Eight things to know about Saturday's Mount Union football game at Muskingum
The matchup
The 77th meeting between Ohio Athletic Conference rivals Mount Union and Muskingum is scheduled to kickoff at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Muskingum's Bullock Health and Wellness Complex. The $38 million, 119,000 square-foot complex opened last week.
On the air
The game will be broadcast live on WDPN-AM (1310) and WRMU-FM (91.1).
The coaches
Geoff Dartt is 19-1 in his third season at Mount Union. Erik Ieuter is 15-20 in his fifth season at Muskingum.
The series
Mount Union leads the series, 45-29-2 and has won the last 33 games. It is one of the oldest rivalries in the OAC, dating to 1906. The Purple Raiders won last year's game, 73-7.
Around the OAC
John Carroll, fresh of its 21-7 victory over rival Baldwin Wallace, has an opportunity to scramble the standings and stay in contention when it plays host to undefeated Heidelberg. The Student Princes were picked to finish third in the OAC behind Mount and BW but it appears BW has some issues.
About Muskingum
The Muskies (2-0, 1-0), picked to finish seventh in the OAC coaches poll, have opened with victories over Ferrum College and Capital. They have scored 68 points and allowed 10. In last week’s 37-7 victory —and 100th homecoming game ― they produced 477 yards of offense behind senior quarterback Jordan Garrett, who completed 25 of 34 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns. His favorite targets are senior Zuri Edmonson and junior Travis Roberson. Edmondson has caught 16 passes for 187 yards and one TD while Roberson has 10 receptions for 117 yards and three scores. Freshman Noah Wellmeier leads the team in rushing with 151 yards and one touchdown on 39 carries. Sophomore Cole Burch, from Canton South, starts at safety and is third on the team in tackles and has one of the Muskies’ two interceptions.
About Mount Union
The Purple Raiders are 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the OAC following a 55-7 win over Marietta last Saturday at Kehres Stadium. Mount Union is ranked No. 3 nationally in both the D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association polls. While the running game has yet to establish itself as a viable weapon the passing game of Braxton Plunk and Co. is right on schedule. Plunk has completed 40 of 53 attempts for eight touchdowns against one interception. Senior receiver Wayne Ruby Jr. has caught 13 of those passes for 255 yards and five touchdowns and needs 30 yards in receptions to reach 3,000 for his career. Defensively, the Raiders have given up one touchdown and held their first two opponents to 326 total yards. Enough said.
What to watch for
To the surprise of no one the Raiders are 2-0 simply because they are who they are. Can anyone stop the pass-catch combination of Plunk and Ruby Jr.? Can anyone slow linebackers Mason McMillen, Rossy Moore and Kaleb Detellem? Can anyone penetrate the brick wall of defensive end Nick Brown, tackle Matt Lilja and nose tackle Duke Hill? So far none of those questions have been answered.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Eight things to know about the Mount Union-Muskingum football game
