Cal (Pa.), Slippery Rock, Grove City, W&J and Carnegie Mellon qualify for NCAA football playoffs

Five district college football teams are on their way to the NCAA playoffs.

Cal (Pa.), the PSAC West champion, is back in the Division II bracket for the first time since 2017. The Vulcans, who lost to Kutztown in Saturday’s PSAC championship game, earned the No. 3 seed in their region and will host another PSAC East team, East Stroudsburg, in the first round Nov. 23.

Cal finished the regular season 8-2 overall, 6-0 in the PSAC West.

Slippery Rock, which finished 5-1 in the PSAC West, also made the draw and will host New Haven next Saturday in the opening round. The Rock is seeded fourth.

Kutztown received the region’s top seed.

In Division III, the Presidents’ Athletic Conference is sending three teams to the playoffs. Carnegie Mellon, Grove City and Washington & Jefferson finished with 9-1 records and received bids. The Presidents, by virtue of point differential, earned the PAC’s automatic bid, and CMU and Grove City were at-large selections.

All three teams received first-round byes and will play their first games Nov. 30 at noon: Carnegie Mellon will host Centre, Grove City will play at Johns Hopkins at and W&J will visit Randolph-Macon.