Mount Union has won (deep breaths now) the most recent, two of the last three, three of the past six, six of the past 13 and 12 of the past 22 Division III national titles. (Exhale.) And Division III writers think the Purple Raiders will bring home the crown again in 2018.
The defending champs were the heavy favorites in D3Football.com’s preseason Top 25, released Wednesday, garnering 24 of the 25 available first-place votes. The lone dissenting vote went to 2017 runner-up and 2016 champion Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Crusaders saw their 29-game winning streak snapped in a 12-0 loss to Mount Union in the 2017 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, and voters like the two finalists to forge a rematch this December.
St. Thomas came in third; the Tommies reached the title game in 2015 and 2012, but fell to Mount Union both times. Wisconsin-Oshkosh ranks fourth in the poll; Oshkosh fell 10-7 to Mary Hardin-Baylor in the 2016 championship game. A grand total of five programs have reached the last 13 Stagg Bowls; Wisconsin-Whitewater played for nine and won six Division III national championships from 2005-14 but has fallen out of the elite after Lance Leipold‘s departure for Buffalo. The Warhawks went 7-3 in 2017 and rank No. 12 in today’s poll.
The full poll:
1. Mount Union (Ohio) (24 first-place votes)
2. Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) (1)
3. St. Thomas (Minn.)
4. Wisconsin-Oshkosh
5. Linfield (Ore.)
6. Brockport (N.Y.)
7. North Central (Ill.)
8. Frostburg State (Md.)
9. Wesley (Del.)
10. Hardin-Simmons (Texas)
11. St. John’s (Minn.)
12. Wisconsin-Whitewater
13. Wartburg (Iowa)
14. Wittenberg (Ohio)
15. Washington & Jefferson (Pa.)
16. Wisconsin-Platteville
17. Delaware Valley (Pa.)
18. Wheaton (Ill.)
19. Johns Hopkins (Md.)
20. Trine (Ind.)
21. Illinois Wesleyan
22. Berry (Ga.)
23. Case Western Reserve (Ohio)
24. Franklin & Marshall (Pa.)
25. RPI (N.Y.)