THE REAL CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY: COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAMES DECEMBER 18TH

Yes, this year the NAIA, NCAA Division 3 and the NCAA Division 2 Football Championship Games are all being played on the same day. Here’s Balladeer’s Blog’s quick and easy guide to who’s playing and where to find the games:

RAGNAROK IN ROME

Rome, GA is once again the site of the NAIA Championship Game. Today the two most prominent and dominant (or P.A.D.) football dynasties of the past decade in the NAIA clash. The Sioux Falls Cougars take on the CC Fighting Saints one last time before the Cougars depart for Division 2. It’s the rubber match between these teams, at least one of whom has played in every title game since 2002. In 2007 the Fighting Saints got the better of the Cougars and in 2008 the Cougars topped the Fighting Saints. This championship game can be seen on the cable channel called CBS College Sports at 4:30PM Eastern Time 

NO BLIZZARD IN SALEM, VA THIS YEAR

The NCAA Division 3 Championship Game is better known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, named after the inventor of the pom-pom (I’m kidding!). For the sixth consecutive year this game is being played between the Whitewater Warhawks and the Mount Union Purple Raiders. Last year’s game had a delayed kickoff time due to the need to remove enormous amounts of snow that had fallen on the field overnight. No such problem this year, and I understand next year in order to save some time the Warhawks and the Purple Raiders will play each other for all the marbles on Labor Day Weekend and the rest of the season will just be called off! (Again, I’m kidding!) This game can be followed on ESPNU at 3:30 PM Eastern Time. 

FLORENCE OF ARABIA

Florence, AL is again playing host to the NCAA Division 2 Championship Game. Each year I keep hoping the Henderson State Reddies will make it all the way to the title game so I can call it the Florence Henderson Bowl but so far no luck. For the first time since 2004 Mel Tjeerdsma’s Northwest Missouri Bearcats will not be playing in the title game. The Delta State Statesmen, who last won it all in the year 2000 will square off against the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, who won the championship in 2008. The Statesmen’s D has become as polished as their potent offense in recent weeks but some people are calling the Bulldogs this year’s “Team Of Destiny” ever since their overtime win in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Watch this clash with a late breakfast on ESPN 2 at 11:00 AM Eastern Time.