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EL DORADO, Kan. -- The Butler Grizzlies will battle the Snow Badgers of Utah for the 2008 NJCAA football championship in the Zion’s Bank Top of the Mountains Bowl to be played at Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City on Dec. 6.
The NJCAA poll released Tuesday has the undefeated Badgers unanimously ranked No. 1 in the country, receiving all seven first-place votes, with the Grizzlies ranked No. 2. Both teams moved up one spot from last week’s poll, following a loss on Saturday by previously No. 1-ranked Navarro.
This year's Top of the Mountain Bowl will officially be recognized as the NJCAA National Championship game. The Top of the Mountain Bowl committee successfully negotiated with the NJCAA for the right to have the contest declared the national championship under NJCAA by-laws.
“We are pleased that NJCAA office has declared this the national championship game ahead of time,” Butler Athletic Director Todd Carter. “We are extremely proud of our football program, which has the opportunity not only to play for a second straight national championship, but will also be making its seventh national title game appearance in the past 11 seasons.”
Butler defeated then No. 15 Hutchinson 29-14 on Sunday to capture their third-straight Region 6 title. The Grizzlies are now 10-1, with their defeat coming in the season opener by a 23-20 score against Blinn (Texas) – the same team that beat Navarro 49-24 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Snow wrapped up its schedule this past weekend with a 65-20 thumping of Mesa (Ariz.). The win finalizes Snow's record at 11-0 and gives them the No. 1 ranking, which is exactly how they finished the 2007 regular season.
Last year Snow, then No. 1, faced Butler, then No. 2, in the 2007 Top of the Mountain Bowl with Butler coming away with a 56-27 victory and a share of the national title.
That game was played in Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah. This year, the game will be played at the new 20,000 seat Rio Tinton Stadium, home of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. The bowl game will be the first football game played inside the new stadium, which was just completed last month.
“We are extremely excited to have a chance to defend our national championship,” Butler coach Troy Morrell said. “We look forward to once again playing in a first-class bowl game in another first-rate venue.”
Other Butler bowl game notes:
* This is the 11th straight year Butler has played in a postseason bowl game. The current streak began in 1998 when the team played in the Real Dairy Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Overall, this will be the 22nd bowl game in school history. In eight of those bowl games, Butler has played for the national championship, winning five (1981, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2007).
* This will be the seventh time Butler has played in a bowl game in the state of Utah. The previous four bowl games were the Dixie Rotary Bowl in St. George, in 1986, 1999, 2002 and 2003 and the Top of the Mountains Bowl in 2005 and 2007.
* Butler coach Troy Morrell is 4-4 in bowl games. He is 2-2 in national championship games, winning the Dixie Rotary Bowl in 2003 and the Top of the Mountains Bowl in 2007, while the Grizzlies fell in the 2001 Golden Isles Bowl and the 2004 Dalton Defender’s Bowl.
* This is the fifth Zion’s Bank Top of the Mountains Bowl. Snow is 2-1 against Jayhawk Conference teams in the history of the bowl, beating Butler in 2005 and Coffeyville in 2006 before falling 56-27 to Butler last season.
* Butler is 65-5 over the past six seasons. The Grizzlies have won eight straight Jayhawk Conference championships and five of the past six Region VI championships.
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