• The Washburn Ichabods return to the road for their only scheduled non-conference game of the season when they will travel to Jefferson City, Mo. to face the Lincoln Blue Tigers on Saturday night.
• The Ichabods are coming off a 30-23 loss in their home opener against Missouri Southern last time out.
• The Blue Tigers are 0-2 this season after losses to Emporia State and Missouri Western.
• - For the first time since 2010, Lincoln is playing the 2023 season as an independent. Lincoln, which played in the MIAA
for 26 years (overall), is joining the GLVC in 2024-25.
• The Ichabods lead the all-time series with the Blue Tigers 9-0 and have gone 3-0 in games played in Jefferson City.
  • Taylon Peters went over the 2,000-yard career rushing mark against Missouri Southern last time out and he now stands at 2,050 yards on 449 carries scoring 17 touchdowns … he is eighth on the all-time rushing chart needing 122 to move into seventh all-time and his 449 carries is ninth all-time at Washburn.
• Taylon Peters had a career-high 27 carries against Missouri Southern and tied a career-high with 123 rushing yards … his 27 carries were the most by an Ichabod since Brandon Bourbon had 26 at Northeastern State on Nov. 7, 2015.
• D.J. Bell was named the MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week. Bell became the fourth Ichabod in program history to return a kickoff for 100-yards in the third quarter cutting MSSU's lead to 23-20 with 1:11 to play in the quarter. He also led the Ichabods with seven receptions for 64 yards and 123 more yards in returns.
  • The Washburn Ichabods have two former players on NFL rosters after the final cuts were made last week.
• Kyle Hinton is on the 53-man roster of the Atlanta Falcons.
• Corey Ballentine is on the practice squad for the Green Bay Packers.
 
  Washburn Ichabod head coach Craig Schurig . . .
• was named head coach of the Ichabod football program Dec. 28, 2001.
• is 137-94 (.599) in his 21st season as the Ichabod head coach and the sixth-longest tenured football coach in MIAA history.
• is 119-81 (.603) against the MIAA in league games.
• has led the Ichabods to four 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 137 wins.
• is 6-0 against the Blue Tigers.
 
Lincoln head coach Jermaine Gales . . .  
• is in his second season on the Blue Tiger sidelines recording an 0-13 record.
• was hired in November of 2020 as the Associate Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at Bluefield State, a school that had discontinued its football program in 1981.
• before building the program at Bluefield State, Gales spent two seasons at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, where, as the offensive coordinator, he took a team that hadn't won more than two games in a season since 2014 and helped lead it to a winning record in 2019
• graduated from Southern Arkansas in 2002 with a bachelor of science degree in biology and a minor in human performance and recreation. He later earned a master of education degree in kinesiology from SAU in 2005.
• is 0-1 against Washburn.
  • Lincoln is 0-2 this season with losses to Emporia State (56-10) and Missouri Western (68-14).
• The Blue Tigers are looking for their first win since defeating Northeastern State, 27-9, on Oct. 19, 2019.
• Xzavier Vaughn leads the team with 65 yards per game rushing while LaMarco Yates is averaging 58.5 yards per game on the ground. Vaughn is averaging 8.7 yards per carry while Yates is averaging 5.6 yards per attempt … as a team Lincoln is averaging 5.0 yards per carry.
• Vaughn is also passing for 212 yards per game completing 36 of 69 passes with three interceptions and two scores.
• Aderias Ealy is averaging 78 yards per game receiving and 17.3 yards per catch.
• Bryan Coley leads the defense with 20 tackles.
  (Sept. 1, 2022) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods scored early and often in the first half scoring 31 unanswered points rolling to a 45-3 win over Lincoln in their season opener on Thursday night in Yager Stadium. 
After the Ichabods held the Blue Tigers to a punt on their first possession, Washburn needed only four plays capping a 90-yard drive with James Letcher, Jr. pulling down a 69-yard touchdown pass from Kellen Simoncic with 11:11 to play in the opening quarter taking the 7-0 lead.
On the Blue Tigers' second possession, Washburn forced a three-and-out and this time Washburn marched 10 plays in 61 yards ending the drive with a 28-yard field goal by Kameron Lake as Washburn pushed its lead to 10-0.
The Blue Tigers punted on their next possession and Simoncic hit Collin Wilson for 13 yards with 2:44 to play in the first quarter with the Ichabods going up 17-0.
Lincoln drove down to the Ichabod 3-yard line, but fumbled near the endzone as Patrick Altenor forced a fumble and Nicholas Wright scooped it up for a 9-yard return with Washburn taking over.
Washburn capped its next drive with a 5-yard run up the middle by Tyler Bowden with 11:40 to go in the first half as WU went up 24-0.
Lincoln missed a 35-yard field goal and Washburn needed five plays going 80 yards when Bowden scored again, this time from 14-yards out.
The Blue Tigers picked up their only points of the game on a 30-yard field goal with three seconds to play in the half as Washburn led 31-3 at the break.
Washburn scored on its first drive of the second half when Simoncic hit Peter Afful for 17 yards for the score.
On the ensuing Lincoln drive, the Blue Tigers drove down to the Ichabod 10-yard line, but Derrick McClendon picked of a pass to end the threat.
Washburn wrapped up the scoring with 5:14 to play in the game when Jared Taylor connected with Cole Keller for 3-yards and the 42-point win for the Ichabods' ninth-straight win over the Blue Tigers.
Washburn rushed for 163 on the ground and had 585 total yards of offense on 68 player averaging 8.6 per play holding Lincoln to 250 yards of total offense and 3.3 yards per play.
Simoncic was 15 of 21 passing for 351 yards and three touchdowns in his second career start. Letcher, Jr. led the Ichabods with five catches for a career-high 177 yards with 99 of those coming after the catch. Letcher's previous high-water mark was 166 against Pittsburg State in 2019 on eight receptions. Afful had 104 receiving yards on four catches. On the ground, Taylor Peters had 36 yards rushing on 10 carries. Letcher also finished with 208 all-purpose yards.
Grant Bruner led the Ichabods with 10 tackles and seven solo stops and Channon Ross and Patrick Altenor each had six tackles.
Kameron Lake was 4 for 4 in touchbacks on kickoff attempts and Jake Zeller in his first game as punter had three punts for 163 yards averaging 54.3 per attempts with a long of 61 yards.
  • The Ichabods lead the all-time series 9-0 over the Blue Tigers.
• Washburn has averaged 49.8 ppg in the nine games.
• The Ichabods are 6-0 against the Blue Tigers in home games.
• The largest Ichabod victory in the series was 2021's 76-12 win in Jefferson City.
• Since the 9-0 win in the first meeting between the two teams by the Ichabods, Washburn has scored no fewer than 31 points going over 48 points six times.
  (Sept. 7, 2023) TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabod football team saw its seven-game winning streak over Missouri Southern as a potential game-tying touchdown was picked off in the endzone as the Ichabods fell 30-23 to the Lions.
After the Lions took a 30-23 lead with 3:22 to play in the game, Washburn drove down to the Southern (1-1, 1-1 MIAA) 5-yard line before Sam Van Dyne's pass was picked off of a tipped ball as the Lions recovered and then after a kneel down ran out the clock for their first win in Topeka since a 17-14 win on Oct. 23, 1997.
Starting the game, the Lions took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in eight plays to go up 7-0. The Ichabods (0-2, 0-2 MIAA) then scored 13-straight points taking a 13-7 lead into the halftime break after Kellen Simoncic put the Ichabods on the board with a 1-yard plunge capping a 11-play, 68-yard drive to tie the score at 7-7. Washburn's next two scoring drives were finished-off by Trenton Brehm's field goals of 32- and 26-yards. The second field goal as the first half ended was set up by C.J. Callaghan's first career pickoff.
In the second half, the Lions scored on their first two drives with touchdowns drives adding a field goal on a third drive to take a 23-13 lead with 1:26 to play in the third quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, D.J. Bell returned the kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown cutting the Southern lead to 23-20. The 100-yard return was the fourth 100-yard return in program history and the first since James Letcher, Jr. returned one against Fort Hays State on Sept. 21, 2019.
Brehm's 26-yard field with 8:50 to go in the game knotted the score at 23 before the Lions took the lead for good on their next drive to go up seven points.
Taylon Peters had a career-high 27 carries and tied a career-high with 123 yards leading the Ichabod rushing attack averaging 4.6 yards per carry while adding four catches for 17 yards.
D.J. Bell led the Ichabods with seven receptions for 64 yards and 123 more yards in returns.
Defensively Braylon Alexander and Patrick Altenor each had seven tackles and Brent Peavler had six.
The Lions outgained the Ichabods 335 to 310 overall.
  • move the Ichabods to 1-2 on the season.
• move the Ichabods to 10-0 all-time against the Blue Tigers.
  • snap nine-game winning streak over the Blue Tigers.
• be the first by Lincoln in the series history over the Ichabods.
  • the loss dropped the Ichabods to 0-2 on the season for the first time since 2002 when the Ichabods lost their first five games of the season in head coach Craig Schurig's first season on the Washburn sidelines.
• snapped a seven-game winning streak over the Lions.
• was the Lions's first win over the Ichabods since Sept. 27, 2014 in a 42-21 win in Joplin. • Washburn is 575-601-44 (.484) in the 133rd 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 171 first team all-MIAA picks and 61 first team all-MIAA selections.
• Washburn has had 96 All-American selections and 72 All-American picks since joining the NCAA Division II ranks in 1989.
• Washburn has made 14 postseason appearances including bowl games and tournament games going 5-2 in a bowl games.
• Seven Ichabods have been picked in the NFL Draft.
  The Ichabods, under head coach Craig Schurig, have been ranked or have received votes in the AFCA poll 79 times and have been ranked in the top 10 a total of 15 times.
  Washburn will return to Yager Stadium on Sept. 23 hosting Central Missouri for Family Day starting at 1 p.m.