2016 Division 3 Football Playoff Bracket Announced
The 2016 Division 3 Football Playoff Bracket has been announced and there are some surprises. The field of 32 will begin playing on Saturday, November 19 with 16 games and it will conclude on Friday, December 16 with the Stagg Bowl. The entire bracket can be found here via D3Football.com.
We mentioned surprises and the biggest two are Mount Union going on the road right to Hobart as well as the two Texas teams (Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons) NOT meeting in the first round. That means the NCAA will be paying for three flights (Huntingdon will also be going on the road) in the Mary Hardin-Baylor region because of the 500 mile rule. The latter is a very pleasant surprise.
There were also 3 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams to make the field with Whitewater, Oshkosh, and Platteville. John Carroll, the upset winners over Mount Union, were awarded with one of the top seeds in the tournament and will face Olivet at home to start the playoffs.
The 32 teams are comprised of 25 conference winners and 7 at-large teams. The conference winners are listed below with the conference on the left and winner on the right.
|
Centennial |
Johns Hopkins |
|
CCIW |
North Central |
|
ECFC |
Husson |
|
E8 |
Alfred |
|
HCAC |
Rose-Hulman |
|
IIAC |
Coe |
|
LL |
Hobart |
|
MASCAC |
Bridgewater State |
|
MIAA |
Olivet |
|
MAC |
Stevenson |
|
MWC |
Monmouth |
|
MIAC |
St. Thomas |
|
NEFC |
Western New England |
|
NJAC |
Wesley |
|
NCAC |
Wittenberg |
|
NACC |
Lakeland |
|
NWC |
Linfield |
|
OAC |
John Carroll |
|
ODAC |
Randolph-Macon |
|
PAC |
Thomas More |
|
SAA |
Washington U. |
|
SCIAC |
Redlands |
|
UMAC |
Northwestern (Minn.) |
|
USAC |
Huntingdon |
|
WIAC |
UW-Whitewater |
The 7 at-large teams were Mary Hardin-Baylor (Pool B), Mount Union (Pool C), Wisconsin-Oshkosh (Pool C), Wisconsin-Platteville (Pool C), Wheaton (IL) (Pool C), St. John’s (MN) (Pool C), and Hardin-Simmons (Pool C).
Below are the matchups for the entire bracket and they are broken down by each region. The top team in each quadrant will be used for each region.
Mary Hardin-Baylor Region
Redlands (8-1) at Mary Hardin-Baylor (10-0)
Linfield (8-1) at Hardin-Simmons (9-1)
Huntingdon (9-1) at Wheaton (IL) (9-1)
Rose-Hulman (8-2) at North Central College (10-0)
Alfred Region
Bridgewater State (8-2) at Alfred (10-0)
Husson (9-1) at Western New England (10-0)
Mount Union (9-1) at Hobart (9-1)
Randolph-Macon (9-1) at Johns Hopkins (10-0)
St. Thomas (MN) Region
Northwestern (MN) (9-1) at St. Thomas (MN) (10-0)
Monmouth (IL) (10-0) at Coe (9-1)
Wisconsin-Platteville (8-2) at St. John’s (MN) (9-1)
Washington University (8-2) at Wisconsin-Oshkosh (9-1)
John Carroll Region
Olivet (9-1) at John Carroll (9-1)
Stevenson (9-1) at Wesley (8-2)
Wittenberg (9-1) at Thomas More (9-1)
Lakeland (7-3) at Wisconsin-Whitewater (10-0)
Predictions for each of the Round 1 games can be found here. In 2015, we went 26-5 with our playoff predictions.