Who Contends in D3 College?

10.13.2026College Men

Try time for Franciscan.

Author: Alex Goff

Who do we think will challenge for a NCR D3 title?

Last year the top two teams from the Allegheny ended up in the final, with Franciscan garnering revenge and the last word in a win over a Slippery Rock team that had defeated them earlier in the season.

Will those two get to the top again? Well, they look pretty solid. Franciscan and Slippery Rock are both unbeaten in their conference this time. Franciscan has defeated Christendom, Hillsdale, Xavier, and Robert Morris before getting an unfortunate forfeit from John Carroll last week.

Slippery Rock has been dominant, beating D2 teams Ohio and IUP 29-0 and 64-5 and then taking down conference opponents Xavier, Robert Morris, and Hillsdale by an average score of 74-6.

So now what? These two play October 17, but this could be just a precursor for a later playoff matchup.

Alfred leads the Lake Effect with a 4-0 record led by Ayomideji Israel-Akinbo scoring tries but, tellingly, they lost 62-5 to Slippery Rock back in late August.

Right behind them is Colgate, who lost 26-19 to Alfred in conference play and has won every other game.

What About Nichols?

Nichols College is still unbeaten and just beat Holy Cross 62-5.

Garret Portesi opened the scoring, with tries from Nichol Johnstone, followed by Blake Moore, Wyatt Sclafani, and Hayden Munce for a 31-0 halftime lead.

Garret Portesi scored two tries and converted five for 22 points. Blake Moore and Joey Yearsley were both players of the game.

They are now 3-0 and with a win over Roger Williams they should be in excellent position for the NACR playoffs. Colby and Endicott lead in the other half of the conference, and since the massive Nor'easter canceled their matchup earlier in the season.

What About Cathollic?

Catholic University has been excellent this year. They beat Maryland, Georgetown, Loyola, and Towson, all teams in other divisions. They also defeated Frostburg State. Those games have an average score of 43-10, and really that's been pretty much the score every week.

And More

King's Point beat Coast Guard early in the season and that was a harbinger of a solid showing for the fall and, indeed, they are 3-0 in-conference. SUNY Maritime is 3-0 but really they've only played the two conference games. Ronan Smith is a major try-scorer for them as it Kenneth Sempertegui.

Slippery Rock, Franciscan, Nichols, and Catholic look to be the stringest, at the moment. Can anyone break into that top four?