FB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

All Region 4 have been released and the HCAC isn't very well represented. Just 10 out of 79 players from the conference this year. Three from the Lions, two each from the Panthers, Grizzlies, and Engineers, and one from the Ravens.

1st team
LB    Brian Wall    Hanover    So.    Sellersburg, Ind.

2nd team
WR    Eli Aston    Mount St. Joseph    So.    Lawrenceburg, Ind.
G    Ben Roembke    Franklin    Jr.    Lawrence, Ind.
K    Clint Hearne    Hanover    Sr.    Madison, Ind.
LB    Luke Paff    Mount St. Joseph    Jr.    Cincinnati, Ohio
S    Brady Pierce    Mount St. Joseph    Sr.    Thompson., Tenn.

3rd team
TE    Ben Klein    Rose-Hulman    Sr.    El Paso, Ill.
G    Isaak Fischer    Franklin    Jr.    Greenwood, Ind.
DE    Jaylen Hayes    Anderson    Fr.    Louisville, Ky.
CB    Wyatt Bell    Rose-Hulman    Jr.    River Falls, Wis.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

The MIAA-HCAC challenge will continue through 2028. They will now use NPI to determine the matchups (and have an agreement to bring in an OAC team to even the numbers to 8-8). 2026 (and 2028) will be hosted by the HCAC.

Here are the games listed for week 3 (Sept 19) of the 2026 season with their final 2025 NPI ranking:
Hope (17) @ Hanover (26)
Alma (24) @ Baldwin Wallace (45)
Adrian (50) @ Mount St. Joseph (95)
Calvin (56) @ Franklin (121)
Trine (100) @ Bluffton (149)
Albion (162) @ Rose-Hulman (175)
Kalamazoo (155) @ Anderson (208)
Olivet (204) @ Manchester (235)

Seems like Albion and Kalamazoo are flipped. Maybe one of the correct matchups is already scheduled so they adjusted it?

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Taking this from the ODAC board, it's the Forbes 2026 edition of College Financial Grades

College          GPA   Financial Grade
Berea            4.5     A+
Earlham          4.5     A+
Rose-Hulman      4.25    A
Hanover          3.8     A-
Franklin         3.74    A-
Transylvania     3.68    B+
Anderson         2.91    B-
MSJ              2.41    C+
Manchester       1.93    C-
Bluffton         1.13    D

The other four Indiana D3 schools plus a few other notables from the area
DePauw            4.5     A+
Wabash            4.5     A+
St Mary's (women) 4.48    A+
Trine             3.21    B

Taylor (NAIA)     4.2     A
Xavier (D1)       3.24    B
Butler (D1)       2.56    C+
Indianapolis (D2) 1.9     C-
Defiance (NAIA)   0.96    D
Thomas More (D2)  0.78    D

[ziggy]

The MIAA-HCAC challenge will continue through 2028. They will now use NPI to determine the matchups (and have an agreement to bring in an OAC team to even the numbers to 8-8). 2026 (and 2028) will be hosted by the HCAC.

Here are the games listed for week 3 (Sept 19) of the 2026 season with their final 2025 NPI ranking:
Hope (17) @ Hanover (26)
Alma (24) @ Baldwin Wallace (45)
Adrian (50) @ Mount St. Joseph (95)
Calvin (56) @ Franklin (121)
Trine (100) @ Bluffton (149)
Albion (162) @ Rose-Hulman (175)
Kalamazoo (155) @ Anderson (208)
Olivet (204) @ Manchester (235)

Seems like Albion and Kalamazoo are flipped. Maybe one of the correct matchups is already scheduled so they adjusted it?

With full schedules available now it looks like we can chalk the Albion-Kalamazoo swap to Kalamazoo and Rose-Hulman already scheduled to play each other the week before.

[70_dc_alum]

https://heartlandconf.org/news/2026/7/30/general-hcac-and-oac-announce-innovative-strategic-alliance-to-support-division-iii-student-athletes.aspx

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

https://heartlandconf.org/news/2026/8/25/2026-hcac-football-preseason-poll.aspx


1. Hanover       36 (6)
2. Mt St Joseph  31 (1)
3. Franklin      24
4. Rose-Hulman   21
5. Bluffton      17
6. Anderson      11
7. Manchester     7

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

https://www.crossroadsleague.com/general/2026-27/releases/20260827odmtxb

Manchester is leaving for the NAIA next year just a few years after Defiance did the same. The Spartans will be the 9th school from the northern half of Indiana in the Crossroads League joining 1 school each from Michigan and Ohio.

For the HCAC this will drop the conference to 9 schools and more importantly football down to the pool A threshold of just 6 teams. When Defiance left, the conference added Berea soon after to stay at 10 members but they don't play football. Do they have another school to add this time? Can they convince Berea, Earlham, or Transylvania to start playing football?

[Gregory Sager]

I suspect that Manchester might be leaving D3 for the NAIA for the same reason as Defiance: financial ill health. Manchester can now drop below the 6-6 sponsorship threshold mandated by D3 if it feels that that sort of belt-tightening is necessary. The Crossroads League doesn't sponsor football, so I wouldn't be surprised if Man U decides to jettison its football program.l

[The Third Division]

Well Earlham dropped football bc they sucked beyond comprehension so we're more likely to get another school to add football than otherwise.

And Manchester will likely play in the MSFA in NAIA

[70_dc_alum]

I suspect that Manchester might be leaving D3 for the NAIA for the same reason as Defiance: financial ill health. Manchester can now drop below the 6-6 sponsorship threshold mandated by D3 if it feels that that sort of belt-tightening is necessary. The Crossroads League doesn't sponsor football, so I wouldn't be surprised if Man U decides to jettison its football program.l

I had to look up 6-6 Sponsorship, had not heard that term before.  I don't think that is likely the play here as they currently have 9 Mens and 9 Women sports and their undergrad admissions per google is between 915-988 and if undergrad is under 1,000 you only have to be at 5-5.  As a Defiance grad it was 100% about money in the move to the NAIA and they way they did it was different than what I had thought it would be. (below is my research, no information from the school directly)

• Improve Financials by Adding not subtracting - moved Cheer/Dance and Esports from Club to Varsity, added Men's Volleyball, Women's Bowling, Women's Flag Football, Women's Wrestling, Coed Powerlifting as Varsity sports since the moved to NAIA.  less restrictions in NAIA making it easier to add.  more sports = more students and more tuition
• Reduced Travel Costs outside of Football - eliminate long trips for all of the smaller sports.  pretty sure football is similar to how it was in D3
• Increase number of students via scholarship but without increasing total Aid - Most say adding scholarships are expensive, but not if you reduce merit at the same time.  you can give the same total aid $ but athletic scholarships can add flexibility to where you invest.  Merit is a game to maximize tuition based on a parents ability to pay, schools that market how much merit they provide typically overprices their baseline tuition, the average net spend is what matters.  Defiance actually reduced its tuition by 25% driving more people to apply but I doubt it really changed the net price to attend.  More flexibility with scholarships vs merit and a lower list price of tuition = increase in total number of students.  In the first year enrollment increase 11% and freshman was up something like 80% and numbers for this year are projected to have another similar increase over last year. 

The move is not for everyone and I absolutely was questioning it when it happened but it sounds like things have dramatically improved at the school so kudos to the admin for pulling it off.  I am still a D3 guy! 

Good Luck to North Park this year.  My nephew was your QB the back half of last year so I will be following the Vikings!