TJC IN NATIONAL PLAYOFF | Apaches in final four; national semifinals Dec. 5

Tyler Junior College has taken care of business on the football field all season.

The NJCAA made it official with the release of its latest top 15 poll on Monday: if coach Tanner Jacobsen’s Apaches can take care of business two more times this season, they’ll be the national champions.

TJC is ranked No. 3 once again in the most recent NJCAA national poll, which hit Monday. And that means the Apaches will be in the mini-tournament, the nation’s top four, with an opportunity to play for the national championship.

It’s a 1-versus-4, 2-versus-3 format. Hutchinson (Kan.), the defending national champion, is ranked No. 1 in the nation and will face, and host, No. 4 Northwest Mississippi. Tyler (11-0), ranked third in the nation, will have to go on the road to second-ranked Iowa Western in Council Bluffs, Iowa. That game will be Friday, December 5, one of the national semifinals. Hutch will host Northwest Mississippi in the other, on Saturday, December 6. Both will have 6 p.m. Central time kickoffs.

The winners of those two games will meet on Wednesday, December 17 at Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium on the campus of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas in the NJCAA national championship game, to be televised on ESPN2.

TJC, of course, will represent the Southwest Junior College Football Conference.

The Apaches, ironically, are the only 11-win team in the four-team field. Hutch and Iowa Western played each other last year in the national championship, with Hutch winning a 28-23 tight game. There would be a rematch, obviously, if the two teams won their semifinal games. It’s up to TJC and Northwest Mississippi to prevent that from happening.

Also somewhat ironically, Kilgore College went down this same road just a couple of seasons ago. KC won the SWJCFC, and also made the national playoff, having to also visit Iowa Western in Council Bluffs. IW won the semifinal.