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| The game between UW-Oshkosh and Linfield was a particularly telling result for both conferences. Photo by Doug Sasse, d3photography.com |
By Greg Thomas
D3sports.com
With the first half of the season in the books for many teams and nearly all of the Division’s non-conference games complete, Around The Nation has enough data to look at all 29* conferences, see how they’ve fared since we last checked in, and update our conference rankings.
Some of our higher achieving conferences so far in 2024 include the MIAA who once again posted the highest non-conference win percentage in the division at 75%. The ODAC has also had a strong out of conference season, winning 70.8% of their games, marking two years in a row that the ODAC has gone over the 70% threshold. Also noteworthy is the ASC who won nearly 73% of their countable games out of conference.
While 2024 results have the most influence on Around The Nation’s re-rankings, we will look at relevant non-conference results since the last rankings. The increasing number of postseason bowl games create valuable non-conference opportunities and, of course, the 2023 playoffs provide important results for consideration as well.
Non-conference records are not exclusive to games against other D-III opponents, but only games recognized by the NCAA are included (i.e. no contests against club teams are counted).
Without further ado, here is your 2024 conference ranking!
1. Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 1
Non-conference record: 16-8
Signature win: UW-Oshkosh 28, Linfield 21 (OT)
There remains very little doubt which conference reigns in the Division III landscape. With five teams ranked in the D3football.com Top 25, and a slew of results that turn heads, there is still a considerable gap between the WIAC and the rest of the field. Consider that I nearly made UW-La Crosse’s 20-13 loss at Division II’s No. 2 ranked team, Grand Valley State, the league’s signature “win,” only to have the team picked in the preseason to finish fourth beat the Eagles at home just two weeks later. Consider that the team picked to finish fifth in this league, UW-Oshkosh, knocked out two ranked opponents in the first two weeks of the season. Consider that the team picked to finish third, UW-River Falls, has spent the first month of the season knocking around 2023 conference champions. There’s really nowhere to hide in this conference and more often than not, they prove their quality depth over and over again.
2. American Southwest Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 5
Non-conference record: 8-3
Signature win: Mary Hardin-Baylor 35, UW-Whitewater 17
A funny thing happens when a conference finds itself splintered and one of the splinters contains four teams that have all been in the top half of the conference during its 8- and 10-team seasons. They win a lot more than they lose. The ASC posted losing non-conference records in each of the last two seasons, but this season is a different story with only Howard Payne struggling and UMHB’s season opening loss to NAIA powerhouse Bethel (Tenn.). The Crusaders have obviously flexed their muscle with a much-talked-about win at UW-Whitewater. Hardin-Simmons has also been impressive in their first month of the season, culminating in a 35-27 win over ranked Endicott. We don’t know how much longer the ASC is going to stay with us, and an ASC in this configuration probably isn’t sustainable but, for now at least, this version of the ASC is pretty good.
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| The MIAC is still at pretty close to an all-time high in this ranking. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com |
3. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 2
Non-conference record: 13-7
Signature win: St. John’s 35, Wartburg 13
The MIAC slides back one spot this year. Their non-conference record is just one game behind last year’s mark, but where the law of averages helps to boost the ASC, it is holding the MIAC back just a bit- remember, third out of 29 is pretty, pretty good. Last year the MIAC was only able to qualify one team for the tournament, and Bethel did go out in the first round. Looking in to this year’s results, Macalester has delivered MIAC losses to the UMAC for the first time in years. Gustavus Adolphus had a chance to impress with a good performance against Whitworth, but was not able to capitalize. St. John’s however, does look revitalized as demonstrated by their comfortable win against Wartburg and pending solid playoff performances by one or two MIAC teams this year, the slide could very easily be a one year thing.
4. College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin
2023 ATN ranking: 3
Non-conference record: 5-5
Signature win: North Central 48, Aurora 21
North Central is doing a lot of lifting for the CCIW right now, finishing as a runner-up in the 2023 championship and collecting a lot of significant pelts along the way — UW-La Crosse and Wartburg chief among them. Wheaton also had a strong showing in last year’s tournament. The Thunder have not been as impressive in 2024, but the CCIW is posting some good wins elsewhere. North Park collected a good non-conference win against Ripon, while Washington U. has a respectable win against Rhodes. The CCIW does have some big misses here with Wheaton losing at UW-Oshkosh and Illinois Wesleyan struggling with Central. I’m sure the CCIW had hoped for better than 5-5, but their degree of difficulty is pretty high out of conference and the league did have a strong postseason showing which keeps them in the top four this year.
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| Johns Hopkins has stumbled a bit, but the Centennial is even more strong overall. Photo by Mike Atherton, d3photography.com |
5. Centennial Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 8
Non-conference record: 14-8
Signature win: Ursinus 58, Rowan 14
While Muhlenberg was just bubbled out of last year’s tournament, Johns Hopkins carried the banner for the Centennial into the quarterfinals. The Blue Jays have also notched a pair of quality wins against conference title contenders Ithaca and Christopher Newport. Ursinus has been a particularly bright spot, highlighted by their blowout win against Rowan. The Centennial Conference also notably swept their 2023 bowl series with the MAC. No Centennial teams went winless in the nonconference portion of the season. The Centennial Conference continues to be a consistently good performer and with Carnegie Mellon joining in 2025, this league could do even higher.
6. Empire 8
2023 ATN ranking: 7
Non-conference record: 10-12
Signature win: Cortland 40, Susquehanna 38
A 10-12 record isn’t usually the kind of mark that can move a conference up in this area of the rankings, but bringing a national championship home helps significantly. Cortland did just that with a magnificent run through the 2023 playoffs and the Red Dragons have not stopped breathing fire yet. Their come from behind win at Susquehanna stands out as one of the better results of the Division III season. The conference has not performed as well against the Landmark Conference as it did last year. Brockport and Utica have played well, as has Alfred. Hartwick and Hilbert going winless in non-conference play also prevents a larger jump for the E8.
7. Ohio Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 4
Non-conference record: 6-4
Signature win: Muskingum 42, Mount St. Joseph 35
The OAC’s ranking has typically been buttressed by Mount Union’s postseason excellence and a couple of non-conference wins against pretty good competition. In 2023, however, Mount Union exited the tournament in the second round of the playoffs and the best chance for a strong non-conference result went by the wayside when John Carroll was all but shut out at UW-Whitewater. Muskingum does have an impressive win over the HCAC favorite, and Ohio Northern has looked until running into Marietta last week. Speaking of Marietta, the Pioneers may be very good this year, but we really won’t know until the final two weeks of the season. We simply didn’t learn much about Marietta in their non-conference blowout against St. John Fisher. At one time you could count on two OAC teams in the postseason. Perhaps with an expanded field, the OAC can begin showcasing a second team in tournament play more often and regain their once lofty position in these rankings.
8. Liberty League
2023 ATN ranking: 6
Non-conference record: 14-12
Signature win: Buffalo State 12, Alfred State 0
After a stellar non-conference season in 2023, the Liberty League came back to Earth a little bit this season. Buffalo State’s win against Alfred State marks the lone win by a Liberty League team over a 2023 playoff team so far this season, and that is over the champion of a team much further down in these rankings. The Liberty League isn’t sliding too far in the rankings because they really challenged themselves. Games against UW-La Crosse, Endicott, Johns Hopkins, Randolph-Macon, and Springfield stand out even if the results did not favor the Liberty League.
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| Wartburg doesn't look as much like a semifinal team so far but the rest of the ARC has done well. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com |
9. American Rivers Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 9
Non-conference record: 8-10
Signature win: Coe 43, UW-Eau Claire 41 (2 OT)
Despite Wartburg’s setback at St John’s, the ARC is performing well. Central had little trouble with Illinois Wesleyan and Cal Lutheran while Coe has remained undefeated. Wartburg made a repeat trip to the semifinals in last year’s tournament, while Coe made their return to the playoffs after a lengthy absence. We can expect to see more ARC teams get opportunities in the postseason going forward, which should improve their chances to climb in the rankings. The league did have three teams that failed to win a non-conference game, which continues to anchor the ARC closer to the middle of the rankings than what one might expect if looking at the top three teams exclusively.
10. Presidents' Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 12
Non-conference record: 0-0
Signature win: Grove City 21, Susquehanna 20 (2023 NCAA First Round)
I had to go back to 2023 to find a signature result for a PAC team as the PAC does not currently play out of conference games — something that is thankfully coming to an end in 2025. However, if we dig back to the handful of results that we do have since the last rankings, Grove City knocked off Susquehanna in the first round of the tournament and was just a field goal away from beating eventual national champion Cortland. Carnegie Mellon and Washington & Jefferson also won their ECAC bowl games last year. No. 10 is as high as the PAC has ever climbed in these rankings. A strong NCAA tournament from one or two teams could propel the PAC higher in 2025, just in time for Carnegie Mellon to head out while Hiram joins the conference.
11. Michigan Intercollegiate Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 11
Non-conference record: 18-6
Signature win: Calvin 66, Anderson 12
The MIAA continues to stack wins in the non-conference portion of the season, bolstered by a lot of crossover with the struggling HCAC. Degree of difficulty is one thing keeping the MIAA from cracking through to the top 10, but Alma knocking out Mount Union on the way to the quarterfinal of the 2023 tournament is an indicator that the league’s gaudy non-conference records of the last few seasons isn’t a false indicator. Their champions can flat out play. We highlighted Calvin’s win at Anderson because even though Calvin is a first-year program, they’ve played above and beyond what we typically see from inaugural seasons. Calvin may be one of the competitive teams in this league sooner than many thought. Calvin’s 2-1 non-conference record is impressive as is Adrian’s 3-0 bounce back from a bad season in 2023.
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| Randolph-Macon struggled against Hobart and lost to Berry, but Shenandoah and other ODAC teams have picked up that slack. Photo by Mike Atherton, d3photography.com |
12. Old Dominion Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 14
Non-conference record: 17-7
Signature win: Hampden-Sydney 38, Centre 34
The ODAC had a strong finish to 2023 and continued that success right into 2024. Randolph-Macon became the first ODAC team in the national semifinals in more than two decades in 2023. The Yellow Jackets haven’t had quite that same magic in 2024, but they have been steady along with their rivals in the Old Dominion. The ODAC dominated the USA South Conference in September which we’ve come to expect, but it was the one-time-only ODAC-SAA challenge that really helped move the league higher. Winning five of the seven games against the SAA reshaped the Region 3 hierarchy just a bit.
13. Northwest Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 13
Non-conference record: 15-9
Signature win: Whitworth 40, Gustavus Adolphus 7
Whitworth was the lone NWC playoff representative in 2023 and advanced to the second round before being knocked off by Wartburg. The Pirates let everyone know that they weren’t planning on going anywhere with a win in impressive fashion at Gustavus Adolphus to open the season. Linfield has looked good despite the overtime loss to UW-Oshkosh. Some new life has been breathed into Pacific as well. The Boxers have been scoring a ton of points this season and flipped a 2023 loss into a win for the NWC when they beat Pomona-Pitzer. Should two NWC teams make the playoffs, new bracketing principles may help keep them away from each other for a while and provide an opportunity for more high profile wins.
14. Southern Athletic Association
2023 ATN ranking: 10
Non-conference record: 13-9
Signature win: Berry 28, Randolph-Macon 24
Trinity (Texas) knocked Hardin-Simmons out of the tournament in the first round for the second year in a row before bowing out to North Central in the second round. That draw unfortunately didn’t give 2023 Trinity the runway to show their full potential. Graduation losses have been felt immediately as the Tigers have slipped to 2-2 this year including a surprising opening week loss to Texas Lutheran. Berry appeared to be an heir apparent to the SAA title and while the Vikings may well do just that, a 33-0 loss to DePauw at Valhalla took a lot of wind out of those sails. Berry did bounce back with a nice road win at Randolph-Macon. Millsaps is under new management and appears much improved while knocking off 2023 playoff participant Belhaven in Week 1.
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| Performances by Salisbury and Christopher Newport help the NJAC move up a couple spots. Photo by Mike Atherton, d3photography.com |
15. New Jersey Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 17
Non-conference record: 12-10
Signature win: Salisbury 41, Johns Hopkins 13
Salisbury has been a house on fire in 2024 having collected massive non-conference wins over Johns Hopkins, Muhlenberg, and Washington & Lee. Last season’s NJAC playoff representative, Christopher Newport, went far on the road to collect an impressive win at Trine. Rowan also got our attention with a week 1 win at Stevenson. Is the NJAC back? It will probably take some more playoff wins to get the NJAC nearer to the top 10, but this 2024 season has been a great jumpstart for the conference.
16. Landmark Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 18
Non-conference record: 13-15
Signature win: Moravian 18, Utica 13
The Landmark Conference showed significant improvement in its second year. After getting drubbed in their crossover games with the Empire 8 in 2023, the Landmark flipped the script and won the series collecting nine wins in 16 games. Moravian’s win against Utica stands out as a marquee result with Utica having looked great in other 2024 contests and is just one year removed from the playoffs. Susquehanna is among the best teams in the nation, but has yet to clear the first round playoff hurdle. Wilkes also scored a notable win over current MAC co-leader King’s in Week 1.
17. Conference of New England
2023 ATN ranking: 16
Non-conference record: 14-13
Signature win: Endicott 13, Ithaca 7
The conference formerly known as the Commonwealth Coast Conference turned heads last year with an impressive 18-10 out of conference record. That has regressed a touch, but this Region 1 conference is looking for challenges. Endicott went 3-0 vs. the Liberty League before falling by one score to Hardin-Simmons. Western New England went 0-2 in a pair of high profile games against Springfield (the Pride’s closest game to date) and Susquehanna who has only been pressed more by the defending champs.
18. Middle Atlantic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 15
Non-conference record: 4-6
Signature win: Delaware Valley 41, Hampden-Sydney 21
While Delaware Valley has delivered the only loss of the season so far to Hampden-Sydney, there aren’t a lot of non-conference positives for the MAC. Including last year’s first-round NCAA exit to the Liberty League’s runner-up, the MAC was swept in its bowl series with the Centennial as well as dropping an ECAC bowl game. The MAC appears to be a step back from the postseason peak of Delaware Valley in 2022 and with the Aggies’ long MAC winning streak having been broken, may send a new representative to the postseason for the first time in a long time.
19. New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 22
Non-conference record: 14-8
Signature win: Springfield 38, Western New England 32
The NEWMAC has matched its impressive 2023 non-conference win total. Springfield continues to be a highlight for this conference with their prolific run game. Merchant Marine registered a nice win for the NEWMAC over MASCAC contender Western Connecticut. You can only play the teams in front of you, and the NEWMAC deserves credit for winning the games they are supposed to. Further steps up the ladder will require a few more games with a higher competition level and turning some more of those opportunities against teams in conferences ranked higher than this. If Springfield runs the table (literally), a top-8 seed and perhaps a more favorable first round matchup may await the Pride in the postseason.
20. Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 21
Non-conference record: 8-8
Signature win: Aurora 33, Dubuque 21
The best win for the NACC came during Week 1’s rally by Aurora to beat Dubuque. The Spartans won a playoff game for the second consecutive year, knocking out Coe in the first round before succumbing to UW-La Crosse. Benedictine was the only team to go undefeated in non-conference play, while three teams did not win a non-conference game. 20 is the highest ranking yet for the NACC. While the NACC is being lifted by Aurora’s success in the postseason, the league’s non-conference opponents largely consist of teams in conferences ranked lower, and results tend to get lopsided when NACC teams challenge higher up the conference rankings ladder.
21. North Coast Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 19
Non-conference record: 7-11
Signature win: DePauw 33, Berry 0
DePauw’s ascension continues with an impressive shutout win at Berry. It’s been nearly a decade since the NCAC registered a playoff win against a team in a conference ranked higher than this, but the Tigers have the look of a team that could break that streak. They are reminiscent of 2023’s Randolph-Macon squad. Those Yellow Jackets were not playing the very best competition week in and week out, but they were dominant the way you expect a team that can play into the quarterfinal round or later to be. Wabash is moving into a new era as a head coaching succession plan is in process and finding a new offensive identity in a post-Liam Thompson world. Denison took on a huge non-conference challenge by flying out to Linfield and hosting Alma. Neither went well for the Big Red, nor did Wabash’s trip to UW-Platteville. Some missed opportunities for the NCAC, but credit to these teams for finding challenges.
22. Southern California Intercollegiate Conference
2022 ranking: 20
Non-conference record: 4-8
Signature win: Chapman 43, Pacific 23
The best opportunities for marquee wins for the SCIAC went by the wayside. In a game echoing their close contest in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, Chapman lost to Whitworth. Redlands had an opportunity at Linfield, but the Bulldogs are not firing on nearly enough cylinders at the moment to have been competitive in the Catdome. Cal Lutheran also had an opportunity to notch a big SCIAC win when hosting Central, but the Dutch left victorious. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps has looked steady so far this year sweeping their non-conference games and Pomona-Pitzer was able to avenge last year’s loss to Carleton. The SCIAC hasn’t won a playoff game since 2019 and that, along with a continuing imbalance in results with the NWC has the SCIAC sliding backwards just a bit this year.
23. Midwest Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 23
Non-conference record: 3-7
Signature win: Lake Forest 21, Wisconsin Lutheran 7
Lake Forest is riding high and undefeated so far in 2024. The other two wins for the MWC have come against a pair of winless teams (Eureka and Millikin). While Illinois College bowed out of the 2023 playoffs in the first round, Monmouth did score a victory for the conference in last year’s Lakefront Bowl. Recent playoff matchups have not been kind to the MWC champion, however the expanded bracket may provide the MWC representative to the tournament a more competitive opportunity for a win instead of opening immediately with a championship favorite.
24. Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 24
Non-conference record: 5-20
Signature win: Mount St. Joseph 49, Albion 14
The most impressive part about Mount St. Joseph’s win isn’t the point total — we’ve come to expect the Lions to pile on the points. It was the defensive effort that held in check a potent Albion offense. The result was unexpected after the Lions’ surprising loss to Muskingum. The HCAC continues to struggle in the non-conference portion of their season and until the conference can start pulling some wins back from their MIAA counterparts, it will be difficult to improve its position in these rankings.
25. Massachusetts State College Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 26
Non-conference record: 3-6
Signature win: Castleton 14, Norwich 12
Castleton is only in the MASCAC for one season, but did deliver a non-conference win while snapping a long losing streak in their rivalry game with Norwich. Mass-Dartmouth has been rolling once again behind the arm of Dante Avilos-Santos. An undefeated run through the MASCAC could deliver a home playoff game to the Corsairs and an opportunity for the MASCAC to climb. Western Connecticut has been a consistent performer for the MASCAC for a number of years, and ending the affiliate membership of the Wolves will hinder upward mobility in these rankings.
26. Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: N/A
Non-conference record: 2-6
Signature win: Texas Lutheran 35, Trinity (Texas) 20
Texas Lutheran opened the new era of SCAC football by beating its old SCAC rival in one of the more surprising results in the early part of the season. The conference’s only other non-conference win has been registered by Lyon who beat Grinnell. One more opportunity exists when McMurry faces off later this season with crosstown rival Hardin-Simmons. The new iteration of the SCAC lacks depth, but the addition of Hendrix in 2025 will help add some depth to the top of the league as newer programs Lyon and Centenary continue to mature.
27. USA South Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 25
Non-conference record: 1-16
Signature win: Maryville (Tenn.) 23, Sewanee 9
It hasn’t been a great season for the USAC in 2024. Maryville has secured the only non-conference win as they have struggled mightily in series with their Region 3 counterparts in the ODAC and the SAA. To make matters slightly worse, the Scots are taking that one non-conference win and moving to the SAA in 2025. There is potential in the USAC, however. We’ve seen Huntingdon be competitive regionally and Belhaven broke through to win the conference one year ago. The conference can win games outside of its own league, there’s no easy way to say it — 2024 hasn’t been that year.
28. Upper Midwest Athletic Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 28
Non-conference record: 7-13
Signature win: Martin Luther 10, Macalester 7
Seven non-conference wins is the most registered by the UMAC going back to at least 2021. Minnesota-Morris and Martin Luther each scored wins over Macalester, notching the first wins for UMAC teams over any team from the MIAC in a long time. Like the MWC champions, nearly any UMAC champion is geographically situated to be matched up with a national title contender from the MIAC or the WIAC in the first round of the playoffs. Playoff expansion might benefit a UMAC champion by providing a slightly less daunting first round opponent. Any playoff win for the UMAC would be monumental, but in a 40-team bracket it may be ever so slightly more achievable.
29. Eastern Collegiate Football Conference
2023 ATN ranking: 28
Non-conference record: 5-13
Signature win: Gallaudet 42, Nichols 28
2024 is the final trip around the board for the ECFC. In Week 1, the conference only managed a split in four games that its members were favored to win. Last year’s playoff representative, Alfred State, was shut out by Buffalo State who has improved, but has also been at the bottom of the Liberty League for a number of years. Dean has been shut out in three of its four contests. Pathways to the playoffs will be more difficult for all of these teams in their new conferences, but there will at least be a better sense of stability.
*We don't rank the NESCAC, because conference members do not play outside of the conference in the regular season and do not participate in the postseason, leaving no basis for comparison with the rest of Division III.
That's how ATN sees the conference landscape in 2024. Let us know what you think, respectfully, in the comments below!
