A.J. Jackson is certainly glad he decided to come back for his final year at Lake Forest. Lake Forest athletics file photo

Lake Forest scored late to beat Monmouth and get the Midwest Conference automatic bid, while Maryville, Randolph-Macon, Mass-Dartmouth and Northwestern (Minn.) will be joining the bracket party as well. Here's the early national roundup for Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024.

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A number of teams clinched automatic bids to the 40-team playoffs on Saturday and you can see the list which follows.

A.J. Jackson scored five touchdowns, two of them in the final 70 seconds of the game, to single-handedly carry Lake Forest past Monmouth 35-28, clinching the automatic bid for the Foresters from the Midwest Conference. Down 28-21, the Foresters (9-0) started a drive at Monmouth 15 thanks to a 60-yard Jackson punt return, and finished it by handing the ball to Jackson. He cut left in the backfield, and made a man miss at the 3 on his way to the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown to tie the game at 28 with 1:10 to play. 

With the game tied, Monmouth decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 45-yard line with 38 seconds left, and the Scots' run up the middle was stuffed inches short. And Josh Gasca's first pass was good to Tee Land all the way down to the Monmouth 10. From there, the ball went back to Jackson, who became the program's all-time leading scorer on Saturday. And he sidestepped a defender to the right, then held off a would-be tackler the final few yards to the end zone for the go-ahead score. The win clinched the automatic bid going into next weekend's regular season finale at the University of Chicago. 

Randolph-Macon clinched the Old Dominion Athletic Conference automatic bid ahead of its Week 11 rivalry game with Hampden-Sydney as the Yellow Jackets made it look easy, defeating Ferrum 35-7. Mitchell Johnson and Dante Casciola each ran for two touchdowns in the win, and the Macon defense held Ferrum to 52 yards on the ground and 139 overall. Casciola threw for 130 yards on the day. Ferrum, in its final season before moving to NCAA Division II, is 4-5 overall and 2-4 in ODAC play.

Maryville wrapped up the USA South automatic bid and clinched its first playoff bid since 2018 as the Scots rolled past Greensboro 47-7 and N.C. Wesleyan defeated Brevard, avoiding an awkward potential situation since the Maryville-Brevard game on Sept. 28 was postponed because of Hurricane Helene and will not likely be made up. Bryson Rollins threw for 317 yards and three TDs in the win. "We just wanted each team to become the best it could be, to reach its full potential," coach Ben Fox said. "I'm happy for this team that we won some of those games that we haven't won in the past, which got us in position to win a championship."

Mass-Dartmouth wrapped up the MASCAC automatic bid with ease, rolling past Westfield State 56-14. Dante Aviles-Santos threw for just 202 yards on 16-for-21 passing, but threw four touchdown passes in the win. The Corsairs limited Westfield State to just 3-for-8 passing in improving to 9-0. In the UMAC, Northwestern (Minn.) clinched the conference's automatic bid, as Sivert Klefsaas ran for 245 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries to help the Eagles defeat Greenville 42-34.

The Southern Athletic Association will carry its three-way tie into the final weekend of the regular season, as Berry, Centre and Trinity (Texas) all won handily on Saturday to improve to 7-2 overall, 5-1 in conference play. If the teams remain in a three-way tie when it's all said and done, the winner will be determined by the team's opponents record, a mark which should be easily carried by Berry's opponents, which include non-conference games against DePauw and Randolph-Macon. 

Springfield remained in the driver's seat in the NEWMAC, with the Pride rolling past Merchant Marine 42-7. Springfield is ranked in the coaches' poll, but its non-conference wins are against Western New England, Husson and Union. Arsen Shtefan carried the ball 28 times for 173 yards and two scores while fellow fullback Joe Cannizarro added 114 yards and two touchdowns of his own. Jacob Silvester was surgical in running the Pride's offense to 412 yards of offense, including 386 on the ground, while allowing the Pride to possess the ball for 41:07. Springfield and SUNY-Maritime play a head-to-head game for the NEWMAC automatic bid next Saturday.

Ursinus remained in the hunt for an at-large bid to the playoffs and pitched its second shutout in a row as the Bears defeated Gettysburg 34-0. Senior wide receiver Justin Collier became the Ursinus football career touchdown reception record after catching two touchdown passes to move to 25, amd the Bears rumbled for 436 yards on the ground in the win.

Montie Quinn went absolutely nuts for the third week in a row at running back for Curry, as he ran for 381 yards and four touchdowns for the Colonels in a 47-41 win. Quinn ripped off touchdowns of 60, 31, 79 and 59 yards to stake Curry to a 47-18 lead with 20 minutes left to play before Nichols worked its way back into it.

Carleton snapped a losing streak to Gustavus Adolphus of more than a quarter-century and scored their highest total against Gustavus in more than a century in defeating the Golden Gusties 51-17. Jack Curtis matched the MIAC record with seven touchdown passes and Tyler Dimond finished with 12 catches for 282 yards and four touchdowns, the 282 yards being the most by a Division III player this season. Carleton scored 73 points against Gustavus on Oct. 11, 1919.

Emmitt Hawkins hauled in a school and Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference-record five touchdown receptions and Wisconsin Lutheran won its first overtime game since 2018 in a thrilling 49-48 victory at Rockford. The Warriors (6-3, 5-2 NACC), who assured themselves a winning season for the first time since 2014, wrapped up their conference road slate with a perfect 4-0 record. Hawkins finished with seven catches for 173 yards and the five touchdowns. The WLC defense forced an incomplete pass as Rockford attempted a two-point conversion to win the game after WLC scored to open overtime.

After scoring with 30 seconds remaining to pull within one point, Lawrence decided to go for two, but Knox freshman safety Jalen Brown broke up a pass in the end zone and the Prairie Fire held on to win 35-34. Knox turned the ball over on downs at the Viking 33 with 2:19 to play, and Lawrence covered the 67 yards in 11 plays, overcoming an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the red zone. Aidan Williams connected with Alex Lippert in the end zone for the third time — the quarterback's fifth TD of the day — and Lawrence decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion attempt. Williams dropped the snap out of the shotgun, but the ball bounced right back to him. He avoided the rush, then saw an open man in the back of the end zone, only to have Brown bat the ball away before it reached its target.