The season began on September 4 and concluded on December 19 with title game of the NCAA Division III Football Championship.
This was the ninth time in ten seasons that Mount Union and Wisconsin–Whitewater met in the title game.
[1] Twenty-four conferences met the requirements for an automatic ("Pool A") bid to the playoffs.
The MASCAC and SAA were in the second year of the two-year waiting period; the SCAC had only four members, three short of the requirement.
The American Southwest, which had fallen below seven members in 2013, was in the second year of the two-year grace period.