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2024 ForeverLawn Bowl: Hanover vs Wabash

ForeverLawn Bowl: What To Know, How To Watch Hanover vs. Wabash

ForeverLawn Bowl: What To Know, How To Watch Hanover vs. Wabash

Here’s a look ahead at all you need to know to watch Hanover vs Wabash Football at the ForeverLawn Bowl, part of the Opendorse Bowl Series on FloCollege.

Nov 21, 2024 by Briar Napier
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Bowl season has arrived in college football.

NCAA Division III wrapped up its regular season this past weekend. While the best of the best will be squaring off against one another in the playoffs beginning this week, many other talented teams will continue their seasons in various D-III bowl games.

Enter the ForeverLawn Bowl, which plays its inaugural game this weekend at one of the most hallowed grounds in the sport — and will be broadcast only on FloCollege.

Here’s a look ahead at all you need to know about the ForeverLawn Bowl, part of the Opendorse Bowl Series this weekend being streamed live and exclusively on FloCollege:

What To Know About The ForeverLawn Bowl

Part of the Opendorse Bowl Series being streamed live and exclusively on FloCollege, the Extra Points Bowl will be one of two NCAA Division III football bowl games to be played Saturday at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio, the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Opendorse Bowl Series schedule kicks off at 1 p.m. (ET), when Hanover from the North Coast Athletic Conference will face Wabash from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference in the ForeverLawn Bowl. The Extra Points Bowl between Marietta from the Ohio Athletic Conference and Westminster (Pennsylvania) from the Presidents’ Athletic Conference follows right after at 6 p.m.

Hanover Panthers

Record: 7-3 (5-1 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference)

The lowdown: From starting 1-3 to playing postseason ball, you won’t find many teams across D-III who turned it on later in the season quite like the Panthers.

Battle-tested throughout the first half of the season as it played both FCS Butler and HCAC champion Mount St. Joseph, Hanover got through some early struggles and proceeded to win its final six games of the regular season, capped off by a third straight win and sixth in seven tries in the Victory Bell Game against archrival Franklin.

Going a perfect 4-0 on the road against D-III opponents (including against Franklin), the Panthers are accustomed to performing and winning away from home, which should give them a little extra boost and comfort inside the 23,000-capacity Hall of Fame Stadium — a colossal facility by most D-III standards.

Appearing in just its second bowl game in program history and first since 1949, Hanover, led by a stifling defense that gave up the fewest points per game (21.3) and touchdowns (28) in the HCAC this season, will be hoping good things come to those who wait for their next bowl game opportunity.


Hanover Players To Watch: Eian Roudebush, QB, and Eric Roudebush, WR

Alright, we’re cheating a bit by naming two players to watch for Hanover, but it’s not every day in college football that you see a brother-to-brother tandem in the passing game.

The Roudebushes are what make the Panthers go on offense, with sophomore Eian running the show under center with 2,336 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, and just six interceptions on the year as he led the HCAC in touchdowns through the air. Most of those scores went to Eric, a grad student who leads Hanover with 455 receiving yards on the season on 29 catches — an average of 15.7 yards per catch.

Together, the siblings are major parts of a Hanover offense that scored at least 31 points in every HCAC game this season and went toe-to-toe with Mount St. Joseph, one of the country’s most electric offenses at 40.9 points per game, in a 49-41 loss, which was the Panthers’ last before they ripped off a six-game winning streak to close the regular season and earn themselves a bowl bid.

Eric’s incoming graduation will mean that the Roudebushes will get one last go-round together as teammates on the football field, and they’ll be looking to end their careers on a high note as ForeverLawn Bowl champions with a memory they can look back on fondly with their family.

Wabash Little Giants

Record: 8-2 (7-1 North Coast Athletic Conference)

The lowdown: Narrowly missing out on the NCAC title when it lost to archrival DePauw in last weekend’s Monon Bell Game, Wabash still gets a postseason spot by way of earning the league’s bid to the ForeverLawn Bowl.

The Little Giants will be playing their first game since 2015 without coach Don Morel on the sideline as the two-time NCAC Coach of the Year retired following the Monon Bell Game, with defensive coordinator Jake Gilbert — the coach-in-waiting ever since Morel announced prior to the season that he would retire — stepping into the role for Wabash’s postseason matchup and beyond.

With its only two defeats coming to a pair of conference champions (DePauw and the always-brutal WIAC’s Wisconsin-Platteville), Wabash was one of the first teams that missed out on an at-large bid to the D-III playoffs, but that could also give the Little Giants a little extra motivation for their postseason game as they hope to make their mark and show that they deserved to be in the field. 

With a defense that loves to cause havoc (78 tackles for loss, 33 sacks, 14 interceptions), as well, Wabash will be seeking a statement performance in Canton.

Wabash Football Player To Watch: Xavier Tyler, RB

When Tyler gets the rock a lot, good things tend to happen for Wabash.

The 5-foot-8 junior is amid a breakout season as the Little Giants’ lead back, breaking the 1,000-yard mark for the first time as he’s averaged 101.7 yards per game on 180 carries. A capability to make catches out of the backfield has made Tyler a weapon, too, as he’s brought down 20 receptions for 153 yards on the year, both of which are also career highs.

The version of Tyler that arrives at Hall of Fame Stadium this weekend will be important, as well.

In Wabash’s penultimate game of the season at Wittenberg, Tyler was a menace at running back with 29 touches for 199 yards and two touchdowns. But in a must-win game to get into the playoffs the next week against DePauw, Tyler’s impact was limited to just 10 carries for 15 yards and no scores as the Tigers prevailed and won both the Monon Bell Game and NCAC title.

Tyler could be due for a bounceback day in Wabash’s season finale, and he and the Little Giants have nothing to lose against a Hanover squad that’s stout defending the run as it paced the HCAC with a league-low 103.5 rushing yards allowed per game. That, or Tyler could do damage with quarterback Brand Campbell (70.4% completion percentage, 1,750 yards, 19 touchdowns) in the pass game, too.

AFCA NCAA Division III Football Rankings In Week 13

  1. North Central (Ill.) (38) 10-0
  2. Cortland (N.Y.) (11) 10-0
  3. Mount Union (Ohio) (1) 10-0
  4. St. John’s (Minn.) 10-0
  5. Hardin-Simmons (Tex.) 10-0
  6. Susquehanna (Pa.) 9-1
  7. Salisbury (Md.) 10-0
  8. DePauw (Ind.) 10-0
  9. Wisconsin-Platteville 9-1
  10. Wartburg (Iowa) 9-1
  11. Endicott (Mass.) 9-1
  12. Linfield (Ore.) 9-1
  13. Aurora (Ill.) 9-1
  14. Hope (Mich.) 10-0
  15. Carnegie Mellon (Pa.) 9-1
  16. Grove City (Pa.) 9-1
  17. Johns Hopkins (Md.) 9-1
  18. Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) 9-1
  19. Springfield (Mass.) 10-0
  20. Wisconsin-La Crosse 7-3
  21. Randolph-Macon (Va.) 9-1
  22. Wisconsin-Oshkosh 6-3
  23. Lake Forest (Ill.) 10-0
  24. Coe (Iowa) 9-1
  25. Wisconsin-River Falls 7-3

Dropped Out: Wisconsin-Oshkosh (23), Marietta (Ohio) (24)

Others Receiving Votes: Wheaton (Ill.), 75; Bethel (Minn.), 71; Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 40; John Carroll (Ohio), 35; Wisconsin-Whitewater, 35; Hobart (N.Y.), 28; Ursinus (Pa.), 21; Wisconsin-Stout, 18; Wabash (Ind.), 12; Berry (Ga.), 12; Mary Hardin-Baylor (Tex.), 10; Alma (Mich.), 4; Marietta (Ohio), 3; Massachusetts-Dartmouth, 3; Maryville (Tenn.), 1; Texas Lutheran, 1.

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