Thirty-one years after he took over the head coaching spot at Gettysburg, Barry Streeter is far from done. Like many Division III lifers, he's had chances to pursue jobs at other levels, but has chosen to stay home. And he has changed when the times dictate, evolving his teams' trademark Delaware Wing-T offense into its newest Spread Wing configuration. Ryan Tipps sat down with Streeter for this week's Around the Mid-Atlantic.

When your goal is to be a teacher of deaf students and a coach of deaf football players, there's one place to be: Gallaudet University.

But when you're the only member of the team with normal hearing, it's a different experience.

Jared Vollmar's stepfather was a coach at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, and that's where Vollmar got his passion. The football field is a classroom and it's the one with the most relevance to his future beyond college. Tom Haley has more in this week's Around the Northeast column.

Last year, LaGrange was one of the surprise stories of the Division III football season, as the Panthers went 9-1 and got into the playoffs after an 0-10 season in 2007. But this year, LaGrange has struggled out of the gate. Jason Bowen saw the Panthers up close this past weekend and has more in Around the South.

Division III is often the home of players who tried playing for a scholarship but came back to play just for the love of the game. And Central is
home to four high school teammates, state runners-up, who did just that. One went to school to play for the Dutch, one went to the NAIA, one to just attend school at Iowa and one walked on at Drake, but all eventually came to Central. Adam Johnson tells the story in this week's Around the West.

That and more in this week's Around the Region columns.

By this point of the season, some teams have gone beyond the term "fluke" and become something else entirely. As Keith McMillan put it, to get to 3-0 or 4-0 you have to be doing something right, and consistently. A couple wins to open the season is one thing, but throw an upset of sorts in there and you have to be considered a surprise team.

But of all the surprise teams, and there are more than a dozen at this point of the season, who will have the staying power to be around in Week 12? You know, when the playoffs start? Or, more simply, are we sold or not sold on these teams?

That's the question Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman tackle this week in the Around the Nation podcast.

Go to the podcast page and click the play button to listen. You can load the podcast page in iTunes or can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast

Scroll down for more Saturday coverage. Plus check out our weekend photo galleries:
• No. 9 Ohio Northern at No. 18 Otterbein
• Ithaca at Utica
• Concordia-Moorhead at Bethel
• Muhlenberg at Gettysburg
• Frostburg State at Widener
• Augsburg at St. Olaf

Each week during the regular season we look at some of the key statistical performances from the weekend in Division III football, highlighting one per region.

Demacus Fleming caught just five passes, but he turned them into 240 receiving yards and three touchdowns in Dubuque's 42-19 win against Cornell. The Spartans have already matched their win total from 2008, at 2-2.

Mount Union's defense continues to throttle the opposition. The Purple Raiders registered six sacks in a 49-14 win against Muskingum, holding the Muskies to 27 yards on 22 carries. Muskingum mustered 206 yards of total offense, but 151 of them were in the final 20 minutes, after Mount Union led 38-0.

Week 4: Scoreboard | Weekly ATN podcast | Photo galleries | Top 25

Alfred senior Vinson Hendrix ran for 175 yards and three touchdowns in Alfred's 49-28 win over Springfield, which came into the game with the nation's top-ranked run defense statistically (10 yards per game). It was the fourth time in four games that Hendrix has run for at least 100 yards.

Kevin Peters tied a Millsaps single-game record with three interceptions in a 24-6 victory against Trinity (Texas), adding seven tackles (all solo) on a defense that surrendered a season-best 186 total yards and just eight first downs.

Each team was down a key contributor on offense and it was Kean that came out on top, as the Cougars beat Cortland State for the first time in the programs' history, riding a balanced running attack to a 24-10 win. Quarterback Thomas D'Ambrisi rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another in the win.

Backup quarterback Austin Schlosser got the call for No. 18 Otterbein and threw for a score and ran for another as the Cardinals held off No. 9 Ohio Northern 38-36. The Polar Bears missed two extra points in the second half in the loss, while Otterbein's Shane Centers returned an Ohio Northern interception for a second-quarter touchdown. Saturday's scores.

ONU played with a heavy heart, as Polar Bear senior linebacker Adam Jones' father died of a heart attack en route to the game.

Ithaca scored the last 13 points to rally past Utica on the road and win 27-24. Utica had just 12 rushing yards in the loss, throwing for 329 yards but with four interceptions. "Ithaca is Ithaca for a reason," said Utica coach Blaise Faggiano. "... We are for real and if there was any doubt of that I think we proved today that we can play with anyone."

No. 5 Wesley had little trouble with LaGrange, winning the battle of 2008 playoff teams 56-7. It further solidifies the Wolverines' standing as a top playoff contender in Pool B. No. 2 UW-Whitewater put a lackluster first half behind it and went on to blow out Puget Sound 42-7. The rest of the top five were all at home, with No. 1 Mount Union blowing out Muskingum 45-14, Mary Hardin-Baylor rolling past McMurry 41-8 and Wheaton (Ill.) beating Hope 32-20 after jumping out to a 20-0 lead.

Widener's Adam Smith broke a tackle but had his helmet spun backward on his head in a win against Frostburg State. Photo by Lou Rabito, D3sports.com

No. 19 UW-La Crosse had little trouble with Division II Missouri Science and Technology, rolling to a 48-0 win. Trevor Patterson caught 11 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns as No. 13 Linfield beat NAIA Southern Oregon 37-21. No. 15 Central is the last unbeaten team remaining in the Iowa Conference, handling Coe 24-6. No. 16 UW-Stevens Point lost at Azusa Pacific, 23-7, while Franklin edged No. 22 Trine in a rematch of a key 2008 game.

Renard Ellis came down with an 11-yard touchdown catch from Adam Shaffer with 27 seconds left to lift Mississippi College past Hardin-Simmons 39-34. It ended an 11-year Choctaw losing streak to the Cowboys. Morrisville State outgained TCNJ, 519 yards to 486, but TCNJ converted. And converted. The Lions had a punt return and a fumble return for a touchdown while Chris James was 19-for-23 passing for 323 yards and four touchdowns in the 67-34 win. On the other end, UW-Stout "allowed" Eureka minus-59 yards rushing in a 40-6 win and Salisbury held St. John Fisher to minus-44 in winning 38-20. Louisiana College's surge was short-lived as the Wildcats fell to Huntingdon 24-21.

Alfred rolled past Springfield 49-28 in a battle of early-season unbeatens. Union passed up a potential game-winning field goal and scored a touchdown with 10 seconds left to get past Rochester 28-21. DePauw edged Sewanee 3-0 in wet conditions in Tennessee and without starting quarterback Spud Dick. Wittenberg continued its run of fine defense, shutting out Ohio Wesleyan 20-0. Susquehanna beat Hobart 20-10 to improve to 3-1. St. Scholastica won its first-ever conference game, rallying behind third-string quarterback Matt Bacon to beat Minnesota-Morris 22-16.

There are plenty of rivalry games, games centered around trophies, games centered around being in the same city or county or on the same river and the like.

But how many have a prime locale and a good cause going for them?

That's what the Courage Bowl has. The University of Rochester and St. John Fisher put on a show, not just for the fans, with a packed house and fireworks and all sorts of kid activities, but for the people the game supports. That's the critically ill boys and girls who attend Camp Good Days and Special Times, who participate alongside the teams in the weekend's festivities.

Keith McMillan was there and talks about the impact, both on the kids off the field and the young men on it, in this week's Around the Nation.

Although the Courage Bowl itself is only in its fifth year, the rivalry is a little older than that. And while every Division III fan knows (or should know, ahem) what the Cortaca Jug and Monon Bell are about, there are many, many other trophies and rivalries that Around the Nation has never really written about. In recognition of that, Keith McMillan's Ten Best list delves into the lesser-known trophies, from books to buckets, bowls to shoes.

That and more in this week's Around the Nation.

CLAREMONT, Calif. -- D3football.com spent a fair amount of time in SCIAC country this past weekend, with people in attendance at four games, including photo galleries. But while Linfield-Occidental was the game with the biggest national significance, a contest closer to the other end of the Division III spectrum was the most entertaining. That was the Lewis & Clark/Pomona-Pitzer game, which was won by Pomona-Pitzer 33-28 on its last possession of the game, three blocks away from a 14-6 game in which Claremont-Mudd-Scripps beat Puget Sound.

Pomona-Pitzer coach Roger Caron spoke with D3football.com executive editor Pat Coleman after the game. Before he could even ask a question, Caron offered the following observation:

RC: This was a fun game. This was Division III at its best. Two academic outfits going at it.

D3: Did you feel like you guys executed your offense well? This was a far better offensive performance than the game down the street.
RC: Jake (Caron, the quarterback) is our heart and soul. He was ill today. Usually we want to run the option, we're going to get him in the flank on play-action. Today he just stood in the pocket. He's really good about scrambling and finding people, we practice that all the time. I was really worried because with him ill, and Colin Regan, our best receiver, really not playing today … a place like this, we're one deep. But R.J. (Robert Maki) picked it up a notch and Jake played with some courage.

D3: There were some tense moments down the stretch for your defense, say, one linebacker in particular (he shouted something unprintable at an assistant coach from the field, easily heard by the crowd).
RC: Same thing, we had a couple guys sick. Our best inside backer tried to play but he had to come out, he was so sick. I think that flight back from Puget Sound, that airplane, I think a bunch of our guys picked something up. We were sluggish all week and not nearly as sharp as we were a week ago. Fortunately, we were able to hang in there.

D3: What's it like coaching Jake?
RC: It's kind of fun, coaching your own son, first of all. How many college coaches get to coach their son? And two, having him as quarterback is fun. He's a competitor, you know, we argue all the time, he's screaming at me, I'm screaming at him. It's a nice relationship. It's the way it's supposed to be. He doesn't get any favoritism, in fact, he gets chewed out a lot worse than anyone else, because you can never have that appearance of favoritism. But the kid's a major league player. He's a great player and he's done a great job – I'm more proud of him for what he's done in the classroom. A lot of people will say that's bull, but that's not bull – if you knew where he came from academically you would know what I was talking about. I'm very proud of him playing hard today because he was very sick.

D3: Does Jake get any extra freedom over the offense?
RC: Yeah, because he's a three-year starter, he's known the offense since he was a little kid. So when I say something and he says no, there's usually a reason he's saying no and well, I won't argue with him and we'll move on to the next play. Like today he felt so crappy that we'd wanted to do a lot of sprint-out because they like to bring inside linebacker pressure. I wanted to get him on the flank but he was just so ill that we couldn't do it. We were going to run a lot of option. We started the game running some option and had some nice plays but he said, 'I can't do that anymore.'

D3: And you took a year's sabbatical a few years ago and went out and coached him in high school, right?
RC: I coached him in high school. I coached him a little bit in Pop Warner. I coached him in Pop Warner because, no offense to the Pop Warner coaches but this big, tall talented kid, they didn't know what to do with him. Pop Warner coaches at times are old school and how many up-downs you can do is more important than learning how to play football.

D3: And you were doing that at the same time you were coaching here?
RC: Yeah. I think a parent should spend as much time with their kids as they can, and then when they go off, they go off and there's no regrets. A lot of parents look back and say, I wish I spent more time with my kids. I know I won't say that.

D3: Well, you've still got a year left, 16 more games or so.
RC: Yeah. It's just a pleasure working with him because he can just make all the plays. He's just a great kid.

D3: And he has a high school teammate who he seems to be connecting pretty well with still, it seems, Robert Maki.
RC: Yeah. He's a kid who went out to Connecticut with Jake for two years, to private school. I see him as my surrogate son. I've known him since he was 5.

D3: Right. Because his dad died while they were out there.
RC: His dad died, and I feel like R.J. can always come to me for anything. He's an amazing kid. He's small, he's not all that fast, but he just wins games. He's a funny kid. He wins games. He's an amazing kid. And Pomona, I think, is fortunate to have him. He is what I would like to think the school should be all about. Great kid, good student, does lots of stuff for the community, and if we had a hundred more R.J.s I think we'd win a lot more games.

D3: Going 2-0 is a pretty good start for you. What's the conference season look like for you guys?
RC: Well, we have Chapman coming up, and they're still non-conference. But I don't think they've been as good as they've been and we're a little better, so we expect to be competitive. But then it's Murderer's Row for us. We're running into teams, every team's got a hundred players. As you saw, we have about 45. That's when we start to struggle. But if we stay healthy, we've been really lucky and haven't lost a kid, if we can stay healthy, we can battle. We're razor-thin, if Jake goes down or R.J.

D3: I was impressed that Lewis and Clark's starting quarterback went down and they had somebody else.
RC: He's a player, he's a good kid. Good player in high school. I think that freshman is going to be a good player because he's quick. I think they're doing a good job at Lewis and Clark.

D3: Are you running across them recruiting more because Chris Sulages is a Southern California guy?
RC: Sometimes. The Pomona kid is a different kid. The Pomona kid is looking at Stanford, the Ivies. But we will with Pitzer. Lewis and Clark and Pitzer will be looking for the same kid, generally speaking.

D3: How does that work, recruiting to two different academic institutions?
RC: You're recruiting two different colleges.

D3: So do you look at a kid, and decide he's going to be a Pitzer guy or he's going to be a Pomona guy?
RC: You look at his GPA, the kind of classes he's taking, his SAT and his ACT, we've already made the decision.

D3: What's the difference?
RC: Pomona, we're looking at 2000 or better on the SAT, 30 or better on the ACT, better than a 4.0 with AP and honors classes.

D3: That's all.
RC: Yeah, that's all. There are a lot of kids like that. And Pitzer, we're looking at a 3.5, 1700 on the SATs, 25 ACT. Still a really good kid, but there's so few of the other kids, because if he's really good, obviously, he's going to the Ivies. If he's really, really good, he's going to Stanford.

D3: What's your breakdown on your roster between Pomona and Pitzer?
RC: Two-thirds Pomona, one-third Pitzer. Maybe not quite that wide, because Pomona's almost twice as big as Pitzer. That's how we have to break it down initially. And that's not hard and fast, but if someone said, make a general statement, that's what it would be. The kid's got 1600 on the SAT, great kid, 3.5, applying to Pomona is a waste of his time. So we struggle on.

From the battle of the quarterback draws to the battle of Top 25 teams, there were some telling results in the games between the SCIAC and the Northwest Conference this past week.

Pat Coleman went out to the coast and saw three of those games personally, splitting time between the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps/Puget Sound game and the just as evenly battled but significantly more entertaining Pomona-Pitzer/Lewis and Clark game before closing the night with Occidental-Linfield.

The Claremont and Pomona stadiums are so close together, at least three separate groups of Lewis & Clark fans stopped at the other game, thinking they had found the stadium.

After the game, Pat Coleman spoke with Pomona-Pitzer coach Roger Caron about a wide range of subjects, including recruiting players to two different schools at the same time, coaching his son, the quarterback and his team's 2-0 start.

When coaches and pundits spout their cliches about a young team, often it's centered around the concept of "learning how to win." But in real life, it's not that easily defined.

Take Ferrum, for example. The Panthers let a lead slip away with 14 seconds left in Week 1, then coughed up a 21-point lead on Saturday. So when Bridgewater (Va.) tied up Saturday's game with Ferrum in the fourth quarter, it was easy to think, here they go again.

Except they didn't. And Ryan Tipps was there to tell us how it went down in this week's Around the Mid-Atlantic.

In New England, it's time for the leaves to turn and the NESCAC to finally get on the field and play actual games. But meanwhile, the NEFC has gotten off to an interesting start, including Endicott, which held Mass Maritime star Nathan Sherr in check, sort of, in a 34-23 victory. Tom Haley runs the league's early action down in Around the Northeast.

So far, things haven't changed for Washington and Jefferson, which is making the transition from quarterback Bobby Swallow. Except that while prime target Craig Besong is still there, the Presidents are getting the ball to him somewhat differently. Matt Florjancic explains in Around the Great Lakes. And Around the South looks at the shakeups in both the ASC and the SCAC this past weekend.

That and more this week in Around the Region.

Each week during the regular season we look at some of the key statistical performances from the weekend in Division III football, highlighting one per region.

Charles Squitiere had a long touchdown return for the second week in a row for Delaware Valley, taking a missed Wesley field goal at the back of the end zone and returning it all the way for an Aggies touchdown in a 31-13 loss. NCAA records recognize only the 100 yards of the field, not end zone yardage, making it a record that cannot be broken. Last week Squitiere returned an interception 90 yards to seal a win against Kean.

With top receiver Colin Regan limited to one catch for five yards because of injury and the playbook limited by quarterback Jake Caron's illness, Pomona-Pitzer needed offense from somewhere and found it in Robert Maki. He caught 14 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns in the 33-28 win against Lewis and Clark.

Week 3: Scoreboard | Weekly ATN podcast | Photo galleries | Top 25

Matt DeGrand led Wooster in tackles (11, three solo) for the second time in as many games this season and for the 14th time over the team's last 17 games. He also returned an interception 82 yards for his first career touchdown, which all but clinched the win for Wooster as the Scots took a 37-13 lead late in the third quarter.

Mary Hardin-Baylor wide receiver Pi'Dadro Davis had a career-high seven receptions for 104 yards and the Cru's first touchdown in a win against Texas Lutheran. He played little more than two quarters of the game. The 100-yard receiving game was the fifth in the last two years for Davis in a program still more known for pounding the ball on the ground.

Mountains, cows, goats, Southern California traffic and a bunch of great football games -- that's what was on the itinerary for both Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman this weekend as they went out wandering Western New York and the Los Angeles area.

What did they see? What did they experience? When do they sleep? Alright, well, there's no answer to the last question, but others are addressed in this week's Around the Nation podcast.

Both go behind the scenes into the weekend, passing along stories that won't see print, for one reason or another. Plus, Keith is looking for reader feedback on this week's upcoming Around the Nation column.

Go to the podcast page and click the play button to listen. You can load the podcast page in iTunes or can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast

Scroll down for more Saturday coverage. Plus check out our weekend photo galleries, especially from the NWC-SCIAC weekend:
• No. 1 Mount Union at No. 7 Ohio Northern
• No. 5 Wesley at Delaware Valley
• No. 14 Linfield at No. 22 Occidental
• St. Olaf at No. 18 St. Thomas
• Pacific Lutheran at Cal Lutheran
• UW-River Falls at Northwestern (Minn.)
• Lewis and Clark at Pomona-Pitzer
• Puget Sound at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

The SCIAC won four head-to-head matchups against the Northwest Conference on Saturday afternoon. But the prime-time battle, the matchup of ranked teams, was a different story.

No. 14 Linfield came to life in the second half and rolled its way past No. 22 Occidental 31-27. Photo gallery.

The Wildcats stifled the Tigers' offense early on in the second half and took a 31-21 lead. Oxy answered with a quick touchdown but the PAT was blocked and the Tigers were offside on its onside kick. Linfield ran the clock out to win.

Earlier, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps beat Puget Sound Photo gallery, Pomona-Pitzer defeated Lewis and Clark Photo gallery, Cal Lutheran blew out Pacific Lutheran Photo gallery and Redlands won at Whitworth as the SCIAC built up a 4-0 advantage.

No. 1 Mount Union held No. 7 Ohio Northern to 80 yards of total offense and got enough of its own to pull away for a 30-10 victory. Ohio Northern went into the half tied at 10 with the Purple Raiders, thanks to an interception to set up a field goal and a kickoff returned for a touchdown. But that was all the Polar Bears scored. Mount Union allowed Ohio Northern's running game just 24 yards on 29 carries. Photo gallery.

No. 9 Cortland State opened NJAC play with a 24-14 win over Rowan, keeping the Profs scoreless in the second half. Brian Wiley tallied 15 tackles, three for loss, and Dan Pitcher threw two touchdowns for the Red Dragons. No. 15 Hardin-Simmons couldn't get its offense started without quarterback Justin Feaster and even though he came off the bench in the third quarter, he was ineffective as Louisiana College won 28-7.

There's plenty more so check out Saturday's scoreboard. In other finals No. 5 Wesley avoided another upset at Delaware Valley, easing past the Aggies 31-13. Delaware Valley outgained Wesley 341 yards to 338 but the Wolverines caused five turnovers. No. 25 Ithaca bounced back from last week's loss to Union in a big way, rolling past Widener 41-17. No. 22 Union couldn't build off that win and fell to Muhlenberg, 17-7. St. John Fisher turned the ball over three times in the fourth quarter but still held on to beat Rochester 35-33.

No. 6 St. John's survived its trip to Moorhead, beating No. 23 Concordia 31-17. No. 16 Central survived an early scare, beating Dubuque 41-27. No. 18 St. Thomas avenged last year's six-overtime loss, beating St. Olaf 27-16. Photo gallery. Thomas More held quarterback Brad Dawson to 206 yards passing in a 47-24 win against Waynesburg. In a game both teams needed badly, Christopher Newport gutted out a 27-21 win over Salisbury in triple overtime. Centre took a 34-7 lead on No. 20 DePauw and held on to win 34-20, while Millsaps survived an upset bid to beat Austin College 31-30. Ferrum held off Bridgewater (Va.) 37-34 in overtime in a USAC-ODAC matchup, while Greensboro did the same to Washington and Lee, 26-20.

Along with today's scores, don't forget to follow @d3football and @d3keith on Twitter for more updates from the big Division III football games of the day.

Lycoming defeated U.S. 15 rival Susquehanna 37-23 in what could be their last meeting for a while. Susquehanna moves to the Centennial Conference next season and will only have one non-conference game. Joe Albano blocked a Utica field goal attempt with 16 seconds left to preserve RPI's victory over the Pioneers, 17-14.

We at D3football.com know a little bit about doing a full-time job for part-time pay. But there aren't many Division III football head coaches who are still doing the same.

That's why it's fairly impressive what Curry has been able to accomplish in recent years. Skip Bandini is a part-time Curry employee and has a full-time day job in a local public school system.

Keith McMillan gets the lowdown on the challenges facing Curry, Plymouth State and other schools in its conference, the NEFC, in this week's Around the Nation.

Plus, it's been a decade of D3football.com, and Around the Nation is celebrating that anniversary all season with top 10 lists. This week, a rundown of the top 10 least enviable positions in Division III football in the D3football.com era. Don't forget to read and weigh in.

Each week during the regular season we look at some of the key statistical performances from the weekend in Division III football, highlighting one per region.

UW-Platteville cornerback Quincy Hudson had two interceptions and made five solo stops during a 28-20 victory at Dubuque. Hudson's first pick came in the end zone, helping preserve a 7-0 Pioneer lead. He also sealed the game with his second interception, making the theft at the Platteville 45 and returning it 38 yards with 21 seconds remaining. It was the third multi-interception game of Hudson's career.

Week 2: Scoreboard | Weekly ATN podcast | Photo galleries | Top 25

Defensive end Matt Cassilly helped lead Washington and Lee to a 31-13 win against Sewanee on Saturday by totaling four tackles, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and a sack. Cassilly returned his first interception seven yards, returned his fumble recovery 15 yards to set up the second score of the game and then scored from 37 yards out on his second interception. For the season, Cassilly has eight tackles, two sacks, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

Justin Horning had 10 catches for 207 yards, including two big catches on the game-winning drive, one the go-ahead score with 1:41 left in Widener's 22-17 victory at Curry. He had a 46-yard reception that went down to the 2-yard line and caught a 4-yard pass for the decider. He is the first wide receiver for Widener to have at least 200 yards receiving since future NFL draftee Michael Coleman did it against Juniata on Nov. 3, 2001.

Sophomore linebacker J.D. East helped lead Wheaton to a 29-26 victory at Bethel in the season opener for the Thunder, recording eight total tackles, including seven solo stops. Among his eight tackles were three tackles for lost yardage of minus-12 yards, including a sack. East also tallied and interception and recovered a fumble.

Scroll down for the weekly ATN podcast and check out more weekend coverage.

While the SCAC may not be ready for a wholesale changing of the guard, DePauw started off on the right foot and Austin College's running game is starting to jell. The Kangaroos have won six of their last eight games and last week shut down the vaunted McMurry Air Raid offense by dominating the time of possession. Jason Bowen has more in this week's Around the South.

For Rodney Beasley, it's a different kind of lining up. Because he's a former member of the Army's 82nd Airborne, returned to the USA after three tours in Iraq. The things he's been through pale in comparison to staring down 11 players in helmets and pads on kick returns for Greensboro. He talks about his experiences with Ryan Tipps in this week's Around the Mid-Atlantic.

Through two weeks it's hard to really know for sure who's back, which former contenders will return to that status in 2009. In hopes of finding out, Around the Region visits with Linfield and St. Norbert this week. In Around the West, Adam Johnson focuses on Linfield's big win against Hardin-Simmons and the change in fortunes for quarterback Boehme that got the Wildcats there. And in Around the Midwest, Clyde Hughes finds St. Norbert isn't ready to give up the underdog label in the Midwest Conference.

And one of the big upsets of the week is still reverberating through the East, after Ithaca's loss at the hands of Union. Adam Samrov talks to both sides in Around the East.

That and more in this week's Around the Region columns.

Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get ... well, the shaft. But this Saturday, both Keith McMillan and Pat Coleman got great finishes from the games they went to see.

Keith was in Massachusetts, where Widener stuffed Curry twice on the goal line to hold on for a 22-17 win. And Pat was a lot closer to home, at St. John's where the Johnnies held on two UW-Eau Claire shots from the 9-yard line in a 35-27 win. We get their reaction, plus reaction from the Widener coach and a St. John's player after a pair of unusual occurrences at each game. That and more in this week's Around the Nation podcast.

And that's not to discount big upsets and thrilling finishes elsewhere, where Wheaton won on a final-play touchdown, Union pulled off an opening upset, Linfield got back on the map and more. Are this year's early Top 25 rankings particularly volatile? Have some teams scheduled themselves out of -- or into -- a chance at a deep postseason run? .

Go to the podcast page and click the play button to listen. You can load the podcast page in iTunes or can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast

Scroll down for more Saturday coverage. Plus check out our weekend photo galleries:
• No. 5 Wheaton at Bethel
• No. 8 Ithaca at Union
• UW-Eau Claire at No. 11 St. John's
• No. 14 Monmouth at Lawrence
• Coe at Gustavus Adolphus
• Cornell at Carleton

Finlandia, a Division III school in the upper peninsula of Michigan, is adding football in 2012, D3sports.com has learned.

The school, which was known for many years as Suomi College, has 464 full-time undergraduates as of its last report to the U.S. Department of Education, but could boost that significantly with one class of football players.

"A school that starts football tends to bring out between 80 and 120 freshmen for the first year," D3sports.com executive editor Pat Coleman recently told the Associated Press. "You have to look at the bottom line, in Division III, everybody's paying tuition -- they're getting whatever they're getting in financial aid, but the school isn't giving scholarships. So that money goes to the bottom line.

"A lot of kids who play that first year don't play all four years. Usually that graduating class that comes in at 120 ends up at about 20-25. But a lot of the kids stay at the school."

Boosting enrollment is the driver behind a plan the school recently announced with the city of Hancock, Mich., where Finlandia will offer free tuition for the next 12 years to admitted graduates of Hancock Central High School in exchange for city school facilities, most notably a former middle school building.

"As part of this whole process we have two strategic priorities for the institution," said Finlandia's athletic director, Chris Salani. "First is the conversion of the middle school to college of health sciences building, and second is use of the athletic fields.

"Football is actually going to be a capstone program for us over the next three years."

The school plans to hire a coach early in 2011 in order to prepare to take the field with a varsity program in 2012.

Finlandia is geographically isolated from other Division III institutions. The closest school with football is St. Scholastica, in Duluth, Minn., a four-hour drive or 217 miles. St. Norbert is 220 miles, UW-Stevens Point is 221 miles, Lawrence is 241 miles and UW-Oshkosh is 261. The school is an independent in most sports but hopes football will help it gain conference affiliation.

"We've identified two viable options from a Finlandia standpoint, one being the UMAC and the other being the Northern Athletics Conference," Salani told D3sports.com. "We have approached both entities previously on the idea of affiliation and throughout that process either the timing wasn't correct or the programming correct for either entity."

The school already meets future Division III standards for sports sponsorship, which is 10 varsity sports for schools with fewer than 1,000 full-time students, or 12 for larger schools. But football isn't the only sport on the docket. Finlandia is adding women's tennis and golf, reviving its suspended nordic skiing program and looking at men's volleyball and wrestling.

"We have schools where there's a recruiting pool available," Salani said in referencing wrestling. "Perhaps we would be a niche program in the area, plus that may give us another conference affiliation opportunity.

Like at many Division III schools, "athletics programs are being supported to help drive enrollment," Salani said. "At the end of this process, roughly 35, possibly 40 percent of 800 students will be student-athletes."

The East Region map was rearranged by a slew of upsets, but none bigger than what the Union Dutchmen pulled off in their season opener on Saturday afternoon.

Chris Coney ran for 155 yards, including a touchdown with 17 seconds left to help lift Union over No. 8 Ithaca 24-21. Photo gallery. The Bombers had rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdowns before the Dutchmen got the last laugh. Week 2 scores.

Week 2 Toolbox: Around the Nation | Triple Take | This week's scores

Linfield opened its 2009 season with a statement victory, as Aaron Boehme threw for 335 yards and three touchdowns and the Wildcats' defense held No. 4 Hardin-Simmons off the scoreboard for 35 minutes in a 37-22 win. Cowboys quarterback Justin Feaster left the game in the third quarter with an injury and did not return.

Dickinson thoroughly handled No. 17 Hobart in the Statesmen's opener, improving to 2-0 with a 26-3 win behind Gregory Lord's 117 yards on 14 carries. Wilkes walloped No. 18 Montclair State 37-10 by forcing five turnovers.

No. 25 Central (2-0) finished a touchdown drive with 1:05 left to knock off No. 7 UW-Stevens Point in the Pointers' opener, winning 22-21. Highlights below:



No. 11 St. John's blocked a game-tying extra-point attempt with 1:39 left, then scored an easy TD with 54.5 seconds left but still had to hold on to knock off UW-Eau Claire 35-27. Photo gallery. The Blugolds missed on two shots from the 9-yard line in the closing seconds. No. 5 Wheaton (Ill.) escaped Bethel with a 29-26 victory, scoring on the last play of the game. Photo gallery. Division I non-scholarship Butler had little trouble with Franklin, beating the Grizzlies 49-19.

Freshman Chris Haupt threw a 4-yard touchdown to Justin Horning with 1:41 left, but Widener needed every last second and inch to hold on, stuffing two Curry runs from the 1-yard line, the last as time ran out in a 22-17 road victory. RPI opened its new stadium in style with an easy 28-0 win against Endicott. Hampden-Sydney and Gettysburg didn't disappoint in a predicted shootout as the Tigers edged the Bullets 46-43 in overtime, but Carthage beat Hope 26-19 after the two combined for 116 points in last season's meeting.

Tommy Secky hit Ryan Thon with 27 seconds left in the game to lift Alfred past FDU-Florham 33-28. Trinity (Texas) needed a last-second field goal to beat Texas Lutheran 22-21. Hartwick scored twice in the final two and a half-minutes to rally and beat Salve Regina 28-27. And for the second week in a row Lebanon Valley nearly coughed up a big lead, but held on to beat Ursinus 27-20. Austin College rolled up 528 yards of total offense and emerged on top after a wild fourth quarter, beating McMurry 30-27. Chicago topped Kenyon 37-36 in double overtime after blowing an 18-point third quarter lead. Freshman Brian Widing completed five of nine passes for 164 yards, including an 86-yard scoring strike to Scott Schoettgen as Willamette held off California Lutheran 20-13.

In Division III, there seems to be two general classifications of top coaches: those who are just passing through on their way someone else, and the lifers.

Keith McMillan saw one of the lifers this past weekend in New Jersey, and another who got sucked back into coaching after nearly a decade as an athletic director. Why are they still here? TCNJ's Eric Hamilton and Buffalo State's Jerry Boyes explain, as does Gettysburg's Barry Streeter.

Plus, it's been a decade of D3football.com, and Around the Nation is celebrating that anniversary all season with top 10 lists. This week, a rundown of the top 10 most significant changes to the game in the D3football.com era. Don't forget to read and weigh in on next week's topic. And the way we cover the game has changed significantly in just the past year. Keith covered last week's TCNJ-Buffalo State game in ways not possible 12 months ago and tells us how. That and more in this week's Around the Nation.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Scoutware has signed on as a presenting sponsor of the D3football.com Team of the Week and D3hoops.com Team of the Week.

The awards, D3football.com's and D3hoops.com's weekly honor roll, have been awarded since 1999 and 1997, respectively. They recognize the top player at each position each week, based on nominations by Sports Information Directors and coaches.

"While most conference weekly awards go to quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and linebackers who pile up gaudy stats, the Team of the Week recognizes all 22 positions as well as special teams performers," said Pat Coleman, executive editor of D3sports.com. "That's always been our goal, with any All-American team or Team of the Week: name a team that could go on the field or court and perform as is."

Scoutware is a relationship management tool that coaches and administrators at more than 230 universities, including many Division III schools, use to successfully recruit athletes, raise money, sell tickets, foster support in both local and corporate communities, and demonstrate compliance within the guidelines of the NCAA. More information about Scoutware can be found at http://www.scoutware.com.

The first Team of the Week of the 2009 football season was released on Wednesday.

When Joe Cook was serving in Iraq, he often asked himself, "If I didn't do this, what would I be doing?"

The answer that came to him was simple: playing football. And this past weekend that happened for the first time, as he took the field for Oberlin in a game at Washington and Jefferson.

"With a military background, you appreciate everything a lot more, just being afforded the opportunity to play."

What Cook did in the Marines, how Cook's parents reacted to the trade-off of dress blues for road whites and how boot camp prepared him for football in this week's Around the Great Lakes, by Matt Florjancic.

A pair of Division III coaches went through an offseason regimen of a different kind. Salisbury coach Sherman Wood and Bridgewater (Va.) assistant head coach Stephon Healey took part in a diversity program, the NCAA's Expert Coaches Football Academy, for minority coaches. That's because there's a lot more to being a head coach than knowing your X's and O's. More about the program, including a recommendation for current coaches, in Ryan Tipps' Around the Mid-Atlantic column.

It's only one game, but it looks like Franklin got some of its questions answered. Clyde Hughes talks to the Grizzlies in Around the Midwest. And Willamette might have some questions of its own, but Concordia-Moorhead showed it could put last year's struggles behind them. Adam Johnson was there and has more in Around the West.

Division III's two newest programs met each other in their programs' mutual debut, and they put on a show. Tom Haley was there and has the story in Around the Northeast. That and more in this week's Around the Region columns.

What can we learn from last week's openers?

That's a great question. It's a week in which a bunch of ranked teams didn't play, two highly ranked ones got knocked off, and in addition, coaches had all offseason to prepare for this game if they chose to.

So forgive Pat Coleman and Keith McMillan if they're not jumping to conclusions right away.

What does this mean for 2009? Listen to the Around the Nation podcast to find out Pat and Keith's take.

Go to the podcast page and click the play button to listen. You can load the podcast page in iTunes or can also get this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast

Scroll down for more Saturday coverage. Plus check out our weekend photo galleries:
• No. 4 North Central at Ohio Northern
• No. 8 Willamette at Concordia-Moorhead
• No. 20 St. Thomas at Macalester
• No. 22 Occidental at Menlo
• Johns Hopkins at Delaware Valley
• Crown at Augsburg
• Luther at St. Olaf
• Maranatha Baptist at Martin Luther

Scroll down for more coverage from the weekend's games.

Each week during the regular season we look at some of the key statistical performances from the weekend in Division III football, highlighting one per region.

Leon Clark got his chance to be the featured back for St. Olaf and made the most of it, rushing for 197 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries to help lead the Oles to a 33-13 win against Luther. He also caught a 21-yard touchdown pass. Clark had just 10 carries in 2008, but two of them came on back-to-back plays for 80 yards and a touchdown against Carleton. "A credit to Leon, he knew that the team was bigger than he, so he ended up moving to wide receiver," coach Jerry Olszewski said after the game. "The plan all along was to move him back in the backfield. We even had some plays last year that featured him in the backfield, doing some Wildcat stuff."

Lebanon Valley scored on its first six possessions of the game to roll up a 41-14 lead at halftime. But Gettysburg ran 63 plays to Leb Val's 33 in the second half, including touchdown drives of 13, 12 and 15 plays to cut the lead to 47-42 before Lebanon Valley recovered an onside kick with 1:48 left to seal the game. The teams combined for 964 yards of total offense, while Gettysburg completed 31 of 56 passes in the losing cause.

Week 1: Scoreboard | Weekly ATN podcast | Photo galleries | Top 25

Greenville's defense held Washington U. to 167 total yards on 51 plays in a 17-7 victory, the first for the program over the Bears. Wash U had the ball for just 20:35 of game clock and recorded just five first downs on the night. Randy Mixson, a transfer from Concordia (Ill.), led the Panthers at linebacker with seven tackles, all solo, including two for loss. Four of the tackles were on third down and forced punts.

Kevin Gerhart finished with a game-high 15 tackles and had an interception which set up the game-winning touchdown in a 14-12 win against Muhlenberg. Gerhart picked off a pass from Justin Kreamer at the Muhlenberg 43-yard line and ran it back to the 28, one play before the final touchdown. "Myself, Corey Gilroy and Darnell Corbin have all been here a while and coach (Frank Sheptock) pulled us aside and said we are the play-makers on this team. We took it personally and went out there and tried to make something happen," Gerhart said.

Scroll down for the weekly ATN podcast and check out more weekend coverage.

A new Division III football season brought new results as two teams upset Top 10 opponents.

Concordia-Moorhead built a 17-point halftime lead and withstood a fourth quarter rally by No. 8 Willamette to upset the Bearcats 24-17. Brandon Whitman's rushing touchdown pulled Willamette within seven but the Cobbers ran down the clock and left the Bearcats only with enough time for two plays. Photo gallery.

Meanwhile, No. 4 North Central punted the ball away trailing 28-19 with seven minutes left and Ohio Northern ran out the entire clock, sealing the Polar Bears' upset of the No. 4 Cardinals as the 2009 Division III football season got underway in full force. The Polar Bears picked off preseason All-American quarterback Aaron Fanthorpe three times, twice converting them into touchdowns. Photo gallery. Saturday's scores.

Week 1 toolbox: Schedule, scores | Audio, video, stat links | Triple Take

This just in -- Mount Union is still good. Kurt Rocco threw three touchdown passes, all to Cecil Shorts, as the No. 1 Purple Raiders rolled past St. John Fisher 52-10. Similarly, No. 2 UW-Whitewater had little trouble with Dickinson State, a team ranked in the NAIA preseason coaches poll. Jeff Donovan completed 23 of 32 passes for 349 yards and two touchdowns in the Warhawks' 38-3 victory. Two Franklin quarterbacks combined to go 31-for-43 for 239 yards as the No. 19 Grizzlies defeated Baldwin-Wallace 38-31.

Zach Debeltz had a 74-yard punt return for a touchdown and intercepted two passes for Concordia-Moorhead. Photo by Scott Pierson, D3sports.com

Jeremy Gezella caught an 8-yard touchdown pass as time expired to tie the game in regulation and St. Norbert went on to knock off No. 17 Wartburg in overtime 42-35. Mississippi College outlasted archrival Millsaps 47-44 in double overtime. Wade Begley picked off a pass at the 1-yard line to seal a Thomas More win, 14-7, at John Carroll. Otterbein needed 21 fourth-quarter points to win at Bethany, 28-7. Wilkes surprised defending Centennial Conference champion Muhlenberg 14-12 as the MAC teams went 5-0. One of those was Lebanon Valley, which took a 41-14 lead at the half but had to hold on to win 47-42 as Gettysburg roared back.

No. 9 Wesley handled No. 20 Christopher Newport and Tunde Ogun, holding the All-American running back to 8 yards on 12 carries en route to a 34-0 win. UW-River Falls jumped out to a 17-0 lead on St. John's before the Johnnies cut it to 17-14 at the half and eventually came back to win 28-24. No. 5 Hardin-Simmons erased a first half deficit against Whitworth and notched a 48-31 victory, holding the Pirates' Adam Anderson to 74 yards on 19 carries.

Plymouth State and Division II St. Anselm needed five overtimes to settle things before the Panthers fell 41-35. After a game which had 10 lead changes and five touchdowns in the final 6:23, Waynesburg ended up on top, beating Wooster 42-39. Freshman Corey Brown came up big in his collegiate debut, picking off a pass with 1:04 left to preserve Western New England's 28-27 win against Norwich. Greenville beat Wash U for the first time in school history, picking off three passes in a 17-7 victory. Preseason All-American Mike Zweifel caught nine passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns in his family's Dubuque debut, a 60-7 win against Rockford. Hal Mumme's Air Raid offense helped McMurry nearly pick off Trinity (Texas) in a 31-26 loss.

And newcomer Castleton State got off on the right foot, in front of a home crowd of 4,000 as the program made its debut with a 42-28 win against fellow newcomer Anna Maria.

If you're not a fan of Mount Union or UW-Whitewater, it hasn't been a very fun past few years in Division III football.

Here's the worse news: It isn't likely to be any better in 2009.

There's one thing you can count on in Around the Nation: Keith McMillan will never sugar-coat it for you. We're here to tell it like it is, and our lead weekly column leads the charge.

So maybe, just maybe, everyone is playing for No. 3 or No. 4 once again this season. But that's OK. More in this week's Around the Nation.

Preseason toolbox: Top 25 poll | All-Americans | Kickoff | Week 1 schedule

Games kicked off Thursday night, with three games going, and more coming on Friday. Check the Scoreboard for updates, as well as links to audio and live stats, when they're available.

On Thursday night, Manchester hit on two big plays to take a 14-0 first-quarter lead, but Trine rallied despite 13-for-31 passing from quarterback Eric Watt and won 16-14 on a 27-yard Jeremy Howard field goal with 4:36 left.

A new postseason All-Star game for Division III football seniors will take the place of the Aztec Bowl this winter.

The Tazon de Estrellas (Bowl of Stars) will become the new postseason outlet for seniors, built along the same model -- a Division III all-star team taking on a Mexican team. The game takes place Dec. 19 at the Tec Monterrey Campus' Estado de Mexico, about an hour outside Mexico City. The game remains the same date as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, meaning players from the two teams competing for Division III's championship would not be eligible to participate.

The Mexican opponent is expected to be more organized than in previous seasons, representing a group of universities that have split away from the primary Mexican collegiate football federation. Tec Monterrey is the premier private university system in Mexico, with campuses in numerous locations around the country. Tec teams have captured eight of the past 10 Liga Major football national championships.

“We are looking for young men who are not only outstanding players, but outstanding people as well,” said Patrick Steenberge, president of Global Football, which is running the operation. “They will be representing their school, their country and our game on an international stage.”

The AFCA voted not to support a postseason game for Division III in Mexico this season, which means players will have to fund their own trip at a cost of $1,495. A passport will be required to make the trip.

Bill Manlove, former coach at Widener, will continue to coach the team, along with assistant coaches who are current Division III head coaches.

Nominations are due from coaches on Oct. 1.

Our weekly cycle of columnists begins this week at D3football.com as we get ready for a prime slate of Week 1 games this weekend.

If you're new to D3football.com, we have a slate of regional columns that are published early in the week called, appropriately enough, Around the Region. Our first weekly column focuses on this season's games to watch, including some great games kicking off the season this Saturday.

There's something new on the site every day during the season.

Preseason toolbox: Top 25 poll | All-Americans | Kickoff | Week 1 schedule

Here's how it runs down:
• Saturday: game day coverage, updated all afternoon and evening.
• Sunday: New D3football.com Top 25.
• Monday: Around the Nation podcast and Statistical Spotlight, a weekly look at the week's top performers.
• Tuesday-Wednesday: Around the Region columns.
• Thursday: Keith McMillan's Around the Nation column.
• Friday: Triple-Take blog and game day preview.

So check back every day. Plus, follow @d3football on Twitter for the first word on new columns and features, as well as tidbits from the big games on game day.