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WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Two of the most storied programs in NCAA Division III history will meet in the first round of the playoffs when No. 21/19 Washington & Jefferson (9-1, 7-1) travels to No. 12 Wittenberg (9-1, 9-0) on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 12 p.m.

The Series: Despite being two of the most storied programs in NCAA Division III history (1,442 wins combined), the two schools have met on the gridiron just twice and not since 1930. The first meeting was Nov. 16, 1929 when the then-"Fighting Lutherans" had one of their best players ever in All-America center Bill Edwards and were coached by W&J grad T. Bill Stobbs. The Presidents prevailed, however, with a 15-0 victory in Washington. The following year in Springfield, Ohio, the two teams played to a 7-7 tie just weeks before W&J played Lafayette in the first-ever indoor night football contest in Atlantic City, N.J.

The Head Coaches: Mike Sirianni (Mount Union, '94) owns a 110-25 (.815) record at W&J in his 12th season as head coach. The six-time PAC Coach of the Year and two-time South Region Coach of the Year (2004, 2012) entered the season fourth among all active NCAA coaches in winning percentage (minimum of 10 years) (101-24, .808). The Presidents will be making their 11th postseason appearance under Sirianni on Saturday. Joe Fincham (Ohio, '88) is in his 19th season at the helm for the Tigers. His record overall is 173-38 (.820) with a 120-16  (.882) showing in the North Coast Athletic Conference. The Tigers have won 11 league titles under Fincham, including 2014, and he has been tabbed NCAC Coach of the Year, eight times, including 2013. He was ranked third, one spot ahead of Sirianni, before the season with a 164-37 (.816) record.

W&J vs. The North Coast: W&J holds a 59-39-7 (.595) winning percentage against current members of the North Coast Athletic Conference. Prior to last season's 58-21 win at Wooster
to open the year, W&J hadn't played an NCAC opponent since 2009 (Oberlin, W, 35-9). The lone common opponent for the teams is Wooster, which each team defeated (W&J, 51-17, Wittenberg, 42-7).The Last Meeting (Oct. 11, 1930 - W&J 7, Wittenberg 7): The last meeting between the two teams was the second year of a home-and-home in 1930. W&J had scored a 15-0 victory at home the year before when Maurice Rush scored two touchdowns for the Presidents. In Springfield, Ohio for the 1930 edition, W&J and Wittenberg battled to a 7-7 tie as the Presidents went 6-2-1 on the season and the then-"Fighting Lutherans" boasted a unique 3-3-3 record. Both games of the series fell during the coaching tenure at Wittenberg for W&J alum, T. Bill Stobbs, who led the team for 13 seasons from 1929-41 and finished 54-54-5 (.500) for his career.

Scouting Wittenberg: The Tigers enter Saturday's NCAA First Round match-up (their 17th appearance in the tournament field and third-consecutive). Wittenberg boasts the second-highest win total in NCAA Division III history at 736, 30 more than W&J who is third. This season, the Tigers (9-1, 9-0 NCAC) are ranked 12th in both the end of the regular season D3football.com and AFCA polls. Junior quarterback Zack Jenkins leads an offense that averages 390.2 yards per game. The signal-called has completed 62.3 percent (182-of-292) of his passes for 2,499 yards with a 23-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His favorite target is classmate Zach Culvahouse who leads the team with 71 catches for 1,010 yards and 11 touchdowns. Junior Sean Gary tops the team with 549 yards on 165 carries with five touchdowns on the ground. Jenkins has punched in eight rushing touchdowns of his 89 carries. Senior Evan Killilea tops the team defensively with 85 total tackles, with 9.0 going for loss. Senior Dwight Hill has posted a team-best 3.0 sacks. Junior Winston Thomas paces the team with four interceptions.

700 Club: The Presidents joined the illustrious NCAA 700 Win Club with a 48-30 win over Carnegie Mellon on Sept. 20. In this the 123rd season of varsity football, W&J has amassed a .642 winning percentage (706-384-40). Only two other NCAA Division III programs have reached 700 wins (Mount Union and Wittenberg). W&J became just the 25th program in all NCAA divisions to reach 700 all-time wins.
Complete list, updated Nov. 20:
915 - Michigan
884 - Yale
881 - Notre Dame 
881 - Texas
873 - Nebraska
858 - Ohio State
849 - Oklahoma
847 - Alabama
847 - Harvard 
829 - Penn 
809 - Tennessee
804 - Princeton
803 - Southern California
775 - Georgia
760 - LSU
738 - Mount Union 
736 - Penn State
736 - Wittenberg 
733 - Auburn
718 - West Virginia
709 - Georgia Tech 
709 - Virginia Tech 
708 - Texas A&M
707 - Syracuse
706 - Wash. & Jeff.

30 and Counting: At 9-1, W&J now boasts 31-consecutive winning seasons as a football program. The Presidents' 31 winning seasons rank fourth among all divisions of NCAA football behind Linfield (58), Florida State (37) and Mount Union (35), all of whom have also clinched winning seasons. The last time W&J did not post a winning record was 1983 (3-5-1). That year, the top-grossing movie was Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, the top single was "Every Breath You Take" by The Police, a first-class stamp cost $0.20, and a gallon of regular gas cost $1.24.

W&J's NCAA Division III Playoff History:
1984    W&J 22, Randolph-Macon 21 at R-MC
            Central (Iowa) 20, W&J 0 at Central (Iowa) (Nat'l Semis)
1986    Susquehanna 28, W&J 20 at W&J
1987    W&J 23, Allegheny 20 (OT) at Allegheny
            Emory & Henry 23, W&J 16 at W&J
1989    Ferrum 41, W&J 7 at Ferrum
1990    W&J 10, Ferrum 7 at W&J
            Lycoming 24, W&J 0 at W&J
1991    Lycoming 18, W&J 16 at Lycoming
1992    W&J 33, Lycoming 0 at Lycoming
            W&J 51, Emory & Henry 15 at W&J
            W&J 18, Rowan 13 at Rowan
            Wisconsin-Lacrosse 16, W&J 12 (Stagg Bowl)
1993    W&J 27, Moravian 7 at W&J
            W&J 28, Frostburg State 7 at Frostburg State
            Rowan 23, W&J 16 at W&J (National Semifinals)
1994    W&J 28, Trinity (Texas) 0 at Trinity
            W&J 37, Widener 21 at W&J
            W&J 23, Ithaca 19 at Ithaca
            Albion 38, W&J 15 (Stagg Bowl)
1995    W&J 35, Emory & Henry 16 at W&J
            W&J 48, Lycoming 0 at W&J
            Rowan 28, W&J 15 at W&J (National Semifinals)
1996    Albright 31, W&J 17 at W&J
1999    W&J 14, Lycoming 7 at Lycoming
            Hardin-Simmons 51, W&J 3 at H-SC
2000    Bridgewater (Va.) 59, W&J 42 at W&J
2001    W&J 24, Western Maryland 21 at W&J
            Widener 46, W&J 30 at Widener
2002    W&J 24, Christopher Newport 10 at W&J
            Trinity (Texas) 45, W&J 10 at TU
2004    W&J 55, Bridgewater (Va.) 48 (2OT) at W&J
            W&J 24, Christopher Newport 14 at W&J
            Mary Hardin-Baylor 52, W&J 16 at W&J
2005    Bridgewater (Va.) 30, W&J 21 at Bridgewater
2006    W&J 27, Christopher Newport 23 at CNU
            Mary Hardin-Baylor 30, W&J 27 at UMH-B
2007    N.C. Wesleyan 35, W&J 34 (OT) at W&J
2008    W&J 35, Christopher Newport 29 at W&J
            W&J 35, Millsaps 20 at Millsaps
            Mary Hardin-Baylor 63, W&J 7 at UMH-B
2009    Mount Union 55, W&J 0 at UMU
2012    Johns Hopkins 42, W&J 10 at JHU
2013    Mount Union 34, W&J 20 at UMU

Playoff Vets: W&J's 21 NCAA victories tie it for ninth in Division III history with Central (Iowa) and Wittenberg. W&J's 24 appearances in the NCAA championship field are second all-time behind Mount Union who is making its 26th trip this year and 23rd straight. Every class to come through W&J since 1984 has been to the NCAA playoffs at least once.

Break the Drought: W&J is currently on a five-year playoff win drought, the longest since it made its first appearance in 1984. The Presidents last win came on Nov. 29, 2008 in Jackson, Miss. at Millsaps, 35-20. W&J is 0-4 since then, including a quarterfinal loss at Mary Hardin-Baylor that year.
Playoff Résumé: Washington & Jefferson owns a 21-23 record in the NCAA Division III playoffs and a 10-12 mark on the road. When led by Sirianni, W&J is 5-8 in the NCAA field. Wittenberg is 21-14 in the NCAA playoffs and 11-10 in 10 appearances under Fincham.

Novembers to Remember: The Presidents own a 29-9 (.763) record under Sirianni in the month of November, including 14-6 (.700) on the road.

Ball Control: W&J is 22-3 when not committing a turnover under Sirianni. All three losses have come in the NCAA playoffs (2013, 2010 Mount Union; 2007 N.C. Wesleyan).

Poll Us: W&J is ranked 19th in the final D3football regular season Top 25 poll and 21st in the AFCA Coaches Poll.

Play with a Lead: W&J is 87-3 when leading at halftime during Sirianni's tenure. Oct. 25th's 34-24 win over Case Western Reserve (trailed, 9-6) and Nov. 20th's 31-28 overtime loss at Waynesburg (tied, 14-14) were the only games this season W&J did not lead at halftime.

Can't Stop, Won't Stop: The Presidents have scored points in 38-of-40 (.950) quarters through nine games and have been shutout in a half zero times. The only periods that W&J has failed to light the scoreboard were the opening quarter of the season against Wooster and the second quarter against Case Western Reserve.

Never Slow Down: W&J boasts the No. 3 offense in the nation according to total offense (548.2 yards per game). W&J is also seventh in NCAA Division III at 45.7 points per game. The Presidents rank second in Division III, running 87.7 plays per game, including a nationally-leading 87.8 on the road.

End Zone Dance: W&J has scored 61 offensive touchdowns through 10 games this season, the most since the 2010 squad produced 75 touchdowns in 12 games.

Just Win, Baby: Saturday's game pits two of the winningest programs all-time in NCAA football as Wittenberg enters with 736 wins (second DIII, 18th all divisions) and W&J possesses 706 wins (third DIII, 25th all divisions). The two teams have combined for 1,442 wins in 2,252 games with 72 ties for a winning percentage of .656.

National Leader: Junior RB Ryan Ruffing leads all NCAA Divisions in scoring at 16.8 points per game. His 24 rushing touchdowns are second in the nation behind a player whose season is completed. With an additional four touchdowns receiving, Ruffing has moved into sole possession of second place on the W&J single-season touchdown list. The record for total touchdowns is 34 (Chris Babirad, 1992).

Workhorse: Ruffing has topped 100 yards in 10-straight games to start the season, the longest such streak under Sirianni and the longest overall 100-yard streak during the head coach's regime. Ruffing's 196 yards at Thiel was a new career high, surpassing the 193 he had against Carnegie Mellon earlier this year. He also broke off a career-long 63-yard TD run, the longest rush of his career by 25 yards. With 151 yards against Waynesburg, Ruffing became just the third W&J running back to top 1,500 yards in a season (Babirad 91, 92; Nichols 01).

Home Run Hitters: W&J has 61 plays from scrimmage of 20-or-more yards and 11 totaling 50 yards or more. 22 of the long plays are rushing and 39 have come in the passing game, while 20 total have gone for touchdowns. Ruffing leads the team with 18 plays of 20-plus.

Targets Acquired: W&J has three wide receivers with 40 or more catches, 600-plus yards and six-plus TDs (Daniel Lis, 65-766-7; Max Creighan, 60-668-6; Jesse Zubik, 49-766-9). The last time W&J had three receivers with 40-plus catches, 500-plus yards and five-plus TDs was 2008 when David Ravida (86-956-8), Craig Besong (75-1186-16) and Luke Espe (67-803-8) accomplished the feat in 13 games when the season ended with an NCAA Quarterfinals loss at Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Give the Rook' a Look: Freshman WR Jesse Zubik has been named ECAC Division III Southwest Rookie of the Week four times on the season. His rookie numbers (44-719-9) have already surpassed all-time leading receiver Alex Baroffio's numbers in 11 games during his freshman year in 2010 (30 rec., 372 yards, 4 TD).

Three Bills: Sophomore QB Pete Coughlin has topped 300 yards passing five times this season, matching the most since W&J Hall of Famer Bobby Swallow did it five times in 2008. Chris Edwards has the most in a single-season during Sirianni's tenure with seven games of 300-plus yards passing in 2005. Coughlin's 236 completions this year are tied for second on the W&J single-season list with Edwards during the 2005 season (Swallow has the school record with 295 in 2008).

Shut 'Em Down: The W&J defense has not allowed a point in 42.5 percent (17-of-40) of quarters this season.

Run Away: Senior LB Jared Pratt leads W&J and the PAC with 103 tackles, 77 of which have come on rushing plays, nearly double the second-closest President (Ryan Torrance has 49). Pratt has been in double digits for stops five times and led the Presidents in tackles five times this season. He has been in double digits nine times in 21 career games. With his seven tackles against Waynesburg, he became the third President in the last 10 years to top 100 in a season (Gitlitz 07, 08; Sedunov 08).

Saturday Special: A total of 24 W&J players have made at least one tackle on special teams this season. Junior Anthony Tutino leads the way with 17 stops on special teams. Freshman Jordan Yates had two tackles in his return to the lineup against Waynesburg giving him 15 on the season. Sophomore Luke Merhaut has 14 and freshman Zachary Walker sits at 12.