St. Thomas is ranked second in the west region of the first NCAA Division III football playoff pairings announced this week.
NCAA West Region
playoff rankings
| Team | Region | Overall |
| 1. Wis.-Whitewater | 8-0 | 6-0 |
| 2. St. Thomas | 8-0 | 8-0 |
| 3. Wis.-Oshkosh | 7-1 | 6-1 |
| 4. Coe* | 9-0 | 9-0 |
| 5. Linfield | 6-1 | 6-1 |
| 6. St. John’s | 7-1 | 7-1 |
| 7. Monmouth | 8-0 | 8-0 |
| 8. Wis.-Platteville | 6-2 | 5-2 |
| T9. Concordia-Moorhead | 6-2 | 6-1 |
| T9. Northwestern (Minn.) | 8-1 | 8-1 |
* Clinched playoff berth
The Tommies, ranked fourth in the nation by D3football.com, are behind nationally second-ranked Wisconsin-Whitewater in the region. Both teams are 8-0.
Other MIAC schools in the rankings are St. John’s (7-1) at No. 6 and Concordia-Moorhead (6-2), which is tied for No. 9 with Northwestern (Minnesota).
The winner of the MIAC gets an automatic bid to the playoffs, which begin Nov. 19. St. Thomas has put in a bid to host playoff games at O’Shaughnessy Stadium. The Tommies play at Gustavus Adolphus (4-4) on Saturday and finish the season against St. Olaf (2-6) at home on Nov. 12.
The only team in the region to clinch a playoff berth so far is No. 4 Coe College of Iowa (9-0), the winners of the Iowa Conference. Thirty-two teams make the D3 playoffs.