How many regular-season touchdowns will Chris Sharpe rush for?
After rushing for 35 last season, including seven in a single win against St. John Fisher, the panelists figured that’d be too tough a number to repeat. Sharpe finished 2007 with a very respectable 21 rushing TDs (he also passed for five in Springfield’s triple-option offense), and remember, the Pride played two playoff games last season but none this year. Still, 21 was fewer than anyone on the panel predicted, but since Coleman’s projection of 23 was close, we’ll give him the point.

Which player will have the best season in his new situation?
Danny Jones won a championship, so give McGraw the expert point. But half a point goes to the four who took Wesley receiver Larry Beavers, who returned to Wesley after missing a year for academic reasons. Beavers had 692 yards and seven TDs receiving, plus another four scores on kickoff returns and two rushing. He was the most dynamic offensive threat on a team that had six players score six or more TDs, and he even took snaps in an offensive package designed to throw a whole new look at defenses. My pick, Neil Suckow, who made the move from Coe to Wartburg, remained a multi-talented threat, scoring 13 TDs but totaling just 985 all-purpose yards. Beavers' all-purpose total of 1,649 included 702 kick-return yards.

Which former MAC member will have more wins in its new conference: Susquehanna (Liberty) or Juniata (Centennial)?
It was a close one, as the Crusaders went 2-8, 1-6 in the LL, while the Eagles went 1-9, 0-8 in the CC. A last-second two-point conversion against WPI was the difference in an 8-7 Susquehanna win, and it was the difference in Coleman, Samrov and myself each picking up another expert point.

Who will win the CCIW?
Wheaton was the popular pick (four panelists) and Mann thought it would be Augustana. Only Tipps put his chips on North Central, and it looked rough for the Cardinals after a 17-point collapse against the Thunder in Week 6 dropped them to 3-2. But North Central didn’t lose again until the second-round playoff exit against the eventual national champions.

How many wins will St. Vincent, Gallaudet, Birmingham-Southern combine for?
Gallaudet kicked in two wins, including a 32-13 victory against SVU in Week 1, and B-SC added one, against Sewanee. Gallaudet also beat second-year SUNY-Maritime. Tipps and Coleman called it (three) and were awarded expert points.

The expert-point tally left a pretty clear winner:
Mann: 1.75 points
McMillan: 2.75
McGraw: 2.75

We missed on Kean. Photo by Pat Coleman, D3sports.com

Tipps: 5
Samrov: 5.25
Coleman: 8

Remember how hard it is to go beyond the Top 25
In Kickoff '07, one of my assignments is to attempt to take readers beyond the top 25. Teams’ fortunes change each season, and the idea is to get ahead of some of those changes so readers have an idea they’re coming. I expanded what I looked ahead at this year. I’ve had some success at this in the past, but this year I didn’t do so hot.

Non-top 25, non-playoff teams who’ll make the 32-team NCAA field in '07
My predictions: Franklin, Kean, Moravian, Rochester
My Score: 1 for 4
Franklin was a good call, partially because they had Mount St. Joseph standing in the way. The other three teams combined for a record of 17-14, and hardly resembled playoff teams.

Teams who should return to the playoffs after missing a year
My predictions: Bridgewater, Linfield, Trinity (Texas), Wabash
My Score: 2 for 4
The latter two teams got back in the field with AQs.

Teams who made the playoffs in '06 but won't in '07
My predictions: Concordia (Wis.), Capital, Hobart and Union, Rowan and Wittenberg
My Score: 3 of 6
Predicting Rowan to miss took some guts, but the first three teams listed made the field of 32.

Playoff-worthy teams who could get squeezed in tight conference races
My predictions: DePauw, Dickinson, Hope, Ithaca, Washington & Lee
My Score: 4 of 5
Here’s where I could have really looked smart, since Ithaca did technically finish third in the Empire 8, a scenario which almost always results in a team getting squeezed. Except this season we somehow had room for three E8s but no one from the Northwest Conference.

Five picks I didn’t have the guts to make
My predictions: Alfred, Sul Ross State and Widener to make the playoffs, St. John’s and Hardin-Simmons to miss the playoffs.
My Score: 3 of 5
Widener did make the playoffs, and Hardin-Simmons did miss out, so I should have manned up and made those picks. But passing on the other three proved wise.

Trendy picks I’m not so sure about
My predictions: Huntingdon to make the playoffs, North Carolina Wesleyan to win the USA South, Whitworth to plummet, UW-La Crosse to challenge UW-Whitewater:
My Score: 2 of 4
Again, since NCWC won its conference and La Crosse challenged Whitewater, at least in their head to head meeting, I missed. I could give myself a point for not being sure about La Crosse since they didn't challenge the Warhawks in the standings, but if they finish that win off, perhaps they finish the season differently as well. Huntingdon didn't make the playoffs and Whitworth didn't plummet, so I was correct in avoiding those.

Spoilers
My predictions: Dubuque, Salisbury and Lebanon Valley
My Score: 1 of 3
Salisbury was much more than a spoiler, and Lebanon Valley came up short. Only the Spartans played a true spoilers' role. And honestly, they were an IIAC contender.

Teams who outperformed/fell short of their 1-238 ranking in Kickoff '07
As snow and cold rain marks January’s dreary days, summer-lovers will find it hard to believe that Pat Coleman and I spent two mid-summer Saturdays in a booth at Panera, the semi-healthy chain restaurant, with laptops open and data galore in front of our eyes. We were ranking every team in Division III, from top to bottom.

Looking back at those rankings after the season can remind us of surprise teams beyond the ones that got the most shine this year (No. 201 Randolph-Macon, No. 199 Heidelberg, No. 179 Albright, No. 132 Illinois Wesleyan, No. 113 Case Western Reserve, No. 112 Middlebury and No. 79 Waynesburg) and the high-profile disappointments (No. 7 UW-La Crosse, No. 9 Springfield, No. 10 Rowan, No. 11 Hardin-Simmons, No. 15 Wilkes and No. 20 Augustana)

Here are some other teams we underestimated:
No. 108 Muhlenberg (11-1 record came out of nowhere, Mules were a tough out at Wesley.)
No. 151 Ferrum (Bounced back nicely from 2-7 year, finished 5-5)
No. 156 Hartwick (Ranking looked right after Week 1 loss, then came Empire 8 title)
No. 207 Tri-State (6-4 was the first winning season in the program’s short Division III history.)
No. 237 Crown (Won four of first five, averaged 37.6 points per game through season)

Here are some teams we, and our Top 25 voters, overestimated:
No. 32 Kean (Cougars failed to break out, following 7-4 year with 5-5 2007)
No. 59 Thiel (Went 3-7, two years removed from 11-win season)
No. 70 Johns Hopkins (After beating Hampden-Sydney in opener, lost six of nine)
No. 95 King's (The Monarchs finished 1-9; We had them a spot ahead of 7-2 Pacific Lutheran)
No. 101 Averett (Losing 20 starters, we didn't see 7-3 again, but 0-10?)

Remember the hot and cold starts and finishes
Hottest start, coldest finish: UW-Stevens Point, which started 6-0 and rose to No. 22 before losing their last four games. Rowan, which beat Widener 41-0 in Week 3 then won at Western Connecticut 40-18, then lost five of its last six, also belongs here.

Coldest start, hottest finish: Luther lost its first three against teams that combined to go 28-5, then it went 5-2 the rest of the way with its losses by a TD and a field goal.

Remember the season's turning point
UW-La Crosse was more or less dominating UW-Whitewater into the fourth quarter in Week 5, leading 28-10 with 11 minutes left. Warhawks star Justin Beaver went out with an injury midway through the third quarter. It was 28-13 inside the 7-minute mark, before Whitewater capped a 7-play, 76-yard drive with a 29-yard TD pass from Danny Jones to Matt Gifford in the corner of the end zone. La Crosse is still in great shape, up by eight with the ball, before Eric Donoval fumbles at the end of a short run. Although it appeared Donoval could have been down before the ball came loose, Whitewater's Andy Murray recovered at the 25-yard line after the Eagles had the ball for just 14 seconds. Jones hit Gifford with a 14-yard strike and a two-point conversion to tie the game.

La Crosse is still in position to engineer a game-winning drive in front of its home fans until Griffin Moe scrambles out of the pocket on first down. Near the sideline, as Mike Dufrane brings down Moe from behind, Whitewater linebacker A.J. Raebel lifts the Eagles quarterback off his feet with a hit that knocks him woozy and out of the game. On third down, backup Gus Almonroder throws an interception to Ben Farley that sets up Jake Andersen's winning TD run with 1:01 left. Almonroeder is sacked and fumbled on a last-gasp fourth-down attempt and Whitewater completes the stunning comeback.

La Crosse never recovers, losing three of the next four -- all games the Eagles had chances to win -- and go on to finish 5-4. UW-Whitewater wins its next 11 games and the national championship, frequently referring to the rally at La Crosse as the point in which their confidence in their new system, new quarterback and each other was solidified.

Remember that greatness is shown by more than just victories
We have to acknowledge Larry Kehres for the way his coaching tree has continued to branch out. The Purple Raiders were beaten by one of their own, as former Lakeland head coach Jim Zebrowski (MUC '91) coordinated the UW-Whitewater offense. Coe's Erik Raeburn, Ohio Northern's Dean Paul, Washington and Jefferson's Mike Sirianni, Heidelberg's Mike Hallett and Emory and Henry's Don Montgomery also spent time at Mount Union. By the Alliance Review's count in September, 39 college coaches, including eight Purple Raiders assistants, were Mount Union graduates. And that doesn't even begin to address the numbers in high school. Ohio newspapers said eight Mount Union alums had coached their teams into the playoffs, and one reporter counted 22 head or assistant coaches with Purple Raider ties. In the playoffs.

Remember when one door closes, another opens
Wabash's 35-33 win in its Week 2 opener against Franklin proved to be a key win over a playoff team that helped its playoff seeding, but at the time it seemed the Little Giants would be hurt by the day's events more than anything. Starting quarterback Dustin Huff, who had passed for 477 yards in the game, was injured covering an onside kick for the hands team, forcing Wabash to turn to sophomore Matt Hudson under center. Hudson filled in admirably, completing 67% of his passes, with 25 TDs and 12 INTs. He led the Little Giants to the second round of the playoffs against UW-Whitewater, where Huff, a fifth-year senior, returned to start. He completed one pass in three series before Hudson took over, with the team down 21-0.

Worst moments
A March accident that killed five Bluffton baseball players plus the bus driver and his wife still resonated during football season. In Week 1, Around the Midwest’s Clyde Hughes caught up with A.J. Ramthun, one of two football players who were on the bus and survived. Ramthun, who spoke to media after the accident, his battered face at the time a vivid indicator of how serious the accident was even for the 28 survivors, changed his jersey number to 5 to honor his lost friends. The season was a struggle, as there was but one happy endings. The Beavers lost their first nine games, including five by a touchdown or less, and appeared headed for 0-10 against Defiance. Bluffton scored TDs twice in 2:55 early in the fourth quarter and held for the last 10:15 to win 22-21.

Ramthun, a sophomore, carried 32 times for 96 yards. While it might seem trite to say just playing again was a victory, Tim Berta, a former receiver and baseball student coach who was also on the bus, was still recovering from his injuries when football season rolled around.

Shortly after the season ended, on Nov. 19, first-year secondary coach Cody Bowers crashed his truck into two trees on the Maryville campus and died. Bowers, 25, had played for coach Tony Ierulli and was fondly remembered by those he played alongside and coached. His first season with the secondary had been a success, as the Scots intercepted 19 passes, 14 more than in 2006.

St. John's running back Craig Luberts was arrested July 26 on charges he had sex with a minor. Luberts withdrew from school, while Mike Patnode and Aaron Blackmore handled the majority of the Johnnies' carries. Luberts' case had not been resolved at the time of publication. When the news broke in the preseason, it definitely sent shockwaves through the Johnnies' faithful.

Remember the most overblown controversies
Ray Bentley, calling the Stagg Bowl for ESPN, was grandstanding late in the came when he said Mount Union defensive coordinator Vince Kehres had forgotten how to lose gracefully because the Purple Raiders were so accustomed to winning. Kehres, whose team had just fallen behind 31-21 on a 1-yard TD run by Whitewater's Danny Jones, was caught by TV cameras yelling and pointing at officials. While he looked pretty fired up, and I admit I didn't nail the analysis either on first take during D3football.com's webcast, it was fairly evident on the video replay that Kehres had a fair gripe. Jones' TD run appeared to be aided by a Whitewater blocker -- a maneuver you might have heard referred to as "the Bush push" -- which is illegal. The game-winning TD was not overruled nor was it eligible to be reviewed in that case, I believe.

Remember the great speeches
Stirring oratories are part of football history. But sometimes the best talks aren't delivered by coaches during pregame, Pat Coleman reminds us:

"Every year one of the highlights of the trip to Salem is the team luncheon on Friday afternoon. Although this year's was the longest in our recollection, it was still memorable for one reason: Brady Pittz's speech. Each year a player from each team gives a short talk that isn't typically very newsworthy or very long, but this was neither. Pittz, aka Justin Beaver's backup, gave a long, entertaining, self-deprecating speech that had both sides in stitches. The ultimate respect was when Mount Union coach Larry Kehres pulled him aside on his way off the stage, then came to the podium later and called it the best student-athlete speech he'd seen at a Stagg Bowl.

Kehres has seen a couple more than we have."

Remember the weird speeches
Though our normal meeting time and place for recording the Around the Nation podcast this year was in front of the USA Today building in McLean, Va. right before my Sunday shift on the copy desk began (yes, we have real jobs), it didn’t always make sense for Pat and I to plan a recording session. When we traveled together, we often figured we might as well record our podcast before we went our separate ways. Since technology allowed us to record into a handheld digital mini-recorder and upload it to the site and to iTunes, it didn’t always have to be a grand production. We recorded sitting on an unused baggage carousel at Washington Dulles Airport and also at an unused Southwest gate at Chicago Midway. We recorded another from the comfort of Pat’s parents’ upstairs TV room, where the Trinity-Millsaps clip played on ESPN in the background. We met once at a Metro (subway) station as we returned from separate trips, and although the heat was blazing, we turned the car off so the running engine wouldn’t ruin the sound. But that wasn’t only time we recorded a podcast in the car, as my personal favorite might be the one we did while I was driving back from Bethel at Mount Union, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. And just to bring the whole thing full circle, we piped in Gordon Mann by phone on that one from a Chicago airport, where he was waiting to return from UMHB’s semifinal at UW-Whitewater.

The podcast was a decent innovation for D3football.com this season, as it was both well-received and respected. The first one we tried, Pat and I nailed in a single 11-minute take. Never again would it be so easy. Some we scripted out verbatim, sometimes we tried talking points and still other times we winged it completely, and no matter which model we tried, we’d still flub words and ask for do-overs. Due to Pat’s creative editing, we never got the sense that listeners noticed (or cared) which method we were using, so long as they got a dose of D3 info that hadn’t been provided in the past. Most of our podcasts stayed between 10 and 15 minutes, but we set a record of 26:49 on Dec. 3, talking about the final four. And fans still listened. Thank you!

Remember to always write while awake
I spent my weekdays this season with my two children, both active toddlers, and my nights working a full-time job on USA Today’s copy desk. That meant I had to be more creative than ever to find time to work on Around the Nation. Often, that meant writing deep into the night until I dozed off in front of the computer screen.

The last few sentences before I fell asleep always needed careful rewriting the next day. Sometimes, I had no idea where those sentences were going. I found this in one of my columns one morning: "The defense generated five turnovers and withstood the Crusaders’ we shop for your head."

On most Saturday afternoons, Pat is plenty awake, but the mad rush of games ending at the same time and information pouring in makes for an interesting cascade of rewrites through the end of the West Coast evening games. Sometimes, in the furious rush to get scores to the Web as quickly as possible, we aren’t as careful as we could be. That’s how Pat wrote this photo caption during the first week of the playoffs: "Franklin did’t made many stops today but got a big one on the goal line in the third quarter"

Remember the weird gifts
A journalist must never get too close to his subjects or accept gifts, lest he lose his main asset, his credibility. Yet that doesn’t stop fans of D3football.com from offering, or us occasionally making an exception to the rules. This season, the Gagliardi Trophy committee sent St. John's bread mix in an envelope, which was a historical lesson, if not the first time I'd received unbaked bread as a gift by mail. But then again, in the odd department, I also ended up with a $2 pair of old McMurry sweatpants when Ralph Turner (message board Hall of Famer and my personal campus tour guide) and I wandered through the baseball team's old gear sale.

That said, the odd gift of the year winner is probably the sign Pat and I encountered on the streets of McMinnville, Ore., where a fellow who goes by Tuxguy on our message boards left us this on the marquee of his tuxedo rental shop:

Remember the good/bad travel moments
Traveling in the playoffs is always a bit of a mixed bag. It's great to be able to go out and see different teams and take long trips, whenever possible, but the weather is almost always an issue. Whether it's like 2003, where snow postponed the Bridgewater/Lycoming game for a day and kept our crew and many others from traveling to the Ithaca/RPI game, winter is in full force by the time the quarterfinals and semifinals roll around. Pat Coleman, Ryan Coleman and Adam Johnson faced the brunt of winter in traveling from Minneapolis to Pella, Iowa.

The trip to Iowa was relatively uneventful, but Pat said he knew they were in trouble Saturday morning when he was woken up before 7 by the sound of someone scraping ice off their windshield. The 50-mile trip to Pella took nearly two hours. But that was the easy part.

There was no telling how far ahead the backup went. Our crew didn't stick around to find out. Photo by Ryan Coleman

The game itself was delayed 90 minutes before it started and an extra 20 minutes at the half. After one of the shortest postgame shows on record, the return trip began.

And nearly nine hours and 309 miles, they pulled into Minneapolis. While most of Iowa was clear, after crossing into Minnesota on I-35, the highway turned into a sheet of ice. Two miles into the state, the group hit a backup that had the interstate at a standstill, caused by an accident miles ahead. Eventually they worked the vehicle up about 100 yards to a U-turn, headed back into Iowa and crawled west to U.S. 65, just to crawl about 9 miles north to get back to the interstate.

Despite all that, it was faster to take the detour than to wait ... as the group was leaving a rest area, the first person through the roadblock arrived, after waiting for hours. -- Pat Coleman

Off-the-beaten path things I will remember about this season
A season is filled with moments that don’t always have a lot to do with football, but somehow seem compelling enough to share. You be the judge.

At the tail end of our whirlwind tour of the Chicago area, I am at the Wheaton-Augustana game standing in line to use the rest room. As happens from time to time, only on D3 campuses, a man recognizes me. He is wearing and Augustana hat and appears to be with his son. He says he's a fan of the site and everything we do to keep Division III connected. As I ask a bit about him, I find he's not just a fan, but an ex-Vikings player. "What years?" I ask. "1983-86," is the non-chalant reply. At this point, I wonder if I should be more excited to meet him than he is to meet me. Augustana won four Stagg Bowls and started a 60-game unbeaten streak in those years. To meet a player from one of the great dynasties in college football history stands out even among someone who's experienced as much football as I have.

Sometimes, as the "D3football.com guys," we'll get recognized in a not-so-typical exchange. Taking a commercial break during a webcast of a regular-season Wesley game, Pat leaned out of the press box window to adjust a crowd microphone. A fan recognizes him and exclaims: "Look out, Pat Coleman’s spying on you." Pat says he hadn't said a word to these people before and had no idea who they were.

(Pat notes: I was adjusting the mic because they were talking too loudly and I wanted listeners to hear less of them!)

Sometimes us D3football.com guys don't get recognized at all. Although we'd met Mike Swider and talked with him for at least a half-hour on a previous trip to Wheaton, the Thunder coach stood near us and talked to fans after his team's exhilarating 28-24 win against Augustana. The fan, clearly an acquaintance, was excited to have us in the house and was relaying as much to Swider. "Oh, I never read that stuff," the coach said.

From the 'Awesome D3 fans' file: Salem, the site of the Stagg Bowl, is a decent day trip from Mount Union, about six hours or so. That leaves a handful of travel options, but perhaps none beat the Purple Raiders-themed RV spotted at the Stagg Bowl this year: Dubbled the Kehres-mobile, it was adorned with a sign: Merry X-Mas, with the X highlighted as a Roman numeral. Come to think of it, since Mount Union didn't win their 10th title, we might see that RV again.

Also from the 'Awesome D3 fans' file: Pat and I flew into Chicago from the D.C. area, where we're based, on the morning of Oct. 13 with time to kill. We read The Onion and have pastry at a shop on the University of Chicago campus, and check out Amos Alonzo Stagg Field to kill time. We swing by Comiskey Park and make our way to North Park, where it's still so early no one but maintenance is at the Holmgren (yes, that Holmgren) Athletic Complex. Pat and I do our D3 nerd thing, checking the facility out, and as we get back in the car to leave, we see a small group of Carthage fans set up on the residential street that borders the game field. There is food on the grill and beer in hand if I recall correctly, and it's got to be at least three hours until kickoff. Who says Wisconsin folks don't know how to tailgate?

This too, from the 'Awesome D3 fans' file: Friday night in Salem, preparing to play color analyst on the air the next day, I went in search of some color. This led me to the hotel bars (no, really). In actuality, Mount Union had a full-on banquet prepared, with door prizes, name tags and room full of purple-clad Purple Raiders fans who appeared to be having a whale of a time. Although their team didn't win the next day, as those fans are accustomed to seeing in their trips to Salem, they had to ride home thinking about what a good time they had Friday night. And on the other side of the coin, UW-Whitewater fans had their plans change a couple times at the last minute, but still managed to fill the bar area of the Holiday Inn. There I got to meet several Warhawk families, just as I had spent time in the hall talking to a Mount Union fan. The insight and the sheer joy both teams' fans shared gave me a good feeling about the Stagg Bowl as an enjoyable event in people's lives, rather than just a game. But Whitewater's fans took the cake when the team filed into the hotel and headed back to their rooms for the night. As if on cue, the Warhawks fans in the bar area, an open atrium visible from the front door and check-in desk, erupted in a cheering ovation that continued until the last Warhawk had passed through the lobby.

So yeah, sometimes when D3 staff can't quite make it to games, we at least try to give ourselves a frame of reference by seeing the campus and its fields (and in Pat's case, the basketball gym). We couldn't resist a side-jaunt to Lewis & Clark as we headed toward Linfield the night before the Hardin-Simmons game. It was a strange scene however, as we walked on to the fully lit, old-style turf field and encountered only two guys tossing a frisbee. We wandered through the athletic buildings and basketball gym, not once encountering anyone asking us to move it along or to stop taking pictures. What a welcoming campus!

Half the fun of all the travel, besides the football, is getting a taste of local culture, especially the culinary kind. On my visit to Abilene, Texas, Ralph Turner is kind enough to take me to breakfast at a spot called The Dixie Pig. And if you thought that was my 'you're in Texas now,' story, that's only the half. Austin College employee, Hardin-Simmons grad and D3sports.com photographer Josh Bowerman decides I need another true taste of Abilene. Joe Allen's Steakhouse, where the owner really wears his Cowboy hat and comes to your table to ask if your steak was done right, is the choice. And although the backstory doesn't beat the restaurateur from Alliance, Ohio that migrated to Temple, Texas (not far from Mary Hardin-Baylor) where we ate on last year's Texas trip, ask why Joe Allen's ex-wife runs a rival steakhouse in Abilene should you ever happen to be passing through town.

D3football.com has yet to secure an official airline, so Around the Nation's four flights this year were with four different airlines. And there's no complaint here, as the days before we could afford to fly aren't in the too distant past. Some of the outposts we're trying to reach for D3 games aren't the type of airports served by 737s, to put it nicely. Regional airports are great for ultra-short waits in the security line, but "security" isn't always the word that comes to mind on some of the tiny planes used to get there. If you live somewhere where there are mountains, bodies of water or trees, erase all those things, and there you have West Texas. It's completely flat, and you can practically see your destination when you take off. Although I am thoroughly fascinated by flight, I am less fascinated by small-plane pilots who find vertical descents to be effective and/or amusing.

Some things are just inevitable. We had gracious hosts, The Carlsons, on our trip to Oregon. The Linfield grads were glad to put me and Pat up, and anytime we can get a true feel for a trip by staying with a friend of the site instead of in a hotel, we'll consider. The problem with our trip was after a nice dinner and conversation, Kelly, the woman of the house, knew a moment would approach when her husband Ryan (of CatdomeAlumni.com fame), Pat and I would fire up the laptops and immerse ourselves in Division III minutiae. In a moment we've since referred to as "Three geeks at a table," that inevitable moment took place at the dinner table not long after the plate were cleared. Thanks for the hospitality Kelly, but there are Friday night TCNJ/FDU-Florham scores to be located!

OK, so you longtime readers might remember embarrassing tales of radio dedications from previous drives to Mount Union playoff games. The Alliance trip has become an annual tradition for Pat and I, as has our sonic revisiting of the 1980s. (Hey, on the Pennsylvania Turnpike it's either that or Allegheny Valley JV wrestling). I've joined the iPod revolution, although roughly 93% percent of the 3,000 or so songs I carry with me are hip-hop. Pat, as you may have noticed, is not very hip-hop. (He does, however, do a mean "Weird Al" Yankovic.) So the musical moments seared into my memory from this trip involve classic Prince and Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. The two of us trying to remember the words to ‘All Cried Out’ and ‘Lost in Emotion’ ... well, that has nothing to do with football, but the faithful ATN readers deserve some visuals to laugh at.

It's always good to see Division III players staying close to the game, so the image of current Wesley quarterback Jason Schatz and former Bridgewater quarterback Brandon Wakefield having a passing competition in the Stagg Bowl parking lot is a good one. So was having former Mount Union defensive end Justen Stickley on the air from the D3football.com Stagg Bowl pregame show, sharing insight on how to beat the Purple Raiders (summarized, not psyching yourself out would be a good start). And it was also good to have former St. John Fisher running back Mark Robinson on the air for playoff broadcasts.

Pat and I spotted some strange things along the way this season, like a Capital shirt at the Hardin-Simmons/Linfield game in Oregon, reminding us that Division III influences are everywhere. That was best brought together at the Stagg Bowl tailgate, when Division III fans from everywhere came together for the annual posse shot. I did spot an Albion shirt in the parking lot, and that didn't make the photo, but having an idea it might take place this year, I came prepared to represent my own alma mater. Yes, the fool in the background holding the shirt would be me.

The final PAT of the Cornell/Northwestern (Minn.) game was delayed for 15 minutes while the field's automated sprinkler system went off. After the delay, Cornell blocked the PAT attempt and won 31-30. Photo by Ryan Coleman, D3sports.com

Remember the great photos
D3sports.com improved its photography operation this year, sending shooters to 103 games (including 22 in the playoffs) and covering 104 Division III teams, then making the best photos available for purchase via PicturePrints.net. Given that there are no full-time photographers on the payroll, D3photography cast a decent net, shooting at least one team from every conference but the PAC and NESCAC, plus getting 11 independents. Teams closer to where we had photographers based tended to get covered more often, so if your team wasn't one of the 103 we were able to photograph in action this year, have your local photographer get in contact with Ryan Coleman at editor@d3photography.com.

Next year, this should be brought back
ATN noticed two things it would like to see repeated following perhaps the most well-run year in memory. First, the playoff selection committee's method of establishing No. 1 seeds first, then building the four regional brackets around them is something advocated in this spot in the past. ATN isn't taking credit for the change, but rather applauding the committee for stepping out there this year and pushing for it to continue. Second, the use of instant replay in the Stagg Bowl is a big plus. Although I generally favor the Stagg Bowl replicating a normal Division III game as closely as possible, the national championship should absolutely be decided by the play on the field, not a missed or misinterpreted call. That the NCAA springs for a video board and a three-man replay staff for the Stagg Bowl should be evidence that our national championship is considered as important as any other championship the NCAA runs (excluding perhaps the cash cows that are the Division I men’s basketball tournaments). Indeed, in the third year of replay at the Stagg Bowl, the first call ever overturned was a Mount Union 1-yard TD run-turned-Whitewater goal-line stand, which ended up being a key play in a tight game.

Next year, this should be changed
If the value of the automatic qualifier system hadn't been made completely clear in the past, NWC conference Whitworth missing the playoffs (at 8-2) this year drove home the need for smaller leagues to get with the program. The NWC, which didn't have seven football-playing members when Division III went to the AQ system, has figured it out and will get a bid next year following its two-year waiting period. The PAC expanded from six to nine members and also has a bid now, leaving perhaps two Pool B bids for teams from the ACFC, UAA and independents. This season, it became completely clear that relying on selection in Pool B is a tightrope walk that a team with playoff plans would rather avoid. Champions of AQ conferences can rest easy on selection Sunday knowing they've done exactly what was required of them to earn a playoff bid.

Selfishly speaking, we weren't pleased that the NCAA videocasts of the semifinals were linked with local audio. Perhaps we're biased, but we think D3football.com's staff would call a more balanced game for the official NCAA broadcast than the home broadcasters from one of the participating teams. That would seem to be more relevant as well, since fans of the local team would likely be either at the game or tuned into the local broadcasters already.

Best moment no one else saw
Tom Pattison, the man behind fan site Warhawkfootball.com, and a longtime supporter of the UW-Whitewater program, in both an official and unofficial capacity, suffered serious health problems in 2006. He regained his strength enough this season to follow the team again, and make it down to Salem for the Stagg Bowl. After the national championship had been won, fireworks had gone off and fans had filed out of Salem Stadium, former UW-Whitewater coach Bob Berezowitz walked past Pattison, seated near an open window in the press box, gazing onto the field. "Take it all in," said Berezowitz, who played for the Warhawks and coached them for 22 years, including twice to runner-up finishes before retiring last season. The two looked out the window at the purple Roanoke Valley sky, letting a reality set in: The program they both loved so much for so long had finally reached the apex.

And on a final note ...
Wouldn't ATN be remiss if it didn't crank up this debate? Mount Union loses 16 seniors who started. The heart of the UW-Whitewater, UMHB, St. John Fisher, Bethel and Central teams -- arguably -- are all graduating. The highest-ranked team that returns much of its starting lineup, including most of the key cogs? Wesley, which ranked fifth in the final poll. Dare I say preseason No. 1?

Discuss the year-in-review column on the Around the Nation thread of Post Patterns, on the D3sports.com message board, or on The Daily Dose.