DIII CONFERENCE · 2026 SEASON

American Southwest

#43 overall#1 in DIIIRR50 −10.6Upper strength −7.35 teamsTop 25 teams 0

The weekly grind · 2026

Mary Hardin-Baylor's Era

East Texas Baptist, Hardin- Simmons, Texas Lutheran, and McMurry all compete in a conference that produces more NFL undrafted free agents per enrollment than any other DIII conference in the country.

Division III5 teamsRace: DIII BracketLeader: Hardin Simmons

American Southwest · Where they stand · 2026

Power map

Power landscape for 2026. Based on current-season performance data.

Favorites
Hardin Simmons-2.27-0
Challengers
Mary Hardin Baylor-4.97-1
The field
Howard Payne-8.84-2McMurry-10.43-4
Rebuilding
East Texas Baptist-13.13-5

American Southwest · 2026 season

Three things to watch

The Rival

East Texas Baptist: The Tyler Program

East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas has been the ASC's most consistent challenger to Mary Hardin-Baylor — appearing in the DIII bracket multiple times and winning the conference title twice. Their program draws from east Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth exurban corridor, recruiting players with the same faith-first identity that MHB uses while competing with a different offensive system.

Wild CardHardin-Simmons: Abilene's Cowboy Tradition

Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas has one of DIII football's longest histories and a West Texas identity built on physical play and the region's football culture. The Cowboys draw from central Texas — a pipeline that produces DII-caliber players who choose a faith-based DIII education — and compete with the physical running game that matches Abilene's football tradition. When their offensive line is healthy, they challenge for the ASC title.

Conference standings · American Southwest · 2026

Standings

# Team Conf Overall Pwr Last 5
1Hardin Simmons3-07-0-2.2
2Mary Hardin Baylor2-07-1-4.9
3McMurry1-23-4-10.4
4Howard Payne0-24-2-8.8
5East Texas Baptist0-23-5-13.1

Conference record determines standing. Power = neutral-field pts vs. all-level average. Last 5 = most recent game results.

Conference power · Division III

Where we stand

# Conference Avg power Record Top team
1American SouthwestYou are here
-10.6
—Hardin Simmons
2Wisconsin
-11.2
1-0Wisconsin Whitewater
3Michigan
-13.5
—Calvin
4Presidents'
-13.5
—Washington & Jefferson
5Southern Athletic
-13.6
1-1Berry
6Old Dominion
-13.6
—Randolph Macon
7USA South
-13.7
1-1LaGrange
8Centennial
-13.7
—Dickinson
9CCIW
-13.7
—North Central College
10Minnesota
-13.7
—Saint John's (MN)
11Ohio
-13.7
—Mount Union
12North Coast
-13.7
—DePauw
13Commonwealth Coast
-13.7
0-1Endicott
14American Rivers
-13.8
1-1Wartburg
15Northwest
-13.8
2-0Linfield
16NEWMAC
-13.8
—Springfield
17New Jersey
-13.9
1-0Salisbury
18Liberty League
-14.0
—Ithaca
19Empire 8
-14.1
—SUNY Cortland
20Mid Atlantic
-14.3
—Delaware Valley
21So. Cal.
-14.3
1-0Chapman
22NESCAC
-14.4
—Trinity (CT)
23Landmark Conference
-14.4
—Susquehanna
24NACC
-14.4
—Aurora
25MSCAC
-14.6
—Bridgewater State
26Heartland
-14.8
—Mount St Joseph
27Midwest
-15.0
—Lake Forest
28Southern Collegiate Athletic
-15.2
2-1Texas Lutheran
29Upper Midwest
-15.5
—Northwestern (MN)

Round-robin power = strength of schedule-adjusted conference average, points vs. all-level average team. Record = American Southwest's record vs. that conference across all games this season.

East Texas Baptist, Hardin- Simmons, Texas Lutheran, and McMurry all compete in a conference that produces more NFL undrafted free agents per enrollment than any other DIII conference in the country.

Conference Snapshot

RR50−10.6
Upper Strength−7.3
Median Power−11.1
Resume Pulse66.4
Avg ATS--
Wins vs Market+0.00
Top-to-Middle Gap6.6
Combined Record24-12

`RR50`, `Upper Strength`, and `Median Power` are shown on the same public power scale as the rest of the site: points on a neutral field versus the average all-level NCAA team. Very small affiliations are gently regressed toward their subdivision baseline so a one-team outlier does not hijack the entire conference board.

American Southwest Team Board

The league stack, sorted by predictive strength. Power is shown as neutral-field points versus the all-level average team, while resume is shown on a 0-100 season score.

Rank Team Record Power Resume ATS Wins vs Market Recent Form
#319 Hardin Simmons 7-0 −2.2 91 -- +0.00 4-0 over the last 4 (W2 W6 W7 W9)
#366 Mary Hardin Baylor 7-1 −4.9 84 -- +0.00 3-1 over the last 4 (L3 W5 W6 W8)
#421 Howard Payne 4-2 −8.8 76 -- +0.00 2-2 over the last 4 (W1 W4 L6 L9)
#444 McMurry 3-4 −10.4 37 -- +0.00 1-3 over the last 4 (L4 L6 L8 W9)
#526 East Texas Baptist 3-5 −13.1 44 -- +0.00 1-3 over the last 4 (W3 L4 L7 L9)