Right around this time of the year, the Mount Union Purple Raiders are gearing up to make their yearly trip to Salem, Virginia to play in the D3 football national championship. Standing in their way this time is four weeks of opponents that neither you, nor they, have ever heard of.
This year’s division III playoffs are particularly interesting to the NBSR staff because we have all worked in and around d3 football over the last couple of years. You see, we are the voice of the Ohio Northern Fighting Polar Bears football team, and through that, we have seen some of the top teams in action in the OAC.
Here are the brackets of our three expert pickers, followed with some things you need to know before games kickoff on Saturday:
Bryce’s Bracket- National Champion: Mount Union
Brett’s Bracket- National Champion: John Carroll
Dan’s Bracket- National Champion: Mount Union
Chances are one of gets every single pick right. We hope to keep you updated on our progress through each round of games in the tournament. If you would like to get in on the d3 football playoff pick ‘em challenge, go to www.D3Football.com and look for the bracket challenge link.
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Here are some things to keep an eye out for over the course of the playoffs:
Gallaudet University is a small school for the hearing-impaired located in Washington D.C., and 2013 is the first time they have ever won their conference, the ECFC, and qualified for the playoffs. ESPN did a nice story on them a few days ago that I hope you all saw. That being said, Hobart will give their triple-option, offense and the country’s leader in time of possession, a tough test. Go Bison.
When Mount Union & John Carroll played last weekend to decide the OAC crown, the Purple Raiders got the best of the Streaks at home. Next time around, as Brett picked, it will be a different story, this time for the national championship. Led by QB Mark Myers, possibly the best in all of D III, the Blue Streaks had only give up 4 TDs all year prior to that UMU defeat. If Myers takes care of the ball, something he didn’t do in the first matchup, JCU could find themselves in the thick of things.
The 1-seeds should all take care of business in the first round games, but look for Mount Union, Mary Hardin-Baylor, UW-Whitewater, and Bethel to face some tougher challenges as they move along.
Dan likes North-Central to come out of the Bethel bracket because of their up-tempo spread offense, and their ability to put points on the scoreboard (44.3 PPG).
Bryce has an all-WIAC/OAC final four with Whitewater & Platteville out of Wisconsin, and John Carroll & Mount Union out of Ohio.
Brett likes Linfield to pull a bit of an upset, even though they have been ranked higher all year, against Whitewater in that region.
The Pacific-Lutheran vs. Linfield game may be the best matchup of the first round. It is a rematch of a game played earlier this year, one that Linfield won 29-0 thanks to 22 points in the 4th quarter. Look for the Lutes, who got a terrible seed & matchup, to come out and give them a better game this time around.
Look for another good matchup in Framingham State vs. Ithaca in the first round of games. The Rams (FSU) shut down Octavias McKoy (ran for 455 yards in a game earlier this year), and can do the same to the Bombers rushing attack.
North Bound Sports Report 