First and 10
•                The Washburn Ichabods will open the Yager Stadium home schedule on Thursday, Sept. 7 when they will face the two-time defending NCAA Champion Northwest Missouri State Bearcats.
•                Washburn, who received votes in this week's AFCA Top 25 coaches poll, is coming off a 31-7 win over Northeastern State improving to 75-46-6 all-time in season openers winning its second straight over the RiverHawks.
•                Northwest Missouri, ranked No. 1 in the AFCA Top 25 coaches poll, is coming off a 34-0 win over then-No. 4 ranked Emporia State in its season opener.
•                The Ichabods finished in a tie for fourth last season finishing the season with a 7-5 record. 
•                The Washburn Ichabods were picked sixth in the both the MIAA Preseason Coaches and Media Polls.
 
Washburn / Northwest Missouri series notes
•                The Ichabods are 6-30 all-time against Northwest Missouri.
•                The Bearcats have won the last 12 meetings.
•                Washburn's last win came in a 31-28 win on Oct. 8, 2005 in Maryville when the Ichabods went on to win the MIAA championship.
•                The Bearcats are 14-4 in games played in Topeka and 16-2 in games played in Maryville.
•                Overall the Bearcats have won the last 11 games in Topeka. Washburn's last win in Yager Stadium over the Bearcats came in 1994 in a 48-14 win on Oct. 8, 1994.
 
Coaches
Washburn Ichabod head coach Craig Schurig . . .
•                was named head coach of the Ichabod football program Dec. 28, 2001.
•                is 104-69 (.599) in his 16th season as the Ichabod head coach.
•                is 86-58 (.603) against the MIAA.
•                has led the Ichabods to three NCAA Playoff appearances and three bowl appearance championships.
•                led the Ichabods to the 2005 MIAA regular season outright championship.
•                led the Ichabods to the program's first 10-win season and their first NCAA or NAIA playoff game victory in school history with a win over Abilene Christian during the 2011 season.
•                is Washburn's all-time winningest football coach with 101 wins.
•                is 1-15 against Northwest Missouri.
 
Northwest Missouri State head coach Rich Wright . . . 
•                is in his first season as head coach at Northwest Missouri.
•                is 1-0 after winning his first game as head coach over Emporia State. 
•                has been an assistant at NWMSU since 2004 and the defensive coordinator since 2011. 
•                has gone 76-8 and 57-5 since Wright has been on the Bearcat coaching staff.
•                He is 0-0 against Washburn.
 
Washburn notes
•                The 21 yards rushing by the RiverHawks in the opener were the fewest by an Ichabod opponent since Lindenwood had 25 on Oct. 25, 2013.
•                After week one, the Ichabods have the fourth-best offensive unit and the fifth-best defensive unit in the MIAA rankings.
•                Senior transfer D.J. Olmstead was named the MIAA co-defensive player of the week after picking off two passes in Washburn's win over Northeastern State in the season opener.
•                The Washburn defense limited the RiverHawks to 21 yards rushing on 31 attempts averaging 0.7 yards per carry.
•                Washburn has the second-ranked net punting unit in the MIAA after week one averaging 34.4 yards per punt.
•                The Ichabods recorded four sacks in the opener and tied for the MIAA lead with two interceptions in week one.
•                Logan Twehouse, making his first career starts as a sophomore, accounted for four total touchdowns rushing for two and passing for two in Washburn's 31-7 win over Northeastern State … he was 12 of 18 from the field for 122 yards passing and had four carries for 21 yards and two scores.
•                Washburn improved to 28-0 when holding its opponents to under 10 points in the win over the RiverHawks and they also improved to 91-5 when leading after the third quarter under head coach Craig Schurig on the Ichabod sidelines.
 
Northwest MIssouri Notes
•                Northwest has set a program record with 31 straight victories. The previous mark of 24 games was accomplished from Sept. 18, 1999 - Nov. 11, 2000. Grand Valley holds the NCAA Division II record for consecutive wins at 40 (8/27/05 - 12/1/07).
•                Since 1996, Northwest has claimed 16 MIAA titles, 10 clear of Pittsburg State who has six in that span. There has been 18 outright titles and three shared league championships. Thirteen of Northwest's 16 titles have been outright. Missouri Western is third with two titles since 1996.
•                Northwest Missouri is ranked No. 1 in the AFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.
 
Last time out for Washburn …
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Washburn Ichabod football team opened its 127th with a 31-7 win over Northeastern State on Thursday night.  
Making his first career start, Logan Twehous rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two more in the win. The Ichabods started the scoring with a 10-yd run for touchdown by Twehous capping a 13-play, 60-yard drive with 5:45 left in the opening quarter.
On the RiverHawks' ensuing drive, the Ichabods forced a fumble and Peter Pfannenstiel recovered it setting Washburn up at its own 42 yard line. The Ichabods added to their lead when Twehous connected with Austin Hubert on a 17-yard reception.
D.J. Olmstead picked off the first of his two passes in the game when he picked off a RiverHawks' pass at the NSU 18 returning it to the NSU 35. However the Ichabods had four plays at the NSU one, but came up short . Neither team scored until the RiverHawks got on the board with 1:31 to play in the first half cutting the Ichabods' lead to 13-7.
Washburn scored on its first drive of the second half when Twehous scored from 1-yard out going up 20-7 after the extra point from Perry Schmiedeler. The RiverHawk drive stalled when Pfannenstiel was sacked on a fourth and three from the Ichabod 35 and Washburn would go on a 56-yard, 7-play drive capped by a Twehous to Carey Woods touchdown pass stretching the lead to 28-7 after Twehous' 2-point attempt was successful when he hit Will Hamilton for the conversion.
Schmiedeler connected on a 28-yard field goal with 2:09 to play in the third quarter as Washburn went up 31-7 to wrap up the scoring for both teams.
Derrick McGreevy led the Ichabod defense with nine tackles and Heath Tucker had eight stops with six solo stops. Olmstead added four solo stops with his two interceptions. Will Jones had 1.5 sacks for six yards.
Offensively, Twehous was 12 of 18 for 122 yards and two scores and Blake Peterson was 6 of 13 for 61 yards. Jace Williams led the Ichabods with 51 yards receiving on three catches and Woods had five catches for 41 yards and one score and Austen Hubert had two catches for 20 yards and a score. Curtis Whitten had nine carries for 60 yards and Zach Willis has seven for 47 yards.
The Ichabods held the RiverHawks to 265 yards on 61 plays while Washburn recorded 413 on 75 plays. Washburn was also 7 of 15 on third down while the RiverHawks were 3 of 12.
 
Last Ichabod meeting with bearcats …
Sept. 8, 2016 -- MARYVILLE, Mo. -- The Washburn Ichabods lost for the first time this season as they fell to No. 1-ranked Northwest Missouri 41-7 on Thursday night at Bearcat Stadium. 
After the Bearcats jumped out to a 17-0 lead after racking up 136 yards in the first quarter, the Ichabod defense tossed a shutout in the second quarter while holding the Bearcats to 19 yards on 10 plays and no first downs in the second quarter.
Washburn cut the lead to 17-7 when Mickeel Stewart on a 1-yard touchdown dive with 7:16 to play in the first half.
Northwest would go on to score the 24 points to close out the game at the 41-7 win.
Washburn finished the game with 215 total yards holding Northwest Missouri to 320 yards after recording 491 yards against Emporia State in its opener.
Curtis Whitten recorded 25 yards rushing on five carries and Stewart had 19 yards on 11 carries and one score.
Derek McGinnis was held to 91 yards passing completing 8 of 26 passes.
Carey Woods had 45 yards receiving on two catches to lead the Ichabods.
Cody Heiman had five tackles to lead the Ichabods with five solo stops and one sack.
 
A win over Northwest Missouri  State would …
•                lift the Ichabods to 543-574-44 in their football history.
•                improve the Ichabods to 7-30 all-time against Northwest Missouri.
•                be the first win against Northwest Missouri since a 31-28 win on Oct. 8, 2005 in Maryville when the Ichabods went on to win the MIAA championship.
•                snap an 12-game losing streak to the Bearcats overall and an 11-game losing streak to Northwest Missouri in games played in Topeka … Washburn's last win over NWMSU in Topeka was on Oct. 8, 1994.
•                snap the Bearcats' program record 31-game winning streak.  
 
A loss to Northwest Missouri would …
•                drop the Ichabods to 543-575-44 in their football history.
•                drop the Ichabods to 1-1 on the season.
•                drop the Ichabods to 6-31 all-time against Northwest Missouri.
•                be the 13th-straight loss to Northwest Missouri and the 12th-straight loss to the Bearcats in Topeka.
 
Ichabod football history
•                Washburn is 543-574-44 (.484) in the 127th year of Ichabod football.
•                The Ichabods are ranked 15th in NCAA Division II history in wins.
•                The Ichabods have 12 conference titles with the last coming in 2005 in the MIAA.
•                Washburn has had 127 first team all-conference picks and 45 first team all-MIAA selections.
•                Washburn has had 78 all-American selections and 54 all-American picks since joining the NCAA Division II ranks in 1989.
•                Five Ichabods have been picked in the NFL Draft.
 
Ichabods in the national polls
WACO, Texas -- The Ichabods received votes in the second AFCA Top 25 coaches poll of the season after the win over Northeastern State.  Under head coach Craig Schurig, the Ichabods have been ranked or have received votes in the AFCA poll 58 times and have been ranked in the top 10 a total of 15 times.
 
Up Next
The Ichabods return to the road to take on Lindenwood on Sept. 16 in St. Charles, Mo., with a 6 p.m. start. Washburn's next game in Yager Stadium will be on Sept. 23 when they will play host to Nebraska-Kearney with a 1 p.m. start on Washburn's Family Day.