MIAC champion St. John’s is the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Division III football playoffs, and three NSIC teams are in the Division II playoff field, the NCAA announced Sunday.
St. John’s lands top overall seed in NCAA Division III football playoffs
Three NSIC teams — Augustana, Minnesota State Mankato and Bemidji State — made the Division II field.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 18, 2024 at 12:53AM
After an unbeaten regular season, St. John’s — ranked No. 3 in the final regular-season poll — received a first-round bye in the field, which was expanded from 32 to 40 teams this year.
“Although it is nice to have a top seed and home field throughout, it is not a true bracket where 1 plays 40,” St. John’s coach Gary Fasching said. “In Division lll, the brackets are regionally based, so there are great teams scattered throughout the bracket. Our bracket is tough, there are no easy teams. We are happy to be in and representing St. John’s and the MIAC.”
The Johnnies (10-0) will play the winner of a first-round game between Wisconsin-La Crosse and UMAC champion Northwestern (St. Paul) in the second round in Collegeville, Minn., on Nov. 30. Both potential opponents are 7-3.
MIAC runner-up Bethel (8-2), whose only two losses in the regular season were to St. John’s, received an at-large bid and will face Coe (9-1) on Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the first round.
WIAC champion Wisconsin-Platteville (9-1) will face host Wartburg (9-1) in Waverly, Iowa, in the first round.
NSIC champion Augustana and NSIC co-runners-up Minnesota State Mankato and Bemidji State were named to the seven-team Super Region Four field, one of four regionals in the 28-team Division II tournament. Sioux Falls, which tied MSU Mankato and Bemidji State for second place in the NSIC, was left out of the field.
Augustana (8-3), the No. 4 seed for the regional, will play host to MSU Mankato (8-3) on Saturday. It will be the second consecutive season the rivals meet in the first round.
Bemidji State (8-3), which rallied to defeat Augustana 17-10 in Bemidji on Saturday, will play at No. 3 seed Angelo (Texas) State (9-2).
The other first-round regional matchup has Central Washington playing at No. 2 seed Western Colorado. Colorado State Pueblo is the region’s top seed and received a first-round bye. The winner of the Augustana/MSU Mankato game will play at Colorado State Pueblo in the second round.
No. 2 Georgia is resting its national championship hopes on backup quarterback Gunner Stockton following Carson Beck's season-ending elbow surgery on Monday.
