The 1999 NCAA Division III football season, part of the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

season organized by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

at the

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

level in the United States, began in August 1999, and concluded with the

NCAA Division III Football Championship The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in the Division III playoffs. The Division III championship game, known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl or Stagg Bowl ...

, also known as the Stagg Bowl, in December 1999 at

Salem Football Stadium Salem Stadium is a stadium in Salem, Virginia, United States. It is primarily used for football and hosts the home football games of the Salem High School Spartans. It was built in 1985 and seats 7,157 people. The stadium is part of the James E. ...

Salem, Virginia Salem is an independent city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,346. It is the county seat of Roanoke County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combin ...

. The

Pacific Lutheran Lutes Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in ...

won their first Division III championship by defeating the

Rowan Profs Rowan University is a public research university in Glassboro, New Jersey, with a medical campus in Stratford and medical and academic campuses in Camden. It was founded in 1923 as Glassboro Normal School on a site donated by 107 residents. ...

, 42−13. The Lutes were led by All-American quarterback Chad Johnson, running back Anthony Hicks and offensive lineman Andrew Finstuen. College Football Hall of Fame coach Frosty Westering won his fourth national championship. The

Gagliardi Trophy The Gagliardi Trophy was first presented in 1993 to the Outstanding Division III college football player of the year by the Jostens Company and the J-Club of Saint John's University in Minnesota. Since that time, the award has become one of the ...

, given to the most outstanding player in Division III football, was awarded to Danny Ragsdale, quarterback from Redlands.

Conference standings

Conference champions

Postseason

The 1999 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the 27th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

college football. The championship Stagg Bowl game was held at

for the seventh time. This was the first bracket to feature 28 teams after expanding from the previous format of 16 teams in place from 1985 to 1998. With the new format, four teams were given byes to the second round.

Playoff bracket

* ''Overtime''

Final AFCA Top 25 Poll

Others receiving votes: Buffalo St 118, Alma 109, Washington (Mo.) 85, Wilmington 13, McMurry 9, Redlands 9, Union 9, Pomona-Pitzer 5, Aurora 5, Millikin 4, Williams 3, John Carroll 3, Otterbein 1.

Awards

: Danny Ragsdale, Redlands

AFCA Coach of the Year The AFCA Coach of the Year Award is given annually to a college football coach by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). The award has had several different sponsors over the years, including Eastman Kodak Corporation, and thus also b ...

Larry Kehres Larry Kehres (born September 7, 1949) is a former American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the University of Mount Union—formerly known as Mount Union College—in Alliance, Ohio for 27 ...

, Mount Union AFCA Regional Coach of the Year: Region 1: Peter Mazzaferro, Bridgewater State Region 2:

Frank Girardi Frank Girardi (born July 16, 1939) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Lycoming College from 1972 to 2007, compiling a record of 257–97–5. At the time of his retirement in 2007, he was the fifth ...

, Lycoming Region 3: Steve Mohr, Trinity (TX) Region 4:

, Mount Union Region 5:

Rick Willis Rick Willis (born February 4, 1966) is an American college administrator and former football, baseball, and softball coach. He was the athletic director at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, from 2005 to 2021, before transitioning to vice presiden ...

, Wartburg

References

{{NCAA football season navbox