Undefeated MIT Football Team Playing in First Postseason Game

The 9-0 Division 3 New England Football Conference champions will take on Husson University in Bangor, Maine.

Academics is typically what comes to mind when you think of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and justifiably so.

Along with the abundance of geniuses comes a different brand of X's and O's.

"Reading the two hot is different than single coverage," one MIT football player said to another.

Talking coverage schemes, not secant or cosine may seem surprising for the campus of MIT, where these student athletes, heavy on the athletics on this day, are taking their undefeated football show on the road for the first playoff appearance in school history.

Nose guard Vincent Kindfuller is studying nuclear engineering.

Asked which is harder, football or academics?

"Academics," he said.

The 9-0 Division 3 New England Football Conference champions prove you can be smart and athletic, with the character to round out the triad.

At MIT they know academic achievement helps foster athletic success, not as an afterthought as at many football factories around the country, but in a way you might not expect.

"We just enjoy it that much more because it's a time to get away from the academics. It's a time where it's nothing on our mind. We can get away from the stressful academic atmosphere and just get out there and play," senior running back Justin Wallace said.

Make no mistake, athletics, is far from forgotten here.

"We have 33 varsity sports, that's roughly 25 percent of our undergraduate population and the majority of our varsity sports teams do very, very well," said Head Football Coach Chad Martinovich.

The men's basketball team made its first ever appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2009. Even so, unlike their major college brethren, there's double, even triple, or quadruple duty to be done.

"I'm offensive coordinator, offensive line coach, and I'm one of two strength and conditioning coaches in the department," Assistant Coach Tim Viall said. "And the food. Which makes me either the most loved or most hated, depending on whether it's here and whether it's good."

All that was left before taking off to do battle up in Bangor against Husson University, a visit from the school president.

"Alright you got everybody? Let's rock and roll," said Coach Martinovich.

One thing's absolutely certain Coach, win or lose, this school won't soon be re-named the Massachusetts Institute of Tacklenology.

Cambridge might as well be the center of the college football universe this weekend.

ESPN College Gameday has set up shop down the road for the 131st edition of the Game.

8-1 Yale takes on 9-0 Harvard. 

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