Guilford College Quakers DO NOT get in the NCAA Football Playoffs Field of 32 teams:Guilford College #33!!!

Guilford College (9-1, 6-1 ODAC) learned it did not receive one of six at-large bids to the NCAA Division III playoffs when the 32-team field was released Sunday evening……

The Quakers post their best regular season record in school history and then the NCAA snubs them and won’t let/invite the Guilford College men into the playoff field…

It does appear the only way into the playoffs for the Quakers is that they will have to win their conference(ODAC)….Washington & Lee(10-0) won the conference this season and it looks like you have to go (10-0) just to get a sniff of the post-season activity….

22 thoughts on “Guilford College Quakers DO NOT get in the NCAA Football Playoffs Field of 32 teams:Guilford College #33!!!

  1. Conferences should have automatic bids because that ensures that conferences that beat up on each other stay engaged to the process. This same problem could happen in the SEC and P10 on the D1 level this year and you will hear the opposite argument. I just wonder what record did the other at large teams have. If all of them were 9-1, then it may have been a fair system based on the # of teams allowed in the playoffs.

  2. If they got rid of the automatic bids, W&L wouldn’t have gotten into the playoffs, either. The ODAC is a pathetic football conference. I’ve looked through the ODAC archives and as far as I can tell the last time an ODAC team won an NCAA Division III playoff game was before the turn of the 21st century.

  3. There is a feeling among some insiders that there is a prevailing Midwest bias…I can’t remember who I was talking to, but that was the word I was catching on Saturday just outside the tent at Guilford..

    Guilford is built like a contending playoff team and it is a shame that they didn’t get in….

    How many years will it be before they even get close again??? These (9-1’s) don’t come around very often…

    No Matt Pawlowski at Lexington when the Quakers faced Washington & Lee…Matt went down with injury in the first quarter…I would have liked to have seen and heard Guilford vs. W&L with a healthy Matt Pawlowski for the entire game…

    That is the way things go, but now we will never know…

    Got to have the feeling that within this Quaker senior class you had the top QB in Quaker history in Matt, the top receiver in Guilford history in Adam Smith and the top kicker/punter in Quaker history in Tyler Hunt…

    Quite a talented bunch and nothing for them to today come practice time at around 3pm….

  4. J.D. – The ODAC is ranked #9 out of 28 D3 football conferences. Not too bad! Hampden-Sydney made it to the 2nd round in 2013 and lost to a very good Linfield team in Oregon.

    Andy – From the game video I watched, Pawlowski injury happened with about 4 minutes left to go in 2nd quarter, so he played almost a half.

  5. If Guilford could not get in the playoffs this year with a 9-1 record, I don’t ever see them making the D3 playoffs.

    This is crazy!!!!!

  6. Pawlowski went out of the W&L game with 9:34 on the clock in the 2nd Qtr. Due to weather the plan was to run but when the weather let up Guilford starting passing and Pawlowski was 7-10-80 yards at the time of departure. The score was Guilford 3 W&L 0 at the time. The box score and play by play is on the Guilford web site. His last pass was to Chad Christopher before hitting the turf. Would he have made a difference? Of course, he put up 278 yards and 3 td’s in the 2nd half against E&H and a 2nd half comeback against Hampden-Sydney. Doesn’t matter now, next chapter is yet to be written and the best is yet to come for him.

  7. 9-1 and does not cut it when there are 26 automatic qualifiers and only 6 at large bids. GC needs to step up their out of conference schedule.

    The ODAC is far from pathetic. In 2003 Bridgewater played for the national championship. They were very competitive from 2001 until 2006. In 2013 HSC took the lead against 2nd ranked Linfield into the 4th quarter in a 2nd round match up.

    This year 2 of its teams WL and GC finished the season ranked in the top 25. There are 247 teams in D3. Having a 1/4 of the conference ranked in the Top 10% is quite an accomplishment.

  8. Pawloski did go out with 9:34 to go. But by the time GC got the ball back it was close to 4 mins to go to half with the score tied at 3-3. It’s conjucture to say what would have happen had he played. It was a legal hit that took him out. I’m fairly confident WL will not add an asterisk to their trophy. You guys lay a lot of blame at the feet of this kid. I’m sure he would have played if possible. It’s a shame he could not play but that’s football. WL won fair and square.

  9. Pretty much what I was saying, Matt Pawlowski missed pretty much three quarters of that W&L game…Mitch Ferrick did a good job and he rallied the Quakers late as the backup QB, but if Matt is in there, I say Guilford wins that game…With your Captain at the helm of your ship you have a missed better chance to make it home safe, with victory in hand….

    No dis on W&L and they are the ODAC Champs, but I went by their site to get some Christian Cranford(Page HS0 state and saw the ODAC 2015 Conference Champs Post/page and couldn’t help but think that could have been the Quakers…

    Excellent season by the way for Christian Cranford…

    I have followed the Guilford teams for many years and was playing Sunday afternoon football with the Guilford players back when I was in high school and from I saw this year, Best Team Ever….

    Not sure I would want to play any Sunday afternoon ball with this year’s team, but I sure do wish there would have been a spot for these guys somewhere in playoffs…

    I heard most of the away games this year with Tommy Bryant and Miles Poole and did the best I could to keep up with the team while they were on the road and saw every home game they played in 2015….

    Thought this was going to be a Special Team even before the season started and I was right on that inclination….

  10. Andy,
    No doubt this was a special group of players but make no mistake about it, their head COACH is the real deal!! Guilford has the same athletes as they did 5 to 10 years ago but the difference is Coach R! If he left tomorrow then they’re back in the cellar of ODAC.

  11. I hate that Matt got hurt and I for one would not want to see him play in a game if he was injured…

    I just wish we could have seen a healthy Matt Pawlowski go the distance vs. W&L and look forward to seeing how W&L does in the playoffs…

    I remember some of those Bridgewater teams and I think I saw them playing in the cold or the snow up in Roanoke/Salem, Virginia one year for the DIII Title…

    Pretty sure I was watching that game on TV…Bridgewater was a bit of a small-college powerhouse there for a couple of years…

    Back in the day Ferrum had some strong teams too when Hank Norton was their coach and when Stokley Fulton was at Hampden-Sydney, the Tigers were a Top Ten team for a while and Coach Fulton was so tough it looked like somebody tried kick him the face and he bit their foot off….He had the Billy Kilmer look about him…

    Good ODAC/Central Virginia football memories from over the years….

  12. The combination of the coach’s and players made the difference. There are no players 5 to 10 years ago that can match the play of the 4 year careers of this years seniors. Adam Smith, all time TD reception leader and Yard leader. Pawlowski, 116 passing TD’s against 16 picks unheard of at any level. The only other QB at Guilford close to being that good is Vogleback with 124 TD’s and 86 interceptions. The best of the best played their last games at Guilford this past weekend.

  13. Best ever? Maybe the best you have ever seen, Andy, but the Guilford teams of fall ’66 and ’67 would have “wiped the floor” with this team. Bill Burchette, Henry McKay (AA who played several years as a pro, Dave Mabry,and number of others who played a year or two @ ACC schools.

  14. Eddie with a huge amount of respect – those teams went 5-4-1 and 6-4. This year was a good team. There are also 2 ODAC championship teams from 91 and 97 that might like to argue that point with you.

  15. One of the best teams ever was the Dennis Haglan team that went (8-2) back in the 70’s and he had the man that may be the best lineman in Quaker history, in Steve Musulin….Don’t know of many Quakers over the years that could hang with Musulin…

    The teams of the 60’s were good, but this year’s Guilford Offense would give them a very strong challenge…This year’s Guilford College offense would give any former Guilford team a run for their money…

    The Guilford defense hangs tough and their job is to get the ball back to the offense….The ODAC and much of the DIII is about offense…How many points can you put on the board?????

    You see it in on so many levels of college football today and it is all about who can out-score who???

    Guilford’s offense was one heck of a unit and those guys in the 60’s would have their hands full chasing Matt and his men on the Quaker ‘O’….Bill Hollifield was as mean and tough as any player that would take the field, but even Mr. Hollifield might find this year’s Quaker offense more than a walk in the park…

    Musulin, Hollifield, Haglan and many others from the past would be very proud of this Quaker bunch and if they had a vote, they would punch their ticket for the Quakers to the DIII Playoffs…

    Haglan’s teams beat the likes of Lenior-Rhyne, Catawba and maybe Elon too during the 8-2 run, but (9-1) trumps (8-2) right? That Carolinas Conference was a tough league, but soon after the Haglan-era was over, that is when Guilford decided to make the move to DIII…

    I think we all do agree about one thing.

    Guilford College was left out of the 2015 DIII Playoffs and the Guilford College Quakers deserve a spot in that Field of 32….

    Guilford College should still be playing football in 2015….

    Do we all agree, Guilford College is #33…..

    Quakers raise your heads and hold them high, there is no need to cry, the talk about your 2015 team will not die,
    Guilford College is #33….

    Guilford is #33……

    #33

  16. They are actually number 24 in both the AFCA and the D3Football.com polls. They very well may have been the first team out or the 33rd team but the NCAA doesn’t take the best 32 just like the NCAA doesn’t take the best 65 in basketball. There are only 6 at large bids. A couple of those bids went to University of Wisconsin Whitewater (3 time defending national champs) Wesley (3 consecutive final 4s) There just aren’t many at large bids to go around. Especially to a team that played such a poor out of conference schedule. For those looking for someone to blame- blame your AD. Had GC played a better schedule GC is most likely in and there wouldn’t be any discussion.

  17. There were actually 5 teams ranked ahead of GC in the D3Football.com poll ranked ahead of Guilford that did not get into the playoffs. GC is not the only team with a good group of seniors not practicing.

  18. If Donald Trump was President, I’m not sure that this would have happened???

    Or is this a job for Bernie Sanders, Barry Sanders or Colonel Samders???

    We need a little help on this one….

    Wonder if there are any other games that Guilford might still have chance to play in 2015, or if this is really the end of the road???

    Guilford played in a game called the Poultry Bowl back in around 1970-ish and that was back in the NAIA days and the game was played at Jamieson Stadium…Don’t remember the opponent, but the Bowl Game was played at Jamieson Stadium….

    How hard would it be for us to get a game up between Guilford and N.C. A&T before Christmas and after A&T’s season is over…..

    Greensboro City Championship with Guilford vs. A&T…Would they sanction a game such as this, they being the NCAA….Would this be out of line for these two teams…

    Many would feel A&T would kill Guilford, but with the Guilford offense, you never know…..

    The word will be thrown out that A&T offers scholarships and Guilford doesn’t, but scholarship or no scholarships, Guilford has talent and what better way to showcase this talent than in a true Greensboro City Championship….

    No did on Greensboro College, but Guilford put 77 points on Greensboro College this year…

    If think Guilford has a better chance against A&T in football than in basketball…

    Wonder what others are saying and thinking????

    Right now, Guilford is just looking for another game…..

    Any takers, seems like the NCAA is looking the other way today…….

  19. Here is the history of the Poultry Bowl and it is pretty interesting….I thought it was played at Jamieson Stadium, but Wikipedia says it was played at War Memorial Stadium and I still think I am right on this one…Guilford’s game ended in a 7-7 tie, but Guilford got the tiebreaker on first downs and wins the Poultry Bowl, 8-7….

    Here it tis from Wikipedia:

    The Poultry Bowl was an official college football bowl game played in 1973 and 1974 in Gainesville, Georgia and Greensboro, North Carolina.

    The maiden game was played at Gainesville’s City Park Complex on Saturday, Dec. 8, 1973, between Stephen F. Austin, and Gardner-Webb University (at that time, Gardner Webb College). The SFA Lumberjacks beat the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs 31-10.

    The bowl was aimed at small colleges that didn’t have bowl opportunities, and for the initial game, the selection committee also considered Elon, Jacksonville State, Troy, Grambling, Carson Newman and Jackson State before settling on Stephen F. Austin and Gardner-Webb.

    1973 was the first and only Poultry Bowl played in Gainesville. The game was played the following year at the historic World War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro, North Carolina. The 1974 tilt featured William Penn and Guilford. The game ended in a 7-7 tie, as games could in that era, but as it was a bowl game a tiebreaker was used (most first downs), and Guilford was given an 8-7 victory.

  20. Wesley played Charlotte 2,years ago. Charlotte was at best a well below average D1 team at that time. Wesley was an awesome D3 team. Charlotte won. An A&T Guilford game would be very ugly for GC.

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