The 13th edition of the Fall Classic will come to Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday as the No. 1 ranked Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats take on the No. 22 ranked University of Central Missouri Mules.
Tickets for the 5 p.m. contest are still available through the Arrowhead Stadium Ticket Office, participating Ticketmaster locations or online at www.ticketmaster.com. Lower level adult tickets are $25 while youth tickets (ages 3-18) are $10. Children under the age of 3 are free. All Scout Investments Club Level tickets are $40. Tickets for Northwest Missouri State and Central Missouri students are $10 with valid student identification. Parking for Saturday's game is $12 while bus/RV parking is $25. Lots open at 11 a.m.
Saturday's NCAA Division II Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association matchup marks the first Fall Classic at Arrowhead since the 2013 football season when the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats beat the Pittsburg State Gorillas 24-15 in front of 17,369 fans. Over the 12 previous Fall Classic contests at Arrowhead, nearly a quarter-million fans have watched Division II football, averaging more than 20,100 fans per contest.
The game marks the 13th time that the Home of the Chiefs will host the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats. In the 12 prior games, Northwest Missouri State played Pittsburg State University. The Bearcats own a 9-3 record all-time at Arrowhead Stadium. This year marks the first time the University of Central Missouri Mules will play at Arrowhead Stadium.
Northwest Missouri State, the home team for this year's contest, is coached by sixth-year head coach Adam Dorrel, who spent his first seven years with the school as the team's offensive coordinator. The Bearcats are currently 4-0. They are coming off a 2015 campaign where they registered a perfect 15-0 record on the way to capturing the NCAA Div. II National Championship in Kansas City, Kansas. In Dorrel's six years at the helm, Northwest has compiled a 65-8 (.890) record. The 2015 playoff berth was the program's 12th-straight appearance in the NCAA Div. II postseason. Central Missouri, the game's visiting team, is led by seventh-year head coach Jim Svoboda. Under Svoboda, the Mules have accumulated a 50-23 (.685) overall record, including a 43-20 (.683) mark in conference play and are sitting at 3-1 this season. His Mules have made three postseason appearances during his tenure and narrowly missed out on a postseason berth in the 2015 season after finishing the regular season 8-3.
