Around the Nation concludes the three-part look back at the 2006 season with a glance at how preseason predictions panned out, D3football.com's year-end "awards" and other off-the-beaten-path miscellany.

You won't be hearing much from me until Kickoff '07 rolls around, though we'll continue to post news on the front page, Notables and the Daily Dose. Until then, we hope you enjoy Part 3 of the year in review. Parts 1 (Great games, plays and statistics, Jan. 5) and 2 (Great players, coaches and teams, Jan. 12) are linked at left. Our All-Region and All-American teams complete the package.

Our memorable award-winners
The 'Wish you were here' award
Finally, we give this to a non-New England Small College Athletic Conference team, though 8-0 Williams probably would have been a deserving playoff participant if the NESCAC ever got off its high horse about the playoffs. Instead, Cortland State and Franklin, after going 9-1 with seven-point losses to their conference champions (Rowan and Mount St. Joseph), were stuck at home. In any other year to date, that would have been a solid resume for inclusion in the 28-team field, not to mention the 32-team bracket.

The 'Don't forget why we're here' award
After the national semifinal in Alliance, Ohio, Mount Union Sports Information Director Michael DeMatteis reminded reporters to interview players right away, even for features scheduled to run later in the week, or try to reach them by phone the next day. It was finals week, after all, for the Purple Raiders (and an important academic week for UW-Whitewater's Warhawks as well). That meant players had Sunday to study and two and a half days to take the fall semester's finals, unless they could be rescheduled for after Saturday's Stagg Bowl.

So Division III student-athletes studied for the game of their lives, while in some cases doing the same for the tests of their lives, in the same week. Meanwhile the dolts in Division I-A can't figure out how to set up a postseason that doesn't require a five-week break for finals.

The crazy schedule awards
Brockport State, often a staple here, played in four states and lost six times -- all to teams with seven wins or more. Buena Vista lost to five teams with six or more wins. UW-River Falls played the traditionally tough Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule, after opening up with three consecutive road games, against two recent Division III championship programs -- St. John's (2003) and Pacific Lutheran (1999), and following those with St. Francis (Ind.), the NAIA runner-up the past three seasons. Although the Lutes have fallen on hard times -- the Falcons won 24-17 -- it was still a significant road trip from River Falls, Wis. to Tacoma, Wash.

We give nods here to UW-Whitewater and Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Hardin-Simmons and Linfield, national powers who have scheduled each other for home-and-home series in '06 and '07, as well as St. John Fisher and Mount Union, who have done the same for '08-'09.

The crazy road trip award
Colorado College racked up the frequent flier miles even with six home games this year. The Tigers of Colorado Springs opened up with back-to-back trips to the Los Angeles area, then, before September was over, traveled to Pittsburgh to play Carnegie Mellon. Their fourth road game was in Memphis, against Rhodes. That will become part of a routine next season as the Tigers join the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Among conference games, we find Whitworth's jaunt from the Inland Northwest to the Bay Area to play Menlo to be admirable, just as Brockport's continued participation in the Atlantic Central Football Conference, where the New York school plays conference rivals from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. Sul Ross State's season-ending trip from Western Texas to Mississippi College is a doozy as well.

The glass ceiling awards
We touched on the Ohio Athletic Conference's inability to get past Mount Union in Part 2, and that goes for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin champions too. But not being able to beat the Purple Raiders is everyone's problem, and not exactly news. St. John's has twice run into UW-Whitewater in the West, and Occidental has lost at the Northwest Conference champion in consecutive years.

Really, the most significant glass ceiling remaining, and one most in need of a breakthrough, is put up by East bracket champions in the semifinals. In the 1990s, East teams made six Stagg Bowl appearances, and Lycoming -- then of the South but now in the East -- made two more. But since Rowan won at Mount Union to get to the Stagg Bowl in 1999, the East bracket champion, whether by blowout (Widener lost 70-30 in 2000, Rowan lost 52-0 in 2004) or bad ending (Bridgewater's clock operator stopped the clock in mid-play with 0:01 left one snap before the game-winning touchdown in a 29-24 win against Rowan in 2001) is 0-7. And that includes 2002, when John Carroll of the North was sent to the East and won it, but lost to Mount Union in the semifinals. Although St. John Fisher represented the East well this year at Mount Union, just like Rowan did last season, the region won't shake the perception that it is the weakest of the four until it at least sends another team to the Stagg Bowl. We're not even asking the East to win one.

The constant turmoil award
DePauw seems to be good for a winning season no matter who's in charge, but it can't be fun for a school that had Nick Mourouzis as head coach for 23 seasons to go through three (Bill Lynch, Tim Rogers and Matt Walker) in the next three years. As far as ATN knows, Walker -- a Crawfordsville, Ind. native, for those who closely follow the Tigers' rivalry with Wabash -- will be back in 2007. ATN wonders if stability will help get DePauw over the hump and into the playoffs.

The 'We got love for Division III' award
Around the Nation occasionally provides a philosophical look at why we play in Division III and how significant that is. But in terms of sappiness, ATN has nothing on this web page , hosted by New Jersey's Richard Stockton -- not a football school -- featuring two odes to and by the Division III athlete.

The Pioneer award
There's a pretty legitimate argument, one that Division III fans should at least know about, claiming Tufts and Harvard played the first college football game in 1875, not Rutgers and Princeton in 1869. Tufts, a current member of Division III's New England Small College Athletic Conference, and Harvard used rules that more closely resemble the football we now play.

On Oct. 14, the Jumbos, in their 132nd year, played their 1,000th college football game. That put the Medford, Mass., school in distinguished company, as Amherst, Franklin and Marshall, Gettysburg, Mount Union, Ohio Wesleyan, Washington and Jefferson, Widener and Wittenberg are the other Division III schools to have passed the plateau.

Alumni awards
Division III alumni are everywhere, from the NFL (Wesleyan's Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini, and Sewanee's Phil Savage) to high places in business, politics, arts and science. When the NCAA named its 100 most influential student-athletes of all time, 15 from Division III schools made the list. Five had played football at a school that is currently Division III: Presidents Nixon (Whittier) and Reagan (Eureka), former U.S. Representative Jack Kemp (Occidental) and former U.S. Ambassador Michael Armacost (Carleton). Cedric Dempsey (Albion), the head of the NCAA from 1994-2003, also made the list.

Miscellaneous memorables
Most painful playoff score comparison
The early rounds of the playoffs often separate the glad-to-be-here from the truly elite, and each year that produces at least one string that makes you wonder what would have happened if certain teams had been paired up sooner.

Millsaps lost 21-0 in the first round to Carnegie Mellon, which lost 37-0 to Wesley. The Wolverines beat UMHB but lost to UW-Whitewater 44-7 in the semifinals. The Warhawks, of course, were beaten 35-16 by Mount Union in the national championship game. So while the Majors weren't the worst team in the playoff bracket, they are at the bad end of the ugliest string of blowouts.

Second time's the charm
Two of the great playoff matchups of 2006 were ugly the first time around. UW-Whitewater was accused of -- and probably was -- running up the score in a 45-10 win against UW-La Crosse Oct. 14. (Although, in coach Bob Berezowitz's defense, he had reason to be extra skittish as the Eagles had engineered at least one miraculous comeback on him in the past). When the conference rivals met in the second round of the playoffs, it was one of the season's best games, with La Crosse leading midway through the fourth quarter before a 53-yard Warhawks scoring strike.

Mount Union's second meeting with Capital was also much better than the first, a 38-12 regular-season loss. The Crusaders were tied at 7 with the Purple Raiders in the fourth quarter, and although Mount Union's Nate Kmic and Greg Micheli each went over 100 yards in the 17-14 win, it took them 62 carries to gain their 285 yards. "I was scared to death of this game," Purple Raiders coach Larry Kehres said afterward.

If the second time produces the better game to watch (it didn't always, as Concordia, Wis. beat North Central 24-21 in double overtime early in the season, then lost 35-6 in the playoffs), one can only wonder what Wesley would have done with a second shot at UW-Whitewater, or the Warhawks against Mount Union.

Okay, maybe not.

Best postseason conference showing
The OAC did what was expected of them, and this was the WIAC's second consecutive year of putting up playoff results to match the conference's high regular-season status. The CCIW won two first-round games, as did the Empire 8, which was really the conference that shined.

Even though St. John Fisher had to eliminate Springfield 27-21 in the second round, the Cardinals' 31-0 blowout of Rowan and respectable showing at Mount Union (26-14) meant that future Empire 8 champions can be considered legitimate Stagg Bowl contenders. The league finished with two top 10 teams, in the Cardinals and Pride, and the St. John Fisher run helped legitimize Alfred's 8-3 and Ithaca's 7-3 records in what was overall a great season for Division III football in New York.

Worst postseason conference showing
In a single afternoon, Curry and Concordia (Wis.) undid the idea that New England Football Conference and Illini-Badger Football Conference teams could win playoff games. While first-round blowout victims like Hope and St. Norbert could at least point to the fact that their opponents ended up in the Stagg Bowl, Washington and Lee did the ODAC's reputation no favors in a 42-0 loss to Wilkes, which lost the following weekend.

The Liberty League, however, was the only league that lost both its playoff participants on the opening weekend. One year after Hobart and Union gained respect for the league with very competitive showings in the playoffs, the Statesmen lost on a late kick at Rowan and Union got blown out by St. John Fisher 49-21. And it wasn't even that close, as the Cardinals took a 42-3 lead into the fourth quarter.

Most uneven conference
The Middle Atlantic Conference, traditionally one of the strongest leagues in the East, had an uncharacteristic year, with Wilkes going undefeated in the regular season and Delaware Valley, Widener, King's and Lebanon Valley all posting winning records. Albright, Juniata, FDU-Florham and Susquehanna each brought up the rear, going 2-7 in the MAC and losing their out-of-conference game as well. It was a finish with a whimper for the MAC as an 11-team league, as Susquehanna joins the Liberty League next season, while Moravian and Juniata move over to the Centennial Conference. In sports besides football, the three schools are creating a new league, along with Catholic, Merchant Marine, Goucher, Drew and Scranton.

Most even conference
It's almost time to rename this "The Centennial Award," as the mid-Atlantic conference completed a sixth consecutive season where its champion did not go undefeated in conference play. Beyond Dickinson's 5-1 CC record was Ursinus, 4-2 in-conference, and five teams that had either two or three conference wins. The Red Devils and Bears were 8-3 overall while three teams were 5-5 and another was 4-6. The last place team, Franklin & Marshall, had a victory over the ODAC champion and had a margin of 14 points or fewer in seven of its games. Champion Dickinson had a margin of 14 or fewer in all of its regular-season games except a 16-point win against Gettysburg. The Red Devils must have been thankful they had clinched the league title by Week 11, when they dropped a 31-24 overtime game at Ursinus.

Best independent
Minnesota-Morris, Northwestern (Minn.) and Rockford won more games, but Huntingdon is taking the steps to get legitimate Top 25 and playoff consideration by playing in 2006 at Ithaca and Millsaps, and hosting Wesley and Trinity (Texas). All of those teams won at least seven games in a conference.

Best hookup
When UW-Whitewater traveled to Texas to play Mary Hardin-Baylor, coach Bob Berezowitz called in a favor. His son Steve, the head football coach at Burlington (Wis.) High School, coached a fellow named Tony Romo in basketball at Burlington. Though Romo was making the transition to becoming the Dallas Cowboys' starting quarterback that week, he still arranged for the Warhawks to practice at the Cowboys' facility in Dallas before heading to Belton.

Best big-time acknowledgements
ESPNews' Division III playoff selection show, featuring D3football.com's Pat Coleman on analysis.
NCAASports.com videocasts of the semifinal games at UW-Whitewater and Mount Union were well-received.
Sports Illustrated ran a photo of Colby and Bates gutting it out in the rain in its Football in America issue, and used a portrait of St. John's linebacker Jamie Steffensmeier in their Faces in the Crowd special edition.
USA Today ran a full-page feature on Salem -- Division III's Titletown -- during Stagg Bowl week.
Bob Davie mentioned Thiel during the Rose Bowl broadcast; Baldwin-Wallace got mention during the BCS Championship Game telecast, because of Ohio State coach Jim Tressel's family history in Berea and with the school.
Owen Schmitt's story brought Division III some attention, as the West Virginia fullback left UW-River Falls to walk on with the Mountaineers.

Worst big-time acknowledgements
USA Today columnist Ian O'Connor, in a column defending the BCS (Here's a vote for BCS madness, Nov. 14): "The playoff proponents still point to the tournaments that punctuate the seasons at sub-Division I levels, but those postseasons are often scored this way: The team with the fewest injuries wins." The point didn't help his column at all, which was otherwise well-argued, and proved that he had never heard of Mount Union or Grand Valley State, much less realized how they've built their dynasties. I can't think of one injury that greatly affected a Stagg Bowl outcome, although I can think of one ill-advised night of drinking in San Antonio. If uninformed generalities are all you have on the "sub-Division I levels," we prefer you do like most of your colleagues and ignore us.

In the Sept. 18 edition of ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback, writer Gregg Easterbrook took another in a long line of shots at the school he has called "The Death Star of the college football scene." Witness: "Meanwhile Mount Union College -- year-in, year-out home of the worst sportsmanship in Division III -- relentlessly ran up the score on Otterbein, winning 71-14." We discussed this particular game, where the Purple Raiders led 34-7 after running five offensive plays, in Part 1 of the Year in Review. Around the Nation has often found the 'Mount Union as poor sports' conclusion to be one made only by people who have never spent any time actually following the Purple Raiders. It's a strange disdain, as Easterbrook, a Colorado College alum, does shine light on Division III schools in random ways in his column. Once this season, he highlighted Capital's student blogs, particularly April Haviland's "Stuff I Made In Jewelry-Making." He also seemed to lay off the Purple Raiders later in the season -- probably unrelated to Around the Nation's pointed e-mail -- highlighting this year's Stagg Bowl as a final Obscure College Score of the Week and not slamming Mount Union in the process.

In retrospect
Remember the preseason polls and rankings
It's easy to slap together a Top 25 based on last year's finishes and returning starters, especially if no one ever calls you on it. Around the Nation does just that, and there are always reasons to applaud and dis each poll or ranking.

Since Sports Illustrated dropped its preseason Division III Top 10 this year, and we could not locate the gameday insert Touchdown Illustrated, Around the Nation looked back at five preseason polls or rankings: D3football.com's Top 25 poll, Don Hansen's Weekly Football Gazette, Lindy's, Street & Smith's and USA Today Sports Weekly (whose ranking, in the interest of full disclosure, was put together by our editor and publisher, Pat Coleman).

During the season, there are two polls, ours and the American Football Coaches Association's, and one ranking, the Football Gazette's. The AFCA does not take a preseason poll, so we use their first vote for our purposes here. Bridgewaterfootball.com assembles all the polls on one screen.

D3football.com
Best ranking: Not ranking Trinity (Texas), Delaware Valley at No. 12. The Tigers' run of 13 consecutive SCAC championships was snapped, while Lindy's, Street & Smith's and the Football Gazette had the Aggies (8-2 but no playoffs) in the top six. Ten of the top 11 in this poll made the playoffs.

Worst ranking: Linfield at No. 7. The Wildcats lost a lot even after finishing '05 in the top 5.
Number of Top 25 teams in the 32-team field: 15
Where St. John Fisher began the season/first joined the poll: Unranked with 29 votes, or the equivalent of 35th. They joined in Week 3.
Mount Union/Whitewater 1-2 all season? Yes. The Purple Raiders had 22 first place votes and the Warhawks three all year except in Week 9, when Mount Union picked up one vote for one week after its 38-12 win against Capital.

AFCA
Best ranking: For a while, the AFCA looked really smart regarding Cortland State, which started out No. 12 and rose as high as No. 6, but slower-to-get-on-board D3football.com ended up saving face. The AFCA's first poll (which came out Sept. 19) had St. John Fisher ranked 18th, which was higher than our poll had the Cardinals even at a similar time.
Worst ranking: With the benefit of as many as three games to sort things out, the AFCA's early missteps are a little different than those who took cracks at this in August. Still, the AFCA managed to move Ithaca as high as No. 8 -- they finished the regular season receiving one vote -- and had UW-Stout one spot outside the top 25. The Blue Devils finished 3-7 and fired their coach amid a postseason drug scandal.
Number of Top 25 teams in the 32-team field: 18
Where St. John Fisher began the season/first joined the poll: 18th
Mount Union/Whitewater 1-2 all season? Yes, with the Purple Raiders starting with a 35-5 split on first-place votes that grew to 36-4 by the end of the regular season.
(View the board of coaches that voted on this poll.)

Football Gazette
Best ranking: Nothing particularly prescient that no one else saw. Putting St. John's third was unique, and the Johnnies did come within a field goal of UW-Whitewater after a 34-7 playoff loss to the Warhawks last season. The Gazette's final ranking had Wesley third, Capital fourth and St. John's fifth, however.
Worst rankings: Delaware Valley at No. 5, Linfield at No. 6 and Hardin-Simmons unranked.
Number of Top 25 teams in the 32-team field: 13
Where St. John Fisher began the season/first joined the poll: Unranked among 40 teams in the preseason, sixth at the end of the year. (Polls from midseason intervals are not available on the Football Gazette site)
Mount Union/Whitewater 1-2 all season? Started and finished that way, yes.

Lindy's
Best rankings: Capital at No. 5, Central at No. 12. Crusaders and Dutch ended up third and 11th in the D3football.com final poll.
Worst rankings: No. 16 Wesley, No. 21 Mary Hardin-Baylor. Everyone missed on Bridgewater, Delaware Valley and Linfield, but the Wolverines and Crusaders, South bracket finalists, were top 10 teams from Day One. Also had 6-4 Ohio Northern ranked 10th.
Number of Top 25 teams in the 32-team field: 14
Where St. John Fisher began the season: Unranked
Mount Union/Whitewater 1-2? Yes

Street & Smith's
Best ranking: Wilkes at No. 9. Street & Smith's best recognized the eventual MAC champions and East No. 1 seed. The Colonels finished 11-1, and only appeared in one other preseason ranking, at No. 23 for D3football.com.
Worst rankings: Rowan at No. 2, Delaware Valley at No. 4. UW-Whitewater was a no-brainer at 2, and the Aggies missed the playoffs entirely. Street & Smith's also ranked Adrian 20th (too high) and Capital 25th (too low).
Number of Top 25 teams in the 32-team field: 15
Where St. John Fisher began the season: 24th
Mount Union/Whitewater 1-2? No

USA Today Sports Weekly
Best ranking: Washington & Jefferson at No. 17. The Presidents were in the Lindy's, Street & Smith's and Football Gazette top 10, but they were a first-round playoff winner that finished 10-2 and ranked 18th.
Worst rankings: Union at No. 7, Concordia-Moorhead at No. 9. The Dutchmen were a 7-2 team before getting blown out 49-21 in the playoffs, and the Cobbers plummeted from 10-2 to 4-6.
Number of Top 25 teams in the 32-team field: 14
Where St. John Fisher began the season: Unranked
Mount Union/Whitewater 1-2? Yes

Remember the best preseason predictions
Those of you who ordered Kickoff '06 were privy to our "Predict This!" grid, where six of our most valuable contributors took a crack at answering 12 questions on our minds in the preseason. Here are those queries again, with a point awarded for each correct answer, and the expertest expert revealed afterward.

National champion. Pat Coleman, Gordon Mann, John McGraw and I each took the easy/safe route and picked Mount Union. 1 point for us. Nada for Pat Cummings and Matt Barnhart, who were close-but-no-cigar with runner-up UW-Whitewater.

Yes, the questions do get a little more difficult.

Winner of each playoff bracket. Everyone gets half a point for nailing Mount Union and UW-Whitewater, and no one picked St. John Fisher out of the East. So it comes down to the South picks, and five of us had Texas teams in the bracket Wesley won. Pat Coleman had Wesley as his East champion, so we'll give him .75 for this question, and the early lead. McGraw, Barnhart and I each thought the final four would be Rowan, Mount Union, UMHB and UW-Whitewater, and at least all those teams were alive into the final eight. Pat Cummings was the only one who managed to pick two teams that missed the playoffs entirely (RPI and Bridgewater) as regional champions. Yikes.

Who will win the Liberty League? We thought there were three contenders in the preseason, and with Rochester giving the seven-team league a fourth seven-win team and St. Lawrence giving it a fifth winning season, it turned out to be more competitive then even we thought.

Although Hobart was more competitive in its first-round playoff game and had the better overall record, Union won the Liberty title with a 5-1 record that included a 31-14 win over the Statesmen. Those of us on the RPI bandwagon were disappointed in the Engineers' three losses by less than a TD each, especially since they finished with wins against Union and Cortland State.

Mann gets the only point. Coleman had Hobart and the rest of us had RPI.

When will Nate Kmic pass his freshman season rushing total? Kmic led Mount Union in '05 with 1,219 yards, the majority of it (1,040 yards) in the five-game run through the playoffs. Kmic had 1,203 yards entering the last regular-season game against Marietta, and surpassed last year's total on the second play of the game, a 13-yard run on the way to blowing past 2,000 yards.

Somehow, both Pat Coleman and Matt Barnhart nailed it by picking Week 11. Cummings' pick of Week 6 vs. Ohio Northern was the furthest off.

How many wins will LaGrange and SUNY-Maritime combine for? We omitted Morrisville State from this question because the Mustangs were converting to Division III from the junior college ranks, while the other two were first-year start-ups. LaGrange went 0-10, but both New York schools won a game. That's notable because I went with two, but one (Pat Coleman) was the correct answer to the question as we asked it. Barnhart and Cummings each predicted four. Maybe in '07.
Which opponent gets closest to Mount Union in the regular season? The end part of that question is key, because Mann had Baldwin-Wallace, which lost to the Purple Raiders by 14. McGraw and Barnhart went with Capital, who lost 38-12 in the regular season but got closer than anyone to beating the Purple Raiders in a 17-14 playoff loss. Cummings and I took Ohio Northern, which lost 49-7. Next question, please.

What 2005 team has the worst falloff, recordwise? Linfield, Thiel and Lakeland were all expert picks, and all won fewer games than last season. But only one team regressed from nine wins to two, and Cummings and I each nailed Ferrum in this instance.

Which team will be the most surprising playoff entry? Cummings and McGraw each correctly picked Washington and Lee, and Barnhart chose Wittenberg. Both were conference champions and first-round losers. My Averett pick came up short, but at least I didn't choose UW-Eau Claire (3-7, Coleman) or Brockport State (4-6, Mann).

Wins John Gagliardi ends the season with. The St. John's coach, the all-time wins leader in college football history, began with 432, and his team went 11-2. Although all of us were close, Mann was the only one to correctly pick 443.

Record of the last team chosen in Pool C and who? It was widely suspected that that same St. John's team, ranked third in the nation until a regular-season finale loss to Bethel, was the 32nd team into the field. It was an extremely strong year for Pool C, so those of us who thought 2- and 3-loss teams would get at-large bids were very much mistaken. I'll award half a point here to Mann, whose prediction was a 9-1 RPI team (he was the only one to get the record right). Barnhart came close by picking Cortland State, who many believed was the first team left out, even though they were 9-1 as well.

Available players Lewis & Clark ends the season with. Well, there are 42 players on the roster of the team that was too depleted to play its full schedule last year, and I think that roster is where I got my guess from. Although it's hard to believe no one quit the team all season, looks like I'll have to give myself a point.

Regular season game you would most like to attend. Union/RPI and DePauw/Wabash were chosen, but three of us went with UW-Whitewater at Mary Hardin-Baylor. And since I was the only D3football.com staffer to pick that for my game and actually attend -- what do you know? -- another point for me.

The final tally, and winner of Kickoff '06's most expert-like expert:
Mann: 5 points
McMillan 4.5 (even those two freebies I threw myself at the end couldn't put me over the top)
Coleman: 3.75
Cummings, McGraw and Barnhart: 2.5 each

Were our sleepers napping or not?
Kickoff '06 featured Our Sleepers Aren't Napping, an article I wrote for the purpose of clueing folks into the landscape changes before they happened. The main part of it is picking five playoff teams that will miss the field and five new ones that will get in. Here's how those panned out:

Non Top-25, non-playoff teams from '05 who will make the playoffs in '06:
RPI: No. The Engineers returned 11 offensive starters, making them a trendy pick to do well. They got behind the eight ball with an early seven-point loss to Hobart, and later lost to St. Lawrence by four and Rochester by six. RPI closed a 7-3 season with wins over Union, in the Dutchman's Shoes rivalry game, and Cortland State in an ECAC bowl.

Howard Payne: No. The Yellow Jackets’ first six games were decided by a touchdown or less, but they were just 3-3. A year after beating Mary Hardin-Baylor when the Crusaders were ranked No. 2, UMHB drubbed Howard Payne 55-7 in Week 11.

Averett: No. But at least they made it interesting. My pick was that they'd lose badly to Mount Union and Wesley and still have a shot at the playoff by winning the USA South automatic bid. The Cougars (7-3) followed that script right up until a 41-31 loss to Christopher Newport in Week 10.

Whitworth: Yes. Finally, I hit one. But, as I said preseason, the Pirates, with 10 defensive starters and star QB Joel Clark back, were built for this season. They won their first 11 games before St. John's bumped them in the second round of the playoffs.

Bethel: Yes. This one was looking bad early when the Royals lost to perennial MIAC middle-of-the-packer Carleton. But after the three-point Week 4 defeat, Bethel didn't lose again until UW-La Crosse knocked it out of the postseason, 28-21. The run included a stunning 28-13 victory over MIAC power St. John's, which probably ended the playoff hopes of one of the two 9-1 at-large teams left out.

I went 2 of 5.

There was also a list of teams I said could be back in the playoffs after a one-year absence. Christopher Newport, UW-La Crosse, St. Norbert and Wheaton all made the field, and Wartburg finished 8-2 with two overtime losses.

'05 playoff teams who will miss the '06 playoffs:
Ferrum: Yes. The Panthers' slide from nine wins to two has been well-documented in the Year in Review.

Thiel: Yes. Only Ferrum had a bigger slide, as the Tomcats were 5-5 after an 11-2 year. Losing key offensive studs made a big difference.

Monmouth: Yes. The Scots went 7-3 as St. Norbert reclaimed its Midwest Conference perch with a 48-0 Week 6 win.

Occidental: No. I have to admit, I felt strongly about the first three. With the last two I felt I could justify the argument, but I wasn't really sure I believed either group of Tigers would miss the playoffs. Oxy came pretty close, needing a 21-3 second half in a 28-27 win at Cal Lutheran and a 20-0 fourth quarter in a 34-30 win vs. 2-7 Whittier. The Tigers finished 9-1, while the Kingsmen and Poets finished with three and five SCIAC losses, respectively.

Trinity (Texas): Yes. These Tigers did miss the playoffs, not winning the SCAC for the first time in 13 seasons. Millsaps rose from 2-7 to conference champion, dumping the Tigers 34-12 in Week 11 to clinch.

I went 4 of 5 there, with an Occidental rally ruining a perfect mark.

Teams who outperformed/fell short of their 1-234 ranking in Kickoff '06
Pat Coleman and I spent way too many preseason hours looking at everything from Massey Ratings to returning starters to our own conference-strength rankings, then placing every team 1-234. It's an arduous task, but one that ensures we take some time to look at every team and where they're expected to fit in. If our rankings were perfect, there wouldn't be much point in playing out the season, now would there? Good thing they aren't.

There are the obvious teams we missed, highlighted in Part 2 using the chart that analyzed win differential from the previous season. No. 165 Millsaps (2-7 to 7-3) and No. 150 Carnegie Mellon (5-5 to 11-1) were a pair of prime examples.

Here are some other teams we underestimated:
No. 231 Nichols (improved by five wins to 5-4)
No. 173 Emory & Henry (became an ODAC contender after a 1-9 year)
No. 161 Dubuque (Was 6-4 for first winning season since 1987)
No. 145 Sul Ross State (Lobos had great turnaround too)
No. 116 Rochester (Yellowjackets were real Liberty League contender)
No. 108 Franklin (Went 9-1)
No. 99 Concordia, Wis. (Made playoffs)
No. 95 Hope (The ranking was fine, but we had MIAA rivals Adrian at 62, Albion at 72 and Alma at 93)
No. 83 Wittenberg (Won NCAC)
No. 70 St. Norbert (ranked 12 spots behind Monmouth)
No. 34 St. John Fisher (Cardinals made national final four)

Here are some teams we, and our Top 25 voters, overestimated:
No. 8 Linfield (championship contender in '05 missed playoffs in '06)
No. 12 Delaware Valley (G.A. Mangus and Adam Knoblauch were gone, and Aggies weren't quite as good)
No. 14 Augustana (went 7-3 after changeover from quarterback Matt Roe but lost to UW-Platteville and blanked by North Central)
No. 16 Concordia-Moorhead (21 wins in '04-05, four in '06)
No. 25 Thiel (Our voters gave them extra respect after the '05 playoffs)
No. 33 UW-Eau Claire (finished fourth in the WIAC, lost to Alma)
No. 35 UW-Stout (finished 3-7 and fifth in WIAC; late-game collapse against Whitworth probably didn't help)
No. 45 Brockport State (We're used to the Golden Eagles being better than 4-6)
No. 57 Ferrum (We knew they'd fall, but they weren't near the top 60 in '06)

Remember the season's turning point
Considering Mount Union and UW-Whitewater were on crash courses to meet in a Stagg Bowl rematch since day one, their victories vs. then-No. 4 Capital and then-No. 6 UMHB on Oct. 28 were convincing. The Warhawks won without star back Justin Beaver, lost to a broken collarbone Oct. 14. Each team had to survive at least one three-point playoff win to get to the Stagg Bowl, where a blocked punt return for a TD was that day's turning point.

Worst moments
Not all of our memories of 2006 will be of shining moments. Our worst:
Alfred tailback Julio Fuentes suffering a neck injury during a Week 2 kickoff against Thiel.
UW-Stout firing coach Todd Strop, perhaps as the scapegoat for the arrest of players and former players in connection with steroids, marijuana and cocaine.
Three Guilford players, including an all-American, arrested in an assault authorities called a hate crime against two Palestinian students and their visiting friend.

Most over-dramatized "controversies"
Folks in Texas are still mad about Mary Hardin-Baylor and Hardin-Simmons' being paired up in the first round of the playoffs. Had the NCAA committee followed its seeds, No. 2 UMHB could have hosted No. 7 Millsaps, reportedly 491 miles away when properly using the approved software to determine whether or not a flight should be involved. When teams from 500 or miles apart meet in the playoffs, they must fly. The NCAA picks up the tab for playoff travel, and Division III does not generate the revenue to pay for it, so bus trips are preferred. Seeds can be adjusted (i.e. 2 vs. 5 instead of 2 vs. 7) to save money. This happens just about every year in Texas and on the West Coast, because of the scarcity of teams in those regions.

So folks in Texas should be used to it by now, right? Being used to it doesn't mean they have to like it, but UMHB and HSU weren't screwed as badly as fans claim. If the South bracket seeds had been followed, the No. 2 Crusaders (ranked No. 5 nationally heading into the playoffs) and No. 3 Cowboys (No. 6) would have met in the second round, assuming they'd won their first-round games.

But what really made the whining unbearable was that Occidental (ranked 10th) finished 9-0 for the second consecutive season and got sent to play the undefeated Northwest Conference champion again. Whitworth was 10-0, ranked 8th, and beat the Tigers 27-23.

Though there were zero losses between the Tigers and Pirates, compared with three for the Crusaders and Cowboys, few West Coasters whined about the matchup.

The bottom line is that in Division III, this happens. To win the championship, you have to beat top teams eventually anyway. That may not be much solace, but it also wasn't worth the amount of whining.

Guilford had to know what it was doing when it admitted Dion Rich, a player who left Emory & Henry after playing 2005 in poor academic standing. Under NCAA and ODAC rules, players cannot be declared academically ineligible, transfer and be immediately eligible at the new school. Yet Guilford used Rich, a sophomore defensive back, for four games, and he made a more significant contribution than the principals in many ineligible player cases.

An ODAC committee reviewed the case, and the conference reported the matter as a secondary violation to the NCAA, but did not force the Quakers to forfeit games Rich had played in. The ODAC basically determined that Guilford did not know Rich was ineligible, and even if people on the ODAC committee didn't believe that, it would be virtually impossible to prove who knew what when.

Bridgewater fans, eager to get back into the ODAC championship picture after a 33-28 loss to Guilford, were particularly enraged, creating a firestorm on D3football.com message boards. In the end, it wouldn't have mattered, as Bridgewater lost to Emory & Henry, who lost to eventual conference champion Washington & Lee (who lost to Bridgewater, by the way, as well as playoff opponent Wilkes).

There were lots of darts thrown regarding honesty and integrity, and the complaining fans probably had some points. But a skeptic would say those fans generally cared less about integrity than they did the chance to get a cheap win by forfeit and possibly win the conference championship.

The lesson: Always handle your business on the field.

There was definitely a lot of hurt when Lance Leipold replaced Berezowitz at UW-Whitewater. Longtime assistant and offensive mastermind Stan Zweifel seemed to be the logical candidate for the job, and as is often the case with coaching changes, players and those close to the program favor the candidate they're familiar with. When Leipold got the job, nobody came off looking good -- not Paul Plinske, the AD who made the decision, and not Leipold, Zweifel or Berezowitz. Character was questioned and backstabbing was brought up. Whitewater fans bickered for days about Zweifel being passed over, hardly mentioning the future of Warhawk football. All has since calmed down, and the focus is on the future for all involved. Feelings were legitimately hurt in the Whitewater community, but for the casual observer on the outside, it appeared to be much ado about something that happens often when there are coaching openings.

Biggest deja vu moment
The Matt Kostelnik/Matt Rees punt block return for a touchdown in the Stagg Bowl took place under darkness and on the same side of the field as as key moment in Mount Union's Stagg Bowl win vs. Bridgewater in 2001. Jason Perkins picked off a pass and returned it 44 yards for a score to give the Purple Raiders a 23-13 advantage on the way to a 30-27 win. This year, Kostelnik blocked a punt directly to Rees, who ran it back 34 yards for a score and a 28-13 advantage on the way to the win against UW-Whitewater.

Three off-the-beaten path things I will remember about this season
Just because you were once able to run down deep spirals doesn't mean you're equipped to chase a toddler and carry a baby at a football game. I had left my children, then not quite 2 and 6 months old, with my wife on so many Saturdays this fall that she earned a weekend off. So I took my little ones up to see family in New Jersey during the Thanksgiving weekend, and -- not wanting to pass up a chance to see a game, drove them up to Wilkes. They had a good time, it seemed, but I looked like a damn fool asking a toddler to sit down for four quarters of football. I got a lot of sympathy, but I was being idiotic and I'm not sure I deserved it. In closing, never bring more kids to a game than you have parents. Man-to-man is required in the bleachers; save the zone defense parenting for enclosed areas at home.

I'm fortunate to travel the country some, enjoying great football and the people that are a part of it each Saturday. Every now and then I see some strange but admirable things. At Carnegie Mellon for the first round of the playoffs, the scene was ultra unique. Gesling Stadium is surrounded on three sides by buildings, including two several-story white dormitories. You could watch the game from your room if you're a Tartan, but Millsaps fans had to make a heck of a trip from Jackson, Miss. The press box side of the field connects directly to a parking deck, and spotting Majors fans walking from their car -- implying they'd driven -- with purple, white and black camoflauge pants on was an indelible image proving that fan dedication is alive and well in Division III.

D3football.com staffers all have regular full-time jobs. We squeeze this in our spare time. So the Stagg Bowl, while being the culmination of a great season, is also a time for D3football.com staff to spend time together and let loose a bit before we all go our separate ways until the next season. Most of the time before the game is spent selecting the All-American team or preparing for Game Day. So when we got to take it over to Mac and Bob's, a local Salem establishment, after Mount Union won a ninth title, that was really when D3 staff got to have a few minutes to kick back and enjoy everything. Fried foods from the late-night menu never tasted so good, as we watched highlights of the NBA's Knicks-Nuggets brawl and took in some arm wrestling. (Trust me, if you ever get to watch this cat Allen Fisher arm wrestle, do it. It's crazy entertaining.)

So long
At the end of a 22-year run as head coach, there was no victorious ride off into the sunset for Bob Berezowitz. He played for Warhawks legend Forrest Perkins, quarterbacked UW-Whitewater to an NAIA football championship in 1966 and was a catcher on the Warhawks' baseball champion a year later. Berezowitz led his team to the Stagg Bowl in his final two seasons, but Mount Union stood between him and the perfect career-capper. Still, we'll remember Berezowitz for his candid answers to our questions, long before the Warhawks were Stagg Bowl material (Sept. 5, 2002) and when D3football.com was less known and respected than it is today. The coach was fun to be around, helped us out with insight and seemed to genuinely care about his players, his institution and his game.

Best trend
Tailgating became a big deal, especially at the Stagg Bowl. D3football.com staff has always been partial to Stone Station, but there were several quality setups this year in Salem. But what really put the icing on the cake was the gathering that took place, where we were able to match faces with message board names and meet lurkers, folks who are big fans of the site but not active posters. We also met Derek Stanley's father and the Kleppe family in the parking lot before the game, and shot the breeze with graduated players like Brandon Wakefield (former Bridgewater quarterback) and Bret Page (former UMHB linebacker).

The gathering was enhanced by something that took shape on the D3sports.com boards during Stagg Bowl week. Die-hard fans traded T-shirts, sweatshirts and hats from schools like UW-Whitewater and Bridgewater, while the NCAA distributed free T-shirts in the lot, in addition to the traditional Stagg Bowl souvenir shirts.

The D3 gear trade is significant because as we all go our separate ways, the shirts we wear say a lot about the level of football we endorse. When St. John's gets shine in Virginia and Mount Union shirts show up near Madison, Wis., it just might intrigue someone enough to follow Division III football. If they end up getting out of it what we do, it will have been a great gift you've given.

Best reader suggestion
Frank Rossi submitted this during Stagg Bowl Week. And although we're not quite sure where to categorize it, we agree with most everything he says, so for one item, the professionals step aside and let someone else have at it:

"I'd call 2006 the year of the maturing Division III fan. The hype around certain games, the crowds, the higher availability of internet broadcasts, and the general interactivity this season seemed to lend to a burgeoning following of what was once kind of a niche arena. For once this year, we saw fans coherently discuss "Quality of Wins" Indices, Pool C, league-wide issues, and most of all, the student-athlete. Even as an announcer for Union College, I felt myself growing in appreciation for the Liberty League, the Empire 8, the entire East Region, and the whole of Division III. D3Football.com has been around for a good number of years, but its continued quality, when mixed with the fan impact this year, made for a much more fulfilling season that makes the average fan want more, even after their team is eliminated from contention. If you need proof, just look at "Post Patterns" and its postings after the end of the regular season. To quote Frank Sinatra, 2006, "[i]t was a very good year." And we still have one game to go!"

Next year, this should be brought back
The streaming video of the semifinals was a big hit. Perhaps next year an expanded package, like Division II's three live games on CSTV and 40 Internet videocasts, would be as well received. Around the Nation also likes the 4 p.m. kickoff and nighttime ending at the Stagg Bowl, if for no other reason than the game-ending fireworks look a lot better in the dark.

Next year, this should be changed
There is no support and no reason in Division III for the rules that significantly shortened games this season. (We blogged about their possible rollback this week.)

It might be too dramatic to say the rules robbed players of extra opportunity to play (some reports had offenses running about 12 fewer plays per game), but there was no reason for noon playoff games to be at halftime by 1 p.m. and such. Coaches and fans had mastered the old rules, and we much enjoyed the excitement clock management brought to games, especially late in close ones. We want that back, and we were fine spending three hours at the game.

You can discuss the year-in-review column on the Around the Nation thread of Post Patterns, on the D3sports.com message board.

NOTE: Some of our categories from the three parts of the Year in Review were culled from ATN's midseason review (Oct. 12) and from fan suggestions on our blog, The Daily Dose, and via e-mail. Thanks to everyone who contributed, whether we were able to use your suggestions or not.