College Football

See Ya, Sooners
Mount Union broke Oklahoma's record with its 48th straight win

For a team that likes to keep the ball in the air, Mount Union's Purple Raiders are equally determined to keep their feet on the ground. Last Saturday none of the players exulted, no coach shook his fist in the air, few fans did more than clap politely. It was business as usual after the Purple Raiders defeated Otter-bein 44-20 for their 48th straight victory, breaking Oklahoma's 42-year-old record for the longest winning streak in college football. In a postgame scene of remarkable calm, Mount Union's players passed by Otterbein's, shaking hands one at a time, Little League style, and then, among lengthening shadows at the end of a beautiful autumn day, walked quietly into football history.

Elsewhere the record will get more attention because, Division III or not, Mount Union's dynasty is undeniable. Oklahoma may have played better football-most Division I teams play (or should play) better football than even the best of Division III—but nobody else can lay claim to this sort of excellence. Mount Union's achievement may be doubly distinctive because, of its 48 victories, 12 have come in playoff or title games held to determine the Division III champion. Oklahoma's string of victories included two in the postseason, both in the Orange Bowl.

At Mount Union, a United Methodist school of some 2,000 students in northeastern Ohio, the streak is almost a forbidden topic. Coach Larry Kehres, a former Purple Raiders quarterback who has crafted a high-powered passing attack that makes stars out of average athletes, wanted it known immediately after the game that he didn't want to be confused with Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson. "They played on hallowed ground," he said of the Sooners. "Believe me, Division I is not Division III."

No, it's not. In Division III the players do not receive athletic scholarships, cars or much else besides shoulder pads. Indeed, football at Mount Union is the inverse of everything we've come to expect of big-time sports. The athletes aren't paid but instead must pony up nearly $19,000 for the chance to play (though most have campus jobs and/or academic or need-based scholarships). The school doesn't sell its TV rights but rather buys its own air-time. In addition, as a member of the Ohio Athletic Conference, Mount Union coaches also are restricted from going into any player's home to recruit.

A very quaint idea of athletics is practiced here. A modesty that is born when Division I coaches don't recruit a kid is reinforced when the Division III coach sees to it that the quarterback and the other marquee players pick up the team's laundry after practices and games. Gary Smeck, who passed for 282 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday's victory, wasn't permitted an extravagant opinion of himself afterward. "When I'm done talking to you," he said at the postgame press conference, "I've got two piles of laundry—game jerseys and pants—to wash. Although we might wait until Sunday to throw them in the dryer."

This kind of ego leveling doesn't reduce the caliber of play or the entertainment value of small-college football. It may work the other way. Kids who come to this program with no pretense—about 95% are from Ohio, a lot of them from small-town Ohio—fall easily under Kehres's sway and adjust magnificently to his wide-open and high-scoring system. The result is that a lot of no-name athletes achieve astonishing results. Although he says he really doesn't want to be confused with Knute Rockne, in 14 years Kehres has had a winning percentage of .890, second to none at any level among those who've coached at least 10 seasons at four-year colleges. He has also led the Purple Raiders to three straight national titles and four in the last six years.

But enough of these gaudy superlatives. "Hey, Gary," said Adam Marino, the receiver who'd just caught nine passes for 209 yards, "we doing laundry tonight?" Smeck, the star of the team that had just broken Oklahoma's record, said they were, and they had better get started.
—Richard Hoffer

Kentucky's Special Teams
Simon Says, Fake a Punt

Kentucky fullback AJ. Simon has his finger on the trigger of one of the most exciting plays in foot-ball, and he isn't afraid to squeeze. Simon, the blocking back in the Wildcats' punt formation, has carte blanche from coach Hal Mumme to call a fake, with the ball going to him. Five times over three seasons Simon has called the play, and five times he has made a first down, most recently in Kentucky's 31-5 defeat of LSU last week. Faced with a fourth-and-22 on the Wildcats' 42, Simon took the snap and threw a short pass to tight end Derek Smith for a 23-yard gain. In Mumme's three seasons with the Wildcats, his upbacks are 9 for 9 in converting fakes.