Mount Union, pictured above winning the 2015 Stagg Bowl, will have a new hurdle in 2016: Starting the playoffs on the road. (AP Photo).
Mount Union, pictured above winning the 2015 Stagg Bowl, will have a new hurdle in 2016: Starting the playoffs on the road. (AP Photo).

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.

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