College Football | Storylines for Mount Union's playoff opener with Washington & Lee
News, notes and other stuff as the University of Mount Union prepares to play host to Washington & Lee at noon Saturday in the first round of the Division III football playoffs:
What's in a name
Washington and Lee is located in the mountains of Lexington, Va. and is named after —you guessed it — Robert E. Lee and George Washington. Earlier this year the board of trustees voted not to change the name of the university. Advocates wanted Lee’s name removed in the wake of the George Floyd incident because Lee served as Commander of the Confederate Army. Lee was named president of the university in 1865 when it was known as Washington College.
Welcome back
This will be Washington and Lee’s sixth appearance in the playoffs but the first since 2017 when the Generals lost to Mount Union, 21-0, in the first round. It has an 0-5 record in the post-season. Mount Union, which went on to win the national championship in 2017, is 104-18 in playoff games and has won 13 national titles in 31 playoff appearances.
Back then
When Mount won that 2017 game Josh Petruccelli ran for 118 yards on 19 carries and quarterback D’Angelo Fulford threw touchdown passes to Braeden Friss and Jared Ruth. W&L’s Josh Breece, who will play on Saturday, ran for 169 yards on 32 carries. The Raiders controlled the ball for nearly 38 of the game’s 60 minutes.
When a tie is a win
W&L lost its last game of the regular season to Shenandoah to finish with an overall record of 8-2 and 5-1 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Randolph-Macon also was 5-1 in the ODAC but W&J was declared champion and received one of the 27 automatic playoff spots because it defeated Randolph-Macon, 25-24, in the fourth game of the year.
Numbers game
Mount Union is scoring 48.9 points a game while allowing 9.1. Both marks are among the national leaders. W&L is averaging 31.9 points while allowing 16.8.
Mount Union connection
W&L senior linebacker Adam Harter comes from good football lineage. His father, Steve, was an All-American for Mount Union in 1983.
The big picture
There were 239 teams in Division III this season and 32 made the playoffs. Automatic playoff berths went to 27 Division III conference champions and five at-large spots were awarded. The five schools to earn at-large spots are Wheaton (8-2), Birmingham-Southern (9-1), Johns Hopkins (9-1), Bethel (8-2) and Wisconsin-LaCrosse (8-2).
Been there
Mount Union is one of eight former Division III national champions in this year’s field. The others are St. John’s (Minn.), Linfield (Ore.), Mary Hardin-Baylor (Tx.), Wisconsin-Whitewater, Central (Ia.), Wisconsin-LaCrosse and reigning champion and top-ranked North Central (Ill.).
Rank rates
Of the 32 teams in the playoff pool, 21 were included in the final Top 25 national rankings conducted by the American College Football Coaches Association. The four nationally-ranked but non-qualifiers are Hardin-Simmons (ranked 8th), Randolph-Macon (18th), Ithica (24th) and Wisconsin-River Falls (25th).
Too many options
Unranked Washington & Lee, coached by Garrett LeRose, runs the triple-option offense. If Mount Union wins it will play the winner of the game between Salisbury (Md.) and Johns Hopkins (Md). Salisbury also runs the triple-option.
Giving back
LeRose is in his fourth season as head coach at his alma mater and has a career record of 19-10. Geoff Dartt is in his second year at Mount, his alma mater, and has a career record of 14-0.
Run, boys, run
The game features two of the top three active rushing leaders in Division III. Josh Petruccelli leads that group with 4,865 yards in 56 games. W&L’s Josh Breece is third with 4,520 yards in 40 games. Lakeland University’s Larry Rivers is second with 4,558 yards in 44 games.
No passing fancy
W&L has 3,795 yards of total offense with 3,230 yards coming on the ground. Breece has rushed for 810 yards on 154 carries and sophomore quarterback Stephen Murrin has 735 yards on 101 carries. The Generals have attempted just 87 passes all season. By contrast, Mount Union’s Braxton Plunk has attempted 350 passes, completing 257 for 3,195 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Sack attack
The Generals led the ODAC with 29 sacks, led by junior ends Robert Poindexter (5.5) and Robert Harvey (5.0) and sophomore tackle Nathan Unger (4.0). Mount Union has 24 sacks, led by senior Matt Lilja (5,0) and junior Duke Hill (3.0). Junior Kaleb Detellem, senior Eli Beers and freshman Rossy Moore have 2.5 each and seniors Carson Kovath and Nick Brown have two apiece.
Eyes of Texas
One of the most intriguing first-round games has two-time national champ Mary Hardin-Baylor (10-0) playing host to Trinity (9-0). Both schools are in Texas and were ranked first and second, respectively in Region 3. MH-Baylor, champion of the American Southwest Conference, is ranked second in the national poll and Trinity, champion of the Southern Athletic Association, is 14th.
This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Mount Union plays Washington & Lee in the Division III tournament
