WIAC PROJECTIONS WEEK 3

Wheaton College at UW-Platteville
The Thunder will be running into a 2-0 Pioneer team brimming with confidence after their surprisingly easy 26-3 victory over UW-Stevens Point.  The Pioneers have not given up a TD in either of their first two games.  Last year, UW-P was playing right with Wheaton when the wheels came off and they were stampeded 51-20.  This one has the feel of a much closer game and if the Thunder doesn't improve from last week's performance against Albion, they will find themselves on the short end.  Wheaton's talented defensive ends could provide the difference against the relatively inexperienced Pioneer offensive tackles.

Wheaton College 27
UW-Platteville  21


UW-River Falls at Trine
A year ago Trine beat Manchester and Bluffton by a combined 117 points and averaged 7.0 yards per carry, gaining 661 yards in 94 carries before taking on the Falcons.  Against those same opponents this year, the Thunder  won by a combined margin of 25 points and gained 203 yards rushing in 87 attempts for 2.3 yards per carry. In last year's contest, the Thunder rolled for 338 yards rushing in pulling away from a halftime tie to a 35-14 victory.  In the first half last week, UW-RF held St. Thomas to 57 yards rushing in the first half before wearing down in the second half.  Could this be two teams headed in opposite directions?

UW-River Falls 23
Trine 20


Campbellsville University at UW-Whitewater
Campbellsville comes in 2-0, riding big defensive plays to wins over two ranked NAIA teams.  In the Tigers' 30-14 win over Union College, four interceptions and a forced fumble propelled the victory. Last week, the Tigers blocked three kicks and returned a two point conversion attempt turnover for a score late, edging #18 Cumberland University 30-27.  The Tigers have great teams speed, which tends to force mistakes against lesser teams.  However, UW-W prides itself in mistake free, fundamentally sound football.  While this will be a good test, especially for the skill position players of the Warhawks, it is not likely Campbellsville will be able to hold up in the interior lines over four quarters.  If the Tigers' play mistake free, it's possible they could keep it reasonably close, at least for awhile.

UW-Whitewater 41
Campbellsville University 13

D3 Top 25 Fan Poll Week 3

Re-Working it. Should be released later today.

UW-W Preseason Questions and Answers

As the UW-W Whitewater Warhawks prepare for their third and final pre-season game, some interesting, if not conclusive, answers seem to be forming to a number of questions surrounding the season:

1. How well will the pre-season slate prepare the Warhawks for the rest of the season? The simple answer is, better than last year.  For the second consecutive year, the Hawks opened against a team playing their first game for a new head coach. However, it is obvious UW-LaCrosse was far more prepared for the challenge than Adrian College was a year ago.  Although neither opponent was able to generate much offensively, Adrian offered no semblance of an offensive threat at all.  Their starting tailback gained only 1.5 ypc in 12 carries against the Warhawks, while Eagle back Lee Lauters gained 89 yards and averaged 5.9 yards per carry, albeit much of the damage was done late in the game. The line play of the WIAC school was much stronger than Adrian and undoubtedly gave the young Warhawk fronts good experience against a representative group.  There is almost no comparison in the second game opponents. Franklin, ranked #21 by d3football.com presented a legitimate passing game and threw the ball 36 times. The Grizzlies presented far greater experience for the UW-W defense and pass defense in particular than 2010 opponent Dakota State, which offered no resistance offensively or defensively.  

           While the third opponent, Campbellsville University, is the same as last year, they are a team that expects to be improved. Campbellsville was the only team to test the UW-W secondary at all last pre-season and they are expected to again on Saturday, as they bring with them All-American candidate Stan Warrenhuffman.  

           All in all, the experience of playing another WIAC school, and the far stronger tests for the UW-W pass defense should serve the Warhawks well as they head into their conference opener in two weeks against UW-Platteville.  

2.  How good will the offensive line be this year after being hit hard by graduation? Again, nothing conclusive can be gained after two games.  The story will be written over he course of the season.  However, there are certainly encouraging signs.  In two games, the Warhawks have gained 484 yards in 99 carries, for a 4.8 yards per carry average. A year ago, with a veteran offensive line returning, UW-W rushed for 646 yards in 90 carries after 2 games. However, it's hard to overstate the difference in competition levels.  It should be noted also, that UW-W is developing the running backs behind All-American Levell Coppage.  Coppage only has 39% of the total Warhawk carries so far.  If the line continues to come together and improve each week, there's nothing to suggest they won't be a very good line by the end of the season. 

3.  How will the pass defense come together.  Once again, all signs are positive through two games.  In 57 drop backs, the Warhawks have four sacks and allowed only a 47.2 completion percentage.  In addition, the Warhawks have three interceptions and have allowed only 99 yards per game passing.  The Warhawks have allowed a paltry 3.7 yards per pass.

4.  Do the Warhawks have what it takes to make it to Salem a seventh consecutive time? Stay tuned.  

Warhawks Set the Bar

There are goals and then there are dreams.  When Adrian College backed out of the second year of a two year agreement to play UW-Whitewater, Franklin coach Mike Leonard jumped on the opportunity.  "Why not show your college what a national champion looks like?" said Leonard.  "If you want to compete with the best, why not play the best?'' Certainly, exposing a program and its supporters to a championship level program with the intent of learning what it takes to compete for a championship is a worthy goal. It is a part of the approach UW-Whitewater used to rise to national prominence. 

Coach Leonard allowed himself to dream just a little, too.  "If we win this thing, I just might retire" joked Leonard.  "That's how big it would be.  It would just do wonders for our program, for our recruiting.  There are so many positives that would come out of it." When the Grizzlies held UW-W scoreless on their first two drives Saturday afternoon, Leonard's dream seemed alive and well.  But as it turns out, the dream of an upset was relatively short lived, but the goal of exposing his program to championship level football was more than accomplished.

UW-W lined up for their third possession in a scoreless game with 5:21 left in the first quarter.  Three plays later, UW-W elected to go for a first down on fourth and one from their own 41 yard line. Quarterback Matt Blanchard ran for two yards and a first down. Having moved the chains, the Warhawks moved to the Grizzlies' 25 yard line when Blanchard hit a wide open Steve Morris on the left side for a 25 yard TD pass.  As it turns out, this drive was the first of five consecutive touchdown drives in the first half for the Warhawks.  Two rushing touchdowns each by Desmin Ward and Levell Coppage propelled UW-Whitewater to a 35-0 halftime lead.  The UW-W defense was dominant in the first half as they held Franklin College to 118 yards and 6 first downs. A fumble recovery by Ryan Wenkman and an interception by Ryan Cortez killed two of the Grizzlies first half drives.  Both takeaways led to Warhawk touchdowns. 

The Warhawks' defense continued their dominant play in the second half.  Four second half possessions by the Grizzlies ended with two punts and two Warhawk takeaways.  On the first possession of the second half, UW-W took over at their own 39 after a 29 yard kickoff return by Shane Covington.  The Warhawks drove to the Grizzlies two on the strength of four Blanchard completions for 35 yards and five Desmin Ward rushes for 24 yards.  Blanchard connected with Bernie Tamsett on a two yard TD pass and UW-W led 42-0 with 10:46 remaining in the 3rd quarter.  The rest of the way, Lee Brekke replaced Blanchard at quarterback and the Warhawks pulled in the reigns, running on 23 of their final 31 plays, with Eric Kindler providing the final 45-0 margin with a 31 yard field goal.

The Warhawks held a 473-198 edge in total yardage.  UW-W had 27 first downs and averaged 5.8 yards on their 82 offensive plays.  Franklin College finished with 12 first downs and averaged 3.1 yards per play.  Part of the focus of the UW-W coaching staff this week undoubtedly was to limit penalties after being flagged 9 times for 85 yards a week ago.  They cut down their penalty total to 5 for 45 yards.  Uncharacteristically, the Warhawks did fumble twice, losing one inside Franklin's red zone. 

By any measure, Whitewater's venture into Indiana was a successful one.  The Warhawks shut out the 21st ranked team in the nation who averaged 45.6 points a game a year ago and scored 49 points last week. The Warhawk running game rushed for 307 yards, paced by Levell Coppage with 119 yards and Desmin Ward with 71 yards.  Matt Blanchard completed 13 of 18 passes for 128 yards and 2 TD's, while Lee Brekke chipped in 4 of 7 for 38 yards.  And while UW-W's 45-0 whitewashing may have denied the fulfillment of a coach's dream, they certainly did their part in exposing his program's supporters to championship level football.

WIAC PROJECTIONS

UW-Eau Claire at St. John’s

Failing to finish Eau Claire last year spun the Johnnie’s season in the wrong direction. The Bluegolds hoping to avoid an 0-2 start, but Collegeville won’t be an easy place to get the win.

St. John’s 27  UW-Eau Claire 21

UW-LaCrosse at UMHB

The Indians, oh, Eagles, made the long bus trip to Belton, TX in the middle of the night, Thursday night. Probably the bigger challenge to overcome will be the Mary Hardin-Baylor defense. The team speed of the Eagles’ defense should help them stay with the Crusaders (or Tigers) for awhile, but this figures to be a huge challenge.

UMHB 35  UW-LaCrosse 10

UW-Oshkosh at Mount Union

The Titans impressed in their win against Central last week and did well in putting up 28 points in last year’s contest. Mount Union’s defense is notorious for being much better at the end of the season than the beginning of the season. If Oshkosh’s defense can hold up, this one will be interesting. It’s those darn if’s that get you every time…

Mount Union 35

UW-Oshkosh 17

UW-Platteville at UW-Stevens Point

When the dust settles on the 2011 season, there is going to be more than one team who rue’s the day the WIAC mandated intra-conference non-conference games. The Pointers and Pioneers could be two of them.

Coming off an impressive win on a long road trip, Point could be primed for an upset. Platteville has a veteran defense and a talented QB. The question is whether their offensive line can generate anything against a strong UW-SP front.

UW Stevens Point 24

UW Platteville 10

St. Thomas at River Falls

If the Tommies don’t play better than they did last week, they will go the way of North Central.  However, the Falcons aren’t yet ready to pull off an upset of this stature.

St. Thomas 31

UW-River Falls 14

UW-Stout at Jamestown

The Blue Devils have won each of the last 3 seasons, but the margin has gotten smaller and smaller. Last year, it took a last second field goal. Is this the year Jamestown overtakes them? Nahhhh

UW-Stout 27

Jamestown 17

UW-Whitewater at Frankin

The Warhawks will look to control the ball to keep it out of the hands of the pass happy Grizzlies. The UW-W formula of 4 quarters of pounding could take a toll. Sophomore QB Jonny West, making his second start, will find the UW-W’s defense a much stiffer challenge than Valpo. After last year’s playoff loss, the Griz don’t particularly need a measuring stick.  They get one anyway.

UW-Whitewater 38

Franklin 17

What the Numbers Say

By now, UW-W Coach Lance Leipold and his staff have broken down the game video of Saturday evening's 26-7 victory over arch rival LaCrosse and finalized the game plan for Franklin College.  While the game and end zone view videos are invaluable tools in helping coaches evaluate performance, techniques, and alignments, some assumptions of overall performance can be gleaned from studying the statistical results of a contest.  Here is a capsule of some of the numbers from Saturday night, what story those numbers told, and what it all may mean for the Warhawks' prospects this season:

FINAL SCORE: UW-W 26  UW-LaCrosse 7

Unlike some games, the final score in this one probably is pretty indicative of how this one played out.  While the win was convincing, it was not quite a blow out.  The defense was relatively dominant, while the offense moved the ball freely, but failed to cap off enough drives with touchdowns to blow out the Eagles. All that being said, the Eagles never really appeared to be a threat to win the game, probably because of the inability of their offense to sustain much of anything.

ERIC KINDLER: 4 for 4 on FG attempts.

Call this Kindler's anti-Campbellsville performance.  In last year's 3rd pre-conference game, Kindler went 0-4 in Campbellsville, KY.  That performance shook the confidence of Warhawk nation in the kicking game. However, Kindler proved himself reliable the rest of the season making 14 of 17 after that visit to Kentucky.  This performance bodes well both for Kindler's confidence and his chances of being a real threat for the Warhawks in 2011.  

MATT BLANCHARD: 18-30-0 for 248 yards.

Blanchard did not throw a TD pass, but he did complete 4 passes of 20+ yards to 4 different receivers.  Blanchard threw at a 60% clip after completing a 72.4% clip a year ago.  The lower percentages is probably a function of working with new receivers and not should not be a concern.  Overall, Blanchard spread the ball around, completing passes to 8 different receivers.  His main target, especially to move the chains was Luke Menze (6 receptions).   However, Blanchard also utilized TE Jason Ford very effectively, completing 5 passes to the senior defensive end for 62 yards, with a long of 32 yards.

LEVELL COPPAGE: 21 Carries for 121 Yards and a TD

While his numbers were certainly solid, they were a bit un-Coppage like in that his long gain was "only" 15 yards.  However, Coach Lance Leipold was pleased with the play of his revamped offensive line. "I'm pleased. I will have to check the film and the end zone film, but they must have blitzed 95% of the time. And for their (the offensive line's) first game together, I'm pleased" Leipold said after the game. Getting experience against a WIAC defense will likely be a huge benefit to this group.

RUN DEFENSE: 15 Carries for 89 Yards.

Starting running back Lee Lauters did a nice job against the Warhawk defense, running for 5.9 yards per carry.  It  should be noted that he had runs of 20, 11, and 21 yards in three of his last five carries of the game, all in the second half when many defensive players were being moved in and out of the game. But nonetheless, the UW-W coaches will undoubtedly be expecting the defense to be more stout against the run as the season progresses.

PASS DEFENSE: 7-17-1 for 40 yards and 1 first down.

Clearly, the pass defense was on their game.  The Eagles could really muster next to nothing through the air. The defensive backs held LaCrosse wide receivers to 4 catches for 39 yards.  UW-W's linebackers did a great job on  the ancillary receivers as they held Lauters to 1 catch for (-2) yards and tight end Trevor Hutson to 1 catch for 3 yards.  In Addition, the defense generated 3 quarterback sacks, totaling 32 yards in losses.  The pass defense will undoubtedly be tested far more in their September 17th game at Franklin College.

KRIS ROSHOLT: 5 Punts for a 42.6 yard average and 4 punts inside the 20.

Rosholt picks up right where he left off last year. His ability to hang a long punt with excellent hang time only to drop with a neutral bounce is rare and exceptional.  Rosholt is a major field position weapon for the Warhawks.

SEASON RECORD: 1-0

The objective of any pre-season game is to come out healthy and with a victory. Although injuries aren't always made public, the victory certainly appears to be a solid start to the 2011 season. In addition, many new starters and backups received excellent experience playing in a hostile environment.  While the coaches no doubt discovered "coaching points" as they broke down the film, the numbers certainly point to a good start to the season for the Warhawks. 

D3 Top 25 Fan Poll Week 2

TEAM  (1st place votes)       PTS   (last week's rating)
1. UW-Whitewater (12)       348            (1)
2.  Mount Union (2)                 338            (2)
3.  Wesley                                 316            (4)
4. St. Thomas                           292            (5)
5. Mary Hardin-Baylor           289            (6)
6. Linfield                                 261            (9)
7. Bethel                                   258            (7)
8. Wheaton                              243            (8)
9. Ohio Northern                    198            (11)
10. Hardin-Simmons              196            (16)
11. North Central                   185             (4)
12. Wartburg                          156             (12)
13. Montclair State                154             (13)
14. Cortland State                 144             (15)
15. Cal Lutheran                   130             (17)
16. Thomas More                  128             (14)
17. UW-Stevens Point           100             (22)
18. Wabash                              92             (20)
19. Wittenberg                        90             (21)
20. Redlands                           84              (U)
21. Alfred                                83              (18)
22. St. John's                          80              (23)
23. Trine                                 70              (19)
24. Coe                                    67              (10)
25. Franklin                           60              (25)

Also receiving votes: Baldwin Wallace (34), Delaware Valley (26), Hampden-Sydney (19), Louisiana College (15),  Elmhurst (13), Illinois Wesleyan (13), UW-Oshkosh (12), Pacific Lutheran (12), Salisbury (11), Willamette (7), Washington and Lee (6), UW-LaCrosse (5), Rowan (4), UW-Platteville (3), Adrian (2), Lycoming (2), St. John Fisher(2), Johns Hopkins (1), Washington University (1).