!¬"^"Here's wAy To Watch*^*Mount Union Raiders vs North Central College Cardinals Live Streams Coverage Free ON TV Channel

Mount Union and North Central ready for another NCAA football playoff clash in Stagg Bowl

So is the team the Mount Union Purple Raiders hope to finally take down in the postseason.

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Mount Union and North Central will clash in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the second time in three years Sunday night in Houston. Kickoff time on ESPN is 8:03 p.m.

North Central beat Mount Union in the 2022 Stagg Bowl, in the 2021 NCAA Division III national semifinals and in the second round of the 2019 playoffs. The defeats have occurred during the Purple Raiders' longest title drought of the program's championship era. They won their last national championship in 2017.

Mount Union quarterback TJ DeShields makes a throw during practice Sunday's Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Houston.

"North Central has been getting our number the past couple of years," Mount Union senior defensive end Rossy Moore said. "We're ready to get one back.

"(The 2022 Stagg Bow) hurt, so we're ready to get after it this Sunday. We can't wait."

Mount Union head coach Geoff Dartt labled his team the underdog after the Purple Raiders beat Johns Hopkins 45-37 in the semifinals. He did it long before the Cardinals finished off Susquehanna 66-0 in their final four matchup.

"We've embraced that role," Dartt said of being the underdog. " ... There's nothing we can do about it. We just have to prepare. We have to execute."

The Cardinals are not taking anything for granted. They went to last year's Stagg Bowl as favorites and were upset by Cortland.

Mount Union head coach Geoff Dartt watches practice before Sunday's Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Houston.

Now they are facing a program head coach Brad Spencer calls "the epicenter, the holy grail of Division III football." The Purple Raiders are aiming for their 14th national title.

"They're the standard," Spencer said. "We think it's a great opportunity to see what we're made of and measure us against the best that there ever has been at our level."

The Purple Raiders reached their 23rd Stagg Bowl a year after they were eliminated by Alma in the second round of the playoffs. Close calls against Marietta and Muskingum at the end of the regular season left some wondering if they had a long playoff run in them. They successfully passed every test.

"This group is underrated, underestimated, everything under that umbrella," senior running back Tyler Echeverry said. "We just kind have grown together. Some leaders have risen, and we just became a great team, a unified team. We play our best that way."