d3photography.com photo by Steve Frommell

The stadium is set and Mount Union and St. Thomas went through their walk-throughs on Thursday for Stagg Bowl XLIII. The turf in Salem Stadium was new this fall and is in great shape for its first Stagg Bowl, with a new stadium wrap in place as well. After the rain on Thursday, it should be nice and sunny all day on Friday.

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On Thursday night, the championship banquet took place, with Mount Union linebacker Hank Spencer taking home the Elite 90 award, shown at right. It goes to the player at the championship with the highest GPA and Spencer's 3.987 in computer science took home the hardware for the second consecutive season.

We've had feature stories on both Mount Union and St. Thomas posted earlier this week. Meanwhile, here's what we'll have for you between now and kickoff:

Friday morning, we'll have our predictions in an expanded Triple Take -- not just Pat, Keith and Ryan but Adam Turer and insiders from both sides to give their take on who will win on Friday night.

Friday afternoon, at 5 p.m. ET, we'll hit the air with our live video Stagg Bowl pregame show from Salem Stadium, where Frank Rossi, Adam Turer and Ryan Tipps will discuss the game, so if you're in the parking lot tailgating, be sure to stop on by!

The pregame show will also include the first announcement of the D3football.com All-America team, pregame interviews of both coaches and Keith McMillan's keys to the game, and will continue with live audio coverage of the game. 

The game will also be carried on ESPNU, so turn down the sound on your TV and listen to the D-III experts call the game. It's our 17th Stagg Bowl broadcast together.