Mount Union should be grabbing headlines
There are certainly no shortage of football headlines. In other breaking news, the sky is blue and Christmas is coming.
However, there is a story that I strongly believe that is not getting the coverage that it deserves, especially in a news environment that can’t get enough controversy or negativity in the daily headlines. If the team at the center of this intrigue was not a Division III program, I’m guessing it would probably be one of the lead stories on SportsCenter.
Despite their small size compared to the likes of Alabama, Ohio State and Florida State, the University of Mount Union is well known in most football circles. For those unfamiliar with the team, it is one of the winningest programs in the history of the sport. The Purple Raiders have won 12 national championships in their long, illustrious existence. That total is the highest for any team in any division of college football.
Need more proof? Mount Union has appeared in 18 of the last 24 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowls, the NCAA Division III title game. By the way, Division III does not utilize the current Division I playoff model involving four playoff teams, or the old school method of just selecting two teams to compete for the crown.
Rather, to claim the Division III crown, a program must qualify for the 32-school bracket and then advance through five games to stand alone at the top of the mountain. Through their first three playoff games, the Purple Raiders have outscored the opposition 136-53. They’ll play for a spot in the title contest this Saturday against the defending national champion Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
The Wednesday night before its first postseason game this year, news broke that Mount Union sophomore starting quarterback D’Angelo Fulford was pulled over on a traffic stop and it was discovered that he had an outstanding warrant for hazing and battery out of his home state of Florida. Amazingly, Mount Union made a public statement not only supporting Fulford, but bluntly proclaiming that his status with the football team would not be in jeopardy.
Flash ahead to Nov. 27 and Fulford seemed to get himself in deeper trouble as it was initially reported that he didn’t appear for arraignment on the traffic charges. However, it was later discovered that he was apparently not required to appear in court because of the nature of the charges.
Not surprisingly, Fulford started his team’s second playoff win, but, for reasons that I have not been able to unearth, he was inactive for its quarterfinal matchup.
As someone who has worked within the realm of Division III athletics, I have to admit that I was rather appalled by just how quickly Mount Union decided to look the other way for the good of the football team. As someone who believes the D-III philosophy of putting academics and things like personal growth over wins and losses, it became painfully clear that no matter the level, college football usurps everything else at certain institutions, especially the uber-successful ones.
Ironically, the Purple Raiders’ most lop-sided postseason win came in the game in which Fulton didn’t appear. Meaning, the incredibly deep and ridiculously talented team could have both done what is right in punishing Fulton and setting a standard of expectation for its members and maintained its tradition of on-the-field excellence.
Even if Fulford doesn’t play another down in 2017, Mount Union has already showed its true colors when it comes to where it keeps its priorities. It’s just sad to see some of the negativities of big-money football trickling down into the small team game.