So much for the NCAA Division III football playoffs Selection Sunday show. But it’s not like the John Carroll football team is complaining. Late Nov. 16, D3Football.com contributor Frank Rossi tweeted the NCAA has selected its 12 at-large (or Pool C, the official term) team for the 40-team playoff bracket. The good news for Coach Jeff Behrman and his Blue Streaks is the last team in the playoffs is JCU, which began the season 0-2 with losses at Wisconsin-Whitewater and at Mount Union but then won eight straight to finish the regular season. BREAKING: It is official from the NCAA. The following 12 teams are the at-large teams in the selections for #d3fb: 1) Carnegie Mellon2) Grove City3) Ursinus4) Whitworth5) Texas Lutheran6) Bethel (MN)7) Coe8) Centre9) Wis.-La Crosse10) Trinity (TX)11) Mary Hardin-Baylor… — Frank Rossi (@FrankRossi) November 17, 2024 It’s the first time in the NCAA playoffs for the Blue Streaks since 2018, when they were 9-1. This year’s JCU team finished 8-2 in the regular season, was second in the Ohio Athletic Conference with an 8-1 mark and took down No. 22-ranked Marietta, 49-35, on Nov. 16 in what was essentially a playoff play-in game. Related Articles John Carroll football takes down Marietta, 49-35 The NCAA’s D-III football selection show is Nov. 17 at 5 p.m., when JCU’s first-round opponent will be revealed. Whoever the Blue Streaks draw in Round 1, they will be a tough out because they are on a roll. In its last four games, JCU is averaging 55 points. “We’re peaking right now,” said JCU quarterback Nick Semptimphelter, who’s thrown for 2,622 yards this season with 32 touchdown passes and just three interceptions. “We’re playing our best football right now.” The NCAA D-III playoffs expanded this season from 32 teams to 40. It will feature 10-team brackets with 28 conference champion automatic bids and the 12 at-large bids. Also new is the NCAA Power Index ratings, the tool used to select the teams. The NPI formula takes into account a team’s winning percentage, strength of schedule, whether a win was at home or on the road, gives bonuses for quality wins and sets a win minimum for each team at five. Another new factor is the NCAA seeding the top overall seeds in the playoffs. According to Rossi, here are the top eight seeds: 1. Saints John’s (Minn.), 2. Hardin-Simmons, 3. Salisbury, 4. Cortland, 5. North Central (Ill.), 6. Mount Union, 7. DePauw, 8. Lake Forest The second-to-last at-large bid was traditional D-III power Mary Hardin-Baylor. Carnegie Mellon and Grove City — each 9-1 and members of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference — were the first two teams awarded at-large bids.