they are from the conference that produced Whitewater and thus command respect.

LINFIELD of Oregon (10-0, 430-170). No losses. Rank: #3 All-Time: 31-19 Titles: NAIA DII 1982, 1984, 1986, NCAA DIII 2004 (4)
Vs.
NORTH CENTRAL of Illinois (9-2, 433-168). Lost to Wisconsin-Lacrosse 17-21 on 9/1 and Wheaton 21-35 on 11/3. Rank: #13 All-Time 7-7. No titles.
Linfield has the better predigree and the better team. North Central was impressive vs. Cal Lutheran. They’ve won their last five playoff openers- and lost in the next round each time.

 

[RoysRunts]

http://www.d3football.com/landing/index

 

[SUFaninNJ]

ABC. Anybody But Cortland

 

[SWC75]

http://www.d3football.com/landing/index

Just trying to generate some interest. My posts have more historical detail and by combining game summaries in a single post, I feel I'm telling more of a story. I've been aware of D3.com for years but I needed to do something more than just provie a link.

 

[cto]

"Student Princes" is one of the best nicknames in the NCAA. Shows a lot of creativity on Heidelberg's part. All they need is Mario Lanza..

I mean.. isn't this a great college anthem...

 

[texascpa]

Heidelberg is located in my hometown of Tiffin. A city of 15K has a DIII school in Heidelberg and a DII school in Tiffin University (which I graduated from).

BTW, just give this to Mount Union. Again.

 

[SWC75]

"Student Princes" is one of the best nicknames in the NCAA. Shows a lot of creativity on Heidelberg's part. All they need is Mario Lanza..

I mean.. isn't this a great college anthem...

There's also the Pride the Cru, the Tommies, the Kohawks and, my favortie: The Lutes.

 

[JDubbin]

I actually work with a sports ministry, and one of the campuses I am involved with is Wittenberg. I did a chapel with the football team a couple of weeks ago. Nice to see them pull out a comeback, their football program is pretty strong every year. However, it's not Wisconsin Whitewater/Mt. Union strong... who's is?

 

[MaxwellCuse]

One of my wife's former students is a captain on the Hobart team so I have a rooting interest there. I'm also interested to see that my daughter's school, Franklin & Marshall, beat two of the teams that made the first round: Johns Hopkins and Washington and Lee. Not surprisingly, they lost their first round games. Another team that lost in the first round, Washington & Jefferson, had a great season after having to overcome the murder of their starting running back in a robbery gone bad several weeks into the season.

JDub, you're right about WW and Mt. Union. Those guys are really DII schools masquerading as DIII's.