Game 1
Washburn (0-0, 0-0 MIAA) at Colorado School of Mines (0-0, 0-0 RMAC)
Game Facts
Date: Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009
Time: 1 p.m. CST
Location: Golden, Colo.
Stadium:  Brooks Field (3,500)
Series History: WU leads 12-4
Series Streak: WU has won the last four
Broadcast Information . . .
Television: None
WU Radio:  WIBW AM580 with Bruce Steinbrock (play-by-play), Mark Elliott (color analyst), Jan Lunsford (sideline). The broadcast begins 30 minutes before kickoff.
Streaming Video: Live online through csmorediggers.com
Internet: Live audio available through www.wusports.com
Live Stats: Available available through www.wusports.com
Game Notes: Washburn | Colorado Mines

Setting the scene. . .
The Washburn Ichabods will kickoff its 119th season of football as they travel to Golden, Colo., to take on the Colorado School of Mines on Aug. 29 at 1 p.m. CST. It will be the fifth time in the last six seasons the two teams have hooked up to begin the season with the one exception being a 2007 opener against Chadron State in Topeka. The Ichabods have won the last four meetings after dropping the first game of the 2004 season. In last season's game, the Ichabods and the Orediggers played just over three full quarters as lightning halted the game with 8:58 remaining in the game after a 70-minute delay. The Ichabods won the game 27-3.

Ichabods on Radio . . .
The game will be broadcast live on AM 580 WIBW. The game can also be heard on the internet at www.wusports.com by following the “Live Audio” link under football. Bruce Steinbrock will be the play-by-play voice of the Ichabods and former WU quarterback Mark Elliott will be the color analyst. Jan Lunsford will provide sideline insight for listeners on the field.

The Coaches . . .
Washburn head football coach Craig Schurig was named head coach of the Ichabod football program Dec. 28, 2001. Schurig is 46-34 (.575) in his eighth season as the Ichabod head coach and he is 36-26 (.580) against the MIAA. He has led the Ichabods to two NCAA Playoff appearances in the last four seasons and to the 2005 MIAA Championship. Schurig is 4-1 against his alma mater.
Colorado Mines head coach Bob Stitt is in his ninth season as the Orediggers' coach. He is 59-43 overall record, including a 43-31 mark in the RMAC. Stitt's .578 winning percentage is the highest by a Mines football coach who has coached in at least 20 games and the highest for a modern day coach at CSM. He is a 1986 graduate of Doane College. He is 1-4 against the Ichabods.
 
2009 Ichabod Season Preview . . .
The Washburn football team enters the 2009 season with 20 starters returning on both sides of the football setting the team up for a run back to the top of the MIAA and at an NCAA postseason berth.
“We are coming off a great spring practice and conditioning season,” eighth-year head coach Craig Schurig said. “We had many underclassmen and redshirts really push our returning players and we feel that will continue into fall camp. This will make us a deeper team at each position.”
Keeping the streak alive
The Ichabods wrapped up the 2008 season with a 6-5 overall record while completing the MIAA slate with a 4-5 mark and a sixth place finish in conference play keeping the winning season streak alive at five years. It has been more than 100 years since the Ichabod football program has rolled off five straight seasons of winning football. Since Craig Schurig took over the program prior to the 2002 season, the Ichabods have gone 46-35 with two NCAA Playoff appearances and the 2005 MIAA title. The Ichabods have not had five straight winning seasons since the 1903 to 1907 seasons.
“We feel our program is to the point where we can continue to build on success from the previous seasons with outstanding veteran players and the influx of new talent,” Schurig said. “Winning creates winning and that is what our coaching staff and players have been striving for is to continue to improve each season.”
This season the Ichabods are slated to return 42 lettermen into fall camp along with 20 starters. Add to the mix of back-to-back top-flight recruiting classes, the competition for playing time is as strong as it has been at Washburn.
“We are going to have a great fall camp,” Schurig said. “We have a good core group of returners,  but they are going to be pushed by some of the new players for playing time this season.”
On offense the Ichabods are returning 10 starters on offense entering the 2009 season including the return of a wide receiver who started the last five games of the season at linebacker on the defensive side of the ball.
“We made a lot of progress during the spring with having so many younger players on offense,” Schurig said. “This spring we took a really hard look at a lot of our younger players and it really benefited them and we look for that to carry over to fall camp.”
Defensively, the Ichabods return eight starters with all 11 projected starters having played significant time on the Washburn defensive unit.
“Our defense has talent, experience and depth,” Schurig said. “Our front seven from the defensive line and linebackers from top to bottom are as good as any other in the conference.”
Special teams returns junior Austin Hills is slated to handle the punting duties for the second season in a row after averaging 39.7 yards per punt including a school-record tying 87 yard punt in the season finale against Nebraska-Omaha. The Ichabods added senior placekicker Steve Ivanisevic after he transferred from Northern Illinois. He was a junior college all-region pick both seasons he played at Joliet Junior College.

About the opponents . . .
The Orediggers, who were ranked second in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Pre-Season Football Coaches Poll earlier this summer and received three of the 10 first-place votes, also landed seven players on the 2009 Pre-Season All-RMAC Team.  Senior quarterback David Pesek was selected as the Pre-Season RMAC Offensive Player of the Year while junior defensive lineman Marc Schiechl was named Pre-Season RMAC Defensive Player of the Year.  Furthermore, Schiechl has garnered Pre-Season All-American honors from d2football.com (First Team), Lindy's (First Team), The Sporting News and Consensus Draft Services for the 2009 season.
The Orediggers went 7-2 in the RMAC last fall and secured their seventh winning season in the past eight years (8-4 overall).  CSM's second consecutive trip to the Dixie Rotary Bowl in 2008 marked the fourth time in program history that Mines had competed in a bowl game.  The 2008 Dixie Rotary Bowl also marked the third time in five years that Mines had advanced into the post-season.  A grand total of 10 Orediggers earned recognition on the 2008 All-RMAC teams, including six First Team selections.  Furthermore, Mines landed 16 players on the 2008 Academic All-RMAC football teams.

Series Notes . . .
Saturday's meeting is the 17th in the all-time series and the sixth in a continuous series which has been signed through the 2013 season. The Ichabods lead the all-time series 12-4. The Ichabods have won four of the last five meetings since the series was continued in the 2004 season after being dormant since Oct. 3, 1964. The Ichabods won that meeting 16-0 in Golden. The Ichabods are 5-3 in games against the Orediggers in Topeka and 7-1 in games played in Golden.
Series Record: WU leads 12-4
First Meeting: WU 13, CSM 0 (1953)
Last Meeting: WU 27-3 (9/4/08) in Topeka
Last WU win: 27-3 (9/4/08) in Topeka
Last CSM win: 34-27 (8/28/2004) in Topeka
Largest WU win: 26-6 (1957); 41-21 (9/2/06), 27-7 (9/1/07)
Largest CSM win: 34-16 (10/6/1962) in Golden

Last Meeting with the Orediggers . . .
 Aug. 28, 2008 TOPEKA, Kan. -- After a one hour and 10 minute delay with lightning in the area, the Ichabod football game with the Colorado School of Mines has been called. By NCAA rules, a game is complete after three complete quarters of play and Washburn winning 27-3. With 8:58 remaining in the fourth quarter, the teams and fans were cleared with lightning in the area. After 70 minutes, the game was callled with the Ichabods taking the 27-3 win.
To open the game, the Ichabod defense held the Orediggers to a three-and-out on their opening drive, the Ichabods marched 56 yards in six plays as Jake Iverson making his first start at Washburn connected with Brad Cole on an 11-yard hook-up with 9:52 remaining in the clock.
On the ensuing possession, the Orediggers drove to the Ichabod 19, but the drive stalled and CSM missed a field goal from 36 yards out. The Ichabods then drove 80 yards on seven plays as Brandon Walker rushed 19 yards putting the Ichabods up 14-0 following the extra point.
The Ichabods took possession at the Orediggers 23 after Michael Krajicek blocked a punt after the Orediggers threw three straight incompletions. Washburn needed just three plays as Iverson hit Joe Hastings for a 31-yard touchdown strike with 1:10 remaining in the first quarter.
After trading drives, the Orediggers would score their only points of the night as Brian Harclerode hit a 32-yard field goal with 4:39 left in the second quarter. The Ichabods would wrap up the scoring in the half as Iverson hit Walker in the back of the end zone with an over-the-shoulder catch for 31-yards with 24 seconds left in the half.
In the third quarter, the Ichabods managed 92 yards of offense after rolling up 300 on 44 plays in the first half. The Ichabod defense held the Orediggers to 44 yards of offense in the third quarter.
For the game, Washburn had 24 first downs and 417 yards of total offense on 68 plays while the Orediggers were limited to 225 yards and 15 first downs.
Walker led the Ichabods with 88 yards rushing on 15 carries. Walker also added 134 in all-purpose yards. Iverson completed 17 of 38 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns with Drameagon Powers collecting four catches for 69 yards.
Krajicek had led the Ichabod defense with 10 tackles including seven solo stops with the blocked punt and a tackle for loss. Casey Curran had nine tackles with eight solo stops and an interception for six yards. Xavier Beckford also had an interception. Brandon Jackson had a sack and one-half and two and one-half tackles for loss for 23 yards overall.
Corey Huck led the Orediggers on the ground with 50 yadrs on six carries. David Pesek was 21 of 34 with two interceptions for 157 yards. Tom Kastens had seven receptions for 157 yards.

Washburn Football History . . .
Washburn is 489-542-44 in the 119th year of Ichabod football.

A win for Washburn would . . .
lift the Ichabods to 490-542-44 in its football history … make the Ichabods 13-4 all-time against the Orediggers … be the fifth straight win for the Ichabods over CSM … lift head coach Craig Schurig to 5-1 against his alma mater … be the Ichabods' third straight win over the Orediggers in Golden, Colo. … be the second straight season-opening win and the fourth in the last eight years under Schurig.

A loss for Washburn would . . .
drop the Ichabods to 490-543-44 in its football history … snap the Ichabods' four-game winning streak over the Orediggers … drop Washburn to 12-5 all-time against the Orediggers.
The Ichabods in the National Polls . . .
The Ichabods received votes in both the American Football Coaches Association Poll and the D2football.com preseason polls which were released today. The Ichabods will open the 2009 season on Aug. 28 against the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. The Orediggers also received votes in both polls. In the AFCA poll, the Ichabods received 22 points while the Orediggers received 30. Washburn was one of six MIAA schools who received votes in the poll.

Bods and Ends . . .
Rare Air -  Brooks Field, the home of the Orediggers: The center section, the length of the football field, was built in 1922 with a $5,000 contribution from Ralph D. Brooks. Mr. Brooks was a trustee of the Colorado School of Mines from 1922-1924. The two end sections were added in 1929. It has an elevation of 5,770 feet above sea level. For comparison, Washburn is at 945 feet above sea level.

Watkins climbing tackle charts - Ichabod senior linebacker Zach Watkins has a career tackle total of 362, which is second on the all-time Washburn chart. Watkins trails Grant Gould (2002-05) who had 459 career tackles on the top of the charts. Watkins' 196 career assisted tackles is second all-time at Washburn trailing Gould's 254. Watkins' 166 solo tackles for his career is fourth all-time at Washburn trailing Gould's 205.

A one-sided coin?? - The Ichabods look to reverse 2008's trend of the opening-game coin toss as they were 1-10 last season. The only coin flip the Ichabods won last season was against Pittsburg State and they deferred to the second half.

Success through the air in Colorado - In two games in Golden, the Ichabods have passed for 348 yards in 2005 and 185 yards in 2007 averaging 266.5 yards per game in two outings.

Natural surroundings - The game against the Orediggers is the only one for the Ichabods scheduled on natural grass. The remaining six games in Yager Stadium and the four remaining away games will all be played on artificial turf.

Odd years lead to successful seasons - In both the 2005 and 2007 seasons, the Ichabods reached the NCAA playoffs and they are looking to continue that trend in 2009.

Schurig moving up the coaching ranks . . .
Eighth-year head coach Craig Schurig has compiled a 46-34 all-time record at Washburn. He is tied for fourth on the all-time victory chart with Ernest Bearg who had two stints as the Ichabod head coach (1918-19 and 1929-35) and recorded 46 victories. Bearg coached at Nebraska from 1925 through 1928 and compiled a 23-7-3 record before returning to Washburn.

Up next . . .
The Ichabods will open the home slate of the 2009 schedule as they host New Mexico Highlands in a rare Friday night game under the lights in Yager Stadium at 6 p.m.