Division III power Mount Union loses in Week 1 to snap 85-game regular-season win streak that dated back to 2016

Division III powerhouse Mount Union lost its first regular-season game since 2016 on Saturday.

The Purple Raiders fell 24-23 to Wheaton in their 2026 season-opener after Wheaton blocked a game-tying extra point with 22 seconds to go. Mount Union's Kayden Minner scored on a 1-yard run ahead of the failed extra point, and the Purple Raiders elected to go for the tie and potential overtime instead of what could have been a game-winning two-point conversion.

After blocking the PAT, Wheaton then recovered Mount Union's onside kick.

The loss snapped a regular-season win streak that lasted 85 games. Before Saturday, the last time Mount Union lost a non-playoff game was on Nov. 12, 2016, when John Carroll scored a 31-28 win. Most of the members of that Mount Union team are now in their 30s.

Mount Union made the semifinals of the D3 playoffs that season and won the 2017 national title with a 15-0 season. Since then, the team has, remarkably, not won a national championship as the regular-season win streak lived on. Over the past six full seasons, Mount Union has lost the Stagg Bowl three times and was eliminated in the third round of the Division III playoffs in 2025 after an 11-0 start.

Saturday's loss was also the first time Mount Union had lost a Week 1 game in 39 years. Until 2026, the team's most recent season-opening loss came in a 17-15 defeat to Wooster in 1987.