| After a week off to practice and prepare for the 2001 NCAA Division III Playoffs, the Tigers learned their postseason fate on Sunday. Officially assigned the No. 5 seed in the North Region bracket but placed in the spot normally reserved for the sixth seed, Wittenberg will reluctantly hit the road this weekend for a first-round match-up at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas at noon on Saturday, Nov. 17. |
| Wittenberg, ranked No. 11 in last week's American Football Coaches Association poll, was the No. 2 seed in the North Region in each of the last three playoffs. This year, despite a fourth consecutive perfect North Coast Athletic Conference season and a 9-1 overall record, the Tigers were selected to make the long road trip to Texas. Hardin-Simmons, the No. 3 seed in the North Region and ranked seventh in last week's poll, concluded the 2001 season with an 8-1 overall record, including a 7-0 mark in the American Southwest Conference.
This will be the Tigers' fourth straight trip to the NCAA Division III Playoffs and 10th overall since the division was created in 1973 (Wittenberg also won the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in 1969 as a member of the NCAA College Division). Wittenberg has won its first round game in each of the last three playoffs only to fall in the second round in 1998 and 1999 and the regional final a year ago. In 1998, the Tigers defeated Millikin and former Wittenberg head coach Doug Neihbur before falling to eventual national champion Mount Union, 21-19, in Alliance, Ohio. In 1999, the Tigers opened with a big win over Alma before falling in the second round to Ohio Northern. And last year, Wittenberg rolled to home wins over Aurora College and Hanover College before losing to Mount Union |