• The Washburn Ichabods return home to face the No. 25-ranked Central Missouri as part of Washburn's Family Day festivities on Saturday, Sept. 23 in Yager Stadium.
• The Ichabods are coming off their first win of the season in a 24-10 win over Lincoln.
• The Mules are 2-1 this season after falling to then-No. 3-ranked Pittsburg State 38-37 after a Central Missouri two-point conversion going for the win in the final seconds came up short.
• The Mules lead the all-time series 28-21-2 over the Ichabods in 51 all-time meetings and the Ichabods have won the last two meetings and three of the last four.
• Washburn is 8-15 in games played in Warrensburg snapping a five-game losing streak in the 2022 meeting while going 13-13-2 in games played in Topeka.
  • Taylon Peters has tied Brandon Rainer for seventh on the all-time rushing chart at Washburn with 2,171 yards … his 460 carries is ninth all-time at Washburn.
• The Ichabods have played 10 true freshmen so far this season and have also played 16 redshirt freshmen this season.
• Ichabod freshman quarterback Sam Van Dyne from Liberty North High School in the Kansas City area will face his high school coach Greg Jones who leads the Mule defensive as their coordinator and safeties coach.
• Jayden Russell and Jai Haynes are graduate transfers from Central Missouri to Washburn who are both in their first year with the Ichabods.
  • 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 138-94 (.599) in his 21st season as the Ichabod head coach and the sixth-longest tenured football coach in MIAA history.
• is 120-81 (.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 138 wins.
• is 6-12 against Central Missouri.
 
Central Missouri head coach Josh Lamberson . . .  
• is in his second season on the Mule sidelines going 6-8.
• named the 30th head football coach of the Mules football program in February 2022.
• served as the offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator for the Mules from 2010-14 under former UCM head coach Jim Svoboda, after serving as the associate head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach for Division I Abilene Christian University from 2017-21.
• before Abilene Christian, he served as the head coach at MIAA member Nebraska Kearney from 2015-17 … while with the Lopers, he coached 20 All-MIAA selections, including 2015 and 2016 Harlon Hill Finalist and first team All-American Tyke Kozeal.
• as the offensive coordinator for the Mules, he assisted UCM to 70 offensive school records and 24 MIAA offensive records and was a part of the top-five offenses in program history.
• he helped Central Missouri to back-to-back playoff appearances for the first time in school history in 2010 and 2011 and coached 2010 Harlan Hill trophy winner (top player in NCAA Division II) and first team All-American quarterback Eric Czerniewski.
• was an All-American quarterback helping Northwest Missouri to the 2005 NCAA Division II national championship game. He was named the MVP of the 2005 national title game and posted an overall record of 25-6 as the Bearcats' starting quarterback
• is 0-3 against Washburn going 0-2 at Nebraska-Kearney and 0-1 at Central Missouri.
  • The Mules are 2-1 this season and moved into both the AFCA and D2Football.com polls after their 38-37 loss to Pittsburg State at No. 25.
• UCM is ranked first in the nation in first downs (87), passing offense (402.7) and fifth in total offense averaging 510.3 yards per game. They are also eighth in the nation in third down conversions and scoring 41 points per game as a team while allowing 31 points per game.
• Zach Zebrowski leads the team with 368.7 yards per game passing and 49 yards per game rushing and leads the nation in passing touchdowns (13), passing yards (1,106) and is second in passing yards per game (368.7).
• UCM's Arkell Smith is second in the nation in touchdown receptions and eighth in total receiving yards (334) and 12th in yards per game (111.3).
• Cale Miller leads the team with 20 tackles and Sharmari has 17 tackles. (Sept. 8, 2022) WARRENSBURG, Mo. — The Washburn Ichabods fell behind early and then ripped off 28-straight points winning for the first time at Central Missouri since 2006 in a 40-32 win over the Mules on Thursday night.
The Mules (0-2, 0-2 MIAA) took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards on eight plays to take an early 7-0 lead. The Ichabod respond with a seven-play, 63-yard drive, but the drive stalled at the UCM 5-yard line and the field goal attempt was tipped coming up short.
Washburn forced a Mule punt on their next possession and after a 51-yard punt return by James Letcher, Jr., the Ichabods scored on a Kellen Simoncic pass for five yards to Collin Wilson, but the PAT was missed as the Mules continued to lead 7-6.
The Mules continued their scoring ways going up 14-6 after an eight-play, 75-yard drive just before the end of the first quarter.
The Ichabod turned it over on their second play of their next possession setting up a 41-yard field goal by the Mules as they increased their least to 17-6.
After the teams traded punts, Washburn trimmed the Mule lead to 17-12 when Simoncic hit Letcher, Jr., on a 32-yard pass play with 6:58 to go in the opening half.  The Ichabods went for two and the pass attempt was failed.
The Mules needed only two plays to score again doubling up the Ichabod score at 24-12 capped on a 78-yard pass play. But the Ichabods came back with a 46-yard pass play from Simoncic to Peter Afful for 46 yards pulling Washburn within five at 24-19 as the Ichabods trailed by the same score heading into the halftime locker room.
To open the second half, Washburn took a 26-24 lead when Afful and Simoncic hooked up on a 17-yard pass play needing five plays moving 65 yards to go in front. On the first play of the ensuing drive, Grant Bruner picked off the first of two UCM passes on the day and then three plays later, Simoncic tossed another touchdown pass, this time to Letcher, Jr., for 14 yards as the Ichabod pushed the lead to 33-24 with 11:33 to play in the third quarter.
Neither team would score until 1:50 left in the third quarter when the Ichabods' Taylon Peters pulled down a screen pass and rumbled 35 yards pushing the Ichabod margin to 16 at 40-24 as Washburn outscored the Mules 21-0 in the third quarter outgaining them 197 to 87 including 136 to 20 in passing yards.
The Mules scored first in the fourth quarter cutting the Ichabod lead to eight at 40-32 with 12:21 to go. After a Washburn turnover, UCM drove down to the Ichabod 25, but missed on a 42-yard field goal attempt and Washburn took back possession. Again the teams would trade punts and on the first play of the Mules' drive starting at the Ichabod 47, Bruner picked off his second pass of the day with 2:16 to go.
Washburn was forced to punt and the Mules were pinned at the Ichabod six yard line with 1:34 to go. UCM had four incomplete passes and Washburn took over with a pair of kneel downs to secure the 40-32 win snapping the five-game losing streak in Warrensburg for their first win since a 14-10 win on Sept. 16, 2006.
Bruner had a career-high 23 tackles with two interceptions for 10 yards. He tallied 17 total tackles in the second half. Jordan Finnesy had seven tackles and Channon Ross had six tackles. The 22 tackles by Bruner were the most by an Ichabod since Casey Curran had 22 (14 solo) against Missouri Western on Sept. 19, 2009.
Offensively, Simoncic tied a school record with six touchdown passes tying Dane Simoneau and Barry Griffiths atop the Ichabod record book. He finished 18 for 37 for 296 yards. On the ground, Peters had 78 total yards on 17 carries and Hunter Browning had 66 yards on six carries. Wilson finished with 95 yards on seven catches and one score while Letcher, Jr., had 68 yards on four catches.
Washburn finished with 445 total yards with 297 through the air and 148 on the ground. Washburn also scored 14 points off of Mule turnovers. • The Mules lead the all-time series 28-21-2 over the Ichabods in 51 all-time meetings.
• Washburn is 8-15 in games played in Warrensburg and snapped a five-game losing streak in the 2022 meeting and 13-13-2 in games played in Topeka.
• The Ichabods are 14-22-1 in MIAA games with the Mules.
• The largest win over the Mules by the Ichabods was a 34-0 win on Sept. 29, 1963.
• Washburn is 3-7 in the last 10 match-ups with the Mules.
  (Sept. 16, 2023) JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Washburn Ichabods withstood a 62-minute lightning delay and the Ichabod defense held the Blue Tigers to 85 yards of offense through three quarters in a 24-10 win on Saturday night in Jefferson City improving to 1-2 on the season winning their 10th-straight game over Lincoln. 
The Ichabods jumped on the board first on their first possession with a 25-yard field goal by Trenton Brehm with 10:42 to go in the first quarter wrapping up an eight-play, 57-yard drive.
After a 5-yard Lincoln (0-3) punt, the Ichabods took over at the Blue Tiger 45 yard line and needed just seven plays scoring their first touchdown of the day on Sam Van Dyne's first touchdown pass of his Ichabod career hitting Connor Searcy on a 7-yard completion stretching the Ichabod lead to 10-0 with 6:34 to go in the opening quarter.
A quick four-play drive by the Ichabods was capped by a 60-yard touchdown run by Taylon Peters stretched the Washburn lead to 17-0 after the Washburn defense forced another three-and-out by the Blue Tigers. The touchdown was Peters' 18th of his Ichabod career.
At the end of the first quarter, at 6:34 pm local time, lightning hit the area and the game was delayed for 62 minutes when teams were allowed to return to the field to start the second quarter.
Neither team scored in the second quarter as the Ichabods outgained the Blue Tigers 91 to 24 running one more play overall.
With 2:44 left in the third quarter, Van Dyne hit fellow true freshman Tylan Crochett on a 48-yard touchdown strike stretching the lead to 24-0 capping a 10-play, 83-yard drive.
Washburn was tossing a shutout until the 11:36 mark of the fourth quarter when Xzavier Vaughn hit Aderias Ealy on a 54-yard touchdown pass. After the Ichabods were held short on a fourth down play, the Blue Tigers cut the Washburn lead to 24-10 after a 6-play drive ending in a 30-yard field goal with 3:23 to go wrapping up the scoring in the game.
Van Dyne, making his first career start, was 18 for 29 with two touchdowns and 217 yards passing while Peters finished with 121 yards on 11 carries and one score. Teondre Carter had 11 carries for 88 yards and Jaylon Walker had 11 carries for 44 yards.
Ten different receivers had a catch with Crochett recording three catches for 53 yards and Carter had two catches for 43 yards and D.J. Bell had a team-high four catches for 30 yards.
Defensively Patrick Altenor had a sack and two tackles for loss with five tackles overall. L.J. Minner had five tackles with three tackles for loss for 10 yards.
The Ichabods outgained the Blue Tigers in the game 516 to 198 with 113 coming in the fourth quarter for Lincoln. Washburn had 26 first downs compared to 10 to Lincoln while piling up 299 total rushing yards compared to 58 for Lincoln.
Washburn was 9 for 16 on third down while the Ichabod defense held the Blue Tigers to 2 of 11 on third down conversions.
  • move the Ichabods to 2-2 on the season.
• be the third-straight win over the Mules and the first three-game winning streak over UCM since winning four in a row from 1961 to 1964.
  • snap a two-game winning streak over Central Missouri.
• be the first win by the Mules in Topeka since Oct. 21, 2017 in a 62-42 win.
  • True freshmen Sam Van Dyne (QB), Daniel Chavez (DE), Ty Weber (TE), Jaquez White (DB), D.J. Bell (WR) all started the game against the Blue Tigers.
  • Washburn is 576-601-44 (.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.
  The Ichabods will return to the road facing Nebraska-Kearney at 2 p.m. on Sept. 30 before hosting Missouri Western on Oct. 7 as part of the Ichabod Athletic Hall of Fame Ceremony with a 3 p.m. kickoff.