🔔 Happy Monday. Classes begin for many schools today. Good luck to students and faculty!

📆 What’s Happening This Week. The DIII Membership Committee meets on Thursday. The NFHCA DIII preseason poll is released on Tuesday, while the AVCA DIII preseason poll is available Thursday.

🎶 Your Morning Pick Me Up. Get the Party Started. Pink

“Thousands of athletes from the freshman class of 2022 won’t be eligible for a fifth year of NCAA sports—for the time being, according to a new federal court ruling.

On Friday, the Tenth Circuit Court ruled to stay the eligibility injunction granted on July 31 by Colorado district court judge Charlotte Sweeney, which allowed a fifth year of eligibility for players who entered college in 2022 but who had already completed four years of eligibility. Now, their extra year of eligibility has been temporarily suspended until the court reaches a final decision on the appeal, which could take weeks or months.”

» Why It Matters. “The decision will mostly affect fall sports athletes, who had just a few weeks to find a roster spot for this upcoming season. Several football players across the country have already done so. Now, they’ll be sidelined at least until the appeals court rules.”

» State of Play. “In a memo to members Friday, NCAA Chief Legal Officer Scott Bearby confirmed that the NCAA rules will return to the “status quo” for now, but clarified schools won’t be punished for adding players to their rosters after the original injunction—provided they’re now sidelined. “Institutions will not have violations for any class members who were allowed to compete consistent with the scope of the Wisne injunction prior to the stay being granted, and those former student-athletes are no longer eligible under the Wisne injunction.”

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A football article in “The Athletic” on Saturday asked the question, “Who’s Your Real Rival,” saying it’s not always easy to identify, as sometimes the team you hate the most hates someone else more.

So we decided to give that a go in Division III. I’m sure you’ll let us know how we did.

Top 10 Football Rivalries. 1. Amherst-Williams (Biggest Little Game in America); 2. DePauw-Wabash (Monon Bell); 3. Hampden-Sydney-Randolph-Macon (The Game); 4. Cortland-Ithaca (Cortaca Jug); 5. Coast Guard-Merchant Marine (Secretaries’ Cup); 6. RPI-Union (Dutchman’s Shoes); 7. Coe-Cornell (Victory Bell); 8. Monmouth-Knox (Bronze Turkey); 9. Franklin-Hanover (Victory Bell); 10. North Central-Wheaton (Little Brass Bell).

Established Rivals. Calvin-Hope (The Rivalry); Carleton-St. Olaf (Goat Trophy); CMS-Pomona-Pitzer (Sixth Street Rivalry); Hamline-Macalester (Paint Bucket Rivalry); Lycoming-Susquehanna (Stagg Hat); Moravian-Muhlenberg (Sodexo Cup); Pacific Lutheran-Puget Sound (Totem Pole); Rhodes-Sewanee (Edmund Orgill Cup); Ripon-Lawrence (Doehling–Heselton Memorial Trophy).

Complicated Relationships. Bates, Bowdoin and Colby (CBB); Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg (Conestoga Wagon, Lincoln Hat, Little Brown Bucket); Wesleyan, Amherst and Williams (Little Three). The WIAC.

Unrequited Loathing. Albion, Kalamazoo and Hope (see The Rivalry); Juniata and Susquehanna (see Stagg Hat); Norwich and Coast Guard (see Secretaries Cup); Occidental and Pomona-Pitzer (see Sixth Street Rivalry).

If you have ever been to Salem, Va., for a NCAA championship, you knew John Saunders.

Saunders passed away on Saturday at the age of 66.

The former Director of Salem’s Civic Facilities, Saunders was omnipresent at NCAA championship events, working alongside longtime co-worker and friend Carey Harveycutter. After his retirement in 2017, Saunders was elected to the Salem City Council, serving from 2018-22, and began another term in 2025.

“John worked relentlessly to bring events to the area knowing they would not only enhance Salem’s statewide and national profiles, but also enhance the entire region economically”, said Harveycutter. “Without John’s input, his connections, and his willingness to work with all groups, many of these events would have never gotten off the ground. He will be sorely missed by me and many others.”

Our condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. May his memory be a blessing.

» Finances. “Students at some U.S. universities are now able to pay their tuition through Venmo or its parent company, PayPal. PayPal has partnered with three top tuition-payment companies, which collectively service over a thousand universities, to allow students to pay tuition and fees through PayPal and Venmo, according to the announcement.

» Ice Hockey. The Hockey News says St. Norbert has quite a case for moving up to Division I, including opening a 65,000 square foot, 3,000 facility this season.

“America's future college pipeline is growing in the South and shrinking across the Northeast and California.

Why it matters: America's next higher-ed reckoning won't hit regions evenly. Colleges in shrinking markets will face a fierce fight for students, while those in growing regions will have to adapt to serve an expanding, more diverse student body.

The nation's student pipeline is also becoming less white, more Latino, more first-generation and more cost-conscious — just as colleges are operating under new legal limits after the Supreme Court ended race-based admissions.”

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