December 17th, 2024 7:00pm
By John Raffel, Sports Director, BigRapidsNews.com
BIG RAPIDS -- The Ferris State University Bulldogs will take on the Valdosta State (Ga.) Blazers in the NCAA Division II National Championship Game this Saturday, Dec. 21, at the McKinney ISD Stadium in McKinney, Texas.
The Bulldogs will be seeking their third national championship in the last four seasons and will face Valdosta State in the title game for the third time since 2018. This year marks FSU's fourth national championship game appearance in the last six seasons.
The Bulldogs have made a nation-leading 10 consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II Playoffs, including back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022.
“I give my staff and players credit for enduring a long season,” Ferris coach Tony Annese, whose 13-1 Bulldogs have won 13 straight. “We’re in week 20. You look at the best of the best teams, a lot of teams have had slip ups. It’s hard to sustain a great performance every week. I’m proud of our guys for having stayed on the course after a week one loss.”
Annese noted there was a lot of pressure after the loss to Pittsburg State in the opener.
“We had to have the right reaction to challenging circumstances,” Annese said. “We never give in but fight to the bitter end. We’ve been on a pretty good streak to make the national championship.”
Valdosta State enters the tilt with a 13-0 mark and is seeking its fifth national championship in its seventh national title game appearance. Overall, VSU is in the midst of its 20th all-time postseason playoff showing and previously faced FSU in both the 2018 and 2021 national title games. The Blazers won the Gulf South Conference (GSC) championship this year.
“Their systems are different,” Annese said, noting it’s the third different Valdosta coach he will have faced since 2018. “It’s a three-down, three safety look which is a unique defense in college football. They play three really big defensive linemen and the rest of their eight guys run like you couldn’t believe.
“Offensively they’re more of a ball control team.”