For starters
> The Washburn Ichabods will hit the road for the first time in 2019 as they travel to Maryville, Mo., to take on the No. 7-ranked Northwest Missouri State Bearcats on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in Bearcat Stadium.
> The Ichabods are coming off a 49-27 win over Lincoln on Sept. 5 last time out in Topeka after scoring 28 second-half points winning their fourth-straight season opener.
> The Bearcats will be hosting the Ichabods for their home opener after defeating Missouri Western 45-35 in St. Joseph last time out.
> The Ichabods have averaged 34.1 points per game under 18th-year head coach Craig Schurig in season openers going 13-5 in the first games of the season.
> The Washburn Ichabods are 5-5 in school history on Sept. 14 and they have never faced Northwest Missouri on the date.
>  Northwest leads the all-time series 32-6 winning the last 14 meetings.
>  Washburn's last win in the series came in a 31-28 win in Maryville on Oct. 8, 2005 en route to the Ichabods' only MIAA football championship.
>  Since then the Ichabods have dropped the last six games played in Maryville.
 
 Series notes
>  Series: NWMSU leads 32-6
>  Streak: NWMSU has won the last 14
>  First Meeting: NWMSU 27-0 (09/01/1944) in Maryville
>  Last Meeting: NWMSU 38-17 (09/6/2018) in Topeka
>  Last WU win: 31-28 (10/08/2005) in Maryville
>  Last NWMSU win: 38-17 (09/6/2018) in Topeka
>  Largest WU win: 48-14 (10/8/1994) in Topeka
>  Largest NWMSU win: 56-6 (10/27/2012) in Topeka
>  Most WU Points: 48 (48-14 win - 10/08/1994) in Topeka
>  Most NWMSU Points: 63 (63-21 win - 10/28/2000) in Topeka
 
 Coaching
Washburn Ichabod head coach Craig Schurig . . .
>  was named head coach of the Ichabod football program Dec. 28, 2001.
>  is 116-80 (.599) in his 18th season as the Ichabod head coach.
>  is 97-68 (.603) against the MIAA.
>  has led the Ichabods to three NCAA Playoff appearances and four bowl appearances and three bowl 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 115 wins.
>  is 1-16 against Northwest Missouri.
 
Northwest Missouri head coach Rich Wright . . .
>  is in his third season as head coach at Northwest Missouri.
>  is 20-6 on the Northwest sidelines as the head coach.
>  has been an assistant at NWMSU since 2004 and the defensive coordinator since 2011.
>  has gone 183-28 since Wright has been on the Bearcat coaching staff.
>  He is 2-0 against Washburn.
 
 Dee's World - Honoring #17
This season, a different Ichabod will be wearing No. 17 to honor Dwane Simmons, a senior cornerback who passed away on April 28, 2019. The mass media major was set to graduate this December.
>  Game 1 vs Lincoln - Alvin Houston … Houston had one tackle in the game starting at safety.
>  Game 2 vs Northwest Missouri - James Letcher, Jr.
 
 Ichabod team captains
>  The 2019 Ichabod team captains are seniors Kyle Emerick, Kyle Hinton, Alvin Houston, Austen Hubert, Will Jones, Josh Wright and junior Mitch Schurig.
 
 Ichabod notes
> The 98 rushing yards on 19 carries by true freshman Taylon Peters (adding two touchdowns along the way) was the most by an Ichabod in their debut since Trent Hearn rushed for 106 yards and one touchdown against Langston on Sept. 6, 2003 in a 28-0 win in Guthrie, Okla.
> Another true freshman, Percy Mitchell, also rushed for two scores with 58 yards on 10 carries.
> Sophomore James Letcher, Jr. averaged 21.0 yards per catch with one touchdown and finished with 175 all purpose yards, which is fifth in the MIAA leaders after week one.
> Braden Rose is tied for first in the MIAA with sacks after recording 1.5 in the opener against Lincoln.
> The 59 carries by the Ichabods against Lincoln was the third-most in the Craig Schurig era behind 66 against Northeastern State in 2018 and 60 against Missouri Western in 2007.
> The four fumble recoveries against Lincoln tied a school record, as did the seven turnovers the Ichabods had.
 
 Bods and Ends
> Entering Saturday's game, Mitch Schurig has averaged 7.58 yards per total offensive play which is second on only Dane Simoneau (7.97 ypp) in program history.
> Josh Wright has three career blocked kicks in his senior season, the school record is six by Zuri Stokes set between 1993 and 1996.
 
 Noting the Bearcats
> The Bearcats are seventh in the AFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll and ranked No. 6 in the D2football.com media poll.
> The Bearcats defeated Missouri Western in their opener 45-35.
> Sam Phillips was named the MIAA's Defensive Player of the Week scoring twice on a fumble and an interception against Missouri Western.
> After Missouri Western took a 38-35 lead, the Griffons ran eight total plays for minus-15 yards. Included in those eight plays were two sacks and an interception by the Bearcat defense.
 
 Last meeting with Northwest Missouri
(Sept. 6, 2018) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods fell to No. 6-ranked Northwest Missouri 38-17 on a muggy night in Yager Stadium on Thursday. Washburn returns to the road next Saturday for another top-10 battle when they will face Fort Hays State.
The Bearcats took an opening 7-0 lead, but back to back touchdowns by the Ichabods pushed Washburn (1-1, 1-1 MIAA) out in front 14-7. In the first score, James Letcher, Jr., capped a seven-play, 74 yard drive with a 24-yard touchdown reception with 5:35 to play in the first quarter. Washburn then went up 14-7 on a 39-yard touchdown strike from Blake Peterson to James Brania-Hopp with 10:09 to play.
Northwest (2-0, 2-0 MIAA) tied the score with 7:11 to play in the half as the teams entered the break knotted at 14-14.
To open the third quarter, the Ichabods went on a 44-yard drive and went up 17-14 after Perry Schmiedeler connected on a 35-yard field goal with 11:54. The Bearcats came back with an 11-play, 77-yard drive to go up 21-17 with 7:08 to go in the third quarter.
Northwest pushed its lead to 24-17 with 2:38 to play in the third quarter on a 39-yard field goal. The Bearcats would add two more scores in the fourth quarter to put the final margin at 21 in the 38-17 win.
Austin Tillman led the Ichabods with 16 tackles including 11 solo tackles. Derrick McGreevy had nine tackles and Corey Ballentine, Heath Tucker and Garret Barnett-Kruger each had six.
On the offensive side, Peterson had 275 yards with two touchdowns completing 17 of 33 passes, but was sacked five times. Hunter Browning led the Ichabods with 24 rushing yards on six carries. Washburn was held to 51 rushing yards on 35 attempts.
Letcher, Jr., finished with five catches for 85 yards and the score and Will Hamilton had five catches for 65 yards and James Brania-Hopp had three catches for 94 yards and a score. Brania-Hopp had 128 all-purpose yards leading the Ichabods.
Washburn was outgained 509 to 326 in the game by the Bearcats with 276 coming on the ground for Northwest.
 
 Last time out for the Ichabods
(Sept. 5, 2019) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods racked up 28 points in the second half holding the visiting Lincoln Blue Tigers to six in the second half picking up a 49-27 win in Yager Stadium on Thursday night.
The Ichabods scored the first 21 points of the second stanza on a pair of touchdown passes from Mitch Schurig with the first going to Collin Wilson and the second to Austen Hubert pushing the Ichabods out to a 35-21 lead midway through the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Percy Mitchell scored on a 6-yard run staking the Ichabods to a 42-21 margin taking advantage of one of five Blue Tiger turnovers on the evening with 12:08 to play in the game.
Lincoln's only second half points came with 9:08 to go on a Dre'Shon Alston 13-yard touchdown reception from Chancellor Johnson but the extra point attempt went off the upright as the Ichabods held on to the 42-27 lead.
Mitchell wrapped up the scoring on the night for the Ichabods with a 1-yard plunge capping a five-play drive with 3:22 to go staking Washburn to the 49-27 win.
To start the game the Ichabods jumped on the Blue Tigers first as Taylon Peters scored from 2-yards out ending a 12-play, 70-yard drive. After Lincoln punted, the Ichabods coughed up the ball for one of the school-record seven turnovers leading to a game-tying 7-7 score of 30 yards.
Washburn pushed out to a 14-7 lead on a 27-yard touchdown pass from Schurig to James Letcher, Jr. with 14:55 to go in the opening half. After a Blue Tiger punt and an Ichabod turnover, Lincoln knotted the score at 14-14 with 13:08 to play. Washburn's third turnover of the game led to the Blue Tigers taking a 21-14 lead with 7:16 to go. Washburn tied the score going into the break on a Peters' second 2-yard touchdown run of the game with under a minute to play.
Peters led the Ichabods with 98 yards on 19 carries and two scores and Cornelius Ruff had 10 carries for 55 yards. Mitchell finished with 43 yards on five carries and two scores as both Ichabod rushing touchdowns went to true freshmen.
Schurig was 16 of 24 passing for 215 yards and three touchdowns. Wilson's five catches for 68 yards led the Ichabods as nine different receivers had a catch.
Defensively, the Ichabods were led by Braden Rose and Garret Barnett-Kruger who each had eight tackles. Brooks Peavler, Kyle Emerick, Peyton Lane and Marquise Manning all had fumble recoveries with Manning adding an interception as well.
Hosea Franklin led the Ichabods with 20 rushes for 251 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Blue Tigers.
The Ichabods had 515 yards of total offense with 278 coming on the ground.
 
 A win over Northwest Missouri would
> lift the Ichabods to 556-579-44 in their football history.
> improve the Ichabods to 7-32 all-time against the Bearcats.
> improve the Ichabods to 2-0 on the season.
> 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 14-game losing streak to the Bearcats.
> Would be Washburn's first win over NWMSU since a 31-28 win over the Bearcats in Maryville since Oct. 8, 2005.
 
 A loss to Northwest Missouri would
> drop the Ichabods to 555-586-44 in their football history.
> drop the Ichabods to 1-1 on the season.
> drop the Ichabods to 6-32 all-time against the Bearcats.
> be the 15th-straight loss to the Bearcats.
 
 Ichabod football history
>  Washburn is 555-585-44 (.484) in the 129th 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 142 first team all-MIAA picks and 48 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.
>  Washburn has made 12 postseason appearances including bowl games and tournament games going 5-2 in seven bowl games.
>  Six Ichabods have been picked in the NFL Draft.
 
 Ichabods in the national polls
The Ichabods, under head coach Craig Schurig, have been ranked or have received votes in the AFCA poll 66 times and have been ranked in the top 10 a total of 15 times.
 
 Up next
Washburn will be back in action on Sept. 21 for Family Day when they will face Fort Hays State at 1 p.m. in Yager Stadium.