It would be a stretch to say that UW-Oshkosh Head Coach Pat Cerroni had Saturday's game against UW-Whitewater in mind when he scheduled both Central College and Mount Union as non-conference games to open each of the last two seasons. But he undoubtedly had big things in mind. After losing both games to begin the 2010 season, the Titans defeated Central 31-28 to open 2011. UW-O then traveled to Alliance, OH and lost to Mount. Overall, Cerroni felt like the Titans played a pretty good game against the traditional powerhouse. "The first quarter we played really well and then in the second quarter we lost our focus and they jumped on us pretty good," UWO head coach Pat Cerroni said. "In the second half, we tied them 7-7 so I thought we came out after halftime, settled down and played football."
Cerroni is hoping to use the rugged non-conference schedule as a building block in building his own program to WIAC and national prominence. Whitewater took much the same path in 2002 and 2003. For UW-W and UW-O, the results of the games against Mount Union were remarkably similar. In 2002, UW-W lost to Mount 44-21. In 2010, UW-O fell 45-28. In 2003, UW-W lost to Mount 40-17. This year, UW-O lost 41-17.
Oshkosh comes into Saturday's game 3-0 in conference play and 6-1 overall. The Titans have won their last 4 games, all WIAC opponents, by an average of over 27 points per game. Although Saturday's game is hardly a final exam, it could be considered a mid-term in Coach Cerroni's building program.
The Titans certainly don't seem intimidated by the thought of playing against the number one ranked, two time defending national champions. "I feel that the ranking is just a number. The confidence our team has is with each other. Although the stakes are a little higher this week, we are just looking at it as another game and preparing like we would for any team," said defensive end Andrew Thompson. The Titans have been strong on both sides of the ball, ranking second in the WIAC to the Warhawks in both total offense and total defense.
The centerpiece of the Titans offense is quarterback Nate Wara, who ranks 3rd in the WIAC in Total Offense. Wara also provides the biggest mystery to the game. He suffered an injury in the first half last week against UW-Plateville and did not return to the game. According to www.warhawkfootball.com, Wara injured his leg while running the football and no more information has been made available to the public. Wara is a duel threat as he is the third leading rusher in the conference and the fourth leading passer. Nick Olla, the UW-O back up QB finished the game and went 7-12 throwing the ball for 100 yards and carried the ball 10 times for 24 yards. Olla, a 6'1" sophomore, threw only 3 passes all year before Saturday. Wara has carried the ball twice as much as anyone else on the Titans' roster this year. Running backs Cole Myhra and Justin Budiac have been effective when called upon. Myhrahas averaged 6.7 yards per carry (47 carries) and Budiac 7.8 yards per carry (36 carries). The receiving corps is led by Garrie Fox, who has caught 22 passes for 368 yards and 4 TD's. Fox is the WIAC's fourth leading receiver.
Defensively, the Titans are led by playmaking strong safety Ryan Stefaniak, linebackers Nick Jolin and Taylor Goodman and free safety Jack Breese. On the defensive line, defensive end Thompson leads the pass rush with 3 sacks. The Oshkosh defense has been very strong against the pass all year long. They have allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete less than 50% of their passes. They have also been an improved unit against the run in the last couple of weeks. Prior to the Titans' last two games, Mount Union's Jeremy Murray averaged 6.2 yards per carry, Stout's Paul Bernier averaged 4.5 ypc, and River Falls' Taylor Edwards averaged 4.9 ypc for an accumulated total of 344 yards over 3 consecutive weeks. However in the last two games, they have given up a combined average of only 3.54 yards per carry to their opponents primary ball carrier. In their last four games against WIAC opponents, the Titans have given up only 9 points per game.
"We do have a little momentum with how we have been playing, and hopefully it can keep rolling through this weekend and the rest of the season," said Thompson. Saturday will provide the ultimate test. UW-Whitewater comes into the game first in the conference in scoring offense, total offense, rushing offense, passing offense, scoring defense, total defense, and rushing defense. The Warhawks rank second in the WIAC in pass defense.
While Saturday's game may not be the reason Coach Cerroni subjected his Titans to a brutal preseason schedule for the last two seasons, he certainly believes UW-W provides the ultimate litmus test. "It's time for all of us to step up our game and challenge ourselves," said Cerroni when discussing his teams' rugged schedule before the season. "We've had a young team, but we're not young anymore. Our players are really excited about it. We talk about raising the bar of the program and that's what we are doing." Has the bar risen high enough to vault the Titans into national prominence? They will find out Saturday afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment