System failure: While North Central, Aurora U. ready for playoffs, Wheaton College prepares for bowl game

Wheaton College quarterback Mark Forcucci will lead the Thunder into the Culver’s Isthmus Bowl at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Jimmy Naprstek/Kodiak Creative

The CCIW has had two teams qualify for the past four Division III football playoffs, North Central and Wheaton.

This year, the NCAA expanded the Division III field from 32 to 40 teams but also adopted a new system for developing power rankings, and Wheaton (8-2) was left out.

“Going into last week, we knew it was something that was outside our control,” said Thunder quarterback Mark Forcucci, from Wheaton North. “We were really just trying to focus on what we could control and that was beating North Park.”

The season is not over for Wheaton College. One lesser-known fact of Division III football is there are bowl games all over the country for teams that don’t reach the playoffs. Wheaton will play Wisconsin-Stout in the Culver’s Isthmus Bowl in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, at 2 p.m. Saturday.

It makes a perfect bookend to the season for Wheaton, since it opened the campaign with a frustrating 21-14 loss at Wisconsin-Oshkosh. The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference is often regarded as the best Division III league in country. Platteville and LaCrosse got the playoff bids this year, and there was a four-way tie for third place.

“It is a little bit of a different situation, but at the end of the day, we’re still just so grateful to have one more week with this team we’ve got here,” Forcucci said. “There are so many special seniors and fifth- and sixth-years on this team.

“This is their last-ever game, so we’re really just cherishing that as a team and trying to go out the right way. Whether it was the outcome we idealized or not, we’re still just trying to make the most of it.”

Wheaton College quarterback Mark Forcucci will lead the Thunder into the Culver’s Isthmus Bowl at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Jimmy Naprstek/Kodiak Creative

Wheaton won its final three regular-season games by an average score of 65-14. Forcucci threw for 2,274 yards this fall with 27 touchdowns.

North Central coach Brad Spencer agreed Wheaton should have been included in the playoff field. In 2019 North Central lost to Wheaton, made the playoffs as an at-large team, then won its first national title. The Cardinals have been to the last four Division III title games, winning twice.

“I believe Wheaton should be in, even if you’re subscribing to the NPI ratings,” Spencer said. “First year using it, there’s a lot of dials and things that need to be adjusted, I think. That was to be expected. It’s a shame the first year we’re using this new system, our league only has one team in.”

North Central (10-0) was ranked No. 1 all season, but when the NPI ratings came out, the Cardinals ended up the No. 5 seed. Barring upsets, the Cardinals are facing the prospect of playing at SUNY-Cortland — a rematch of last year’s title game — in the third round, then at top seed St. John’s (Minnesota) in the semifinals.

Last year, North Central won two road playoff games against Wisconsin-LaCrosse and Wartburg (Iowa) before losing a 1-point heartbreaker to Cortland.

The expanded playoff field does give North Central the weekend off, before hosting the winner of Whitworth (Washington) vs. Pomona-Pitzer (California) next week. Spencer says some position groups have been hit hard by injuries, so the bye week is coming at a good time.

“If anything, we love how it worked out, with the opportunity to play some of those teams in our bracket, a couple teams we’ve already played before in the past,” he said. “So it would be great to be able to play again.”

Two other area teams have playoff byes this week. Aurora (9-1) will visit Hope (Michigan) on Nov. 30, and the winner of that game will likely face North Central the following week.

Lake Forest (10-0) awaits the winner of Coe (Iowa) vs. Bethel (Minnesota).