The University of St. Thomas football team finished its second season in Division One with a ten-and-one record, a conference championship, and a national ranking.
Still, the Tommies won't go to the postseason.
The team that will represent the Pioneer Football League is Davidson, who lost to the Tommies 27-16 on Oct. 8 at O’Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul.
This is happening because, as part of their accelerated transition from Division Three to Division One, the Tommies won't be eligible for the playoffs until 2025.
Sunday on the Huddle, WCCO's Pete Najarian asked St. Thomas football coach Glenn Caruso if there was a way to have the NCAA shorten their waiting period.
"Do you think there's any room for an acceleration here?" asked Najarian, suggesting tongue-in-cheek that UST has a "great" legal team.
"If there is, we'll definitely try out best, there's no doubt about it," said Caruso. "And I don't think it takes a legal team."
St. Thomas was able to convince the NCAA to allow its athletic programs to speed up their transition from Division III to Division I with a five-year wait to qualify for postseason play.
That decision came in 2021, after St. Thomas was expelled from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a D-III league the school helped create more than a century ago, because of competition disparities.
"Much like the application into Division I, and what happened, it takes some toughness and some thoughtfullness and some common sense," said Caruso about any effort to alter the plan laid down by the NCAA.
The wait for postseason eligibility for all St. Thomas athletic teams may seem to be an eternity now, but Caruso points out high school recruits he's now talking to would still be with the program in 2025.
"Is there a chance? Yes. Will the younger classes still be able to do it? Yes," Caruso said. "It's not that big a deal, but, time will tell."
St. Thomas completed an unbeaten PFL season on Saturday with a 27-13 win at Butler.
The Tommies lost the opening game of their second season as a Division One football team and won the rest, after going 7-3 in 2021.