After Southwestern University at Memphis changed its name to Rhodes College in 1984, the Southwestern Lynx became the Rhodes Lynx at the start of the 1984 season.
The Villanova University football program was officially reinstated with St. Lawrence University head coach Andy Talley hired to the same position, as a Division III program. The program simply practiced and redshirted the entire team in preparation for a 1985 launch as a limited-season team.
Each team played two other conference members 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 1984 NCAA Division III Football Championship playoffs were the 12th 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 Galbreath Field at the College Football Hall of Fame in Kings Island, Mason, Ohio for the second consecutive time. This was the final tournament to feature eight teams before expanding to sixteen in 1985.[2]