The Mount Union Football Dynasty Rolls on, Grabs Another DIII Title

For the 10th time in the last 16 years, the Mount Union football team captured the DIII national championship, beating Wisconsin-Whitewater 31-26 on Saturday.

Think about that: 10 national titles in 16 years. That is simply unreal, at DIII or any level.

Bonus points for the Purple Raiders, too, for exacting some revenge on Whitewater. The Warhawks dethroned Mount Union in 2007. Of course, that 2007 Whitewater win was revenge for 2005 and 2006 when Mount Union beat the Warhawks in the title game.

In this version, Mount Union jumped out to a 21-7 lead in the first quarter -- quarterback Greg Micheli connected on two long TD passes early and Nate Kmic pounded one in from two yards out.

Whitewater chipped back within 24-13 heading to the fourth, but a Jeff Donovan pick-six stretched Mount Union's lead back to 31-13. The Warhawks rallied to 31-26 in the final minute, but could not recover an onside kick at the end.

Mount Union completes the season with a 15-0 record -- no surprise there. The Purple Raiders lost one regular season game from 1995-2005. One.

So you can't debate the use of the word "Dynasty" here, despite the Whitewater win last year. That title game loss was merely a hiccup in what has become a dominant Purple Raiders' run.