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The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973. Before 1973, most of the schools now in Division III competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
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The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in the playoffs. The Division III championship game, known as the Stagg Bowl, has been played annually in Salem, Virginia at Salem Football Stadium since 1993. It was previously played in Phenix City, Alabama at Garrett-Harrison Stadium (1973–1982, 1985–1989), at the College Football Hall of Fame, when the Hall was located in Kings Island, Ohio at Galbreath Field (1983–1984), and Bradenton, Florida at Hawkins Stadium (1990–1992).
Mount Union appeared in eleven consecutive Stagg Bowls, and all but three since 1996—defeating Wisconsin–Whitewater in 2005, 2006, and 2008; losing to Wisconsin–Whitewater in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014; and defeating University of St. Thomas in 2012 and 2015. The only two times since 2000 in which Mount Union did not appear, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor did; they lost the 2004 championship to Linfield University and won the 2016 game over University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh (who made their first Stagg Bowl appearance).
West and East Regional Championships (1969–1972)
In 1969, the NCAA started two regional championship games for small college teams: the East Regional's Knute Rockne Bowl and the West's Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. When the NCAA developed a national Division III championship game in 1973, the Stagg Bowl name and the host city of Phenix City, Alabama was chosen.
Stagg Bowl Most Outstanding Player Award
As voted by the media at the game since 2000 [1]
