What to know about Mount Union football's NCAA playoff game vs. Salisbury (Maryland)

Salisbury (Md.) plays at Mount Union in a college football game in the opening round of the NCAA Division III playoffs Saturday. It's the first meeting between the two programs.

The game kicks off at noon, Saturday, at Kehres Stadium in Alliance, as the Purple Raiders look to continue their unbeaten 2022 season.

Here's what else you need to know about the Mount Union-Salisbury game.

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How to listen to Mount Union football on the radio

1310-AM WDPN and 91.1 FM WRMU will broadcast the game.

Salisbury, Mount Union records, rankings, coaches

Records: Salisbury 9-1; Mount Union 10-0.

Rankings: Mount Union is ranked No. 2 in the American Football Coaches Association poll and the D3football.com poll. Salisbury is ranked 24th in the AFCA poll but did not make the top 25 in the D3football poll.

Coaches: Geoff Dartt is 25-1 in his third season at Mount Union. Sherman Wood is 175-74 in his 24th season at Salisbury.

Scouting Salisbury football

The Sea Gulls, from Salisbury, Md., won the program’s fourth straight New Jersey Athletic Conference title by defeating runner-up Christopher Newport 36-33 last week. They are making the program’s 13th playoff appearance, losing in the first round last year to Johns Hopkins, which was eliminated a week later by Mount Union. Salisbury runs an option offense, which explains the huge statistical difference between run and pass. It has rushed for 3,521 yards while passing for just 650. Freshman QB Ben Hutchins (6-2, 190) has completed 22 of 52 passes for 409 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions in eight games. Junior Joey Bildstein is the primary ball carrier and ranks ninth in the nation with 1,215 yards and 15 TD’s on 178 carries. Sophomore Jaden Davis and freshman Dario Belizaire have a combined 115 carries for 1,019 yards and 12 scores. Junior linebackers Casey Counts and Ryan Muller and sophomore linebacker Jimmy Celentano and sophomore cornerback Caleb Brubaker have been the most active defensively. Brubaker is the team’s leading tackler and has intercepted seven passes. Muller (6-2, 220) has three interceptions and four sacks. Celentano has made nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Salisbury’s lone loss was to Stevenson, of the Middle Atlantic Conference, in the second game of the season.

Mount connection: Salisbury quarterback Ben Hutchins is the younger brother of Bill Hutchins, who played offensive line at Mount Union from 2016-19.

Scouting Mount Union football

The Raiders can be found throughout the Division III national rankings, both as a team and individually. WR Wayne Ruby leads all of Division III with 20 touchdown receptions, stands third in scoring with 120 points and fourth in receiving yards at 1,189. QB Braxton Plunk stands third in a number of categories, from passing yards (3,087) to completion percentage (.740) and is second in TD passes (36). As a team Mount ranks first in total defense (171.4 yards per game, 3.0 yards per play) and fourth in total offense (521.4 yards per game). This is Mount Union’s 32d appearance in the playoffs.

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What to watch for

To this point the Raiders have easily handled the pretenders (i.e. eight of their 10 regular-season opponents) but it hasn’t been easy when dealing with contenders (i.e. John Carroll and Baldwin Wallace). It will get more challenging with each step the Raiders take in search of a 14th national championship. Salisbury might not provide a challenge equal to those of JCU and BW, but there are several squads standing between Mount and a trip to the Stagg Bowl. Salisbury’s option offense could pose problems early as Mount has not faced an option team since playing Washington & Lee in the first game of last year’s playoffs. It will be up to the defense to avoid a collapse similar to last week’s mind-boggling win over BW when it gave up 21 consecutive points in a matter of 13 minutes and 36 seconds.

What's next for the Mount Union-Salisbury winner

The winner will play either 11th-ranked and undefeated Susquehanna or at-large Utica next week at a site to be determined.

NCAA Division III football playoffs bracketology

A total of 32 teams make the playoffs, 27 conference champions and five at-large spots . . . Mount St. Joseph, located in Cincinnati, is the only other Ohio team to make it as the undefeated Lions won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference title. They will play Mid-America Intercollegiate champion Alma in the first round . . . John Carroll, ranked 21st, is one of three teams ranked in the AFCA Top 25 not to make the playoffs. The others are Johns Hopkins (18) and Albion (24) . . . Ten unranked teams are in by winning their respective conference titles . . . The 49th Stagg Bowl, held in Canton last year, will be played Dec. 16 at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, located on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Mount Union football set to host Salisbury in NCAA playoffs