This year's Tiger football squad has made an impressive second half resurgence.
After starting the year with four straight losses, the Tigers have rebounded with wins in four of their last five games. They now head into the Monon Bell Classic game with a record of 4-5.
With new coach Bill Lynch at the helm, the Tigers began the season by traveling to Tennessee to take on Sewanee: University of the South.
Trailing 10-0 at halftime, DePauw mounted a charge with an early fourth quarter touchdown that cut Sewanee's lead to only three.
Late in the game, sophomore quarterback Justin Murray drove the Tigers down the field, only to be picked off deep in Sewanee territory.
With that, Sewanee was able to sit on the ball en route to a 10-7 victory.
From there, DePauw headed home for its first home game, a North Coast Athletic Coast matchup against Wittenberg University.
From the opening kickoff, it was clear that the Tigers were overmatched.
Wittenberg scored on its first three possessions and had a 17-0 lead before the Tigers could even get a first down.
Things would not get any better for DePauw, as Wittenberg would go on to blow out the Tigers, winning by a score of 45-0.
As with the game at Sewanee, DePauw's week three matchup at Kenyon College was decided late in the game.
Trailing by eight points with less than five minutes remaining in the contest, first-year quarterback, Matt Hunt, executed a scoring drive that put the Tigers in a position to win the game.
With 3:59 left in the fourth quarter, first-year Matt Hunt found senior wide receiver Barry Flynn open for a touchdown. Now trailing 28-26, DePauw needed a two-point conversion to tie the game and possibly send it to overtime.
However, the Tigers were unable to convert and dropped their third straight game to open the season.
The following Saturday, DePauw traveled to Denison University to take on the Big Red and Hunt started for the first time in his DePauw career.
Unlike any of the first three weeks, DePauw was able to strike first and actually opened up an impressive 14-0 lead on Denison.
DePauw limped into halftime nursing a 21-14 lead. However, the Big Red would go on to score 28 unanswered second half points and defeat the Tigers 42-28.
Hunt was impressive, however, in his debut. The first-year threw for 249 yards and two touchdown strikes.
"The transition to Matt [Hunt] wasn't too difficult," Flynn said. "It's the coaches job to decide who starts each week and it's my responsibility to not worry about that."
With the loss, DePauw sat at 0-4 overall and 0-3 in NCAC play.
"We were very competitive in those games, aside from Wittenberg, we were in every game with a chance to win," Coach Lynch said. "We just had to keep working."
Things would finally go the Tigers way when DePauw returned home for the Old Gold weekend game against Oberlin College.
Hunt was the star. He threw for 321 yards, tossed three touchdowns, and ran for another score in DePauw's 45-11 rout of Oberlin.
"We knew that we could play with anyone," said the standout first-year quarterback. "We just needed to put it all together for sixty minutes."
Following their first win of the season, DePauw went on the road again, this time to face Ohio Wesleyan University.
The Tigers jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but the Battling Bishops came roaring back to take a 21-10 lead with only the fourth quarter remaining.
DePauw would own the final quarter, scoring 13 points on a Nikko Sansone, senior touchdown run, and two field goals from senior Eric Malm.
Hunt took the Tigers on a 14 play, 50 yard drive that culminated in Malm's 37-yard field goal to win the game.
Sansone was the star of this game, rushing for 200 yards on 39 carries. Sansone also had four catches for 55 yards as he helped the Tigers earn their second straight win and improve to 2-4.
The following weekend, winless Allegheny came to DePauw to take on the Tigers.
Despite their poor record, the Gators scored on their first possession to take an early 7-0 lead.
From then on, DePauw controlled the game. Just six minutes later, Hunt connected with Flynn for a 39-yard touchdown pass.
The Tigers took a 13-7 lead into halftime and added ten second half points to easily defeat the Gators 23-7.
DePauw saw its three game winning streak come to an end when they dropped a tough 27-24 battle to the College of Wooster.
The Tigers jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but were unable to hold onto it, as the Fighting Scots came back to take 13-10 lead early in the second half.
The rest of the game would be a back and forth battle.
However, in the end, the Fighting Scots edged the Tigers and earned a 27-24 win.
Wide-receiver Flynn helped keep the Tigers alive. Flynn's big afternoon included eight catches for 130 yards and all three of DePauw's touchdowns.
"It was one of those days where I found myself getting open against their defense and Matt [Hunt] was delivering the ball where it needed to be," Flynn said. "It was unfortunate that we still couldn't get the job done."
With running back Sansone out of the game with an injury, it was his replacement senior Armani Cato who stepped up and carried the Tigers to a 24-13 win at Hiram College.
Cato carried the ball 19 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns and picked the Tigers up on a day when Hunt couldn't get anything going. Hunt was only 9-27 for 150 yards and a touchdown.
The Tigers head into this weekend's Monon Bell Game with a 4-5 record and nothing to play for but pride. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:07 p.m. at Blackstock Stadium.
"This is one of the great college football games played every year," Lynch said. "When you realize how important this game is to so many people, you really begin to feel the energy build up."