2012 Around the Nation columns

January 7, 2013 Recalling a heck of a 2012 It was the year of the two-point conversion, of #LiDarraling and #rip5 and the year Mount Union made it back to the top. Around the Nation looks back at a 2012 filled with highs and lows.

November 15, 2012 Playoff picks, surprises, disappointments It's our annual ATN predictions column, where we say who will surprise and disappoint on the road to Salem. Will anyone score on Mount Union? Does anyone pick against UMHB? Read on.

November 8, 2012 It all comes down to Saturday What makes Elmhurst and Huntingdon unique is that their programs’ grand dreams rest on what they do on Saturday; a bad game could render all the hoping and discussing moot.

November 1, 2012 Football takes a back seat Division III football has only taken a few schedule changes due to Sandy, which brought heavy damages to coastal areas in New Jersey and New York. But in those places, the challenges are great.

October 25, 2012 Our mock regional rankings We’ve had our fun, but now it’s time to get down to business. The NCAA won't issue regional rankings for another week, but we know nobody wants to wait that long. So here's ours.

October 18, 2012 In Division III, there's a whole lot of special For those who don't realize the vastness of Division III football, and don't realize how hard it is to be an All-American or make the Top 25, Keith McMillan has a few comparisons for you, and spotlights some of D-III's standout performances.

October 11, 2012 What’s better: Conference dominance or parity? What's better for a conference, a year where everyone meets toward the middle or a year when someone is a contender to go deep in the playoffs? Around the Nation spoke with five conference commissioners for their take.

October 4, 2012 If the colors were changing, would we notice? Seven years ago, Pat and Keith went to UW-Whitewater before the Warhawks had ever been to a Stagg Bowl. Did the changing of the guard happen that day? Not exactly, but they might have seen it coming.

September 28, 2012 ATN ranks the conferences For years, Around the Nation has aimed to solve an issue for which there is no answer elsewhere in Division III: Which conferences are the strongest?

September 20, 2012 So where does Buffalo State go from here? Beating the three-time defending champ and derailing a run at a college football-record winning streak is huge, but the Bengals have yet to win or even play a conference game.

September 13, 2012 There's no right way to schedule games If the goal behind playing tough non-conference games early in the season is to lead to playoff wins down the line, can any correlation be drawn by teams that have done it in the past? That plus longest playoff droughts and the ATN top 50 in this week's Around the Nation.

September 6, 2012 Who had a bad loss, but can still have a good season? Around the Nation identifies a handful of teams who disappointed in Week 1 but could still rebound to win seven or more games, if not make the playoffs. And not just ones who were in the top 25 and lost. That, plus the ATN top 50, the final installment of Jarrod Kilburn's Ireland blog and more.

August 31, 2012 In 2012, what are you playing for? Maybe you want to win the Stagg Bowl, or your conference, or a rivalry game. You've got 11 short weeks to play 10 games, so don't let it pass you by.