#4 Mount Union vs Otterbein
Saturday, October 2 at 1:30 p.m. 
Mount Union Stadium - Alliance, Ohio

TV: 
WIVM-TV 39.1 Canton: Harry Paidas and Mark Miller
Replay Times - Sat. Oct. 2 at 9 p.m. and Mon. Oct. 4 at 8 p.m.

Radio: 
WRMU 91.1 FM (Ben Johnson-Bowers, Riley Sullivan and Jacob Buttar)
WDPN 1310 AM (Sam Bourquin and Ryan Keller)

Mount Union Game Notes
Otterbein Game Notes

The Matchup: No. 4 ranked Mount Union hosts Otterbein in the annual homecoming / alumni weekend game Saturday, October 2 at 1:30 p.m. at Mount Union Stadium.
  
Mount Union (3-0, 2-0 OAC) beat No. 21 ranked John Carroll, 28-14, in University Heights last week. It was the Purple Raiders second straight road win against a ranked opponent.

Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.) threw for a season-high 392 yards, DeAndre Parker (Crystal River, Fla.) had 142 yards receiving and 122 yards rushing as Mount Union rolled up 524 yards of total offense.

The defense held John Carroll to 233 total yards with 4.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks and a Josh Jones (Akron / St. Vincent-St. Mary) interception. Jesse Vail (Estero, Fla.) had a team-best nine tackles.

Otterbein (0-4, 0-3 OAC) has lost five straight games dating back to the spring after a 56-7 loss to Ohio Northern in Ada last week.

The Cardinals fell behind 21-0 in the first quarter and never recovered. Siraj Muhammad ran for 89 yards and quarterback Bryce Hall threw for 212 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

On defense, Greg Nolder had a team-high seven tackles and an interception.

The Series: Mount Union and Otterbein meet for the 53rd time on Saturday and the Purple Raiders have won the last 42 meetings dating back to a 24-7 Otterbein win in 1977 in Alliance. The 42 consecutive wins is the longest current streak Mount Union has over any OAC opponent. The overall series is 48-4 in Mount Union's favor dating back to a 12-7 Otterbein win on October 16, 1937 in Alliance.

The teams last met in 2019 where Mount Union scored a 58-0 win in Alliance. 

Up Next: Mount Union hits the road for its longest trip of the season to Wilmington in a game next Saturday at 3 p.m. at Williams Stadium in Wilmington, Ohio.

Three is a Charm: Mount Union has three team captains this season in senior linebacker Kordell Ford (Massillon / Massillon Washington), senior wide receiver Derrick Harvey, Jr. (Akron/ Buchtel) and junior quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.).

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 605-781-3283.

This week's game will be broadcast live online at oac.boxcast.com and on Smart TV apps Amazon Fire, Apple and Roku. 

Around the OAC: Four 1:30 p.m. kickoffs make up the conference schedule this week. Capital takes the drive up I-71 to play at Baldwin Wallace, Muskingum heads up I-77 for a matchup at John Carroll and Marietta crosses the state from the southeast corner to the northwest corner to take on Ohio Northern in Ada.

Scouting the Cardinals: Otterbein suffered a four-point loss in its opener to Ohio Wesleyan then has dropped its first three conference games to Baldwin Wallace, John Carroll and Ohio Northern by an average score of 46-11.

The Cardinals are sixth in the OAC in total offense (358.3 yards per game) and ninth in the conference in total defense (429.8 yards per game).

On offense, Siraj Muhammad is fourth in the conference in rushing at 92.3 yards per game. Quarterback Bryce Hall is completing 60-percent of his passes for 924 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions. His top targets are Jalen Minney with 21 catches for 286 yards and a two TD's and Jeb Jones with 23 catches for 237 yards and two TD's.
The offensive line features four juniors and a freshman.

Linebacker Greg Nolder leads the defense with 39 tackles, a tackle for loss, 0.5 sacks and an interception. Defensive lineman Nick Cipriano has 3.0 tackles for loss and a sack while linebacker Ethan Tackett has an interception.

Caleb Meade is second in the OAC in punting averaging 36.5 yards per punt and has seven inside the opponents 20-yard line.

Double Trouble: Mount Union junior DeAndre Parker (Crystal River, Fla.) had a big game last week at John Carroll with 21 rushes for 122 yards and 14 receptions for 142 yards which marked the first time a Raider had 100 yards both rushing and receiving in a game since Jim Gresko had 102 rushing yards on 26 carries and 100 receiving yards on seven catches at Heidelberg in 1993.

7th Heaven: Mount Union quarterback Braxton Plunk (Plant City, Fla.) had a season-high 392 yards passing last week at John Carroll which marked the seventh straight game he has had at least 300 yards passing. On the season, Plunk leads the OAC and is third in NCAA Division III with 352.7 passing yards per game.

Making Stops: Mount Union's defense leads the OAC allowing opponents just 214.7 yards and 9.3 points per game so far this season. The Raiders are sixth nationally in third down defense as opponents have only converted 7-of-40 (17-percent) on third down.

Family Affair: Last week, Braxton Plunk threw a touchdown pass to his cousin in tight end Chase Lawson (Plant City, Fla. / Lakeland Christian). This week will also feature another pair of cousins but on opposite sidelines in Mount Union left tackle Max Craig (Beloit / West Branch) and Otterbein right tackle Clayton Adams (Homeworth / West Branch).