{"id":882932,"date":"2026-01-06T00:11:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T06:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/06\/legacy-vs-breakthrough-stagg-bowl-is-going-to-be-great\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T00:11:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T06:11:51","slug":"legacy-vs-breakthrough-stagg-bowl-is-going-to-be-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/06\/legacy-vs-breakthrough-stagg-bowl-is-going-to-be-great\/","title":{"rendered":"LEGACY VS. BREAKTHROUGH: Stagg Bowl is Going to be GREAT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Football <\/p>\n<div>\n<article id=\"post-207837\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<figure><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"566\" src=\"https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_4345-1024x566.jpeg\" alt=\"Football LEGACY VS. BREAKTHROUGH: Stagg Bowl is Going to be GREAT\"  ><figcaption>LEGACY VS. BREAKTHROUGH: Stagg Bowl is Going to be GREAT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h3 id=\"h-on-college-football-s-biggest-division-iii-stage-the-nbsp-university-of-wisconsin-river-falls-falcons-nbsp-and-the-nbsp-north-central-college-cardinals-nbsp-collide-in-a-championship-defined-by-history-belief-and-elite-execution\">On college football\u2019s biggest Division III stage, the\u00a0<strong>University of Wisconsin\u2013River Falls Falcons<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0<strong>North Central College Cardinals<\/strong>\u00a0collide in a championship defined by history, belief, and elite execution.<\/h3>\n<p>For UWRF, it marked a\u00a0<em>first<\/em>.<br \/>For North Central, it is\u00a0<em>business as usual<\/em>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2 id=\"h-uwrf-falcons\"><strong>UWRF FALCONS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Record:<\/strong>\u00a013\u20131<br \/><strong>Conference:<\/strong>\u00a0WIAC<br \/><strong>Stagg Bowl Appearances:<\/strong>\u00a0First Ever<\/p>\n<p>Behind one of the most explosive offenses in Division III history, UWRF authored a season that redefined the program. The Falcons averaged\u00a0<strong>560+ yards per game<\/strong>, attacking defenses with tempo, confidence, and precision.<\/p>\n<p><strong>QB Kaleb Blaha<\/strong>\u00a0delivered a record-setting campaign:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>5,700+ total yards<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>50+ total touchdowns<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Nation-leading total offense<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>UWRF\u2019s playoff run peaked in a legendary semifinal win over Johns Hopkins, capped by a\u00a0<strong>79-yard game-winning touchdown<\/strong>\u00a0that sent the Falcons to Canton for the first time in school history.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2 id=\"h-north-central-cardinals\"><strong>NORTH CENTRAL CARDINALS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Record:<\/strong>\u00a014\u20130<br \/><strong>Conference:<\/strong>\u00a0CCIW<br \/><strong>Stagg Bowl Appearances:<\/strong>\u00a06 Straight<\/p>\n<p>North Central arrived as the standard of excellence in Division III football. The defending national champions once again showcased elite balance, discipline, and championship composure.<\/p>\n<p>The Cardinals averaged\u00a0<strong>nearly 50 points per game<\/strong>, combining a lethal passing attack with a physical ground game and one of the nation\u2019s top defenses.<\/p>\n<p>A dominant\u00a0<strong>41\u201321 semifinal victory<\/strong>\u00a0over John Carroll reinforced what the country already knew \u2014 North Central thrives on this stage.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h2 id=\"h-by-the-numbers\"><strong>BY THE NUMBERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>UWRF<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>560+ Yards Per Game<\/li>\n<li>40+ Passing TDs<\/li>\n<li>19.5 PPG Allowed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NORTH CENTRAL<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>~50 Points Per Game<\/li>\n<li>Top-Tier Scoring Defense<\/li>\n<li>Undefeated Season<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"742\" height=\"1024\" alt   data-old-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20742%201024'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_4346-742x1024.jpeg 742w, https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_4346-290x400.jpeg 290w, https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_4346-768x1060.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_4346-1113x1536.jpeg 1113w, https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_4346.jpeg 1290w\" src=\"https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_4346-742x1024.jpeg\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n<h2 id=\"h-the-stagg-bowl-statement\"><strong>THE STAGG BOWL STATEMENT<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This championship wasn\u2019t just about a trophy.<\/p>\n<p>It was proof that\u00a0<strong>new contenders can rise<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 and that\u00a0<strong>dynasties endure<\/strong>. The 2026 Stagg Bowl showcased the very best of Division III football: speed, toughness, intelligence, and belief.<\/p>\n<p>Two programs.<br \/>Two journeys.<br \/>One national stage.<\/p>\n<p>For those wanting to watch the game, the game will be broadcasted\u00a0at 8 pm (ET)\u00a0on ESPN.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Also for those who want to keep up, for the first time in Stagg Bowl history, on X\u00a0@D3FBHuddle is going to give you an entire D3FB Championship broadcast from the sidelines, providing play-by-play, color commentary, and live updates from their \u201cIn the Huddle\u201d team.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Also Division 1 Rejects will be live on YouTube and on X @<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/D1_Rejects\">D1_Rejects<\/a>\u00a0at 6 pm (ET).\u00a0<\/p>\n<div itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\" itemscope itemprop=\"author\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" alt itemprop=\"image\" data-old-src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20100%20100'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" src=\"https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/NFL-Draft-Diaminds_Hula-Bowl.png\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>NFL Draft Diamonds was created to assist the underdogs playing the sport. We call them diamonds in the rough. My name is Damond Talbot, I have worked extremely hard to help hundreds of small school players over the past several years, and will continue my mission. We have several contributors on this site, and if they contribute their name and contact will be in the piece above. You can email me at <span \n                data-original-string='dpmutqkd3qfKxlou7lOM9Q==7f4NrAtvYbyqtWnMAxu2k4ILJa9zJeN9SYvcDExDTom+VY='\n                class='apbct-email-encoder'\n                title='This contact has been encoded by Anti-Spam by CleanTalk. Click to decode. To finish the decoding make sure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser.'>nf<span class=\"apbct-blur\">**************<\/span>@<span class=\"apbct-blur\">***<\/span>il.com<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nfldraftdiamonds.com\/2026\/01\/stagg-bowl\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a> Damond Talbot<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LEGACY VS. BREAKTHROUGH: Stagg Bowl is Going to be GREAT On college football\u2019s biggest Division III stage, the\u00a0University of Wisconsin\u2013River Falls Falcons\u00a0and the\u00a0North Central College Cardinals\u00a0collide in a championship defined by history, belief, and elite execution. For UWRF, it marked a\u00a0first.For North Central, it is\u00a0business as usual. UWRF FALCONS Record:\u00a013\u20131 Conference:\u00a0WIAC Stagg Bowl Appearances:\u00a0First Ever<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":882933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22301,3790,3341],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-882932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breakthrough","8":"category-football","9":"category-legacy"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/882933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}