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| JP Chaney and the Aurora defense face a big challenge from the Hope offense. Aurora athletics photo |
Thanksgving weekend delivers a supersized weekend of playoff games. 32 teams remain on the road to Houston where our eight winners from the first round will join the 24 teams that earned first round byes. We'll get our first look at the tournament's top seeds, all three PAC teams, and for better or worse, a pair of games featuring conference rivals. Our Quick Hits playoff panel is back to give you scores for all 16 games, and give you an idea about whether or not a game will be close, high or low scoring, and who we expect to advance to the round of 16.
Our playoff panel will be our regular crew of Greg Thomas, Pat Coleman, Ryan Tipps, Frank Rossi, Logan Hansen, and Riley Zayas. We're excited to have UW-Eau Claire football alum Mike Shoultz joining the panel for the playoffs as well. Around The Nation originator and longtime Division III guru Keith McMillan will return to the Quick Hits panel later in the playoffs.
— Greg Thomas
St. John's bracket
UW-La Crosse at St. John's
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| Greg's take: | 27 | 31 |
| Patrick's take: | 31 | 42 |
| Frank's take: | 20 | 37 |
| Logan's take: | 31 | 35 |
| Riley's take: | 30 | 34 |
| Mike's take: | 27 | 31 |
Consensus: The panel is unanimous in picking the top-seeded Johnnies, in a high scoring and close contest.
Hobart at Susquehanna
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| Greg's take: | 16 | 24 |
| Patrick's take: | 13 | 28 |
| Frank's take: | 17 | 34 |
| Logan's take: | 17 | 34 |
| Riley's take: | 17 | 31 |
| Mike's take: | 17 | 30 |
Consensus: The consensus is for a Susquehanna win, generally by a double digit margin.
UW-Platteville at Wartburg
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| Greg's take: | 31 | 20 |
| Patrick's take: | 31 | 24 |
| Frank's take: | 27 | 23 |
| Logan's take: | 24 | 20 |
| Riley's take: | 20 | 24 |
| Mike's take: | 28 | 24 |
Consensus: Five out of six panelists favor the WIAC champion Pioneers to advance on the road.
Lake Forest at Bethel
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| Greg's take: | 21 | 35 |
| Patrick's take: | 20 | 35 |
| Frank's take: | 21 | 35 |
| Logan's take: | 17 | 48 |
| Riley's take: | 20 | 35 |
| Mike's take: | 13 | 42 |
Consensus: Bethel is the favorite to move to the final 16, by a couple of touchdowns.
Cortland bracket
Endicott at Cortland
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| Greg's take: | 20 | 27 |
| Patrick's take: | 20 | 29 |
| Frank's take: | 27 | 28 |
| Logan's take: | 21 | 35 |
| Riley's take: | 24 | 34 |
| Mike's take: | 23 | 27 |
Consensus: A clean sweep for the defending champions, but most expect a nail-biter.
Mass-Dartmouth at Springfield
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| Greg's take: | 24 | 35 |
| Patrick's take: | 31 | 28 |
| Frank's take: | 17 | 28 |
| Logan's take: | 28 | 49 |
| Riley's take: | 24 | 35 |
| Mike's take: | 21 | 42 |
Consensus: It's not unanimous, but the panel predicts Springfield to run its way into the next round.
Aurora at Hope
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| Greg's take: | 27 | 34 |
| Patrick's take: | 38 | 45 |
| Frank's take: | 40 | 27 |
| Logan's take: | 28 | 35 |
| Riley's take: | 20 | 28 |
| Mike's take: | 27 | 28 |
Consensus: Five panelists are picking Hope to stand tall at home by a single score.
Whitworth at North Central
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| Greg's take: | 7 | 49 |
| Patrick's take: | 10 | 52 |
| Frank's take: | 10 | 47 |
| Logan's take: | 14 | 49 |
| Riley's take: | 27 | 38 |
| Mike's take: | 20 | 52 |
Consensus: Full agreement that North Central will advance comfortably.
Hardin-Simmons bracket
Mary Hardin-Baylor at Hardin-Simmons
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| Greg's take: | 17 | 29 |
| Patrick's take: | 28 | 38 |
| Frank's take: | 30 | 31 |
| Logan's take: | 24 | 30 |
| Riley's take: | 23 | 21 |
| Mike's take: | 24 | 28 |
Consensus: Most of the panel agrees that it is harder to beat a good team three times in a single season, but very doable for the Cowboys.
Texas Lutheran at Linfield
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| Greg's take: | 10 | 28 |
| Patrick's take: | 14 | 34 |
| Frank's take: | 14 | 37 |
| Logan's take: | 10 | 45 |
| Riley's take: | 14 | 30 |
| Mike's take: | 17 | 43 |
Consensus: Our team foresees a big win for Linfield at the Catdome.
Grove City at Johns Hopkins
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| Greg's take: | 24 | 22 |
| Patrick's take: | 28 | 17 |
| Frank's take: | 27 | 24 |
| Logan's take: | 21 | 13 |
| Riley's take: | 17 | 20 |
| Mike's take: | 24 | 22 |
Consensus: One of the lower scoring and closest contests of the weekend, five panelists predict a Grove City road win.
Maryville at DePauw
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| Greg's take: | 14 | 31 |
| Patrick's take: | 10 | 45 |
| Frank's take: | 20 | 30 |
| Logan's take: | 17 | 38 |
| Riley's take: | 16 | 31 |
| Mike's take: | 13 | 32 |
Consensus: Our panel sees a DePauw win, by a convincing and comfortable margin.
Salisbury bracket
King's at Salisbury
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| Greg's take: | 24 | 38 |
| Patrick's take: | 17 | 41 |
| Frank's take: | 13 | 47 |
| Logan's take: | 31 | 52 |
| Riley's take: | 20 | 42 |
| Mike's take: | 26 | 45 |
Consensus: Salisbury's offense stays energized and pulls away from King's.
Washington & Jefferson at Randolph-Macon
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| Greg's take: | 24 | 25 |
| Patrick's take: | 35 | 20 |
| Frank's take: | 33 | 24 |
| Logan's take: | 31 | 24 |
| Riley's take: | 31 | 27 |
| Mike's take: | 27 | 23 |
Consensus: Not a unanimous pick, but the panel picks a second PAC team to win a close game on the road.
Centre at Carnegie Mellon
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| Greg's take: | 17 | 28 |
| Patrick's take: | 17 | 38 |
| Frank's take: | 10 | 38 |
| Logan's take: | 14 | 41 |
| Riley's take: | 14 | 37 |
| Mike's take: | 10 | 34 |
Consensus: The Tartans are the third PAC team our panel picks to advance by winning convincingly at home.
John Carroll at Mount Union
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| Greg's take: | 27 | 34 |
| Patrick's take: | 35 | 38 |
| Frank's take: | 27 | 37 |
| Logan's take: | 30 | 31 |
| Riley's take: | 20 | 28 |
| Mike's take: | 24 | 27 |
Consensus: The panel predicts a repeat of their first meeting- high scoring, close, and a Purple Raiders win.
Got picks? Put them in the comments! Include your scores!