D2 vs D3

[SuperOily]

I realize this has probably been discussed ad nauseam on here at some point, but I'm new to the board and didn't see the topic when looking through the first 5-6 pages of posts.

Being from Ohio, I'm of course familiar with Mount Union and realize that they aren't the typical D3 team. Likewise, there are other D3 powers in the US who dominate annually. So without considering only those power teams, how would the average D3 school fare against the average D2 school? On the same token, how would a Mount Union fare against Notre Dame College (I picked them because of logistics). Thoughts?

[Mk63NuclearBomb]

Notre Dame (OH) vs Mount Union (OH)

Closer than I expected TBH

[SuperOily]

Interesting

[Brandon]

Notre Dame (OH) vs Mount Union (OH)

Closer than I expected TBH

Wow, that's almost exactly how I would have predicted it.

[Ram040506]

Mount Union would automatically contend for playoff berths, and would fare decently against everyone in D2 except maybe the legit top 10 programs (Ferris, GVSU, Valdosta, NWMS, etc)

[Wildcat Khan]

Mount Union would automatically contend for playoff berths, and would fare decently against everyone in D2 except maybe the legit top 10 programs (Ferris, GVSU, Valdosta, NWMS, etc)

I decided to check it with CWU and the score came up as CWU winning 35-30. I ran it again with Valdosta State and it was 42-17. For SFU who is winless in D2 Mount Union shows winning 38-16 which is a little surprising that it would be a 3 score game.

[4_tattoos]

So without considering only those power teams, how would the average D3 school fare against the average D2 school?

Most recent example may be Frostburg State in the Mountain East. I feel like overall Frostburg was an average program in D3, although they did have a deep playoff run in their last D3 season IIRC. They instantly came into to D2 and became a top team in their conference.

[RockPride]

[Gliac_fan10]

[boatcapt]

Most recent example may be Frostburg State in the Mountain East. I feel like overall Frostburg was an average program in D3, although they did have a deep playoff run in their last D3 season IIRC. They instantly came into to D2 and became a top team in their conference.

While Frostburg might not have been a traditional top tier D3, I'd hardly call their last three years in D3 average. They went 10-1, 11-2 and 10-1 between 2016 and 2018. First year in DII they finished 8-3 which was good for a tie for second place in the MEC...2020(21) they finished 2-1 which was good for second in the MEC North and obviously 2021 they have gone 10-1 which was good enough for a tie for the MEC Crown.

There cryptonite has been NDC. In each of their three DII seasons, they have lost to the Falcons. But even here, the gap is closing...They lost to NDC by 22 in 2019, 6 in 2020 and 2 this year.

But to the question specific, I think that on many (most?) Saturdays, a top tier D3 will beat a middle of the pack (roughly .500) DII. Also feel that a top tier DII is going to beat a middle of the pack D1 FCS team many (most?) Saturdays. Could a top tier D3 defeat a top tier DII? Sure but only occasionally.

[Real_FSU_47]

Mount union would instantly become a top 3 team in d2.

[Redwing]

Mount union would instantly become a top 3 team in d2.

I haven't seen them play, but call me Thomas. I doubt it. They could develop into one in a few seasons, but that's not instant. I say that today, based upon seeing Wisc. Lacrosse playing GV this year. WLa could be maybe middle of the GLIAC. And this year they lost to Wisc WW, only 14-7. And WWW is ranked #3. So they hung with the number 3 ranked team in D3 while, losing to GV 45-24... and it wasn't even that close.

[Gliac_fan10]

Mount union would instantly become a top 3 team in d2.

Zero chance top 3... Top 25, possibly.... top 40, for sure

[CHIP72]

I've thought this for a long time, but IMO the biggest gap between the NCAA college football classifications is between D2 and D3. (I formed that opinion after attending a few games at my undergraduate alma mater Juniata, a D3 team, in the early to mid-1990s and then attending a handful of games at my graduate school alma mater IUP, a D2 team, in the late 1990s.) The very top D3 teams could probably beat 75-80% of the teams in D2, maybe a little more than that, but after the top half dozen of so programs in D3 the quality drops off quickly. There is a pretty wide disparity quality-wise in D3; this is best illustrated by looking at playoff scores at that level relative to D2 (as well as DI-A/FBS, DI-AA/FCS, and NAIA). There are more playoff blowouts in D3 than in any other classification, and the magnitude of those blowouts is usually bigger as well. In most seasons D3 has playoff games where one team beats the other by 50-60 points; that kind of blowout almost never happens in D2 (or the other higher classifications).

[WSUWarriorFan]

UW Whitewater won the D3 title in 2007 and lost to St Cloud State that year by 10, St Cloud only won 4 maybe 5 games that same year. I think the very top D3 teams could compete against bottom to middle D2 teams but have a hard time believing they could compete against the top 25-30 teams.
Like CHIP72 mentioned the disparity between the top and bottom of D3 is much greater than D2 so the really really good D3 teams don't have as much competition until they reach the playoffs and even then there are some big blowouts.