Washington University will play Wisconsin-River Falls in the first ever Isthmus Bowl this Saturday in Madison, Wis. (Image courtesy: Wash. U. Athletics)

by DeMarcus Dixon
Staff Writer

One day after concluding its 2021 regular season with a win over Carthage University, the Washington University football team was selected to play in its first bowl game ever. The Bears will play in the first ever Culver’s Isthmus Bowl, this Saturday, in Madison, Wis., against the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Wash. U. ended its regular season on Saturday with a 37-16 win over Carthage and walked off the field thinking they were done for the year. But the Isthmus Bowl is a new college football bowl game designed to feature the top teams from the CCIW and WIAC conferences.

Both Wash. U. and Wisconsin-River Falls finished third in their respective conferences, but the top two teams in both leagues were picked to play in the NCAA Division III football playoffs. In Wash. U’s conference, the CCIW, the conference champ is North Central, which is also the No. 1 ranked team in the country, and the second place team, Wheaton, is ranked No. 3.

The top two teams in the WIAC are also ranked in the top 25, so that left spots open for both the Bears and Falcons to play one more game, if they so chose, and both teams were happy to agree to play in what will be one of just 10 Division III bowl games around the country.

Wash. U. and Wisconsin-River Falls both have 7-3 records. The game will be played at Verona Area Stadium in suburban Madison, and is scheduled to kickoff at 3 p.m.

Broadcast and live stat information is expected to be released later this week. Wash. U. is planning to leave for Wisconsin on Thursday and will have one walk-through practice at Verona Area Stadium on Friday before playing the game on Saturday.

Each team will be allotted tickets that will be sold through each school. Ticket prices are $10 each, and the stadium holds approximately 8,000 fans.