The UW-Whitewater Warhawks improved to 2-0 in conference play (5-0 overall) with a 30-7 decision over the UW-Stout Blue Devils on Saturday. The Warhawks outscored the Devils 20 to 0 in the second half to secure their 20th consecutive victory. (The following aspects of the game will be rated Spectacular, Solid, or Needs Work)
THE RUNNING GAME
If all had gone according to plan Levell Coppage may not have played at all on Saturday due to a leg injury. As fate would have it, Coppage was forced into action as Booker Stanley left the game with an shoulder injury after just 3 carries. Coppage responded, gaining 163 yards and two TD's in his 20 carries. His effort on a bad wheel alone elevates this category into the Spectacular range. Antwan Anderson added 51 yards on 11 carries and Matt Blanchard scrambled for 27 yards on 4 attempts. All totaled, UW-W rushed for 255 yards and a 6.4 average.
Rating: Spectacular
THE PASSING GAME
Matt Blanchard was once again very accurate and made very good decisions. The offensive line gave him time to survey the field and the patient QB took what the defense gave him. He completed 22 of 30 passes for 213 yards and 2 TDs. In Blanchard's five starts for the Warhawks, he has yet to throw an interception. The UW-W passing game is very well developed and receivers continue to break free consistently. The only thing missing was the deep ball as UW-W's longest completion was 24 yards. Blanchard just missed Tyler Huber on a deep pass down the right sideline near the pylon.
Rating: Solid
DEFENDING THE RUN
The Blue Devils came into the game averaging over 4.3 yards per carry. The Warhawks held the Blue Devils to 61 total rushing yards and a 2.3 yards per carry average. The two longest runs of the day for Stout were 11 yards by QB Ross Carey and 10 yards by Craig Warminski in the 4th quarter after UW-W had the game in hand.
Rating: Spectacular
DEFENDING THE PASS
The Blue Devils came into the game with a strategy centered on a controlled passing game. QB Ross Carey squeezed several throws into small windows for impressive completions. On the day, Carey completed 17 of 35 passes for 177 yards and no touchdowns or interceptions. He was under pretty good, but not unmanageable pressure. Carey was outstanding on third down completing 8 of 10 passes for 8 first downs. Carey's excellent third down performance kept the ball out of the hands of the powerful UW-W offense. It should be noted he was sacked twice on third down. All of of the third down production only led to 7 points and football has always been a bottom line game.
Rating: Solid
SPECIAL TEAMS
It is hard to come up with the right word for the performance put in by UW-W punter Kris Rosholt. It is doubtful any punter in the country had a better weekend punting than Rosholt, including those who played on Sunday. Rosholt's two punt had enormous hang time and dead bounced straight up and each were downed on the one. Rosholt's NET average was 50.5. Eric Kindler averaged 60.2 yards on his 6 kickoffs and made his only field goal attempt. Kindler did miss one extra point, but the source of the problem seemed to be an errant snap. Nothing of note to report on returns
Rating: Solid
EFFICIENCY
UW-W had no turnovers for the third straight game. UW-W averaged 6.7 yards per play against a defense that had allowed just 3.86 yards per play entering the game. UW-W had the ball only 3 times in the first half, scoring a TD and a FG. In the second half, UW-W scored 3 TD's in their four possessions. In total, UW-W had seven possessions resulting in 4 TD, 1 FG, and two punts that were downed on the one. UW-W was penalized 8 times for 56 yards. Included in the penalties were 5 offensive holding calls. But overcoming penalties has been commonplace so far this year.
Rating: Spectacular
Overall:
UW-Stout is one of the strongest teams in the WIAC this season. They were within 3 at halftime and played a solid and very physical game. Most observers would agree that the football game had the feel of a pretty close game and for awhile it was. In looking at the scoreboard and at the statistics, UW-W secured a solid win against a very good football team.
Rating: Solid
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