New England Small College Athletic Conference - NCAA Division III Competition

NCAA Division III Competition

Four NESCAC institutions are among the 39 that founded the NCAA in 1905: Amherst, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams.

Prior to 1993 NESCAC generally did not allow member schools to send teams to NCAA championships. Since then all sports except football have had this freedom, many excelling in the NCAA Division III championships. The NACDA Directors' Cup, awarded since 1996 to the college or university in each NCAA Division that wins the most college championships, has been claimed at the Division III level by a NESCAC institution every year except 1998. In the 2011-2012 season, four of the top ten NACDA Director's Cup institutions were from NESCAC: Middlebury (1), Williams (3), Amherst (4), and Tufts (7).

In addition to the ban on post-season play, the NESCAC football league is notable for member teams playing conference games only. While some Division II and Division III teams play only conference schedules, NESCAC is unique in all of its members playing only conference games. As a consequence, they are the only NCAA football results that are not included in Peter Wolfe's computer ratings, which are one of the six ratings used by the Bowl Championship Series. Massey does, however, provide ratings for those teams separately.

Middlebury leads NESCAC in total National Championship teams, winning 32 titles since the conference lifted its ban on NCAA play. Williams is second with 25 NCAA championships, Tufts next at 21.

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