Entering its third season, the Gridiron Classic matches the champions of the Pioneer Football League and Northeast Conference in an exempted postseason football contest. The inaugural Gridiron Classic took place Dec. 2, 2006 with PFL Champion San Diego traveling to NEC Champion Monmouth, San Diego posting a 27-7 victory in front of a national television audience.

About the Pioneer Football League

The 2008 season marks the 16th year for the Pioneer Football League – the nation’s only non-scholarship NCAA Football Championship Subdivision conference. The PFL is one of only three conferences that sponsor football as its only sport (the Missouri Valley Football Conference and Great West Football Conferences being the others). However, the PFL is a truly national conference with members on each coast and throughout the nation’s heartland. The league still retains four of its charter members – Butler University, the University of Dayton, Drake University and Valparaiso University, plus the University of San Diego (joining in 1992) – which were joined in 2001 by Davidson College, Jacksonville University and Morehead State University. The league expanded to nine members in 2008 with Campbell University joining the league’s ranks in its first season of intercollegiate football. The PFL will expand again in 2009 as Marist College will begin conference play.

About the Northeast Conference

The Northeast Conference consists of 12 institutions located throughout five states and is celebrating its 27th year as an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association. The NEC began sponsoring football at the I-AA level in 1996, and has since increased its membership from five to eight institutions. Central Connecticut State, Monmouth, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart, St. Francis (Penn.) and Wagner are full-time NEC members who sponsor football, and they are joined by associate members Albany and 2008-addition Duquesne.