VALDOSTA, Ga. – Coming off a 35-21 victory on Saturday afternoon the No. 1 Valdosta State football team will face a familiar foe in Ferris State in the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championship on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 2 p.m. ET at McKinney ISD Stadium in McKinney, Texas.  The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
 
The Blazers enter their seventh national championship game with a 4-2 mark all-time in the championship game.  It is VSU's first trip to the title game since 2021 when these two teams played in the title game with Ferris State leveling the series.  The teams met in 2018 for the first time with VSU winning its fourth national title in an absolute thriller, 49-47. 
 
VSU (13-0) had five touchdowns on Saturday from senior Alfonso Franklin, three on the ground and two receiving scores, while the Blazers held the high-powered MSU rushing attack in check for most of the game. 

Ferris State (13-1) trailed 38-27 at halftime to Slippery Rock Saturday evening, before outscoring SRU 21-0 in the second half and registering four interceptions in the game with two in the end zone and a pick six for a 48-38 victory marking the third trip to the title game for the Bulldogs in the last four years. 
 
VSU is 34-15 all-time in its 20^th postseason appearance as the Blazers reached the title game in 2002, 2004, 2007, 2012, 2018 and 2021 previously.   The Blazers' four titles came in 2004, 2007, 2012 and 2018.  The seven appearances by the Blazers are tied for second all-time in D2 behind ten trips by Northwest Missouri State.  Former D2 member North Dakota State also had seven trips. 
 
The Bulldogs, out of Big Rapids, Mich., are in their 15^th appearance to the postseason and are 29-12 all-time with national titles in 2021 and 2022, along with the runner-up finish to the Blazers in 2018.
 
Check back with vstateblazers.com for more information on the title game.