Football | 11/17/2025 1:02:00 PM
The Cortland football team will begin play in the 40-team NCAA Division III tournament when it travels to Springfield College for a first-round game against the Pride on Saturday, Nov. 22, at noon. The Cortland vs. Springfield game will be one of eight first-round games. The remaining 24 teams earned byes into the second round. The Cortland-Springfield winner will travel to Johns Hopkins for a second-round game on Nov. 29.
Cortland and Springfield will meet in the NCAA playoffs for the third time in five years. Last season, Springfield came to Cortland and upset the then-defending national champion Red Dragons, 40-28, in the third round. In 2021, in a 32-team format, Cortland won at home over Springfield, 26-21, in the opening round.
Cortland (8-2) earned an automatic bid into the playoffs after finishing 7-0 in Empire 8 play to capture its fifth straight league title. Springfield (8-2) earned an automatic playoff berth after winning the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) title with a 7-0 league mark. In the Division III NCAA Power Index (NPI), which is used to select the 13 at-large teams for the tournament and assist with tournament seeding and bracketing, Springfield is currently 32nd and Cortland is 33rd.
For the second straight year, all NCAA Division III playoff games prior to the semifinals will air on ESPN+, which requires viewers to have a monthly subscription. Host schools will produce those games and send the broadcast to ESPN+ to air on its platform.
The NCAA second round will feature 16 games on Nov. 29, followed by the third round on Dec. 6, the quarterfinals on Dec. 13 and the semifinals on Dec. 20, all on campus sites. The Division III national championship game, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, is Sunday, Jan. 4, in Canton, Ohio.
Cortland is making its 14th NCAA playoff appearance and fifth straight. This is the first time Cortland has qualified for the NCAA tournament in five consecutive seasons. Last year, Cortland received a bye into the second round and won at home versus Endicott, 17-9, before losing to Springfield in the third round. During Cortland's run to a national title in 2023, the Red Dragons won a road game at Endicott, a home contest versus Grove City, and road games at Alma and Randolph-Macon before defeating North Central, 38-37, in the championship game in Salem, Va.
Cortland has advanced to the national quarterfinals three times - in addition to their 2023 national title run, the Red Dragons advanced to the final eight as part of a 16-team playoff field in 1988 and as part of a 32-team tournament in 2008. The Red Dragons are 13-12 in NCAA play, including wins in seven of their last eight opening games (2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2021 and 2024, all at home, and 2023 at Endicott). Cortland's NCAA record included a 9-4 mark at home, 3-8 on the road and 1-0 at neutral sites.
Cortland is led by first-year head coach Tom Blumenauer, who became the Red Dragons' head coach this past February after serving as head coach for three seasons at Franklin & Marshall College.
Tickets for Saturday's game are $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens, and students/youth ages 3 through college. Children 2 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased onsite at the main entrance of Springfield's Stagg Field, or in advance online through
Springfield's website. Cash is accepted at the main entrance; credit/debit card purchases at the main gate are only available by going to the website on your phone (and cell service is sometimes spotty at that location).