The first NCAA Division III football regional rankings were announced on Wednesday and the #24/#25 Delaware Valley University Aggies are among the seven teams mentioned. It is important to note that the first regional rankings are listed in alphabetical order so there is no true ranking of the teams. 

Here are the first Region I rankings:

Region 1	School	vs. D3 opp.	Overall
	Delaware Valley	7-1	7-1
	Endicott	7-1	7-1
	King's	6-2	6-2
	Merchant Marine	6-2	6-2
	Salve Regina	6-2	6-2
	Springfield	7-1	7-1
	Stevenson	6-2	6-2

DelVal is one of three Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) schools ranked in the region, joined by King's and Stevenson. Endicott is a member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) while Merchant Marine, Salve Regina, and Springfield are part of the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC).

The regional rankings are used by the national selection committee to help rank teams and determine at-large bids. For the NCAA playoff tournament there are 28 automatic bids awarded to each winner of the 28 conferences. The remaining four bids are at-large bids, commonly referred to as Pool C. There will be zero Pool B bids this year. Pool B is for teams who are independents or in conferences without automatic bids. 

Since 2005, the 32-team tournament has been setup with four brackets and eight teams in each bracket. The brackets are set by the NCAA committee and grouped with geographical distance in mind. The NCAA reserves the right to seed the bracket in the interest of avoiding travel by airplane. If two schools are within 500 miles driving distance, the road team will travel by bus.

The next regional rankings will be released by the NCAA on Wednesday, November 8 and will be ranked numerically. 

DelVal can secure its sixth consecutive MAC championship and earn its automatic bid to this year's NCAA playoff tournament with a win this weekend at Misericordia.