Football

2024 MIAC Football Season Preview

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) football teams have reported to camp in preparation for the 2024 season.
 
Augsburg University will be the first MIAC team to kick off the new year when the Auggies host Valley City State University under the lights at Edor Nelson Field in Minneapolis on Friday, September 6. Seven other MIAC programs will begin their 2024 non-conference schedules the following day.
 
Conference play begins on the last weekend of September in what will be the final year of the MIAC’s divisional structure. “Crossover” games will begin on Saturday, September 28 with “in-division” games starting on Saturday, October 12.
 
Beginning in 2025 and into 2026, MIAC football teams will play an eight-game conference schedule featuring seven regularly scheduled in-conference contests and one Championship Week game. Beginning in 2027, the MIAC will return to a traditional, single-round robin schedule with every MIAC team playing every other MIAC team once.
 
In 2024, the MIAC champion and automatic qualifier for the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs will be decided on Saturday, November 16 when the top team from the Northwoods Division (as determined by in-division record) hosts the top team from the Skyline Division with the conference title on the line. 
 
The 2024 NCAA Division III Football Championship is scheduled to be played on January 4, 2025 at Turner Stadium in Humble, Texas. The national championship will be played significantly later than usual this year as a result of the NCAA playoff field expanding from 32 teams to 40 teams in 2024. Twenty-eight teams - including the champion of the MIAC - will receive automatic qualifiers from their conferences. 
 
The remaining 12 playoff qualifiers will be selected at-large via the NCAA Power Index (NPI). Similar to Pairwise in college hockey but new to most NCAA sports in 2024, the Football NPI will calculate winning percentage, strength of schedule, home-away results, quality wins, and overtime considerations to rank teams for postseason consideration.
2023 FINAL STANDINGS
Northwoods Division
Gustavus (6-4, 5-3, 4-0)
Saint John’s (8-2, 7-1, 3-1)
Carleton (7-3, 5-3, 2-2)
St. Olaf (5-5, 4-4, 1-3)
St. Scholastica (2-8, 1-7, 0-4)		 Skyline Division
Bethel (8-3, 7-1, 4-0)*%
Concordia (5-5, 4-4, 3-1)
Augsburg (6-4, 4-4, 2-2)
Hamline (4-6, 2-6, 1-3)
Macalester (3-7, 1-7, 0-4)
*MIAC Champion
%NCAA Playoff Participant
RULE CHANGES
MIAC coaches and administrators voted to expand the visiting team roster limit from 60 to 75 players beginning in 2024. The change aims to increase the depth of student-athlete participation in the conference.
 
Nationwide, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel (PROP) reviewed and approved multiple rules changes submitted by the Football Rules Committee this past April. Teams now have the option of using tablets to view in-game video. The video can include the broadcast feed and camera angles from the coach’s sideline and coach’s end zone.
 
Teams can have up to 18 active tablets for use in the coaching booth, sideline and locker room. Tablets cannot be connected to other devices to project larger additional images and cannot include analytics, data or data access capability or other communication access. All team personnel will be allowed to view the tablets during the game. 
 
In addition to technology changes, timing changes are also coming to Division III games. PROP approved adding automatic “two-minute warning” timeouts when two minutes remain in the second and fourth quarters, and the Division III committee endorsed the first-down timing rules previously adopted by Division I and II last year. The game clock will now continue to run when a first down is gained in bounds but stop when a first down is gained during the last two minutes of either half.
 
One penalty change of note: horse-collar tackles that occur within the tackle box will now be assessed as a 15-yard personal foul. Previously, a horse-collar tackle within the tackle box was not a foul.
MIAC SPORTS NETWORK
The MIAC Sports Network powered by Hudl launched last August and will be back again as the streaming home of all MIAC-hosted games, events, and championships. The MIAC Sports Network is available on the web (https://miacsportsnetwork.com/) along with streaming apps for television and mobile devices, including Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku (TV), iOS, Android (mobile), and Amazon Fire Tablet. The app can be found and installed free of charge by searching for the MIAC Sports Network.
MIAC APP
The MIAC mobile app remains free to fans and can be downloaded on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store for Android devices.
AWARD WATCH
The 2024 MIAC Football All-Conference honors will be voted on by MIAC coaches at the conclusion of the regular season. In addition to a 60-player All-MIAC squad, coaches will also vote on individual awards for the MIAC Offensive, Defensive, Rookie, and Coach of the Year.
 
Throughout the regular season, the MIAC will recognize top individual performances with the MIAC Football Offensive, Defensive, and Special Teams Players of the Week awards. Athlete of the Week awards for football will begin on Monday, September 9, and be announced weekly through the end of the regular season.
FOR THE RECORD
The 2024 MIAC Football Record Book is available for download and features historical standings, all-time award winners, record information, and more. The information included in the record book is based on available data and research for additional historical documents is ongoing.
QUICK HITS
D3football.com Preseason Top 25: No. 14 Saint John’s, RV Bethel
D3football.com Preseason All-America: Carleton TE Ntense Obono (1T), Bethel S Matt Jung (1T), Gustavus WR Jake Breitbach (2T), Bethel CB Devin Williams (2T), Concordia DT Collin Thompson (3T), Gustavus LB Carson DeKam (3T)
First Non-Conference Game Date: Friday, September 6
First Conference Game Date: Saturday, September 28
Championship Week: Saturday, November 16
Season Links: Standings | Schedule | News | Statistics | Athletes of the Week | Championship Week | Record Book