Football | 11/18/2024 4:06:00 PM
The SUNY Cortland football team will begin defense of its NCAA Division III title when the Red Dragons host a second-round playoff game on Saturday, Nov. 30, at noon versus either Endicott College or Alfred State College. Cortland (10-0), ranked second by both D3football.com and the American Football Coaches Association, is one of 40 teams competing the NCAA tournament field. The Red Dragons earned an automatic bid into the playoffs after finishing 7-0 in league play to capture their fourth straight Empire 8 title.
New in 2024, the NCAA expanded the Division III football playoffs from 32 to 40 schools, and the NCAA is now using the NCAA Power Index (NPI), a computerized ranking system, to choose the 12 at-large teams in the playoff field and assist with tournament bracketing/seeding. Cortland finished fifth in the final NPI rankings. The top eight teams are guaranteed not to face each other until at least the national quarterfinals.
Also new in 2024 - all NCAA Division III playoff games through the semifinals will air on ESPN+, which requires viewers to have a monthly subscription. For all games through the quarterfinals, host schools will produce the games and send the broadcast to ESPN+ to air on its platform. The games will not be available for viewing on campus websites. In the semifinals, ESPN+ will send crews to broadcast the games, and at that point instant replay will be available for officiating purposes.
Cortland is one of 24 schools to receive a bye into the second round. Alfred State plays at Endicott on Nov. 23, with that winner advancing to play at Cortland in the second round. The third round will be held on Dec. 7, followed by the quarterfinals Dec. 14 and semifinals Dec. 21, all on campus sites. The Division III national championship game, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, is Sunday, Jan. 5, at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston, Texas. Cortland won the 2023 Stagg Bowl versus North Central College, 38-37, in Salem, Va.
Cortland is led by head coach Curt Fitzpatrick, who is in his fifth with the Red Dragons but coaching in his fourth season as the 2020 season was canceled. His overall record with the Red Dragons is 44-4. Cortland enters the NCAA tournament with a 22-game winning streak, having won its last 12 games last season in addition to all 10 games, to date, this fall. Cortland recorded a 10-0 regular season for just the third time in school history - the other occurrences were in 1988 and 2021.
Cortland is making its 13th NCAA playoff appearance and fourth straight. This is the first time Cortland has qualified for the NCAA tournament in four consecutive seasons. Last year's run to a national title began with a 23-17 win at Endicott in the first round of the 32-team playoffs. The Red Dragons edged Grove City, 25-24, in the second round in Cortland's lone home playoff game. Cortland won at Alma in the quarterfinals, 58-41, and Randolph-Macon in the semifinals, 49-14, before defeating North Central, the 2022 national champion, in the title game.
In addition to last year's title, the Red Dragons advanced to the national quarterfinals two other times - as part of a 16-team playoff field in 1988 and as part of a 32-team field in 2008. The Red Dragons are 12-11 in NCAA play, including wins in six of their last seven opening games (2008, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2021, all at home, and 2023 at Endicott). Cortland is 8-3 at home in the NCAAs, 3-8 on the road and 1-0 at neutral sites.
Endicott won the title in the newly named Conference of New England (formerly the Commonwealth Coast Conference) with a 5-0 league record. The Gulls have won four straight league crowns. Endicott finished the regular season with a 9-1 overall record, including a 13-7 victory at Ithaca in September, and the Gulls' lone loss was a 35-27 decision at Hardin-Simmons in Texas in early October. Endicott has hosted NCAA first-round games each of the past three seasons, falling to Cortland last year, Springfield in 2022, 17-14, and to RPI, 20-14, in 2021. Endicott has also appeared in the NCAAs in 2010 (losing at Cortland, 49-35, in the first round) and 2013 (losing at Rowan, 24-0).
Alfred State earned an NCAA berth for the second straight season after defeating Anna Maria, 39-37, in the championship game of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC). The league will not exist after this season and the Pioneers will join the Empire 8 in 2025. Alfred State is 5-5 overall on the season. Last year, Alfred State traveled to traditional power Mount Union in the NCAA opening round and trailed 28-14 at halftime before falling, 56-14, to the Purple Raiders.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com.
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