Mary Hardin-Baylor's shutout 24-0 victory over Brockport in the semifinals punched their ticket to their second straight Stagg Bowl. Meanwhile, Mount Union, down 25 to UW-Oshkosh, mounted an epic comeback in their semifinal game to win 43-40.
Mary Hardin-Baylor is led by Pete Fredenburg, who began his career at the Texas high school level before going on to coordinate the defenses at Baylor, and Louisiana Tech. He took over the UMHB program in 1998, and led them to their second national title game last year, after a number of semifinal and quarterfinal appearances. His first trip to the national title game came in 2004 after UMHB had existed for just seven seasons (they lost to Linfield 28-21). Fredenburg has won well over 200 games leading The Cru, and has lost just 38 in 19 seasons leading the program.
Mount Union is led by Vince Kehres, who took over the program after his father, Larry, stepped down before the 2013 season and he and his staff have went on an impressive tear. Kehres is 55-4 leading the Purple Raiders, and only one of those four losses came in the regular season, while two of them came in his first pair of national title appearances in 2013 and 2015.
As the defending national champions, Mary Hardin-Baylor has notched their 29th straight win and now has the opportunity to usher in a new Division III dynasty with a win and back to back national titles (and 15-0 seasons), but a win by Mount Union would welcome back one of the most established dynasties in all of college football.
This one, featuring two very accomplished head coaches, and two quality coaching staffs, will make for some quality football this weekend.
The match up will mark the last time the Stagg Bowl takes place in Salem, VA and will kick off at 7pm EST on ESPNU.