D3football.com here hours before kickoff as usual, which leaves plenty of time to kick off a new blog.

Gordon and Pat Coleman are to my left right now, on the air announcing the all-Americans. If you aren’t listening, you should be … if you’re interested in hearing about four or five different pre-game interviews. I know Brett Elliott’s interview already aired … good stuff. Very humble, honest about his NFL future and bashing the lack of a playoff in D-I. Loving that!

Mount Union’s specialists have just taken the field.

The weather here tends to be cold and windy … Salem is the championship site because they make D3 feel big time and have gathered a great volunteer base to support the game, but we could do without the weather.

The field is a fast track, but probably not the same as the turf at Mount Union. Both teams are used to/OK with cold weather, and UW-W played in the snow last week, so this should be nothing new. There is snow around the field from Thursday night, but the field was taken care of yesterday, and even spray painted green (I believe) to make it look good for TV.

We’ll be posting from time to time today, and we’ve seen you go crazy on the predictions thread … but if you’re not here and your TV is close to your computer, pump up the sound from the webcast. We’re pretty sure the D3 die-hards will enjoy it.

We’ll be glad to hear your thoughts pre-game and during. Should be fun to look back at after the fact. Take it away…