SPOKANE, Wash. – Whitworth University will host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs on Saturday, November 17th. Kickoff will be at noon.
The NCAA released its bracket for the 32-team field on Sunday: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/football/d3/2018
Whitworth earned its fourth trip to the NCAA playoffs by earning the automatic bid from the Northwest Conference. The Pirates finished 9-0 overall and 7-0 in the NWC, becoming only the fifth football team in school history to finish its regular season undefeated.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps went 7-3 overall and 6-1 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (SCIAC), sharing the league title with Redlands. But the Stags claim the automatic bid based on a head-to-head victory over the Bulldogs earlier this season.
Whitworth is returning to the playoffs for the first time since 2015. The Pirates have not hosted a game since 2006 when the Bucs hosted the first two rounds in the Pine Bowl.
C-M-S will be making its first appearance in the NCAA playoffs. Whitworth and C-M-S have never played in football.