These are the things that make up Division III football this time of year. W’s and L’s as in wins and losses, X’s and O’s as in how plays and schemes are drawn up on paper, and 0’s and 1’s as in the data that is used to determine who will make the playoffs and how they’ll be seeded, in the NCAA Power Index.

We got the first look at the NCAA’s version of the data in the NPI this week, and no surprise to anyone here that the data fully passed inspection and is exactly the same as what we’ve seen on D3datacast — that’s the link on our home page menu, for your reference.

Of course, there were some great games to run down this week, such as how the folks at Johns Hopkins put together a third- and fourth-quarter rally to get past Carnegie Mellon. We talk about how the game turned, what can be learned, how the teams can grow from here. Hardin-Simmons/Mary Hardin-Baylor and Berry-Trinity (Texas) were big games that ended up not being close. What’s up with UMHB? And we also chat with Tony Kunczewski, the head coach at Berry, about his team’s big day and their win in our Fast 5 segment.

And yes, there were upsets in the WIAC. Or were there? What really constitutes an upset in WIAC games these days? Co-hosts Patrick Coleman and Greg Thomas talk it through.

Patrick and Greg hand out game balls, spotlight the unusual stats of the week, Logan Hansen talks about which teams have the best chance of getting a top-eight seed and protected home field in the playoffs, we go around each region for even more stories and much more in this edition of the D3football.com Around the Nation podcast.

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Theme music: Power 2 by DJmentos.