The Road to Salem: DIII Football National Championship Tournament is Underway

The Division III NCAA Football Championship playoffs are underway and are currently in the quarterfinals round which will take place on Saturday, December 5.

There are eight teams left to play each other. The first match-up, on December 5 will be Wesley @ Mount Union with kickoff scheduled for 12:00 pm Eastern Time.

In the first round, Wesley had a dominant win of 42-22 against Framingham St.; however, in the second round they had a close win against Johns Hopkins beating them 42-37. Both teams came into that game evenly matched with records of 11-1 each. The game consisted of a lot of scoring. Both teams were tied at the end of the first with a score of 7-7. In the second, Wesley put up 14 more points while Johns Hopkins only put up three making the score 21-10 at the half. In the third, Wesley put up 14 points while Johns Hopkins put up seven; however, Johns Hopkins made a small comeback in the fourth by scoring 20 points and only allowing Wesley to score 7, but it was not enough for the win. Wesley ended the game with 691 total yards of offense compared to Johns Hopkins’ 472 total yards.

On the other hand, Mount Union is coming off two dominant wins. In the first round, Mount Union beat St. Lawrence 55-23 and in the second round they had an even bigger deficit win against Albright, beating them 66-7. Mount Union wasted no time in that game scoring by putting up 21 points in the first quarter, 14 points in the second, 17 in the third and 14 in the fourth; Albright’s only touchdown of the game came in the second quarter. Mount Union finished the game with 634 yards of total offense compared to St. Lawrence’s 172 total yards.

Mount Union is undefeated this season. They are known for their very successful football program that consists of 11 total DIII National Championships with their most recent being in 2012. Wesley has no national championships. Currently NCAA.com has an 86% chance of Mount Union winning this game.

At 1:00 pm Eastern Time on December 5, Wabash will take on St. Thomas in Minnesota. Both teams are 12-0.

Wabash won their first round game against Albion by a score of 35-14. In the second round, they had a fairly close win beating Thomas More 33-27. Wabash scored 13 in the first half while Thomas More had 27 by the end of the first. Although Thomas More went into the second half with the momentum of a decent lead Wabash did not let them score again in the game. Wabash put up three points in the third and 11 in the fourth, which brought the game to a tie and sent it to overtime. Wabash won the game in dramatic fashion by recovering a fumble, caused by a sack on Thomas More’s quarterback Brenan Kuntz, and returning it 74-yards for the game-winning touchdown.

St. Thomas has won both their playoff games by respectable margins. They beat La Verne in the first round by a score of 57-14 and they are coming off a 38-19 win against St. John’s (Minn.). In that game St. Thomas was able to consistently put up points throughout the game, which lead to their victory. St. Thomas led throughout the whole game, by the end of the first half they lead by a score of 29-7. In the third, they put up 2 points via safety, while they held St. Johns to no points in the third and although St. Johns was able to score 12 points in the fourth it was not enough. St. Thomas put up one last touchdown, which sealed the deal.

St. Thomas and Wabash both have no national championships, but on December 5 they will be fighting for the chance to play for one as they take each other on. Currently NCAA.com has a 52 percent chance that Wabash will win this game.

Also at 1:00 pm Eastern Time on Saturday, December 5 defending national champions UW-Whitewater will be taking on their in state rival UW Oshkosh at J.J. Keller Field in Oshkosh. Both teams are 11-1.

Both teams are coming off dominant wins in their first two rounds. UW-Whitewater won their first playoff game 48-0 against St. Norbert College and in the second round they beat Wheaton (Ill.) by a score of 31-17. In that game, UW-Whitewater did all of their damage in the first half. Both teams scored only one touchdown in the first quarter, in the second Whitewater put up 24 while they held Wheaton to seven. Although, UW-Whitewater did not score for the rest of the game their defense was able to hold Wheaton to only 3 points in the whole second half.

UW Oshkosh shutout St. Scholastica 48-0 in their first round game, and in the second round Oshkosh won by another impressive margin beating Ohio Northern University 42-7. That game was tied by the end of the first at 7-7; however, the Titans found their groove and never looked back. The Titans scored 14 points in the second quarter, 14 in the third and 7 in the fourth. The Titans ended the game with 400 total yards of offense compared to Ohio Northern’s 286 total yards.

UW-Whitewater is very well known for their successful football program that consists of 6 national championships, all of them coming in the last 8 years. They have won the national title two years in a row now. Oshkosh has no national championships. When these two teams met in the regular season Oshkosh won by a score of 10-7 in a game that was played in Oshkosh, just like the game on December 5. Currently NCAA.com has a 54% chance that UW-Whitewater wins this game.

The final game on Saturday, December 5 at 3:00 pm Eastern Time is between 11-1 M. Hardin-Baylor @ 11-0 Linfield (Oregon).

Linfield is coming off two solid wins as they beat Whitworth in the first round by a score of 48-10. In the second round, Linfield beat SUNY Cortland by a score of 38-22 in a game that was fairly close until the second half. By the end of the first, Linfield lead 14-10. However, in the third quarter Linfield put up 14 points and held SUNY Cortland to 0. In the fourth, SUNY Cortland was able to put up 12 points, but the 14 points that Linfield put up was enough to seal the deal.

On the other hand, M. Hardin-Baylor has won both their playoff games by respectable margins as well. In the first round, they beat Hardin-Simmons by a score of 37-19. In the second round they beat Huntingdon 41-23 in a game where M. Hardin-Baylor was dominant throughout all four quarters. In the first quarter M. Hardin-Baylor put up 14 while they held Huntingdon to 7, in the second M. Hardin-Baylor put up 12 more points while Huntingdon put up nine making the score 26-16 at the half. In the second half of the game M. Hardin-Baylor was able to put up 17 more points and hold Huntingdon to seven points, which brought the final score to 43-23.

Linfield has one national championship from 2004, while M. Hardin-Baylor has no national titles. NCAA.com has a 56% chance that Linfield will win this game.

After these quarterfinals games, are played the tournament will move on to the semifinals round, which will be played on December 12, and then finally the national championship game which will be in Salem, Virginia on December 18. The complete playoff bracket can be found here.