Football: Mount Union Wraps Up 33rd Undefeated Regular Season, Eyes NCAA Playoffs

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The No. 3 nationally-ranked Mount Union football team sealed its undefeated regular season, its 33rd overall and eighth-straight, with a 35-28 win at Muskingum on Saturday.

Mount Union (10-0, 9-0 OAC) didn't waste any time putting points on the board as it took the opening drive 60 yards on 12 plays capped off by a six-yard touchdown pass from graduate TJ Deshields (Beloit, OH/West Branch) to senior tight end Drew Sims (Fort Wayne, IN/R. Nelson Snider) – Sims's first touchdown of the year and Deshields's third straight game with a touchdown pass.

Senior Tyler Echeverry (Naples, FL Barron Collier), who would do the rest of the Mount Union scoring, extended Mount's lead and his OAC lead in rushing touchdowns with a 13-yard touchdown run – the first of his career-high four touchdowns on the day. His fourth and final TD, tying second-most in program history, was from 26 yards out and proved to be the game-winner.

Echeverry ran for 159 yards (6.4 avg.), eclipsing 100 yards for the fifth-straight game. He had 16 rushing TDs coming into today's game, seven more than second-most in the league.

Senior wide receiver Tyrell Sanders (Indianapolis, IN/Pike) led the Mount receivers with six catches for 130 yards for his third 100-yard receiving game of the season and second-straight.

Senior Rossy Moore (Lima, OH/Lima Central Catholic), senior Marcus Jackson (Dallas, TX/Richardson), and junior Weston Arthur (Homerville, OH/Northwestern) led the Mount Union defense with eight tackles each. Senior Dozie Okpala (Loganville, GA/Loganville) added a sack.

The Purple Raiders finish the regular season with an NCAA-record 74-straight regular season game win - the longest streak across all divisions in college football.

The Purple Raiders, who earned the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC)'s NCAA automatic bid winning its league-record 35th title, will wait for the 2024 NCAA Division III Football Selection Show to see who they face to open its NCAA Division III-record 35th NCAA appearance. The selection show will air Sunday, November 17th at 5 p.m. EST on NCAA.com.