Last game · Sat Oct 17
W 10-7 at Keystone
Our model gave Apprentice School 43% before kickoff
Apprentice School
1-3Independent DIII · Apprentice Field · 800 seats
The nationunrankedAP / Coaches
Updated Sat Oct 24 · through week 7
Schedule and results
Apprentice School · 2026 schedule and results1-3Our rank entering each game: #567 to #600
| Wk | Date | Our rank | Opp rank | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf | Top performers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 5 | #567 | #570 | — | @Christopher Newport | L 14-43 | 0-1 | 0-0 | |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #575 | #576 | — | @North Carolina Wesleyan | L 0-42 | 0-2 | 0-0 | |
| 3 | Bye week | ||||||||
| 4 | Sep 26 | #585 | #651 | — | Methodist | L 22-27 | 0-3 | 0-0 | |
| 5 | Bye week | ||||||||
| 6 | Bye week | ||||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | #600 | #621 | — | @Keystone | W 10-7 | 1-3 | 1-0 | |
How to read this table
Line is the closing point spread for Apprentice School: a minus number means favored. A green check means the team covered it, by the number beside it. A red cross means it fell short by that much.
Ahead
Live
Live now
season opener, nationally · Fri Aug 21 · 8 pm ET
The games that decide the season
Season so far
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Apprentice School has won one of its last five.
2-8 over the last 10, and won the last one.
Streak W1Last 5 · 1-4Last 10 · 2-8
Range of outcomes · Apprentice School · 2026
Range of outcomes · Apprentice School · 2026Apprentice School’s most likely season is 3-9, mid-table finish. The floor is 1-11; the ceiling is 6-6.
Floor 1-11Ceiling 6-6Base 3-9
1 wins12 wins
What each outcome looks like
Floor1-11Rebuild year. Below .500.
Base3-9Mid-table finish.
Ceiling6-6Conference title race. Bracket qualifier in range.
No season-path projection for this program yet, so this is the 1-3 record so far plus the 8 games left, with a two-win swing down and a three-win swing up.
More in this tab
Worth watching
What it is like to watch them2026 · 1-3
Game feel41even gamescombined pts / game2nd highest-scoring of 2 in the Independent DIII
Heart rate1-1some dramain one-score games (2 of 4)1st most one-score games of 2 in the Independent DIII
Margin-18.2competitiveavg scoring margin1st best margin of 2 in the Independent DIII
Measured from 4 games · ranks are among Independent DIII teams the same season
Team story
The weekly grind
The Builders of Newport News, the football team of a shipyard apprenticeship school founded in 1919, where the players are working welders and machinists who took the 2018 National Club Football Association title.
Standard GapA vocational school whose roster clocks into Newport News Shipbuilding…
Apprentice School's players are real shipbuilders, not scholarship athletes, and the football world treats a trade-school team like it can't be taken seriously — then it won a national club…
Game day
The experience
The Builders of Newport News, the football team of a shipyard apprenticeship school founded in 1919, where the players are working welders and machinists who took the 2018 National Club Football Association title.
Playoff path
Apprentice School sits 1st in the Independent DIII Conference and 194th of 245 in the CFB Zeitgeist — outside the at-large picture — the path runs through the conference title.
Independent DIII · 2026
| Team | Conf | Overall | Index | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apprentice School | 1-0 | 1-3 | 39.5 |
| 2 | Keystone | 0-1 | 1-5 | 39.5 |
| 3 | Wesley College | 0-0 | 0-0 | — |
39.5 CFB Zeitgeist#194 of 245 D347.9 strength of schedule
Win the Independent DIII Conference for the automatic berth into the 40-team NCAA Division III bracket. Miss it and the path is an at-large bid, selected by NPI — the metric the CFB Index mirrors. Six wins survive the bracket to the Stagg Bowl.
Source: CFB Zeitgeist — conference records + NPI-style rating from 2026 games · the field is 40 teams, NPI-selected
The 2026 season · 1-3
Signature win 10-7 over Keystone; toughest day 0-42 against North Carolina Wesleyan.
Recruiting buzz
Community pulse
No high-engagement r/cfb discussions tracked for this program in the last year.
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