If you're not at the game, trying to keep warm, listening at home is the next best bet. D3sports.com file photo

Here we are in the midst of the playoffs, the games we wait all season for and compete with an eye towards.

Yet for one reason or another, be it holiday engagements, personal plans or loss of interest because your particular team is finished, we sometimes don’t get to see in person the games that end up being the season’s best.

If you’re stuck at home, like I was last weekend, there is hope for the Division III football junkie. And I do mean junkie, because you have to be pretty darn addicted to do what I did last weekend: listen to all eight playoff games via webcast.

Now, it’s not as nerdy as it may seem. I was planted at home because my wife is about to have a baby, and being hundreds of miles from home was out of the question for her. I’m sure you all get stuck at home for legitimate reasons as well.

In this age of broadband and DSL, making your computer act like a radio station with perfect reception is actually rather easy. The links are right there on the site’s scoreboard page and are accessible through other game day links, but even I’d hardly ever done it because I’m usually at a game of some sort.

So last Saturday afternoon comes, and it’s shortly after kickoff before I make my way to the computer. Five of the day’s eight playoff games are going at once.

What’s more tempting early, Christopher Newport at Washington & Jefferson or Carthage at Wooster? Hmm.

I decided on Mount Union and Wheaton first, because I figured it might already be on its way out of hand, and I could narrow my focus to the other four games.

I tune into the Purple Raiders’ student broadcast, but it isn’t bad. And neither is the game. It’s 6-6 and Wheaton’s driving. Before long, I found out the Thunder had controlled the ball early, going on 17- and 15-play drives, but getting only field goals out of each.

That’s trouble, I thought.

In seconds, my net connection could take me to the other side of Canton, where Carthage and Wooster are playing, but I’m compelled to see what’s happening at W&J next.

And surprise, surprise, underdog Christopher Newport was leading 14-7.

Crap. I’ve already found two games I want to follow, and I haven’t even checked in on the other three.

Okay, let’s sweep the nation, I figure.

Delaware Valley leads St. John Fisher just 12-6, despite the fact that D3football.com’s own Pat Cummings and Gordon Mann are telling me the Aggies have been inside the 20 five times in the first half. Sheesh.

Rowan leads 24-7, and while I’m listening, goes on a 4-play, 70-yard drive that makes it 31-7. That’s the game I was supposed to be working, sitting outside of Rowan’s small press box broadcast with Pat Coleman. Boy, this computer room/baby nursery sure is feeling cozy.

At least I can tune that game out. Maybe Carthage-Wheaton will be a blowout, and I can focus on the three close games.

No such luck. It sounded like it was 14-0 Carthage, or maybe it had been when I checked earlier for a brief second. Before I knew it, Wooster was heading for halftime trailing by seven.

Now, nothing is better than being at a game, except maybe playing in one. As Jeff Strauch scores to make it 13-6 Mount Union, I’m staring at four simultaneous close games heading into halftime.

And isn’t it about time for that game in Texas to kick off?

I didn’t really listen to all eight games. I couldn’t find the Hardin-Simmons/Mary Hardin-Baylor broadcast, much like the rest of you trying to listen. I kept ending up at some page at TSRN.com that was touting the Sam Houston State game. Uh, no thanks.

I never got into the Concordia-Moorhead/Occidental game either, because it kept saying the server was too busy.

I didn’t care. It was 13-12 at Delaware Valley, Washington & Jefferson just snuck ahead 21-14 and Mount Union stopped Wheaton on fourth down near the 20. Wheeeee!

Eventually, Rowan, Mount Union and W&J got up big enough that I could focus on two games. Wooster is still down 14-7, and attempts a fake punt from within its own 10-yard line.

What the heck is going on? Turn the sound up! A fake punt?

Blip.

Crash.

Reboot.

“Oh, you are killing me,” I say to my computer, fully aware that I am spending a Saturday afternoon sitting in a swivel chair talking to an inanimate object.

I get everything back in order, and what’s this? Carthage is going for it on fourth-and-1 on the Wooster 7? There are about two minutes left, and the Redmen are passing up a 24-yard field goal attempt that would give them a 10-point lead? Really?

Sure enough, the Scots stop them and can tie the game by going 93 yards in the final 1:56. Unreal.

The magical drive never happened, as you well know by now, but I didn’t care. There was a game brewing in Doylestown.

St. John Fisher leads 20-12, but Delaware Valley is driving. These are the Cardiac Aggies and the Hail Mary Cardinals. Something’s going to happen here.

If you were somewhere else in the country Saturday, maybe you only know the final score. Well, I was somewhere else, but I felt like I was there.

Fourth-and-2 on the Fisher 32, 1:32 left. Cardinals stop the Aggies and it’s over.

Unbelievable! Adam Knoblauch hits John Kiphorn for 16 yards. I’m listening, and I’m furiously scribbling, thinking about how this might make an average column idea cool.

Del Val scores three plays later, and ties the game with a two-point conversion.

I found my great game, I thought. But the craziness had only just begun.

St. John Fisher is a running team, but they start out with an incomplete pass. From their own 26, Mark Robinson gains five yards on second down and Del Val calls timeout with 47 seconds left.

Delaware Valley’s Kevin Bliss makes the interception of his lifetime on the next play, giving the Aggies a chance to win it in overtime. You can feel the momentum through the broadcast.

Pat Cummings is slamming the coaching staff for calling a pass, but I’m talking to my computer again.

“It’s a tie game.” I tell Pat, sort of. “You’ve got to play to win. You’ve got to call the play that gives you the best chance of getting a first down.”

Luckily, my wife is downstairs.

I’m wondering what’s going on with Mary Hardin-Baylor and Occidental, both of whom I last heard were up 28-7. But this is too good to switch away from.

Delaware Valley, as you’ve probably heard by now, scored with 9 seconds left and withstood a bunch of laterals on the St. John Fisher kick return to advance.

It was a crazy finish, and made me not regret staying home at all.

There was a great ending for Occidental, and happy ones for Mary Hardin-Baylor and Linfield. Without being too storybookish, there are some morals to my Saturday story.

1. Being there is great, but listening to it from the warmth of your own household, where all the concessions are paid for already, ain’t so bad.

2. Broadcasters: Many of you aren’t even getting paid, you probably aren’t earning international acclaim, and there’s certainly no satellite truck to help you make things go smoothly. But if you’re there, describing a 3-yard run from some kid who couldn’t even get a football scholarship, or broadcasting through a cell phone from a splinter-filled wooden bench, worry not. Someone, somewhere really is on the other end, hanging on every word you say.

“Tell us the score!”

“Was he inbounds or not?”

“How could they call that?”

A couple of things I noticed while staying home and listening:

One, we need to get our scores correct. I was seeing one score on the D3football.com page, hear another from one broadcast and a third from another. Whatever system those in the press boxes are using, it could use a little revamping. Or at least give us the time rather than just saying “second quarter” so we can figure out for ourselves who’s on top of things and who’s behind.

Two, I like the idea of being able to e-mail the broadcast team and get a question answered on-air. This is especially helpful for the on-air folks during blowouts, but I like that technology can link us all together. And fans at home, drop the broadcast team a line if they give out their e-mail address. I’m sure it soothes them just to know you’re out there and you care.

What we learned last week
In the last ATN, we looked at what we could glean from the weekend’s results. We do it again with Saturday’s outcomes:

CARTHAGE 14, WOOSTER 7: We learned that great backs don’t always mean tons of points, at least not in the playoffs. And we were reminded to score early, as you can’t count on halftime adjustments to produce second-half points. Carthage returned the opening kickoff for a TD, and each scored a touchdown, and everything else was the ups and downs often present in playoff football.

MOUNT UNION 27, WHEATON 6: We learned that long drives must end with TDs against the Purple Raiders. You aren’t going to get many opportunities, and you know they’re going to get theirs. Still, the Thunder looked good going 9-of-18 on third down (and 3-of-5 on fourth) when opponents had converted just 23 percent of third downs coming in. The Purple Raiders looked better rushing for 399 yards.

MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR 42, HARDIN-SIMMONS 28: We learned that just because you whoop a team the first time (49-22) doesn’t mean you can do it again.

WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON 24, CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT 14: We learned that the “South” region really was balanced. The second-seeded Presidents need OT to beat the No. 7 seed (Bridgewater) and then withstood a challenge from the sixth-seeded Captains.

LINFIELD 52, UW-LA CROSSE 14: We learned that the strongest conference still doesn’t put out the strongest single team. Then again, having to go through Mount Union, St. John’s or Linfield makes a great excuse for losing.

OCCIDENTAL 42, CONCORDIA-MOORHEAD 40: This isn’t a newsflash to the players who’ve heard coaches repeat it, but we learned that every player on the team is an important part of winning. The Cobbers’ special teams let them down on a point after attempt late in the game, bringing up the need to go for two and tie. The conversion failed, and there’s your difference. Just as important as the 82 points and 766 yards of offense was a snap on a PAT.

ROWAN 45, HOBART 14: We learned that it’s not fair for us to question the Profs’ strength or direct long rants at their fans. The Profs just take it out on the opposition. Seriously, I think we learned that the East, while appearing to be a very wide-open bracket, still has a powerhouse.

DELAWARE VALLEY 26, ST. JOHN FISHER 20: This is another one we already knew, but we were reminded that the game is never over. SJF probably felt good going up by eight with 3:02 left. Even if they give up a TD, the opponent needed a two-point conversion just to get into overtime. Or so we thought. It’s easy to feel for the Cardinals players, but all remarkable seasons must come to an end, and only one with a championship.

First thoughts on this week’s games
I’ll share the first thoughts that pop into my head regarding this weekend’s matchups:

OCCIDENTAL at LINFIELD: Uh, it’s been a nice run, Oxy. Okay, seriously, the Tigers have a shot in any game with Andy Collins behind center. But they were banged up against a physical Willamette team two weeks ago, which could catch up to them. Linfield looks to have few chinks in the armor. Even the defense, which gave 30 or more three times in the first five games, hasn’t surrendered more than two TDs since Oct. 16. I’ll take the Wildcats in a shootout … Put the over/under at 65, at least.

DELAWARE VALLEY at ROWAN: This could be a very close game, and why not? Both teams have won their share of tight contests this season. I’d imagine the Aggies would travel well, as Rowan is just over the bridge from Philly, and Del Val is a few miles north of the city. I’m not sure what else to expect. The Aggies are probably playing above their talent level right now, given that many of their key players are still young. But they’re confident. The Profs might miss running back Pat Thompson while Delaware Valley might have its usual kicker back from suspension. In the end though, I’m not sure there’s anything I can say about this game except tune in for the fourth quarter.

MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR at WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON: Another intriguing pairing. Can we really project how these teams will match up, when their opponents don’t even have any common opponents? (I think the best I can do is three degrees of separation, through Emory & Henry, Millsaps and Mississippi College). That stuff’s meaningless anyway. The Crusaders have a devastating ground game, and both teams come in averaging more than 40 points per game. Sounds like a great time to lean on the old “defense wins championships” cliché.

CARTHAGE at MOUNT UNION: Uh, it’s been a nice run, Carthage. Oh, have I used that one already? Honestly, these Purple Raiders seem as stingy as any team we’ve seen, so Carthage has to keep it close and force mistakes, not make them. Last week’s game is a decent blueprint: Get some easy points early and defend well. Otherwise, if Dante Washington could only help the Redmen put up 14 on Wooster, seeing this defense could be ugly. For the Purple Raiders, imagine everyone expecting you to win and having an image of flawlessness to look up to … then going out and doing it each week. 

Feedback
A few questions this week:

Bob from Wayne, N.J. says:
“D3 does not get any recogntion from the press in our area. The local sports pages are packed with Euro soccer results, fight results from wherever, San Diego State results, who won the ski event in Sweden. And with three D3 schools within 30 miles of us, the home of approx. 30-40,000 students, I can’t find one score of Saturday’s D3 playoffs. Shameful.

“I attend at least 10 D3 games each season and still say I’ve seen teams throughout the years that could take on many D1 teams. For instance, our state D1 school Rutgers.”

ATN responds:
Bob, you’re a riot. A lot of small newspapers are understaffed and feel like they have to fill space with whatever the Associated Press sends. I suggest a friendly e-mail telling them you’re a loyal subscriber that would like to see some Division III coverage, even if it’s just the box score and four paragraphs that the AP moves. Some places honestly don’t know what their readers want, but we bet it’s not Swedish skiing.

And hey, if they don’t listen, their loss is our gain. We’ll still be here telling you everything we know.

Stay funny.

J. Jourdane of Los Angeles writes:
“Keith, 

First, thanks for visiting for the Oxy playoff game. A little publicity is long welcomed here in So Cal. 

Regarding your article, and your mention of Oxy’s last road playoff game in 1985, you are correct. And I’d add the pall cast over the SCIAC since that day still exists.

Oxy was a very powerful squad that year travelling back to Pella, Iowa, where they’d lost the previous year in the playoffs after going for two and the win instead of an extra point and OT. It was a gut call by Coach Widolff that haunts to this day, and when Pat Guthrie’s (Oxy’s MVP in ‘85) pass fell short to Vance Mueller (NFL RB for 6 years), all of us in the SCIAC cringed. 

But in ‘85, the Tigers were stronger and beat up St. John’s in the first round before heading to Central. Yes, the field was frozen and Oxy had the cleats, not turf shoes. It was like being on skates. My roommate, at halftime, changed in his K-Swiss tennies, as did many other players, which is why the second half was a bit closer. 

It was a travesty and when Oxy found out Central could have thawed the field if it had wanted to, that added insult to injury. No, it wasn’t a sinister plot, just some home-field gamesmanship by the Dutch. Touché.

What stands out is when, back in L.A., we were awaiting the score on CBS which was showing playoff scores, the announcer (Jim Nantz or somebody) said, “71-nothing, that must be a typo.” We actually called the Central AD office from the Oxy AD office and were told it was true. Ouch. To make matters worse, Oxy was caught in a snowstorm that night and did not leave the midwest for two days. 

Now you know the whole story.”

Manuel Garcia of Santa Monica, Calif., writes:
“I liked the comments made by the QB from Oxy. He is so right. You don't understand what SCIAC football is about until you play it. I've spoken with buddies from D-IA, D-IAA, and NAIA and they all say the same thing. No matter what level you play at, you have to compete. 

As a Whittier graduate I had a great time playing D-III football. My junior year was the best as we went 7-2 with one loss coming in our opening game to Menlo, by less than 6 points (without our two-time returning offensive player of the conference, due to NCAA clearance). Our other loss was the eventual NAIA champion Azusa Pacific by 12 points. Our chances of making the playoffs were slim, but we had had hope. Due to the voting we ended the season 22nd in the nation and in the top ten in many different statistical categories.

I like the expansion of the playoffs and know that you will hear a lot more from the SCIAC in the years to come. It's only a matter of time until SCIAC victories in playoffs won't be such a odd thing.

Don't forget we do have some athletes out here (1999 Gagliardi winner Danny Ragsdale of Redlands).”

Gerry Price, a former Cal Lutheran SID writes:
“Keith, 

Just a couple of notes about your comments on the SCIAC's successes before joining the NCAA: 

As you noted, Redlands finished second in NAIA Division II in 1976, losing to Westminister by a touchdown, 20-13, after a one-point win over Valley City State in overtime, 40-39, in the semis. 

Whittier was the first SCIAC team to go to the playoffs, losing to a fine Linfield team in the semis, 18-7. 

Cal Lutheran, though not yet a SCIAC team, was Southern California's most successful NAIA entrant, winning the Division II title in 1971 and finishing second in 1975 and 1977. They also went to the playoffs in 1979 and 1982, losing to PLU, 34-14, and Linfield, 20-16, respectively. 

It's interesting to note how many of the NAIA schools from those days are now DIII teams today.”

Send us feedback
As always, we’d be happy to have you share your thoughts with us, and in some cases the rest of our readers.

Reach Around the Nation by sending e-mail to keith@d3football.com or using our feedback form.

Coming soon
This year, as we do our normal season’s-end wrap-ups, ATN will take a look back at the first column of the season, and see if the games answered the questions we said they’d have to. We’ll also look at our surprises not to be surprised by, and see how many we got right. Lastly, we’re thinking of publishing an all-name team or two. Perhaps Division III’s funny names, and Division III’s least-pronounceable.