FOR STARTERS
»          The Washburn Ichabods will be in Yager Stadium for the first time this season hosting No. 5 ranked Colorado School of Mines at 1 p.m. on Sept. 14.
»          Saturday's game will also be featured as the MIAA Game of the Week and will be aired on 38The Spot in Kansas City as well as several other regional stations. Longtime WIBW radio announcer and former Voice of the Ichabods and former Washburn Associate Athletic Director for development Bruce Steinbrock will handle play by play duties for the game with another former Voice of the Ichabods Jake Lebahn will take on color analyst commentary.
»          The Ichabods are coming off a 30-14 loss in their season opener to Emporia State last week.
»          The Orediggers, who are ranked No. 5 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the D2football.com poll dispatched West Texas A&M 41-13 in their season opener on Sept. 5.
 
 BLUE NOTES
»          The Ichabods averaged 4.7 yards per rush against Emporia State in the season opener recording 159 yards on 34 carries with two rushing touchdowns by Eli Garnett and Cam Robinson.
»          Hayden Clark's 50 yard run was the longest by the Ichabods against ESU.
»          Jordan Finnesy's interception against the Hornets was the second of his career.
»          Keller Hurla led the Ichabods with 137 total yards of offense against the Hornets with 116 through the air.
»          Jacquez White led the Ichabods in tackles with 10 with seven stops against ESU adding a tackle for loss … the 10 tackles was also a career high and is tied for second in the MIAA tackle average this season.
»          The Ichabods scored on both trips into the endzone against ESU scoring a pair of touchdowns.
»          Jake Zeller leads the MIAA in punting averaging 46.0 yards per attempt on two punts.
 
PRO BODS
»          The Washburn Ichabods have two former players on NFL rosters this season and one in the Canadian Football League.
»          Kyle Hinton is on the 53-man roster of the Atlanta Falcons.
»          Corey Ballentine is on the 53-man roster in Green Bay.
»          James Letcher, Jr. is a standout return specialist in the Canadian Football League playing for the Montreal Alouettes in his second season in the CFL. Earlier this season he had a 128-yard missed field goal return for a touchdown.

COACHES
Washburn head coach Craig Schurig . . .
»          was named head coach of the Ichabod football program Dec. 28, 2001.
»          is 139-102 (.599) in his 21st season as the Ichabod head coach and the sixth-longest tenured football coach in MIAA history.
»          is 120-89 (.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 139 wins.
»          is 6-1 against his alma mater.
 
Mines head coach Pete Sterbick . . .   
»          enters his second season as head coach of Colorado School of Mines, going 15-1.
»          as OC between 2019 and 2022, Mines' offense routinely ranked among the best in the nation, leading the RMAC in scoring all three of those seasons, and also ranking atop the RMAC in total offensive yards twice and in the NCAA top-10 twice. In 2023, Mines had the highest numbers of Sterbick and now-offensive coordinator Tim Brandon's careers so far, producing 46.5 points per game (#3 in D-II) and 508.5 yards per game (#2).
• is 0-0 against Washburn.
 
NOTING THE OREDIGGERS
»          The Orediggers are 1-0 this season after topping West Texas A&M in their season opener 41-13 on Sept. 5.
»          Since the 2018 season, the Orediggers have a 62-9 record.
»          Evan Foster, the Orediggers' starting quarterback is a Kansas native and a graduate of Olathe South High School … he was a high school teammate of Washburn's Jai Haynes.
»          Mines enters the 2024 season looking to continue an incredible three-year run of success that has seen the program win three consecutive NCAA Super Region IV championships and appear in the last two NCAA Division II Championship games. In 2023, the Orediggers won their first 14 games on the way to the national final, going 9-0 in the RMAC for a second consecutive season and earning the #1 overall seed in the NCAA playoffs. Mines reached #1 in the AFCA and D2football.com polls for the first time in program history, spending five weeks there, and were well-rewarded after the season with a program-record 11 different all-Americans and four Academic All-Americans.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE OREDIGGERS
(Aug. 28, 2010) GOLDEN, Colo. -- The No. 10 Washburn Ichabods survived five turnovers while racking up 611 yards in total offense in a come-from-behind 34-29 win over Mines in the season opener. The win was the sixth straight over the Orediggers in the final game in the series.
After the Orediggers jumped out to a 7-0 lead, Washburn quickly knotted the score at 7-7 on a 30-yard touchdown strike from Dane Simoneau to Joe Hastings covering 75 yards in three plays. However 84 seconds later the Orediggers regained the lead with a 75-yard touchdown pass. On the ensuing kickoff, Washburn gave up a team safety as the Orediggers lead grew to 15-7.
On the Ichabods opening drive of the second half, they marched 60 yards in 11 plays capped by a 37-yard field goal by Steve Ivanisevic. The Ichabod defense would then force a three-and-out and would go on an 80-yard drive in six plays capped by a SImoneau to Brody Schuler touchdown pass covering eight yards. The Ichabods would go for two and Cooper carried it over from the left side for the score.
Washburn's defense again forced a punt after three plays and the Ichabods Vershon Moore rushed for 18-yards putting Washburn up 25-15 with 2:41 to go in the third quarter.
The Orediggers scored on their next possession on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Clay Garcia to Jerrod Doucet cutting Washburn's lead to 25-22.
Ivanisevic stretched the lead to six with a 27-yard field goal with 13:34 to go in the game and the Ichabods holding on to a 28-22.
The Orediggers scored on their next possession wrapping up a 64-yard drive in four plays taking a 29-28 lead with 12:02 to go. On the Ichabods' next possession, Simoneau was picked off for the second time on the afternoon, but the Washburn defense held. The Ichabods would take the lead after the change of possession and drive 80 yards on 11 plays putting Washburn up 34-29 with 3:46 to go in the game after the two-point conversion failed.
WIth the Orediggers looking to go ahead for the game-winning drive, CSM reached the Ichabod 33 before Jahmil Taylor sacked Garcia and the fumble was recovered by Marty Pfannenstiel with 2:13 to go in the game.
Washburn would then run out the clock converting two third down plays to wrap up the game and the five-point victory.
The Washburn defense limited the Orediggers to 323 total yards while holding CSM to nine net rushing yards on 20 attempts.
Michael Hollins led the Ichabods with eight tackles with five solo stops along with two tackles for loss and a sack adding a forced fumble. Jared Brawner finished with seven tackles. Taylor recorded six tackles including a sack and a tackle for loss and Michael Wilhoite had four solo tackles with two sacks for six yards and a forced fumble.
The Ichabods finished with 611 total yards with 300 coming through the air for Simoneau who completed 21 of 28 attempts with two touchdowns and the two picks. His favorite target was Joe Hastings who recorded a career-high 201 yards on 13 receptions becoming the first Ichabod to go over 200 receiving yards since Sam Sissom did against Western Washington on Sept. 9, 2006. The 13 receptions also tied a Washburn single game record matching Ron Hamilton's total from Oct. 11, 1980 against Wayne State (Neb.).
Moore finished with 218 yards on 24 carries and one touchdown. He averaged 9.1 yards per carry during the game. Cooper finished with 81 yards on 16 carries as the Ichabods recorded 50 rushing attempts for 311 net yards averaging 6.2 yards per carry.

SERIES HISTORY WITH THE OREDIGGERS
»          The Ichabods are 13-5 all-time against the Orediggers and have won the last six overall.
»          Saturday's meeting is the first between the two schools since Aug. 8, 2010 when the Ichabods won 34-29 in Golden, Colo.
»          Washburn is 6-2 against the Orediggers all-time in Yager Stadium and have not hosted Mines since Aug. 28, 2008 in a 27-7 win.
»          Washburn's last loss to the Orediggers came on Aug. 29, 2004 in a 34-27 loss.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE ICHABODS
(Aug. 29, 2024) EMPORIA, Kan. – The Washburn Ichabods football team opened the 2024 season with a 30-14 loss to Emporia State on Thursday night at Welch Stadium.
After trailing 6-0 at the end of the first half, Washburn (0-1) took the opening half drive but turned it over after an interception and the Hornets took advantage kicking their third field goal of the game on a 22-yard make from ESU stretching the lead to 9-0.
The Ichabods came back with a 67-yard, 10-play drive for the season's first touchdown when Cam Robinson capped the drive with a 4-yard run over the left side for the score with 7:14 to play in the third.
Washburn's defense held the Hornets (1-0) to a punt on their ensuing drive, but the Ichabods turned it over and ESU marched 91 yards on a 17-play drive to go up 16-7 with :06 to play in the third.
To start the fourth quarter, the Ichabods and Hornets traded punts before ESU used a 57-yard pass play to go up 30-7 with 6:23 in the game.
Washburn wrapped up the scoring with a 1-yard run by Eli Garnett set up by a 52-yard scamper by Hayden Clark with 1:53 to go wrapping up the scoring.
Keller Hurla finished 14 of 25 for 116 yards while Clark led the Ichabods with 50 yards rushing. Tre Richardson had four catches for a team-high 34 yards and D.J. Bell finished with a team-high five catches,
Defensively, the Ichabods were led by Jacques White with 10 tackles including seven solo stops. L.J. Minner had six solo stops and nine total.
Washburn was outgained 478 to 308, the Hornets ran 80 plays, and the Ichabods ran 67. The Ichabods had 159 yards on the ground on 34 attempts.

A WIN OVER MINES WOULD
»          move the Ichabods to 1-1 on the season.
»          be the seventh in a row over the Orediggers.
»          be the third-straight win over the Orediggers in Topeka.
 
A LOSS TO MINES WOULD
»          drop the Ichabods to 0-2 on the season.
»          snap a six-game winning streak over the Orediggers.
»          drop the Ichabods to 13-6 all-time against the Orediggers and 6-3 in home games against Mines.
»          be the Orediggers first win over the Ichabods since a 34-27 win in Yager Stadium on Aug. 29, 2004.
 
A LOOK BACK TO THE LOSS TO EMPORIA STATE
»          dropped the Ichabods to 0-1 on the season.
»          was the Ichabods' fifth in a row to the Hornets and the fourth in a row in Emporia.
»          moved the Ichabods to 80-48-6 all-time in season openers and their second-straight season-opening loss.
»          moved the Ichabods to 2-8 in the last 10 meetings with the Hornets.
 
ICHABOD FOOTBALL HISTORY
»          Washburn is 577-609-44 (.484) in the 134th 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 176 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.
 
ICHABODS IN THE NATIONAL POLLS
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.
 
UP NEXT
The Ichabods will return to MIAA play hosting Pittsburg State on Sept. 21. Overall the Ichabods will have six home games this season.