The Mount Union mystique
Washington & Jefferson running back Ryan Ruffing will look to lead the Presidents to an upset of Mount Union Saturday in the second round of the Division III playoffs.
Wooster quarterback Richard Barnes is sacked by W&J’s Jon Turner earlier this season.
To beat Mount Union’s football team Saturday will require a special effort by Washington & Jefferson.
The Presidents have to play a perfect game in this, the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. That means no turnovers, no missed assignments, receivers running great routes, the quarterback throwing pinpoint passes, the runners hitting the right hole for big gains and the defense putting forth an effort that will reign in Kevin Burke, Mount Union’s quarterback and the reigning Gagliardi Trophy winner as the best player in Division III.
There also is one other hurdle for the Presidents, one that every other opponent must deal with before kickoff.
The Mount Union mystique.
Read any description of the program and one sees adjectives such as great, powerful, dominating. The label 11-time national champion might be attached to the school name or it can be pointed out that the Purple Raiders have won 23 consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference titles and have nine consecutive undefeated regular seasons. They are 11-0 this season; W&J 10-1. Maybe the most impressive statistic is that Mount Union has lost just five games since 2005. All five have been to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in the NCAA championship game.
Mount Union won 55 straight games from 2000-2003 and 54 from 1996-99. The Purple Raiders have won 93 consecutive regular season games and have not lost a home game since 2005, a 21-14 decision to Ohio Northern, a span of 81 consecutive games. Their 739 wins lead all Division III programs.
The psychological hurdle might be just as tough to clear as the physical battle on the field.
“I don’t look at the past (of any team),” said W&J senior cornerback Alec Schram. “I think we’re pretty used to playing them. I’m not worried about the past or by being intimidated by it.”
Maybe W&J head coach Mike Sirianni addressed it best in his postgame comments after a 41-25 victory over Wittenberg when he said, “Someone has to (eventually) beat them. Why not us?”
The Presidents played Mount Union in last year’s first round and gave the Purple Raiders a strong game before falling 34-20. W&J quarterback Pete Coughlin, then a freshman, cemented his spot in the starting lineup with a turnover-free performance that came not only against one of the best defenses in Division III but also during a snowstorm that made footing treacherous on the field.
“Their quarterback will be more poised and confident this time,” said Mount Union head coach Vince Kehres, in his second season after replacing his legendary father, Larry, upon his retirement. “It helps to have experience at quarterback.”
W&J and Mount Union know each other well. Heck, some players might be on first-name basis with each other for the amount of times the two programs have played. Each year, the teams scrimmage in the preseason and schedule two junior varsity games during the regular season.
“If you count our scrimmage and JV games and the varsity games, we’ve played 20 times,” Sirianni said of his program. “And four of those times have been against them.”
The two programs also have a connection with the Sirianni family. Sirianni is a Mt. Union alum, as are his two brothers. Sirianni’s in-laws live in Alliance.
“We talk a couple times before the season,” said Kehres. “Once we get into the season, it’s harder. I’m pretty tight with his brother, Jay; we were roommates at Mount Union. I recruited his brother, Nick.”
Burke and Coughlin have similar numbers. Burke has completed 66 percent of his passes for 2.975 yards and 32 touchdowns. He’s been intercepted just four times. Coughlin has completed 68 percent for 3,159 yards and 31 touchdowns. He’s been picked off five times.
“He’s the best player in the country,” Sirianni said of Burke. “We’ll just try to contain him and hope he makes a mistake or two. Pete is similar to him in what he can do. Once, we got him here, we thought OK we can do some of the same things.”
Burke throws to a stable of receivers. Four have at least 27 catches and Taurice Scott is the leader with 51 receptions for 758 yards and eight touchdowns. Roman Namdar averages 18.9 yards a catch and has a team-high 13 TDs.
“Their four receivers might be the best we’ll see all year,” Schram said. “We’ll have our hands full.”
W&J’s secondary intercepted eight passes and the defense produced nine turnovers in last week’s win over Wittenberg, a fact not lost on Kehres.
“Nine turnovers, that was impressive,” Kehres said. “They make big plays.”
Notes
Kickoff is at noon … W&J leads the series 4-2 but Mount Union has won the past two games, both in the playoffs: 55-0 in 2009 and 34-20 last year. … The winner of this game plays either John Carroll or Wheaton. JCU finished runner-up to Mount Union in the OAC. … This will be the second week in a row W&J will play a program with more than 700 victories. Wittenberg had 736. Michigan leads all divisions with 915. … Mount Union is ranked third in the AFCA Top 25 poll and d3football.com. W&J is 21st and 19th, respectively.