D3football.com » D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast

Lots of cool and interesting things happened in the opening weekend of Division III football. Of course, many of them were overshadowed by the 98-0 win by St. John's over St. Scholastica. Nobody here at D3football.com is suggesting someone ran up the score, though. Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman have a different thought in mind. Plus, it's the podcast's 10th anniversary, and there are clips, including outtakes!

It's been a busy August around D3football.com, with Pat and Keith spearheading all the coverage in Kickoff 2017 and Pat driving a thousand-plus miles to talk to visit six Division III football practices. Pat and Keith discuss the coverage, predictions for 2017 and more to get you ready for Week 1. Meanwhile they also talk about what's coming next for the D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast.

We've got an extra-long podcast for you this month, because we have to talk about the Top 25, the blue turf at Luther, finding the match at Muhlenberg, finding relevancy at King's and getting yet another new coach at East Texas Baptist. Plus, some 36-year-old memorabilia.

This month, Keith McMillan is out on assignment, but we found someone to fill in who's only written about a hundred fewer ATN columns. Pat Coleman and Adam Turer chat with UWO running back Dylan Hecker, Norwich coach Mark Murnyack and give their preseason No. 1 and sleeper picks for 2017.

It's time to meet the first of our new Stagg Bowl hosts, as we talk with the person in charge of the Stagg Bowl at Shenandoah, Texas. Plus we talk about what's next for football preseason practice with Washington University-St. Louis coach Larry Kindbom and get Kevin Bullis' take on the state of the program at UW-Whitewater.

One of the big topics of discussion right now in Division III, and in college football as a whole, is preseason practice time, including what seems to be likely -- the end to two-a-day practices in camp. It's certainly important to coaches, who have already planned their August camp, especially in Division III, where spring ball is not the same as at the other levels. Pat and Keith and guests discuss that and more, including the forthcoming Liberty League shakeup.

Members of this past year's senior class are chasing their dreams of pro football right now, and next year's senior class has players hoping to do the same. In light of that, the February edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast talks with three Division III alumni who are living that dream, in various stages of their career.

The D3football.com Around the Nation Podcast returns to offseason mode, including discussion of the latest news from Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan as well as interviews with new John Carroll coach Rick Finotti, who was gracious enough to join us on his fifth day of work at JCU, along with Gagliardi Trophy winner Carter Hanson of St. John's and Nichols coach Dale Olmsted.

It was a tension-filled battle to decide Stagg Bowl XLIV and a great game to boot Pat and Keith were joined by the rest of the on-air crew from the D3football.com Stagg Bowl XLIV audio broadcast, including Adam Turer, Frank Rossi and Kevin Niehus, for this final ATN Podcast of 2016. We discussed the championship game, interviewed UMHB quarterback Blake Jackson live and debated and ultimately determined the D3football.com Players and Coach of the Year.

Our podcast team was truly around the nation this week, as Keith McMillan was in Belton, Texas, and Pat Coleman was in Oshkosh, Wis., for the two national semifinals. What results is an informative breakdown with commentary from players and coaches at both games, along with a quick look at the future for John Carroll and Mount Union and Pat and Keith's key players to watch on offense and defense for both Mary Hardin-Baylor and UW-Oshkosh in Friday's Stagg Bowl.

You've been asking for this for years, haven't you? John Carroll and UW-Oshkosh advanced to the national semifinals, meaning there will be at least one team in the Stagg Bowl for the first time. And Mount Union survived an offensive shootout at Alfred, meaning the defending champs are still alive, with a trip to face the No. 1 team in the offing. Pat and Keith talk through it all, plus preview the semifinal games, in this week's Around the Nation Podcast.

When you're down to just 16 teams and eight games, we can take the time to go through each of them, and it was a week which made Keith very happy. There was a lot of defense to talk about for this former Division III safety. Defenses came up big in expected places, such as Whitewater, Wis., or University Heights, Ohio, but the other games featured some surprisingly stout defensive performances as well.

Whether you were among the excited, with no rooting interest, or among the tense, with your season hanging in the balance, the 3 p.m. hour-plus in the Eastern Time Zone on Saturday was a great time to be a Division III football fan. Three games came down to the final play, and Pat and Keith talk about them all in detail, as well as the other 13 first-round games, in this week's Around the Nation Podcast.

We'll hear from the NCAA committee chair, Jack McKiernan, gets Keith's view on watching his alma mater clinch an automatic bid and talk about that John Carroll-Mount Union game. Plus, we'll discuss who got the best and the toughest draws, what the best first-round games are, what (if anything) the committee got wrong and more in this week's Around the Nation Podcast. Sponsored by the City of Salem.

About half of the automatic bids have been handed out to the Field of 32 teams which will play for the 2016 Division III football championship. But while two of the remaining ones will be battled out head to head this week, and some are cut-and-dried if teams take care of business, there's still a lot of intrigue and a lot of moving parts. What might the at-large bids look like? Pat and Keith take a quick tour through that and more in this week's Around the Nation Podcast.