College football’s longest-running dynasty seeks its 14th national championship since 1993 when Mount Union returns to the familiar spot of playing in the NCAA Div. III National Championship Game, better known as the Stagg Bowl. Awaiting the Purple Raiders are a familiar foe and the division’s most recent rising powerhouse, North Central. 

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North Central and Mount Union are playing in the title round for the second time in three years. And, for North Central, this year’s Stagg Bowl is the program’s fifth straight. 

One thing not familiar about this year’s edition of the NCAA Div. III National Championship Game is the location. The Stagg Bowl returns to Texas after spending the 2018 and 2019 seasons there, and is in Houston for the first time ever as the Cardinals and Purple  Raiders take over Shell Energy Stadium. The backdrop of downtown Houston looms over this 22,000-seat venue and home to Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo FC. 

Either North Central or Mount Union leaves Shell Energy Stadium on Jan. 5 the 2024 season's NCAA Div. III national champion. Here's what to know ahead of their Stagg Bowl showdown.  

The History

This Stagg Bowl marks the second time these programs have met for the national championship and is their fifth meeting in the NCAA Playoffs overall since 2013. 

North Central's 28-21 escape from a wild 2022 Stagg Bowl, in which Mount Union scored all 21 of its points in the fourth quarter, gave the Cardinals something very few programs have been able to claim in the last 30 years: A three-game winning streak over the Purple  Raiders. 

North Central won a 26-13 meeting in the 2021 national semifinals to advance to the Stagg Bowl. Mary Hardin-Baylor's title-game win denied the Cardinals a three-peat, with that year's championship game bookending North Central, wins in 2019 and 2022. 

The Cardinals' road to their 2019 national championship included a 59-52 win over Mount Union in the Playoffs. 

That game was the first meeting between the two since 2013, and one of the three decided by seven points or fewer. Mount Union won the 2013 encounter in a 41-40 classic that sent to the Purple Raiders to one of their incredible 11 straight Stagg Bowls from 2005 through 2015. 

When Mount Union last faced North Central in the 2022 Stagg Bowl, it ended a drought of two straight Playoffs in which the Purple  Raiders failed to reach the championship game. They last endured such a spell in 1998 and 1999. 

How They Reached The National Championship Game 

Mount Union 

Record: 14-0, Ohio Athletic Conference 

NCAA Playoffs Results

• 42-7 vs. John Carroll 
• 24-19 vs. Carnegie Mellon 
• 38-17 vs. Salisbury 
• 45-37 vs. Johns Hopkins

Although undefeated behind a 43.1-point per game offense, Mount Union did not go untested on its way to the Stagg Bowl. The Purple Raiders' 24-19 win over Carnegie Mellon in the 2nd Round and 45-37 defeat of John Hopkins in the NCAA Playoffs marked Mount Union's fourth and fifth one-possession point-margin victory of the campaign. 

Four of those five one-possession decisions have come over the last six games. That includes a fourth-quarter comeback against Marietta on Nov. 9, in which Tyler Echeverry ran for a 51-yard touchdown with 4:54 remaining to tie the game at 21, Kaleb Brown delivered a couple of big defensive plays to help Mount Union get the ball back. The Purple Raiders offense capitalized with TJ Deshields finding Tyrell Sanders on a 27-yard touchdown pass with 32 seconds remaining. 

Mount Union's national semifinal win over Johns Hopkins didn't require a comeback, but it did showcase the Purple Raiders' fourth-quarter resolve. Echeverry scored on a pair of runs, one going 54 yards, to turn a two-point lead over the Blue Jays into a 16-point cushion. 

North Central 

Record: 14-0, 9-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin 

NCAA Playoffs Results 

• 32-17 vs. Whitworth 
• 41-21 vs. Hope College 
• 27-3 vs. Springfield 
• 66-0 vs. Susquehanna

A dominant regular season for North Central continued throughout the postseason, with the Cardinals dispatching all comers by double-digit-point margins. Their 66-0 rout of Susquehanna in the national semifinals was as overwhelming a victory as any in modern college football history, with the Cardinals holding a 49-0 lead at halftime and 63-0 advantage through three quarters. 

It was also the seventh time in 2024 that North Central scored 50-plus points. 

In their four playoff wins, the Cardinals have rolled by an average of 33.8 points per game. It's a dip from North Central's staggering 46-point per game margin of victory in the regular season, but impressive nonetheless. 

Offenses

Boasting two of the nation's top 14 scoring offenses in 2024, Mount Union and North Central head into Houston averaging a combined 96.5 points per game. That's a staggering number by any measure. 

Mount Union is responsible for 43.1 of that output, while North Central accounts for the other 53.4. Both employ a multifaceted, high-powered rushing attack to set the tone, with the Cardinals' 305.1 yards on the ground per game ranking third-most in NCAA Div. III and Mount Union's 235.2 ranked ninth. 

A quartet of Cardinals head into the Stagg Bowl having carried for seven-plus touchdowns in 2024: Luke Lehnen with 14, Joe Sacco with 13, Charles Coleman with 10, and Sean Allen with seven. Sacco's 1,148 yards pace North Central, and Lehnen, averaging a whopping 11 yards per carry, has rushed for 924 yards. 

The dual-threat playmaker and reigning Gagliardi Trophy winner Lehnen also has passed for almost 3,000 yards with 39 touchdowns to just five interceptions. Four Cardinals have been on the receiving end of five-plus touchdowns, led by Thomas Skokna’s 13. 

Lehnen’s passing numbers are down slightly from his Gagliardi-winning 2023 campaign, but only as a byproduct of the Cardinals rounding into shape with such a deep corps of weapons in the rushing game. 

Unsurprisingly, North Central’s prolific offense starts with an outstanding offensive line. Three Cardinals linemen earned 1st Team All-CCIW honors in 2024: Ryan Kennelly, Jeske Maples, and Sam Pryor. 

For Mount Union, 1st Team All-OAC lineman Gio Kennedy and 2nd Team honorees Jarrett Burress and Ben Lilly help open the holes that Purple Raiders running back Tyler Echeverry has proven especially adept at bursting through. 

Echeverry heads into the Stagg Bowl with 1,631 yards and 29 touchdowns, the latter far-and-away most in Div. III. The next-most productive ball carrier has seven fewer rushing scores than Echeverry. 

With Darnell Williams adding six rushing touchdowns and quarterback Noah Beaudrie scoring nine, Mount Union has the fourth-most trips to the end zone on the ground in the nation at 54. 

Beaudrie has tacked on another 16 through the air, though while limited in the Playoffs, TJ Deshields has stepped up. Deshields threw for three touchdowns against Salisbury and rushed for scores against Carnegie Mellon and Johns Hopkins. 

Defenses

At 10.9 points allowed per game, North Central paired the second-stingiest defense in Div. III football with its high-scoring offense to produce a whopping point-per-game differential of more than 42. 

Opponents have found passing against the Cardinals to be dangerous. North Central has six defenders with multiple interceptions in 2024, led by Brayden Garrigan’s four. Jahmar Daniel and Rahmareon Roby have each picked off three passes, while breaking up another 10 and seven. 

Running against North Central has also been a dead-end for opposing offenses. The Cardinals allow a scant few 85.7 yards per game and three yards per carry, with opponents having converted only 60 first downs on the ground in 14 games. 

North Central excels at blowing up plays before they develop, boasting seven Cardinals with at least five tackles for loss. John Sullivan’s 15.5 – with six sacks – leads the way. Sullivan also has seven quarterback hurries to help set the table for North Central’s turnover generation. 

Mount Union comes into Houston featuring perhaps the most fearsome pass-rush combination at any level of football with Von Factor, Rossy Moore and Kaleb Brown producing 34.5 sacks between them. Brown’s 12.5 leads the way. 

Moore, with 20.5 tackles for loss, is one of only eight Div. III defenders to accrue 20-plus in 2024. Getting into the backfield effectively contributes to the Purple Raiders allowing only 100.1 rushing yards per game and 10 scores on the ground in 14 games. 

Special Teams 

Neither Mount Union nor North Central have had to punt much in 2024. Nevertheless, the Purple Raiders defense in particular have benefited from the excellent work of Michael Franklin. 

Franklin, the Mount Union punter, has placed 11 of his 27 attempts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. 

Mount Union has also seen solid production from placekicker Ivan Maric, who is 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts in the last three playoff contests. Maric is 4-of-5 on fields from 40 yards out or further on the season. 

Headlining North Central’s special teams is Jacob Paradee, who averages more than 11 yards on 22 punt-return opportunities this season. 

PREDICTION 

It’s not often in the last 30-plus years that Mount Union heads into any game, including the Stagg Bowl, looking like the underdog. Such is the case ahead of the Purple Raiders’ matchup with North Central. 

The Cardinals’ utter dominance on both sides of the ball extending throughout the Playoffs suggests North Central is not to be denied another national championship. A perhaps relevant question for coach Brad Spencer’s bunch is how it responds in a close game. 

North Central has not had to play many; certainly nothing like Mount Union, which has navigated through some challenging matchups en route to the Stagg Bowl. The Purple Raiders just need to accomplish what no opponents have really been able to remain within striking distance against the balanced, talented, and disciplined Cardinals. 

PREDICTION: North Central 41, Mount Union 28 

When Is The NCAA Division III Championship Game?

The NCAA Division II championship game is set for Sunday, Jan. 5  at 7 p.m. ET in Houston.

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