By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn football will hit the road for the second time this season on Saturday as the Ichabods travel to St. Joseph, Mo. to face the Missouri Western Griffons at 2 p.m.
Sophomore receiver D.J. Bell had six catches for 117 yards in last week's 39-31 MIAA loss to Pittsburg State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Highland Park product Tre Richardson had four catches for 107 yards in Washburn's 39-31 loss to Pittsburg State last Saturday. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn (0-3 overall, 0-2 MIAA) is coming off a 39-31 loss to No. 10-ranked Pittsburg State, as for the second-straight week the Ichabods took a Top 10 team down to the wire with a chance to tie the game on the final drive. The week before against Colorado Mines the Ichabods took the Orediggers down to the end of the game, but a 44-yard potential game-tying field goal came up short.
"You've got to get over the hump,'' Washburn coach Craig Schurig said. "We look back and we've played three good teams and we feel like we've gotten better each week and don't have much to show for it except that we've improved and each game was a little different.
"But I think our kids have grown from it and I think we've gotten a little tougher from last week. The effort was really good and we're going to need that on the road versus Western and hopefully we can get over the hump.''
Schurig believes that the Ichabods are on the brink of a breakthrough victory.
"We had a great week of practice last week and we want to show that that's the standard that we've got to push to do that,'' Schurig said. "You know how hard you've got to play to win, so get yourselves geared towards that each week and the things you can control are how you play, cutting down on the mental mistakes and the penalties and the games will start to go our way if we continue to play that way.''
The Ichabods will be facing a Missouri Western team (2-2, 1-2) that is coming off a 30-27 overtime loss at No. 13-ranked Emporia State last Saturday.
With D.J. Bell (114 yards on six receptions) and Tre Richardson (107 yards on four catches) both having at least 100 receiving yards last Saturday against Pitt State it marked the first time since Nov. 12, 2011 against Central Missouri that two Ichabods had more than 100 yards receiving.
Jaquez White's 92-yard punt return against Pittsburg State on Saturday surpassed the previous long of 90 yards set by Clarence Taylor against Emporia State in 1975 and Troy Slusser against Missouri Western in 1985.
The Ichabods are looking to snap a four-game road losing streak, with Washburn's last road win on Sept. 16, 2023 against Lincoln in a 24-10 win.
Washburn has played one of the toughest schedules in the country to start the season as their three opponents so far, Emporia State (4-0), Mines (3-0) and Pittsburg State (3-1) have a combined win/loss record of 10-1. Pitt State's lone loss was to Emporia State.
The Griffons are fourth in the MIAA in scoring offense at 27.8 points per game and seventh in scoring defense, allowing 29.5 points per game.
Senior running back Brandon Hall leads the MIAA in rushing yards per game at 139.3 as the only player in the league to average more than 100 yards a game while also averaging 8.3 yards per carry. Hall also leads the league in all-purpose yards at 155.8 yards per game, just ahead of Washburn's Richardson at 138.0 yards per game.
Western handed WU a 61-21 loss in Yager Stadium last Oct. 7.
The Griffons lead the all-time series with the Ichabods, 27-22-2. The teams have split the last 10 meetings.
Washburn will be back at home on Oct. 5, hosting Northwest Missouri.
