Quote from: hazzben on January 26, 2026, 10:07:30 AMKeep in mind, his HC just left Susquahanna for Albany as well.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying that everything we knew about scholarship football has been completely thrown out the window, but the mighty Hoosiers of Indiana have proven that things change ON A DIME in scholarship football today. If a school is willing to throw a little cash at things, and get the right coach, and right players from the portal, there is no reason why a team can't add a ton more wins even in the first year. Building through recruiting and player retention is for suckers.

Fortunately, D3 football does not have that same setup, although the top brass in d3 are routinely pulling in near if not actual, triple digit recruiting classes, so you never know. There is just a lot more opportunity for talent to "osmosis" itself to the right level now, and if you poach a good coach from a good program (Curt Cignetti (JMU) or Tom Perkovich (Sus)) no reason to believe they aren't going to bring their best players as well, as an immediate upgrade. Or that the school they came from are going to be just as committed to plugging those holes and have continued success.

All of that is to say, you have a good point - what you did last year is just that. There are no guarantees that a program will stay near the top. 

Quote from: faunch on January 24, 2026, 10:40:19 AMWould you rather be a beast on playoff level D3 team or an ok running back on a below average D1 team?

Football-wise, playoff team. Pocketbook-wise - free schooling all the way - below average team. Chances(albeit slim) to make the NFL - below average team (when was the last D3 draftee?).  Academics-wise, it depends what you like, but I'll give Albany and Susquehanna a draw, even if that's probably not true in actuality, with Albany being the better ranked and generally regarded of the two institutions (not that rankings are everything).

The equation has more than one variable, otherwise, who would ever go anywhere other than the bluest of blue blood division 1 programs; totally for free and make some of that sweet NIL and revenue sharing money?

With that said, U Albany wasn't good last year, but as recently as 2023 they went to the FCS semi-finals, so it's not as if there isn't some recent success.

Quote from: CarollFan on January 22, 2026, 05:28:52 PMUWW picks up a QB from UWO.

https://www.beloitdailynews.com/sports/former-hononegah-star-qb-cole-warren-transferring-to-uw-whitewater/article_e2c471e7-0d01-4caa-89c6-527cf20f154f.html

The writer of that article must be a real fan of geography and D3 sports

"Warren quickly moved him up the depth chart and by the Titans' second game in 2024, he was inserted into the lineup against No. 21-ranked Linfield University (Ohio) trailing 10-7 in the second quarter."

Quote from: mucgrad06 on December 28, 2025, 10:25:50 PM

QuoteI have to wonder how all these transfers got accepted at JCU? Didn't JCU announce they were leaving the OAC because, sniff, the "academics" were better, or something to the effect their new sister schools were more like them. Wait until a few NCAC members go belly up in the next few years. Wittenburg is on life support, and a few more are so desperate for students anyone who can pay is accepted. The NCAC admins will soon realize JCU is going to, every year, win the conference in nearly every men's and women's sports: basketball, track, wrestling, golf, swimming, cross country, baseball and soccer. NCAC sports is now a one school show.

John Carroll won't be beating Kenyon or Denison in swimming anytime soon.

And Wabash has a very strong wrestling program (not that the NCAC sponsors that sport). I think you're overstating how competitive the NCAC is, generally. Hell, by the transitive property of losses, UMU would have been roughly somewhere between 2-4 in the NCAC this year IN FOOTBALL (JCU beat both Wabash and UMU by 3 and DPU by 4). If the NCAC hadn't had any recent national success, I'd buy that argument, but the truth is there are always competitive teams across all the sports in the NCAC.

As I said when JCU was picked to be third in the NCAC in the preseason, there is a reason they play the games. On paper it's easy to say that a group should be setup, but making it happen in reality is a different beast.

Does wrestling bring in that many tuition-paying students beyond the costs of the program?

It's one of the cheapest overall costs-wise, as wrestling does not need intense setup. It usually runs with 1-3 (paid) coaches, and for men's wrestling at least, there are 10 weight classes, that you could ideally be 3-4 guys deep in. Women's would be similar, and if you're offering that as well, you could use all the same equipment and even coaches.

So while it's not a cash cow, it should almost always, bring in far more than it costs. Depending on your overall tuition payment per student, you're looking at a decent chunk of change.

Both Wabash and UWSP's bookstores leave a lot to be desired. I sometimes like Wabash's stuff, but more often find they don't get things in my size, even if they do. UWSP is very cookie cutter, and the only time they have stuff worth getting is from the "pop-up shops" that others have mentioned. I definitely enjoy the stuff they had on https://www.homefieldapparel.com/ and would love if they did that for my beloved Wabash, and my other alma-mater UWSP.

Went to the Isthmus Bowl today up here in Madison, WI, essentially to just watch some more d3 football, but also do a little scouting for next year. Wash U played a pretty clean game, but they looked small compared to UW Stout. They came out shooting but eventually I think they just got bogged down under Stout's big o-line.

Wash U was a very well coached team, who played mostly mistake free football. I'm excited to think how good the NCAC is going to be top to bottom next year. JCU, DPU, WabCo and Wash U is going to make for a very tough set of outs. That's 2 playoff teams, 1 bowl winner, and 1 bowl runner-up all in one conference.

As the Culver's Isthmus Bowl was in my neck of the woods, and it wasn't too cold, figured I'd go. Got treated to what turned into a great game. Congrats to the Stout Blue Devils for a big win, securing a winning season, and taking home a bowl trophy after a tough loss last year.

As a Wabash alumnus (and also UWSP) I look forward to seeing Wash U in the future, as they had a very good team, but Stout just took over with the ground game midway through the second quarter and just never looked back.

If you ever get a chance to make it to the Isthmus bowl, it's a pretty neat opportunity, and was a nice venue, so my suggestion - do it!

Once again congrats Stout on a very good season in a very tough conference.

Alright, as this board seems a bit dead at the moment, given it's bell week, let's hype this thing up! DPU vs Wabco, two 8-1 programs with what is almost guaranteed a playoff spot on the line. It's a big match-up, that should hopefully be a good game. Just based on how Wabash has looked the last few weeks, I'm a little worried as a Bash grad - I felt like we've looked a bit unorganized, but also getting Oberlin the week before the bell means that we'll likely go in fully healthy.

I'm excited - let's do this!

Quote from: JCUStreaks70 on October 08, 2025, 03:08:00 PM1886 Lager, brewed by Great Lakes in honor of the one and only JCU!

Channeling my inner d3fanboy, I'm surprised that there isn't a 2016 IPA, for that 1 win over UMU between 1989 and today. Or a 3 ale for JCU's all time wins over UMU since 1920. 

I think that a one loss team from the NCAC has a great shot at getting an at-large bid in this year. JCU's NPI is 43, DePauw 29, and Wabash 27, looking at the teams that are ahead in the NPI there seems like there could be a fair number of losses still coming from them. At least 5 WIAC schools are ahead, and we know they'll all beat the sh*t out of each other and take some losses.

I can't answer your tiebreaker question, but I can say don't sleep on the NCAC's ability to get a second team in this year.

https://d3datacast.com/npi/fb/

Quote from: WIACer on October 06, 2025, 05:51:24 PMHow long does the toughest league have between National Championships, before we consider it not as tough?

I think you're conflating two ideas. The best team doesn't have to come from the toughest league. National Championships aren't the only bar for a league, but they are for a team. In fact, look at the list of D3 National champions and decide how often the national champion came from the best league. I would argue that most of the time the national champion wasn't coming from the toughest conference.

You can have 7-8 incredibly good teams in a league, and yet still not have the best team in the country, which makes sense mathematically. There is exactly 1 national champion, but there can be dozens of really good teams. That's why this extended playoff bracket is so great, more chances for deserving teams to make a run. 

Quote from: Crawford on September 29, 2025, 08:14:50 PM. I spent some time at Saint John's University in Collegeville, MN. JCU reminded me of the size and athleticism of the Jonnie's.

The MIAC is always a bit of a mystery to me. The top end of the conference (St. Johns and Bethel currently, and St. Thomas historically) are usually quite competitive on the national scene. But the bottom of the conference is so bad, it's really hard to get a feel for how good they really are. It's not all that different than the NCAC in some ways. I trust your gut on the size and athleticism of the team, but comparing them to Hamline or Augsburg is tough. Either way, if I were a betting man, I'd bet the Johnnies will be in the playoffs this year. They've got a tough matchup of their own this week against Bethel, maybe their only tough game this regular season.

While not the D3football poll, Wabash is ranked at 25 in the AFCA poll. Which makes Wabash vs. JCU a ranked match-up. I'm really excited to see how both teams play. I got to watch JCU earlier in the season at JHU, where they looked a bit out gunned, more in depth than in talent - JHU is for real, but that means so is JCU.

They have an excellent wide receiver who is a FCS graduate transfer, and an excellent graduate student tight end who was an FCS transfer as well. I'm not sure if those are leftovers from the COVID years, or just a boon to having one of the few graduate schools in the conference, but both guys caught my eye in the JHU game - both can play.

Win, lose or draw, I'm excited to see the top of the conference get a few more tough games. That should help anyone who makes it come playoff/bowl game time.

Welcome JCU to a new NCAC rivalry!

That is definitely the vibe, but in some ways that's understandable. D3 is kind of unique, in that one of the only thing all 427 schools that compete in division 3 agreed on is that they wouldn't be awarding scholarships.

Outside of that, many schools are more different than they are alike. Enrollments run from around 300 at Principa College to around 30,000 at NYU. There are schools where athletics are very important to keeping the lights on (more than 65% athletes) to places that have a relatively small percentage of the students participating in athletics.

I made a point on the NCAC board when Wash U became an affiliate for football, that your conference is really the one area where you can seek to find like minded institutions in things like enrollment, athletics, academics, and even geography. That's really the best you're going to get at the D3 level. That's why you can have conferences like the WIAC and the NJAC that exist right alongside the NACC and GNAC.

There are 3 essential requirements to be D3 - must sponsor at least 5 sports for men and 5 for women(minus title IX requirements, thanks for the update!), you must not award athletic scholarships, and you can't use any pre-enrollment form. That is IT.

A big tent means that there is never going to be true equality, in athletics or academics and that's just how it is. So, you can see why schools may want to create a division IV, but at the end of the day, all of the schools decided on a very limited set of criteria for the division, and it certainly makes for a wild run of differences from top to bottom. Of course, everyone wants to give their student athletes a chance to compete for and win national championships, so I get why some schools want a Division IV.

With all of that said, D3 is currently pay to play, and the 400+ schools offer that in spades, so if the worst case outcome is that students get four more years playing sports they love, even if they're not winning titles, that seems like it's really fulfilling the stated athletic mission for the division.