D3football Daily Dose

Alright, well, Keith McMillan filed more than 12,000 words just for this part of the Around the Nation 2007 Year in Review. I’d be scared to count how many words he wrote this season, or just in the Year in Review. Or even to copy and paste them all back into Word and let Bill Gates do the work.

Yes, I know those of you who still write checks have been writing ‘2008′ without fail for some time now, but it takes a while to write 20,000 words.

So there were many, many memories included. (My former copy desk chief would ding me for repeating the adjective, but shoot, it’s 1 a.m. and I don’t work there anymore.) There were memories that I was glad to read about, and others I’d rather forget. (Hello? ’80s music anyone?) And it’s always good to get the retrospective/reality check on the preseason poll, our Kickoff predictions, and the like.

But no simple (hah!) column can fully wrap up the 2007 season. I mean, we didn’t even get to read about how Keith didn’t make it to Catholic in time to see his alma mater finish beating my alma mater back in September — a game which ended up being between teams that combined for 13 wins instead of what we thought might be more like five.

So certainly you have memories that we haven’t considered. Or ones we’ve forgotten. Or perhaps you just have a good story to make up and try to slip past us.

Whatever your reason, we throw the floor open for the final Around the Nation of the 2007 season. But nope of the 2008 year. There’s that copy editor again.

Gordon Mann joins Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman to help wrap up the 2007 Division III football season. Hear a lively debate on who should be No. 2 when the final poll is released, as well as their takes on what the 2007 season will mean upon reflection.

This is the last ATN podcast of the season — thanks for listening and thanks for the hundreds of you who subscribed to it. We’ll also have some more audio from the weekend to share as well.

 

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Alright, so here we are, at the culmination of more than 1,100 games and after 236 teams have been eliminated from contention for the 2007 Division III football national championship, with Mount Union and UW-Whitewater. The fans are already tailgating in the parking lot, getting ready for our 4 p.m. kickoff. We’ll keep you updated here throughout the day on all the goings-on and help you follow along.

Don’t forget to turn down the audio on ESPN (Pam Ward on play by play) and turn up our audio broadcast. Those of you with a DVR may find the delay is manageable by pausing the television. We’ll pronounce names correctly, etc.

Join Gordon Mann, Frank Rossi and Ryan Tipps on our game day show starting at 2 p.m. Keith McMillan and I will take over leading up to the 4 p.m. kickoff, with Frank on the sidelines.

Some more audio to tide you over until we hit the air at 2 — I was interviewed on Western Wisconsin Sports Saturday this morning about the Stagg Bowl and recorded most of it for the audience here.

 

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Keith McMillan and I broadcast the Mount Union/Bethel game Saturday from Alliance, Ohio, and although we had more than 4,000 people listening live at various points throughout the game, you may not have heard our halftime interview.

We spoke to Dick Kaiser, the national chair of the Division III football committee, about the bracket, the new strength of schedule measurements, the final teams taken, etc. It’s a good look into the selection process.

 

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Fifteen weeks and 1,100 games have led to this, Stagg Bowl XXXV, between Mount Union and UW-Whitewater.

If you’re new to Division III, these teams have met in the Stagg Bowl each of the previous two years as well. How have things changed since? What can UW-Whitewater do differently in 2007 than it did in 2006 and 2005? What will the Stagg Bowl be like with a healthy Pierre Garcon and Justin Beaver?

Get ready for the Stagg Bowl with Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman’s take in this week’s Around the Nation podcast.

 

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Go grab your coffee and sit down with us on a Monday morning for this week’s ATN podcast. Four games last week, two games this week. Plus, hear what Keith thought of the Wesley/Mary Hardin-Baylor game and Pat’s take on the Central/Bethel game. What’s coming up this week? Are we really destined for a threepeat Stagg Bowl?

Listen in.

 

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So Keith McMillan and I were on the record as not being surprised at the eight teams which won in Saturday’s second round.

The margins of victory? Definitely a difference. Does it matter that Bethel/UW-Eau Claire was so close? Which conferences made big leaps forward in Week 12 and 13? Who leaves the second round of the playoffs disappointed and who leaves them with an optimistic outlook?

We’ve got two rematches and two new matchups. Now that we’re down to eight teams, who will benefit the most from the reshuffled bracket? And where will we find ourselves on Saturday?

More in the ATN podcast.

 

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We’re not sure what was more exciting, the games themselves in the first round or the rush of 16 games all underway at once. It seemed like you couldn’t hit refresh without getting some interesting new tidbit, whether it was Curry pulling away early or TCNJ winning late, Salisbury tying Muhlenberg in the fourth quarter or N.C. Wesleyan taking W&J to overtime.

Plus, Keith and Pat, remember, both saw N.C. Wesleyan the first week of the season. Hear their hindsight on what each saw and how it colored their predictions from last week. And go through the rest of last week’s games and the ones coming up.

It’s our Around the Nation podcast, which continues through the Stagg Bowl.

 

 Around the Nation Podcast [24:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Well, we survived another Selection Sunday, though the day has barely ended as I write this portion of the site. Four hours of sleep, up at 7:15, off to ESPNU, analyze the bracket, check graphics and pronunciations, go over highlights, write a script, go through a dress rehearsal and do the show. Then tape a segment for ESPNews (did anyone ever see that?) and another for online.

Thankfully, the podcast was pretty simple, too, only requiring one edit to piece two parts together.

It’s our look at the bracket, the key points in each game, etc. How many points can Capital give up and still win? Do Keith McMillan and I both like the way this was put together? Why Eau Claire instead of Whitworth?

It wasn’t quite a record day trafficwise but with the brackets being revealed so early in the morning, we didn’t expect it. But it was a great day in Division III football, both Saturday and Sunday. Hear the highlights in our ATN podcast.

 

 Around the Nation Podcast [22:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Confused by tiebreakers? Oh yeah, definitely understandable. See, each conference sets its own rules for breaking ties for the automatic bid, and with the limited number of games played in any given football season, there’s not exactly a lot of data to work with.

So this week, in the Around the Nation podcast, Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman not only run down how the remaining 10 conferences’ automatic bids will be handed out, they run through the tiebreakers in leagues where they’ll be needed, and debate the merit of such tiebreakers in the first place. So get your primer on how the E8 or LL or MIAA will be won.

 

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