Each day that passes is one day closer to the 2026 D3 football season - and for that, we could not be more excited.
As teams across the nation take on week one of competition, playoffs are far from front of mind. However, here at FloCollege, we are more excited than ever to think about the D3 football playoff picture and how it will evolve week to week.
- Way Too Early D3 Football Rankings For The 2026 Season
- Subscribe To FloCollege To Watch College Sports Live & On-Demand
- Small School Saturday Is Coming To FloCollege This Fall - Watch Your Favorite Teams Grab The Spotlight
- 2026 SCIAC Football Players To Watch
Division 3 playoffs work a bit differently than D1 or D2. A field of 40 teams will be selected for the 2026 NCAA Division III Football Championship based on conference results and NCAA Power Index. Twenty-seven conferences receive automatic-qualifying berths, granting the ticket to the team that wins the title. The remaining 13 berths are awarded to teams that did not earn automatic berths but ranked highest based on NPI results.
Now that that’s out of the way, here are our predictions for the 2026 NCAA D3 playoff teams.
First up: the automatic qualifiers. The predictions for each conference champion are based on the teams’ 2025 conference and overall records, coaching and player turnover and past conference championships.
- American Rivers Conference - Wartburg (10-1, 8-0)
- American Southwest Conference - Mary Hardin-Baylor (7-3, 5-1)
- Centennial Conference - Johns Hopkins (12-2, 6-1)
- College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin - North Central (14-1, 9-0)
- Conference of New England - Endicott (9-2, 7-0)
- Empire 8 - Cortland (8-3, 7-0)
- Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference - Hanover (9-3, 6-0)
- Landmark Conference - Susquehanna (11-3, 6-0)
- Liberty League - Union (8-3, 7-0)
- Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference - Framingham St. (7-4, 7-2)
- Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association - Hope (9-2, 6-1)
- Middle Atlantic Conferences - Eastern (9-1, 8-1)
- Midwest Conference - Monmouth (Ill.) (9-0, 5-0)
- Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - Bethel (12-1, 9-0)
- New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference - Springfield (15-5, 12-0)
- New Jersey Athletic Conference - Christopher Newport (10-1, 7-0)
- North Coast Athletics Conference - John Carroll (12-2, 8-0)
- Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference - Aurora (8-3, 6-2)
- Northwest Conference - Whitworth (8-3, 7-0)
- Ohio Athletic Conference - Mount Union (11-1, 8-0)
- Old Dominion Athletic Conference - Randolph-Macon (9-2, 8-0)
- President's Athletic Conference - Washington & Jefferson (8-3, 8-0)
- Southern Athletic Association - Trinity (10-2, 6-1)
- Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - Chapman (9-1, 8-0)
- Upper Midwest Athletic Conference - Crown (7-4, 6-1)
- USA South Athletic Conference - LaGrange (10-2, 7-0)
- Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference - UW-River Falls (14-1, 6-1)
The remaining 13 bids are predicted to go to the following teams (in alphabetical order):
- Alma (8-3, 7-0)
- Berry (11-2,7-0)
- Coe (9-3, 7-1)
- DePauw (10-2, 7-1)
- Franklin & Marshall (9-2, 7-0)
- Hardin-Simmons (9-2, 5-1)
- Linfield (7-2, 6-1)
- St. John's (10-2, 8-1)
- Salisbury (10-2, 6-1)
- UW-Platteville (9-3, 5-2)
- UW-La Crosse (8-3, 5-2)
- UW-Whitewater (8-3, 5-2)
- Wheaton (11-2, 8-1)
With 40 teams, it’s not easy to predict who will be playing where and when. However, it is a bit easier to predict who will be playing in the Stagg Bowl, the D3 championship game, in January 2027.
We’re going to predict that the 2026 D3 Championship will feature North Central and Mount Union. This is no unfamiliar matchup; the two teams have fought for the national title twice in the last four years.
So, why these teams?
Well, North Central has made a Stagg Bowl appearance every year since 2019; they have won the title three times during that span. Last season, the Cardinals put up a fight against UW-River Falls, losing by just one touchdown in their only loss of the season.
Mount Union has an excess of postseason experience. With an NCAA-record 13 NCAA Division III National Championships and 34 undefeated regular seasons, it would be silly not to consider them a top contender for the Stagg Bowl crown.
Archived Footage On FloCollege
Video footage from all games will be archived and stored in a video library for FloCollege subscribers to watch for the duration of their subscriptions.
Watch The 2026 College Football Season On FloCollege
FloCollege is the home of the best FCS, Division II and Division III football action all season long.
Don't miss the latest college football action by bookmarking the FloCollege schedule page for the latest games.
Join The College Football Conversation
- Follow us on X @FloCollegeFB
- Follow us on Instagram @FloCollegeFootball
- Follow us on TikTok @FloCollegeFootball
- Watch us on YouTube
- Like us on Facebook