Excitement builds for national football championship

12/15/2023 

How excited are people about the SUNY Cortland football team’s first-ever national championship appearance?

Just listen to what these high-achieving SUNY Cortland alumni had to tell the players in a video as they prepare to upset defending champion North Central College of Naperville, Ill., in the 50th Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl tonight at 7 p.m. in Salem, Va.

The video includes three-time UFC champion Aljamain Sterling ’11; Derek LaLonde ’95, head coach of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings; Beth Mowins, ESPN broadcaster and former voice of the Red Dragons; Greg Sankey ’87, commissioner of the NCAA’s Southeastern Athletic Conference; Dan Pitcher ’10, M ’11, quarterback coach of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals; Mick Foley ’87, former WWE champion and bestselling author; Scott Williams ’82, executive producer of “NCIS,” and Jake Ceresna ’16, defensive end for the CFL’s Edmonton Elks.

The game can be viewed on ESPNU and ESPN+, and at watch parties throughout the country. A full list of parties hosted by the SUNY Cortland Alumni Association are online. Full coverage is available on the SUNY Cortland Athletics website.

Other signs of Red Dragon fever include:

• Cortland Mayor Scott Steve has declared Dec. 15 "SUNY Cortland Football Day" and is encouraging the whole town to dress in red to show support. He also issued a joint news release announcing a challenge between him and the city of Naperville, where the mayor supporting the losing team will need to wear the other school's jersey to their next city council meeting. 

• News coverage has been amazing. The NewsChannel 9 news desk in Syracuse, N.Y. is wearing red on Dec. 15 in support of Cortland. Newsday, the primary media outlet for Long Island, published a story on how 39 members of Cortland’s football team are from their area. Local newspapers, websites, television and radio outlets are publicizing hometown heroes playing for SUNY Cortland in the championship, as are the social media accounts of many of the players’ former high schools.

• SUNY Cortland Athletics also is hosting an online webstore that sells commemorative t-shirts saluting the most successful Red Dragon football team in history.