The matchup: Mount Union begins its 118th season of football against Bethany (W.Va.) College, Saturday, Sept. 5 at 1:30 p.m. at Mount Union Stadium in Alliance.  Mount Union went 14-1 last season, won its 26th overall and 23rd straight Ohio Athletic Conference title and advanced to the national title game for a 10th straight season.  Bethany went 6-5 in 2014, finished fourth in the Presidents Athletic Conference and played a post-season game with a 29-7 loss to Stevenson (Md.) in an ECAC Bowl game.

Let's go streaking: The Purple Raiders have won 27-straight season openers since 1987.  Mount Union also has a 93-game regular season win streak and an 85-game home field win streak dating back to a 21-14 loss to Ohio Northern in 2005.

The series: This is the 10th meeting between the teams.  A year ago, the teams met for the  first since 1965 with the Raiders winning 58-7. Fans last year may have thought they were back in time as a power outage in the first quarter meant the rest of the game was played with no electricity at the field. Including last year's game, Mount Union holds a 8-0-1 lead in the series. 

Poll position: Mount Union has been preseason nationally ranked No. 1 by The Sporting News and Lindy's and No. 2 by D3Football.com and HeroSports.com. 

Overthrowing the Presidents: Mount Union is 26-11-3 against current members of the Presidents Athletic Conference. The Raiders have scrimmaged PAC member Washington & Jefferson for over 30 years. W&J and Mount Union met each of the last two years in the NCAA Playoffs.  The Raiders won both those meetings including a 67-0 win last year.

Scott Takes Over Under Center: For the first time since 2012, Mount Union will have a new starting quarterback in senior Taurice Scott (Alliance/Alliance).  Scott was the backup quarterback two years ago and last year moved out to wide receiver and had a team-high 82 catches.  He is familiar with Mount Union Stadium as he played quarterback at nearby Alliance High School which plays its home games at Mount Union. 

Super 6: Mount Union has six players that have earned preseason All-American status in The Sporting News, Lindy's, D3Football.com and HeroSports.com.  Four of the players are on defense in safety Tre Jones (Twinsburg/Twinsburg), Alex Kocheff (Chargin Falls/Kenston), Tom Lally (Fairview Park/Lakewood St. Edward) and Hank Spencer (Greencastle, Ind./North Putnam).  Offensive lineman Michael Frank(Eastlake/Eastlake North) and Roman Namdar (Southlake, Texas/Carroll) are the other two.   

Up Next: Mount Union takes next week off before opening Ohio Athletic Conferece play Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. against Muskingum under the lights at Mount Union Stadium.