Quote from: Gregory Sager on February 10, 2026, 12:18:37 PM

Quote from: CCIWFan69 on February 10, 2026, 08:54:54 AM

Quote from: hazzben on February 10, 2026, 07:54:31 AMBethel @ NCC
Mount @ Wheaton

Sept 5 is serving up some really good football in the Chicago suburbs. My son's varsity game is on Thursday that week. Might have to see about making a trip down and doing a few campus visits on Friday and Saturday!

Love that we are seeing great noncon games like this. Tip of the cap to Wheaton last year showing 2 top NPI losses were not something that kept a team from the field, or from making a run.

Hopefully, one day game and one night game but doubtful if it requires the added cost of a hotel.  Would be quite the doubleheader though!

Sorry, but unless one of the DuPage County football powers changes its schedule you're out of luck. NCC is showing a noon start vs. Bethel at Benedetti-Wehrli on Sept. 5, while the Wheaton website has the Orange and Blue kicking off against Mount Union at McCully that day at 1 pm.

Yeah, the road mileage for the visitors almost certainly precludes an evening kickoff.  Unfortunate- that would be an incredible D3FB double feature. 

Quote from: emma17 on January 07, 2026, 05:51:36 PMAnyone catch the FCS championship game? IL State vs. Montana State. What a game. I won't spoil the outcome in case you recorded. ISU had one heck of a run in the playoffs (4 loss team) and MT St has some real playmakers.

Two comments regarding the game:
1. How about the Stagg in Nashville/Vanderbilt? The FCS championship was held there. It's not any farther to travel for midwest teams.
2. The FCS championship game further cements my position on kicking and American football- they don't belong together. If kicking must be a part of the game- I believe the kicker (all kickers) must be either a starter on offense or defense and not a specialist.

In addition to eliminating clean/dry/non-bruised players from playing a critical role in a game of physicality, it would also greatly impact play calling to the betterment of the game imo.

I'm all for the Stagg Bowl going to any city/venue that is committed to providing a great experience for the student-athletes.  By accounts I've read, Nashville/Vandy did great by the FCS game. It seems people didn't exactly leave there pining for a return to Frisco. 

The next two Stagg Bowls are in Salem and back to Canton. After that, we don't know!  Here's hoping that there have been some good bids in this cycle. 

Quote from: D3fanboy on January 05, 2026, 12:19:14 PMI dont think Mount needs to run 80+ plays a game, but I really hope Jeff with a G was watching last night.  UWRF used  an athletic QB's legs and arm to get the ball to their playmakers in space and the greatest defense that D3FB has ever seen was visibly frustrated and could not stop it. 

Mount has ran the "top gun" type offense in the past when Burke was in Alliance.  They used to run it pretty damn fast, it was the "Oregon" offense back then.  I believe Dartt was on the offensive staff back then as well. Only a blind man would not have seen how much better the 2025 Raiders offense was when they played with pace instead of running the play clock down to 5 or less seconds

OC job is open now.  I trust you're applying as you've got all the answers, yes?

I would absolutely love to see the fish stringer come back out. 

Quote from: Pat Coleman on January 05, 2026, 01:48:08 PM

Quote from: emma17 on January 05, 2026, 01:52:54 AMBig shoutout to Pat and Keith on the broadcast. I especially appreciated their understanding of who UWRF and Coach Walker are. Traditional football says kick the field goals, but that's not who the Falcons are and Pat and Keith made that clear. Easy for fans unfamiliar with Coach Walker especially if they didn't listen to the pre game interviews. He made it clear what UWRF would do. He said he doesn't care what others say, including his father. True to his word.

I appreciate that and thank you for listening!

One of the more shocking moments in the game was the FG in the 1st quarter.  I really didn't think they would ever kick unless it was an end of half/end of game situation.

Quote from: NCC2010 on December 16, 2025, 11:28:36 AM

Quote from: CarollFan on December 16, 2025, 08:41:29 AMLet's not forget the OL. I seem to recall some questions early in the season. They seem to be performing well.

Without a doubt, the biggest difference between the start of the season and now is the performance of the offensive line. They have gotten better and more cohesive as the season has progressed, which should be expected since they had four new starters to incorporate.

I still remember NCC not scoring on four straight tries from inside the 2-yard line against Carthage in their second game of the season.

Kudos to OC/offensive line coach Eric Stuedemann—he consistently develops top-tier offensive linemen.

We'll have a little something for NCC OL fans on the site tomorrow!

Quote from: art76 on December 15, 2025, 09:29:29 AMCongrats on Podcast #400! I couldn't tell because of editing, but it was made to sound like Greg didn't catch the line from Mary Poppins about one of your favorite things - but it made me chuckle.

Looking forward to many more...

Ha! I totally missed it. 

Quote from: CarollFan on December 12, 2025, 09:43:46 AMPredictions

https://www.d3football.com/notables/2025/12/quick-hits-playoffs-week15

Some people predicting Bethel to score 31 on NCC?

Bethel is really, really good offensively.  North Central is phenomenal on defense, as we know, but this one could absolutely turn into a track meet. 

Quote from: USee on December 06, 2025, 04:43:08 PMWheaton 49
DePauw 24

Wheaton 483 total yards. 190 rushing and 293 passing
Matt Crider 22 carries 120 yds
Mark Forcucci 16-27 293 yds 4 TD's
Peter Johanik 2.5 Sacks (including a strip sack that resulted in scoop and score)

190 on a team that had allowed 143 total in 11 games this year. Bravo.  Outstanding effort everywhere, but especially that side of the ball today for the Thunder. 

This is why I do not coach. 

Not too bad for a group of guys that were running away from the challenge.   

Quote from: bluestreak66 on December 04, 2025, 11:20:43 AM

Quote from: Crawford on December 03, 2025, 10:42:03 PMThe YouTube channel: The D3 Zone now has the JSU and Depauw playoff highlight uploaded.  Both schools look impressive.

I really can't wait for next season when Wash U joins. Between John Carroll, Wabash, DePauw, and Washington, I feel like the conference is going to be better than ever

There are going to be bangers dang near every week.  Plus it looks like the league is going to have everyone on bye the same week- everyone plays the one non-league plus 4 conference games, off the week of 10/10, then the back five.  Glorious. 

Quote from: hazzben on November 30, 2025, 04:52:44 PMDePauw strikes me as very similar to Wartburg. A great rush D, that hasn't faced an offense that is the combo of balanced and as good up front as Wheaton is. Wartburg's offense scored 17 (at "vaunted" Walton-Hoover) against a Coe squad that other Top 10 teams laid 50 on. They just weren't going to keep pace offensively and needed a defensive score and Wheaton with some redzone TO's. Better weather would have only helped Wheaton IMO.

DePauw run D was the perfect poison for UWW, who is totally one dimensional. Good neutralizing good. But Wheaton's best weapon is their passing efficiency and a mobile QB. That's what will open up the run game for them against DePauw. That and the weather can't be anything but better Saturday, which will only make the passing attack that much more potent.

I think this is a good take and I think Wheaton's success this weekend is pegged to how stubborn they're going to be and how many possessions they're going to throw away trying to run.  The temptation is to take DPU's rush D stats with a grain of salt because they played "only" in the NCAC. But this isn't your nephew's NCAC and that run D is legit.  My POV is that DPU went up to UWW five years ago, got walloped 45-0 and have spent the last five years getting iteratively better (successfully!) at the LOS, and now they're legitimately excellent where it counts.  Teams just don't by accident go up to UW-Whitewater and shove that team around in a game that was only going to be about who can shove who around better.  That should be validating regardless of how one might correct for the perceived level of competition in the NCAC. 

Teams that have had success against DPU have thrown.  JCU did the deed thanks to Semptimphelter & Montgomery. Denison nearly pulled it off by just not running at all period.  I think Wheaton can take advantage of Seth K./Juska/Titherington/Jewett with a high volume game from Forcucci. 

I think the most likely periods to check would be 2003-2004 when Wabash, Wittenberg, and Wooster were all very good- though Wabash was between playoff seasons right there and might not have been in the top 25.  2018-ish is another moment where we had Wabash + Witt in and around the top 25 and Denison was very good, but I'm not sure Denison cracked the top 25.  Probably, the best we've seen in the NCAC with respect to the top 25 is two ranked and one more in the ORV crowd. 

Quote from: that guy 31 on October 27, 2025, 05:07:05 PMI think playing so many repeat games is bad for the conference. It's been quite a while since I was a player but if I was being recruited and some schools were playing regular schedules and the others were playing 3 repeat games I feel like that would impact my decision. Just makes it seem small time. Just my opinion

I don't think anybody loves it, but the SCIAC has probably made the best of a terrible situation.  Divisions go away next year, so hopefully that's the end of that. 

It's hard to beat the Runner right at dusk. Palm trees, mountains, that perfect orange/pink afterglow in the sky, impeccable natural grass surface. Words don't really do it justice.

I probably don't have a good excuse for not having gone to La Verne yet.  I'll try to take care of that next season.  We'll see if coverage lets me get to Whittier next season or not, but I'll definitely go to the Whittier at APU game.