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It's just Mount Union and St. Thomas still standing with a shot at Walnut and Bronze in Division III football for 2015, and they each got there in dominating fashion. Pat and Keith talk about each semifinal, plus ATN columnist Ryan Tipps checks in to talk about Mount Union.

We were down to four games this week and that means we can focus a good amount of time on each one. So we pulled in an analyst to help us talk about each game, folks who were on the sidelines or in the press box for the four quarterfinals.

After a disappointing first round, this was exactly what Division III football needed, including competitive games, a big play for the ages and more. Pat and Keith talk about each second round game, give their takeaways for each game, plus preview the quarterfinals and hand out their game balls.

Phew, that was ugly. UG-ly, with a capital U. And a G. In this case, we're talking about most of the first round of the playoffs we have a coach talking about winning ugly, and another talking about the worst conditions he's seen for football in 37 years of coaching. Oh, and there was like one good game, so we'll take about that.

So, one thing we know is there won't be a rematch, a 10th game in the Stagg Bowl series in which UW-Whitewater leads Mount Union 6-3. We'll talk about the committee's choice to place the two teams on the same side of the bracket, plus some other ... interesting pairings, and of course the omissions.

Wesley and Hardin-Simmons could have made it easy on the committee and on all the bracketologists in Division III who are trying to figure out where they'll go in the playoffs. Instead, Salisbury upset the Wolverines and East Texas Baptist knocked off the Cowboys. What are the ramifications? What do the at-large bids look like now?

There are lots of teams looking for at-large bids to the playoffs. Problem is, there's only six of them. If you are new to Division III, or new to playoff contention and don't know how the D-III playoffs work, this is the week where Keith and Pat will walk you through it.

Lots of good showdowns this weekend to talk about, and we hit on a bunch, but that's just the beginning. What we're really here to do is talk about the playoffs! Where do we know more about automatic bids? Which at-large teams have a good shot as it stands right now? Who might get the No. 1 seeds?

There was one huge upset this week, but that left a lot of room to talk about other games as well. So in addition to Dubuque-Wartburg, let's take a few minutes to focus on the "middle class" of Division III football, as it were.

Well, there you go -- a crack in the purple armor favored by UW-Whitewater. This gives hope to a lot of people around Division III, but should it? What have we really learned from this weekend's games?

Impressive midseason matchups lead to some readjustment, not just in the Top 25 poll but in playoff positioning. No, it's not too early to talk about some conference races. Plus there was a Division III record set on Saturday, and a bunch of crazy endings to talk about.

The No. 1 Division III team beat the NAIA's No. 1 team, SportsCenter spent significant time on two Division III campuses and we had a great, gutsy schedule of a non-conference game turn into a fantastic contest that was worth the price of admission. Hard to beat that.

We might question whether some teams are as good as we think, and some Top 25 voters might be asking the same questions. Other teams are right where everyone thought they would be. And in some places, there's new excitement and new life for football.

Some of the teams getting a fresh start this week are ones that didn't play in Week 1, such as three of the top five teams in the country. Others are young programs who picked up signature wins, while even others are established programs that have been down on their luck.

The 2015 Division III football season went from virtual to literal this week. What were the big surprises? What interesting games flew under the radar? Who are the teams on the rise after one week?