After suffering a 42-21 loss at Denison University this past Saturday, head coach Bill Lynch is still winless as Tigers' head coach.
At Denison, the Tigers took a 14-point lead in the first half of play. Junior J.D. Robinson took a 34 yard pass from first-year quarterback Matt Hunt to the end zone, only five plays into the contest.
It was the first time the Tigers held a lead all season. Later in the first quarter, the Tigers increased their lead on a 19-yard touchdown run by senior halfback Nikko Sansone. Sansone finished the game with 78 net yards rushing and 149 all purpose yards. Sansone's total accounted for slightly more than half of DePauw's 297 total offensive yards.
Hunt, a Heritage Christian High School graduate who has taken the starting quarterback duties from sophomore Justin Murray, finished the game with 12 completions out of 19 attempts, and 219 total passing yards. He has thrown for a total of 442 yards in his first two games as a college athlete.
"Hunt looks real good for us," wide out Robinson said. "He's been a leader even as a freshman. The teams glad to have him."
Murray, who stands at 6 feet 2 inches and weighs 220 pounds, has been moved to the defensive side of the ball after a year and a half under center for the Tigers.
Sansone, who transferred from the University of Missouri in 2011, is averaging close to five yards per carry in the teams' first four games of the season. After no rushing attempts in the team's first game at Sewanee University of the South and only four against Wittenberg University, Sansone has been given 18 rushing carries in each of the teams' past two games.
Sansone is currently on pace for 1,218 all purpose yards for the season. If those numbers are achieved, Sansone will find himself at 11th on the schools all-purpose yards gained in a season. Former wide receiver John Stephens currently holds the record, gaining 1,964 all-purpose yards in the 2001 season.
Sansone and Hunt are two shining lights in the Tigers' gloomy start thus far. While the offensive unit has shown improvements, the defense has given up 115 points in the Tigers' last three games. Since their 10-7 season opening loss at Sewanee, the defense gave up 461 yards against Wittenberg. They followed up allowing 398 total yards against Kenyon. This past weekend, the team surrendered 487 offensive yards to Denison, who now stand at 4-1.
Despite the performances, Robinson stressed the importance of team chemistry and unity in the Tigers' rough start.
"We stay together as a team," Robinson said. "People are gonna make mistakes. The trick is to stay together through peaks and valleys. Its important that we trust our defense."
One of the biggest problems for the defensive unit is their lack of resistance for opposing red zone offenses. Thus far, opponents have a 95-percent chance of scoring when they reach within their own twenty-yard line. Furthermore, of the 17 times they were scored against, 15 of them were touchdowns.
In the second half alone, Denison outgunned the Tigers in yardage 338-83. The Big Red scored three touchdowns in the third quarter. Denison quarter back Brandon Sklenar, a junior, ran for two touchdowns and threw for three. The last Denison touchdown came with DePauw already far out of reach and 3:39 left in the game.
Nevertheless, the team is excited for Old Gold at Blackstock Stadium, where they will take on Oberlin College at 1p.m. The University will officially be naming its stadium in honor of former head coach Nick Mourouzis.
Mourouzis, considered an icon in the athletic program, is the school's all time leader in football coaching victories. Both Mourouzis and Lynch are members of the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.
The team hopes the added intensity to the Old Gold game transfers to the scoreboard.
"This is going to be a big game," sophomore defensive back Adam Folta said. "I'm looking forward to a win, its about time."