”In the (D3FB) Huddle”

’Twas the day before Kickoff, and all through the land, several creatures are stirring in the “In the Huddle” band. We have three more interviews, this time from Regions 5 & 6, along with Aarron Van Buren’s preview of the Ripon Football season from inside their preseason.

The interviews in this show are with:

- Wartburg Sr. DL Conner McDonald

- St. John’s Sr. OL Michael Bougie

- UW-Platteville Sr. RB Zackary Bothun

Remember that we will have an hour-long pregame show from Montclair, NJ as USMMA visits Montclair at 5pm EDT (4pm EDT Pregame Show) to kick off the D3FB season!

The “In the (D3FB) Huddle” 2026 Kickoff Week Marathon continues, as Frank & JB focus on Regions 3 & 4 in this third preseason episode! They once again interview three awesome student-athletes in this show:

- Berry Sr. QB Andrew Hunter

- Hanover Jr. DB Brian Wall

- Wabash Sr. QB Brand Campbell

Two of the schools won their conference titles in 2025, and one won a bowl game in the hopes of carrying momentum toward 2026 success. Learn all about these great players in this episode as we are just a couple days away from the 2026 D3FB Kickoff!

Enough of Frank & JB doing most of the talking — it’s time for 2026 Preseason Show #2, where three tremendous student-athletes will tell us about their upcoming seasons. This show focuses on Regions 1 & 2, as a new strength-of-schedule metric is introduced to help show relative schedule strengths for Regions 1 & 2. On this episode, the guys interview:

- USMMA Sr. LB Aidan Graham

- Union Sr. DL Jordan Black

- Grove City Gr. S Ryan Montgomery

That’s just the first three of NINE player interviews in our Preseason Shows #2, 3, & 4 coming up as we continue our “In the (D3FB) Huddle” 2026 Kickoff Week Marathon!

Season 19. In 2008 -- 18 years ago -- this was a little Liberty League show. Now it's a national poll, a full preseason slate, and the two co-hosts still arguing about the WIAC in August.

 

Frank Rossi & James Baker are back to open the season — the first of four preseason shows before we go live from Montclair for the opener.

 

What's in it:

 

The annual question — North Central or River Falls back to Salem?

The WIAC — no top dog, four teams in our Top 15.

The portal — who's actually built to survive it.

The Top 40 — and why we rank 40, not 25.

Ranked vs Ranked — all 23 games in the first three weeks.

Predictions — win totals, NESCAC bids, the PAC tiebreaker.

The hard one — will a program go under this year?

Mailbag — Centennial, under-the-radar, Keystone, roster size.

Rule changes — Jim Corpora and Stuart Hindman on all of it.

 

Week 1 gives you #1 North Central vs #3 Bethel, one of the rarest regular-season matchups we've ever had. St. John's is bringing in 101 freshmen. And a free-kick field goal is now legal in college football.

 

Thank you for 18 years of this. Football's almost here.

 

Remember to also follow @D3FBHuddle on X

Frank & JB wrap up Season 18 and the 2025 D3FB season with a great show in which they look back once again at the Stagg Bowl and what has happened to the teams since, and they begin to look forward to the 2026 season. In that preview, they discuss challenging schedules and interview Rowan Head Coach Pat Ruley, who reveals his team’s Week 1 game against a national powerhouse.

The guys run through all of the coaching changes announced over the last months, and they also look at the entire D3FB environment inside the national college football context with RedditCFB’s Bobak Ha’Eri. Finally, Frank and JB give some predictions for the 2026 season.

Thank you for joining us all season long — we can’t wait to bring you our Season 19 content, coming sooner than you think!

Frank & JB take you through Stagg Bowl LII from start to finish with their first-person analysis as UW-River Falls won their first-ever D3FB National Championship. In addition, the guys review some aspects of the 2025 season and discuss why they owe a debt of gratitude to the Canton Police Department. They also begin to look ahead at the 2026 season (Note: this episode was recorded before additional Transfer Portal activity occurred on Thursday).

 

Watch or listen to this show, and as always, let us know what you think!

IT'S TIME! Our @D3FBHuddle Pregame Show will take you through interviews with a player and the Head Coach from both @UWRFFootball & @football_ncc and analysis of the big game with special guests throughout -- starting LIVE at 10am EST!

Frank & JB look at two great Semifinal games from start to finish and begin to preview the January 6th Stagg Bowl in Canton, OH. During the show, JB reveals his Week 16 MVPs and discusses with Frank how this Stagg Bowl matchup compares with other recent matchups. Finally, they discuss ITH’s Stagg Bowl coverage and other content issues. Tune in for highlights and so much more…

 

Winning Teams Featured with Video Clips:

 

UW-River Falls - @UWRFFootball

North Central - @football_ncc

Frank & JB preview the 2025 D3FB Semifinals, looking in-depth at both games: Johns Hopkins at UW-River Falls & John Carroll at North Central - with guests focused on the second game — JCU Gr. QB Nick Semptimphelter & NCC Sr. DL J.P. Sullivan join us. They also continue the Playoffs Guest Analyst segment, this week with ESPN Color Commentator Ryan Cavanaugh, who will be on the JCU/NCC broadcast with Anthony Lima Saturday at 4:30pm EST. Watch & enjoy the preview to both of these exciting games!

Frank & JB show you highlights from all four Quarterfinal games in the D3FB Playoffs from last Saturday, and they provide a brief preview for the Semifinals round coming up this Saturday. They also provide in-depth analysis of each game they preview and review, and JB names his MVPs for the week. We apologize for the minor audio glitching that is present throughout, but we rectified a majority of the issues and hope you enjoy this episode nonetheless.

 

Teams Featured with Highlights:

 

John Carroll - @JCUFootball

North Central - @football_ncc

UW-River Falls - @UWRFFootball

Johns Hopkins - @JHU_Football