They’ve won nine straight conference championships and are ranked No. 1 in the nation. In the last five weeks, they’ve scored-in succession-34, 48, 56, 59 and 63 points. Opponents have managed a total of 57 points all year.
The Washington & Jefferson Presidents are unbeaten, untied and unknown except in Division III. They’ve won 44 straight games.
It hasn’t always been this way at W & J. The Presidents did play in the 1922 Rose Bowl, where they tied Cal 0-0.
But from 1950 until 1981, they won a mere 28 percent of their games. Coach John Luckhardt, who played on Purdue’s 1966 Rose Bowl team, came in 1982 and molded the team into a winner.
Seven times since 1984 they have won at least nine games. In 1992, they played in the Division III title game, losing to Wisconsin-La Crosse.
How can this be done at a school in Washington, Pa., with an enrollment of 1,200 that gives no scholarships and has a limit of three full-time coaches? They are so loaded that their offensive line averages nearly 300 pounds.
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“It’s good recruiting,” Luckhardt said, “and we’ve been lucky, to be honest.”
Their best lineman is 6-foot-6-inch, 304-pound Mike Jones. According to Luckhardt, Jones has a legitimate shot at the NFL because he is athletic as well as big.
Luckhardt wouldn’t mind coaching in Division I some day. But he’s about to turn 50 and says he’s “probably been stamped a small-college phenom.”