Each team played one other conference member twice. A head-to-head sweep of the two games counted as one win for the winner and one loss for the loser in the conference standings. A split of the two games counted as a tie for each team.
The 1990 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the 18th 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 Hawkins Stadium in Bradenton, Florida for the first time. Like the previous five tournaments, this year's bracket featured sixteen teams.[2]