As Leslie Nielson said in Naked Gun: “Nice Beaver.” UWW RB Justin Beaver ripped off 249 yards to propel the Warhawks to their first victory in three consecutive trips to the finals against Mount Union’s Purple Raiders.
To be fair, any team that makes the finals three years in a row and has the Division’s best player on the roster is not the biggest of upsets, unless you appreciate the amazing reign of Mount Union, including their 37-game winning streak that just stopped .
Every year around this time my friend Greg emails me to remind me that there is only one true college football dynasty. It is not Ohio State (despite two Championship Games in a row with a basketball final mixed in), it is not LSU, and it is not Nebraska.
It is the Mount Union Purple Raiders of Mount Union, Ohio.
They are in their eleventh Division III title game in the last fifteen years. As a reminder, D3 has only one bowl game, and it is their championship game in Salem, VA – the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. This year’s version is a rematch of the 2005 and 2006 final, victories for the Purple Raiders.
Check out the W’s on coach Larry Kehres resume since 1986…for reference, that was the year the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, the Bears finished their Super Bowl Shuffle, and a Metallica tour bus crashes in Sweden, killing their bassist, Cliff Burton.
Many historical Heisman precedents crumbled when sophomore Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy Saturday Night. T2 gathered over half the first place votes, and has that lovely trophy to add to his unanimous First Team All-American QB spot over at Fantasy College Blitz.
Likewise, Tebow’s new trophy only adds to the list of firsts accomplished this season the two largest being:
First underclassmen to win (I think Herschel Walker was runner-up as a freshman in 1981).
First Major College player to throw for 20 TDs and run for 20 TDs in the same season.
At Fantasy College Blitz, our All-American teams will differ form the most well-known and accepted lists – and we expect and embrace that every year. Our voting is transparent and open to praise and criticism – our teams are three deep, each with two QBs, three RBs and WRs, and one each TE, K, and D.
The NCAA recognizes five All-American teams – Football Coaches, The Sporting News, The Football Writers, Associated Press and Walter Camp. Our goal is for our awards to be as respected as those organizations that have been recognizing athletes for decades. Our goal is simply to highlight the most productive and consistent statistical performances in college football. We don’t care if it happens in Gainesville, Athens, Ypsilanti or Laramie – you put up the numbers and we will find you.
In that vane, we will announce a different position each day this week (QB, RB, WR, Others) and finish with our Player of the Year Award on Saturday.
As Leslie Nielson said in Naked Gun: “Nice Beaver.” UWW RB Justin Beaver ripped off 249 yards to propel the Warhawks to their first victory in three consecutive trips to the finals against Mount Union’s Purple Raiders.
