Muhlenberg will open the NCAA Football Tournament with a home game while Johns Hopkins earned an at-large bid to the 32-team championship field, announced Sunday night.
The Mules and Blue Jays were named co-champions of the Centennial Conference after each completed the conference regular season with 8-1 records. Muhlenberg earned the CC's automatic bid to NCAA's via the head-to-head tiebreaker over Hopkins, but the Blue Jays were one of five teams to to secure at-large spots into the field.
This marks the fourth time the Centennial has sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament (also in 1999-2014-2018), and the second time in the last three season. The last time the CC qualified two teams in 2018, the Blue Jays and Mules both advanced to the quarterfinals.
Muhlenberg will host Framingham State on Saturday at noon. Should the Mules defeat Framingham, they would play the winner of the game between Delaware Valley and Anna Maria. Muhlenberg and Framingham are two of only six Division III schools that have won at least eight games every season since 2012. The others are Johns Hopkins, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Mount Union and Wheaton (Ill.), all of whom are also in the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Tournament bid is the 10th for Muhlenberg, all since 2002. The Mules have won at least two games in each of their last two NCAA appearances, reaching the quarterfinals in 2018 and the semifinals in 2019. Including bowl games, the Mules have earned 17 postseason berths in the last 21 seasons. Prior to 2000, they had not played in a postseason game since 1946.
Johns Hopkins (9-1) football team will travel to Salisbury (8-1) in the first round. The game is scheduled for Saturday at Sea Gull Stadium in Salisbury - kickoff is set for noon.
The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Salisbury game will play the winner of the Mount Union-Washington & Lee first round game on Saturday, November 27. The location of that game will be announced on Sunday, November 21. The other half of the Johns Hopkins bracket features Delaware Valley hosting Anna Maria and Muhlenberg hosting Framingham St.
Johns Hopkins earned one of the five at-large bids to the tournament, while Salisbury won the New Jersey Athletic Conference and the league's accompanying automatic bid. This is the first time Johns Hopkins has earned an at-large bid into the playoff field.
Hopkins is making its 11th trip to the NCAA Playoffs and first since making a run to the semifinals in 2018. In addition to the semifinal appearance in 2018, the Blue Jays advanced to the quarterfinals in 2009 and the second round in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016.