TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - For the first time in its history, the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) will have three football teams in the NCAA Division III playoffs, as tri-champions Washington & Jefferson College, Grove City College and Carnegie Mellon University will all have a chance to play for a national championship after the NCAA announced the 40 teams in the playoff field Sunday evening.
With the playoff field expanding from 32 to 40 teams, there will be eight first-round games on Saturday, Nov. 23rd. The expanded field meant there were 12 at-large bids this year, up from four in previous seasons. W&J earned the PAC's automatic bid through a tiebreaker, while Carnegie Mellon and Grove City earned at-large bids. The PAC tri-champions all received byes into the second round and will begin their NCAA playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 30.
Carnegie Mellon will be at home in their second round game, hosting Centre College at Gesling Stadium on the 30th, while Grove City and W&J will both be on the road for their opening playoff games. The Wolverines will travel to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., and the Presidents will play at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va.
While this is the first time the PAC has sent three programs to the playoffs, and first time since 2016 any conference has had three teams in the NCAA field (WIAC), the PAC has sent two teams to the national tournament four previous years. Those included 2005, 2008, 2009 and most recently 2017 when W&J and Case Western Reserve received bids. Both teams would also win their first-round games before dropping their second-round match-ups.
For this year's playoff participants, this marks the second NCAA postseason bid for Carnegie Mellon under third-year head coach Ryan Larsen, and 10th for the program. The Tartans claimed their 10th PAC championship and third in the last four seasons on Saturday with a 37-30 victory over Case Western Reserve in the 38th Academic Bowl. Carnegie Mellon will enter the postseason with an overall mark of 9-1.
Centre, which won a share of the Southern Athletic Association championship, finished the regular season with an 8-2 record. This will be the third postseason appearance for the Colonels.
This will be Grove City's second straight appearance in the national playoffs. The Wolverines defeated unbeaten Susquehanna in the first round last year, 21-20, before falling to eventual national champion Cortland State in the second round, 25-24. This season, Grove City finished with a 9-1 mark to tie for the PAC title, which was their fourth in program history.
Their opponent, No. 19 Johns Hopkins (9-1), secured the Centennial Conference's automatic bid by finishing 6-0 in conference play this year. Johns Hopkins advanced to the national quarterfinals last year and will be making its 12th all-time NCAA playoff appearance, with 11 of those coming since 2011. The Blue Jays are 43-5 over the last four seasons while Grove City owns a 36-8 record in that span.
W&J claimed their 27th PAC championship, and the automatic bid that came with it, following their road victory Saturday at Allegheny, 45-0. W&J enters the postseason boasting a 9-1 overall and PAC record. This also marks the 27th time appearing in the Division III postseason for the Presidents and first since the 2018 campaign.
The Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon went 9-1 during the regular season. RMC was 7-0 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, earning the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs. This is the seventh NCAA playoff berth for Randolph-Macon and they had their best showing in 2023 when the Yellow Jackets reached the semifinal round.
Story contributions from Carnegie Mellon, Grove City, W&J Sports Information offices.