Although much of the focus leading up to this week's NCAA Convention vote on the future of Division III has been on proposals to eliminate non-medical redshirting and Division I scholarship sports at a handful of schools, one lingering proposal remains on the docket.

Proposal No. 60 intends to limit the fall season to 18 weeks, and cut the number of games in each sport by 10%. Passing Proposal 60 as it reads right now would require the elimination of the 10th football game by the 2006 season.

Proposal 60 must be amended or voted down entirely. 

We understand that some sports get to schedule too many games. Certainly a 40-game baseball season is not necessary. But if baseball is what this proposal is aimed at, why must all sports be lumped in with it?

It is already hard enough to determine who the few at-large bids should go to in football when teams play 10 games. Playing nine would make such decisions even more difficult, threatening the integrity of the championship. Since a small number of schools is driving this supposedly needed reform, why don't they simply choose to limit themselves to fewer than 10 games? The NESCAC already does so, playing just eight, and until recently other conferences limited their members to nine games. This would be an appropriate first step before forcing the change on the rest of the Division III membership.

The Ohio Athletic Conference, Middle Atlantic Conference and American Southwest Conference currently have 10 football-playing members, and soon after this proposal would take effect, the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference would have 10 football teams again as well. Those conferences would be forced to either play no non-conference game or threaten the integrity of their conference championship by dismantling their round-robin schedule. Schools in those conferences must vote against this piece of legislation, and schools that play against them should as well.

Want an alternative? Amend Proposal 60 to exempt football (and men's and women's basketball) from the contest limitations. Or consider Proposal 61, which limits the weeks of the season but doesn't eliminate the contest. That way, schools could play 10 games if they choose, and the reform-minded schools could go back to nine contests. 

Or stay at eight.

But don't destroy Division III football. The majority will lose more than the minority will gain. The minority doesn't want to compete nationally anyway, so why should it matter if they are put at a disadvantage? 

– D3football.com