By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's football team got its starting quarterback, Sam Van Dyne, back last week after the sophomore missed the Ichabods' first four games after a freak practice injury less than a week before the Ichabods' season-opener.
Washburn sophomore quarterback Sam Van Dyne returned from a knee injury with a three-touchdown passing performance against Northwest Missouri last Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Now Van Dyne and the 1-4 Ichabods will be looking to get their mojo back over the second half of the 2024 season, which begins with Saturday night's 7 p.m. MIAA road contest against Fort Hays State at Lewis Field.
Van Dyne threw for three touchdowns in last Saturday's 51-34 home loss to Northwest Missouri as he returned from a knee injury (MCL).
"I think the first quarter I was definitely a little rusty -- a couple of mental errors on my part -- but after that I thought I played a pretty good game,'' Van Dyne said. "Still a couple of silly things that I did that I probably shouldn't of, but I thought after I kind of got over that rustiness and kind of found a groove it felt like I was just playing football again.''
Washburn coach Craig Schurig gave Van Dyne high marks for his performance against the Bearcats.
"I thought he did tremendous,''Schurig said. "You knew he was going to be a little off on timing and that kind of stuff and he was going against a really good defense. Northwest puts a lot of pressure on you with their front and they're very aggressive with their coverages but I thought he handled it well.
"He's obviously very intelligent and very poised and when he's on and he's making some of those throws it's very tough to cover and I think he handled himself great.''
The best news for Van Dyne, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound Liberty, Mo. native, was that he said he's feeling great physically.
"Three weeks ago I'm thinking, 'My knee feels great, I'm ready to play,' and my knee feels 100 times better than it did three weeks ago and I think it will just continue to feel better and I'll continue to feel better with it,'' he said. "I'm still getting used to wearing a brace, I haven't had to do that before, but just getting back into a groove with my teammates has been good, too.''
And Schurig feels like Van Dyne, who threw for over 2,000 yards as a freshman, will continue to make strides.
"I think he will continue to improve,'' Schurig said. "The passing game is all timing and as that continues to improve that should be more and more efficient for us.''
Washburn, which has waded through a tough season-opening stretch, playing the 14th-toughest scheduled in the country so far this season, will face another test Saturday against the 4-2 Tigers, coached by former Ichabod defensive coordinator Chris Brown.
Fort Hays State is coming off a 31-21 Homecoming win over then-No. 12-ranked Central Missouri.
"They've done a really good job,'' Schurig said of the Tigers. "A couple of years ago they were down and then last year they had a nice jump and they've just been so consistent and that's why their record is where it is.''
WU senior defensive tackle Chase McCoy leads the MIAA in sacks at 0.8 per game while sophomore Highland Park product Tre Richardson is 17th in the nation and first in the MIAA in all-purpose yards, averaging 137.2 yards per game. Richardson is also 24th in receiving yards with 446 and 21st in receiving yards per game with 89.2.
The Ichabods lead the all-time series 46-28-3 in 77 all-time meetings. The 77 meetings between the two schools is the third-most played series in program history trailing only the 120 meetings with Emporia State and the 94 contests with Pittsburg State.
A frantic Washburn comeback came up short against the Tigers in the 2023 meeting, a 31-28 loss at Yager Stadium.
The Tigers are a perfect 4-0 at home this season.
Shane Watts leads Fort Hays State in rushing at 83.8 yards per game, scoring seven touchdowns while averaging 4.3 yards per carry on 117 attempts.
Jack Dawson has completed 85 of 145 passes for five touchdowns while averaging 173 yards per game and Caleb Heavner is averaging 121.4 yards per game passing with three touchdowns.
Washburn's next home game will be Oct. 19 against Missouri Southern.
Following a road game at Central Missouri on Oct. 26, the Ichabods will celebrate Homecoming on Nov. 2 and then the following week host Central Oklahoma on Senior day before wrapping up the season on Nov. 16 at Northeastern State.
