SUNY Cortland in Cortland, New York has been one of DIII football's most consistent programs for three decades, competing from a state university that takes athletics seriously in a way that the SUNY system's larger campuses frequently do not. The Red Dragons recruit from Central New York and the Southern Tier, developing players from a pipeline that sends coaches and players to programs at every level of college football. Cortland's ability to develop high school talent into DIII bracket-quality athletes without athletic scholarships is a model that the rest of the Empire 8 programs study and aspire to replicate.

St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York has emerged as the Empire 8's most consistent challenger to Cortland's standard, competing from a Catholic liberal arts campus in a market where the Rochester metro produces DIII-caliber players at a high rate. The Cardinals recruit from Rochester and the Western New York corridor, drawing players who chose Fisher's academic and campus identity over the state school option. When St. John Fisher's roster is healthy and their offensive system is running efficiently, they are the program best positioned to end Cortland's conference dominance.

Alfred University in Alfred, New York is one of DIII football's more unusual institutions — a university where the College of Ceramics is part of the SUNY system but the rest of the campus is private, competing in the Empire 8 from one of upstate New York's most remote and picturesque settings in the Southern Tier hills. The Saxons recruit from the Southern Tier and Western New York markets, and their program has won Empire 8 titles when their roster depth has matched their coaching staff's ability to develop players in an environment that rewards discipline over raw talent.