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| Mount Union players celebrate after winning one of their many National Championships. (photo: muc.edu) |
The players will be sitting in the locker room, anxious with anticipation and nerves.
The echoes of the crowd and the marching bands will be barely audible as they lace up their cleats.
Their focus will be briefly broken by the fired-up captain who's screaming as if he's upset—as if someone had just made fun of his mother.
But he's not upset—he's just that fired up.
As the players prepare for their shot at glory, the coaches will remind the squad how important the game really is.
They'll say that it's for all the marbles—the game they've been preparing for since the end of last season.
It's the only reason they've lifted weights, the only reason they've run up and down the stadium stairs, the only reason they've subjected themselves to yoga classes.
Anything to get here—anything to make it to this game.
The coaches will remind the team of the difficult road they've traveled. They might show their team the bracket they've conquered—a visual reminder of just how far they've come.
No, this isn't the future of Division I football—this is real.
This is the Division III playoffs.
There are no computers, there are no Bowl pairings, and there are no complaints.
Every fan in the stadium knows that two truly deserving teams are about to run onto the field. And every writer in the press box has hyped the contest as a true National Championship Game.
Once the final whistle blows, what's been said and done on the field will be the only thing that matters.
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| The 35th Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl will be played Saturday in Salem, VA, between Mount Union and UW-Whitewater. |
Back in the locker room, the coaches may speak of a football legend—a legend their players may have never heard of.
They'll teach the players of the man for whom this particular game is named—a man who transformed college football as we now know it.
His name was Amos Alonzo Stagg, and he was one of the greatest ever.
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