Comparing DIII to DI

[noamfromm]

Bethel 41 - Pacific Lutheran 9 (DIII - DIII)
UW-Platteville 10 - Bethel 7 (DIII - DIII)
Michigan Tech 23 - UW-Platteville 13 (DII - DIII)
Saint Thomas 32 - Michigan Tech 6 (Pioneer League - DII)
Southern Utah 44 - Saint Thomas 13 (FCS - Pioneer League)
Utah 73 - Southern Utah 7 (FBS - FCS)


I remember a thread were people were talking about the quality at different levels. I thought that this transitive property of games was an interesting look at how teams faired as they rose through the levels.

 

[SMPLSGopher]

Michigan Tech is actually D2 which actually adds even another layer to your comparison. The problem with D3 is the huge disparity from top to bottom. You have your UMHBs that would probably be competitive in most FCS conferences, then you have your Hamlines that wouldn’t compete in most high school conferences. I think Bethel falls somewhere in between.

 

[Governor Sibley]

The problem with D3 is the huge disparity from top to bottom. You have your UMHBs that would probably be competitive in most FCS conferences, then you have your Hamlines that wouldn’t compete in most high school conferences.

This is correct.

 

[everybody knows my name]

Bethel 41 - Pacific Lutheran 9 (DIII - DIII)
UW-Platteville 10 - Bethel 7 (DIII - DIII)
Michigan Tech 23 - UW-Platteville 13 (DI Pioneer League - DIII)
Saint Thomas 32 - Michigan Tech 6 (Pioneer League - Pioneer League)
Southern Utah 44 - Saint Thomas 13 (FCS - Pioneer League)
Utah 73 - Southern Utah 7 (FBS - FCS)


I remember a thread were people were talking about the quality at different levels. I thought that this transitive property of games was an interesting look at how teams faired as they rose through the levels.

That's an interesting exercise, with the usual caution about transitive properties of anything.

I wonder whether one could make a similar chart showing the superiority of DIII over DI.

 

[RogueGopher]

Good to know that the #14 team in the country is 168 points better than a DIII Pacific Lutheran team, whatever that is.

 

[noamfromm]

That's an interesting exercise, with the usual caution about transitive properties of anything.

I wonder whether one could make a similar chart showing the superiority of DIII over DI.

Currently no -- as I don't think that any of these FBS teams that have lost to FCS teams will beat anyone of note. We'd probably have to have an SEC upset in their FCS week before thanksgiving for something to work out transitively.

Charlotte
Sept. 3	Delaware	14-7	Navy
Sept. 10	Eastern Kentucky	59-57 (7 OT)	Bowling Green
Sept. 10	Holy Cross	37-31	Buffalo
Sept. 10	UIW	55-41	Nevada
Sept. 10	Weber State	35-7	Utah State

 

[LesBolstad]

A modern day Slippery Rock U exercise.

Strange But True: The Story of Slippery Rock – DeadSplinter

deadsplinter.com

 

[TrapperDoo]

Bethel 41 - Pacific Lutheran 9 (DIII - DIII)
UW-Platteville 10 - Bethel 7 (DIII - DIII)
Michigan Tech 23 - UW-Platteville 13 (DII - DIII)
Saint Thomas 32 - Michigan Tech 6 (Pioneer League - DII)
Southern Utah 44 - Saint Thomas 13 (FCS - Pioneer League)
Utah 73 - Southern Utah 7 (FBS - FCS)


I remember a thread were people were talking about the quality at different levels. I thought that this transitive property of games was an interesting look at how teams faired as they rose through the levels.

Some of the better D3 Teams could beat some of the lesser D2 Teams. D1 is a whole different story - those players are just too fast and skilled. The best D3 Teams would get easily beat by lesser D1 teams.

That said, D3 is not high school football. Take the players that you thought were the best on the local high school team and they will likely have their hands full trying to complete on any reasonable D3 Team. The skill level gets pretty severely filtered moving to college football at any level.

 

[OddStack]

I've maintained for decades upper 20%ish teams in Division III will compete all the time and win a fair share of games against lower 1/3ish of DII teams game in and game out. Same with DII to FCS. However when you get to FCS to DI, it's the upper 10%ish of FCS to lower 20%ish of DI for the same type of results.

Yes, there are outliers where complete upsets and whoopings take place. However, I'm talking that if you play game in and game out it'll be competitive and the lower division team will win a fair amount.

**DI non-scholarship isn't factored into this. Some of those are legit (FCS types), and some would struggle in DIII.

 

[Panthadad2]

I've maintained for decades upper 20%ish teams in Division III will compete all the time and win a fair share of games against lower 1/3ish of DII teams game in and game out. Same with DII to FCS. However when you get to FCS to DI, it's the upper 10%ish of FCS to lower 20%ish of DI for the same type of results.

Yes, there are outliers where complete upsets and whoopings take place. However, I'm talking that if you play game in and game out it'll be competitive and the lower division team will win a fair amount.

**DI non-scholarship isn't factored into this. Some of those are legit (FCS types), and some would struggle in DIII.

In the neighborhood. There are a lot of bad D2 teams located in BFE that don't come near funding their scholarships, so I'd speculate that the top D3 teams might beat on more than just the lower third. FCS is definitely a big step up from D2. Here are the actual cross division results going back 5 years (ignoring 2020):

NCAA Statistics