We continue our journey through the “slippery slope of professionalism” that is the college playoffs, and visit with Ohio’s true football power. Yup, it’s time to talk about Mount Union.
In case you weren’t here last year, the Purple Raiders are the most successful football program of the last two decades at any level, with 10 national championships and both a 55 and 54 game winning streak. They have played in 13 of the last 17 national championship games, and last won it all in 2008. In his 24 year tenure, coach Larry Keheres is 287-22-3, and has won 19 consecutive Ohio Athletic Conference titles. He is the current American Football Coaches Association president, and his team has outscored the opposition 489-82 this season, including the 31-3 win over Del Val last week, his 301st of his career (Tress has 240).
On the season, QB Neal Seaman has passed for 2,945 yards, 27 touchdowns and ranks seventh in the country in pass efficiency . Running back Jeremy Murray has run for 1,403 yards and 19 touchdowns. Mount Union ranks second in the nation in total defense (198 yards per game) and ranks ninth (126 yards) and 10th (72 yards), respectively, in pass and run defense. The Raiders allow 6.8 points per game, tops in Division III.
Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, Mount Union was founded in Alliance Ohio in 1846. Their alumni include President William McKinley, Packers coach Dom Capers, Amnesty International executive directer Larry Cox, and Pierre Garcon, last year’s fantasy football sleeper of the season.
Their opponents are the Saxons Alfred University from New York State- I wonder if their defense is known for it’s Saxon violence? The Empire 8 conference champs are 10-2 on the season, and are led on offense by Austin Dwyer, a first year student athlete who has rushed for almost 1400 yards and 8 TD’s. Linebacker Nick Clark anchors the defense and was the Empire 8 Defensive Player of the Year with a team-high 96 tackles with three sacks and three interceptions.
Founded in 1836, it is the second oldest coeducational institution in the United States. Students at AU are able to created and design their own course of study through the Individually Structured Major project; a great program in a world of cookie-cutter educational offerings. Named after their locale, they claim heritage to Alfred the Great of England, a ruler known for encouraging development of the life of the mind. His famous quote
As often as you can, free yourself from worldly affairs so that you may apply that wisdom which God gave you wherever you can. Remember what punishments befell us in this world when we ourselves didn’t cherish learning nor transmit it to other men.
serves as a foundation for the school’s efforts. I’ll be honest, this is a bit disappointing to me, given that I was looking for a completely different British Alfred. How could anyone go wrong, though, with an institution that both hosts “Hot Dog Day” and gave an honorary doctorate to one of my childhood heroes:
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