University of Mount Union Football - NCAA PLAYOFFS (First Round)
#7/8 Mount Union Purple Raiders (9-1) vs #18/#19 Hobart Statesmen (9-1)
Nov. 19, 2016 - 12 PM - Boswell Field - Geneva, N.Y.
Mount Union travels to Hobart (N.Y.) for a first round game in the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
#RoadRaiders: Mount Union is playing its team record seventh road game in a single season this week. Including this weekend, the Raiders have logged over 3,000 miles on the road in 2016.
The last time Mount Union played a playoff game on the road was a national semifinal game vs. UW-Lacrosse at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin on Dec. 7, 1996. Mount Union won 39-21.
The last time Mount Union played a first round game on the road was Nov. 19, 1994 at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa. Mount Union won 28-19.The next week Mount Union went on the road to Albion College in Albion, Michigan and lost 34-33 which is the last time Mount Union lost a road game.
Game Preview: The Purple Raiders are 9-1 overall, placed second in the Ohio Athletic Conference and received one of six national at-large bids to the playoffs.
Mount Union has an 91-15 record in NCAA Playoff games and the Raiders have advanced to the Stagg Bowl 19 times since 1993 with a record 12 National Championships.
Mount Union has now made the tournament a record 28 times and 25 years in row.
Hobart is 9-1 overall and the Statesmen are in the tournament as the champions of the Liberty League.The Statesmen are making their 12th ever NCAA Playoff appearance and are 9-11 in playoff games.
The Series: This will be the fourth ever meeting between the teams and second-ever playoff meeting. Hobart won the first two meetings in 1972 (21-10) and 1973 (28-7), while the Raiders prevailed 42-7 in the second round of the 2008 NCAA Playoff in Alliance.
Up Next ... The winner takes on the winner of a matchup between Randolph-Macon (Va.) and Johns Hopkins (Md.) next Saturday, November 26 at noon at a location to be announced Sunday.
Bracketology: For the 12th year, the NCAA Division III Football Championship consists of a 32-team field. For perspective, in Mount Union's first appearance in the playoffs in 1985, the field was 16 teams. This year's field breaks down like this: Automatic bids were given to 25 conference champions, one spot was for a team that was an independent or in conferences not granted automatic bids and the final six spots are national at-large bids.
Each team is allowed to only dress a total of 58 players for a playoff game.
Raiders in National Rankings: Mount Union is third in the nation in both scorng offense and scoring defense. Here are some highlights in the NCAA rankings in a variety of catagories.
No. 3 in scoring defense (9.7 ppg)
No. 3 in scoring offense (49.2 ppg)
No. 3 in sacks (40)
No. 4 in red zone defense (47.4%)
No. 4 in third down defense (23.6%)
No. 6 in third down offense (52.1%)
No. 7 in red zone offense (90.9%)
No. 8 in rushing defense (69.5 yds/gm)
No. 8 in pass efficiency (174.5)
No. 9 in first downs (262)
No. 9 in rushing offense (274.4 yds/gm)
No. 9 in total offense (515.9 yds/gm)
** Out of 244 NCAA Division III teams ranked
Scouting the Statemen: Hobart has used an explosive passing offense and solid defense to win nine games and the Liberty League title.
Junior quarterback Shane Sweeney is eighth in the nation in passing yards (3,145) and passing touchdowns (33) and leads an offense that is 19th in the nation in passing offense. His top target is fellow junior Brandon Shed is second in the nation in touchdown catches with 17. He is seventh in the country with 1,241 receiving yards. Senior Bradley Burns is the top running back at 85 carries for 355 yards.
Junior linebacker Almamy Conde paces the defense with 89 tackles. Senior defense end James Hedger has a team-best 8.0 sacks while junior Brandon Ball has 11.5 tackles for loss. In the secondary, junior Tom D'Antonio and senior Michael Harper each have two interceptions.
On special teams, junior Rio Schmidt is one of the nation's best punters at 41.2 yards per punt.
Dandy Dom: Freshman Dom Davis is nation's second rated passer with a passer rating of 184.2. He is also fourth in the nation in passing yards per completion at 16.25 yards. On the season, Davis has completed 65-percent of his passes for 1,349 yards with 15 touchdowns.
Motor City Madman: Senior Bradley Mitchell has an OAC-best 15 rushing touchdowns this season. Mitchell has run for 1,198 yards (6.81 yds/carry) this season and his 4,355 rushing yards are the fourth highest total in Mount Union history.
Center of Attention: Senior Mitch Doraty won the Rimington Trophy a year ago as the nation's top center and anchors a line that has helped produce the nation's ninth best rushing offense.
Hitting the Books: Juniors in right tackle Matt Fitchet and safety Brian Groves are both on the Academic All-Distrct Team selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Fitchet has a 3.55 grade point average in Exercise Science while Groves has a 3.58 gpa in Accounting.
Both along with 32 other Mount Union fall athletes earned Academic All-OAC honors for having a 3.5 gpa and above. The other football players on the list are Danny Robinson (3.77 Engineering), Jared Ruth (3.61 Exercise Science), Alex Uhas (3.54 Criminal Justice) and Luke Herrington (3.54 Biology).
Block Party: Mount Union is eighth in the nation in blocked kicks with six and three of those six blocks have come from junior safety Austin White, who is sixth in the nation in that catagory.
Sack Attack: Mount Union is third in nation in sacks with 40 and junior defensive end Elijah Berry has a team-best 6.5 sacks.
On the Air: All Mount Union football games will be broadcast on the radio on WDPN 1310 AM and WRMU 91.1 FM and simulcast online along with a LIVE STATS game tracker. You can also hear the WRMU 91.1 FM feed on any phone by calling (330) 445-7900.
Captains: Charlie Dear, Mitch Doraty, Brian Groves, Tim Kennedy, Bradley Mitchell and Mike Vidal have been selected captains for 2016
