The 2010 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the 38th annual single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division III college football. The championship Stagg Bowl game was held at Salem Football Stadium in Salem, Virginia for the 18th time.[2]
Twenty-three conferences met the requirements for an automatic ("Pool A") bid to the playoffs. Besides the NESCAC, which does not participate in the playoffs, four conferences had no Pool A bid. The ECFC and UMAC were in the second year of the two-year waiting period, while the ACFC and UAA failed to meet the seven-member requirement.
Schools not in Pool A conferences were eligible for Pool B. The number of Pool B bids was determined by calculating the ratio of Pool A conferences to schools in those conferences and applying that ratio to the number of Pool B schools. The 23 Pool A conferences contained 197 schools, an average of 8.6 teams per conference. Twenty-eight schools were in Pool B, enough for three bids.
The remaining six playoff spots were at-large ("Pool C") teams.