This past Saturday, the DePauw University football team hosted Franklin College for their annual preseason scrimmage.
Throughout the day, the teams competed in various individual drills as well as a few team drills which included 7 on 7, special teams and a full-half scrimmage.
DePauw Head Coach Bill Lynch expressed how valuable a scrimmage like this is, especially considering the competition they’re up against.
“Franklin College is a really good Division III football program. They’ve been very successful over the past ten years, and they’re a really good challenge for us,” Lynch said.
Lynch was pleased with the team’s performance, for the most part, as they continued to improve throughout the drills and into the scrimmage.
Although they continued to get better during the day, the Tigers were unable to bring home the victory as they fell to Franklin 14-10. Although the Tigers lost, sophomore defensive lineman Matt Mitsch isn’t convinced that it was because they were overpowered.
“If we scouted them like we do for any other game, we would have beaten them by at least three touchdowns,” Mitsch said, “I mean we didn’t go over any plays too extensively, so I think that’s why we lost. But we did not scout them like we would any other team on our roster.”
Now, with ten days remaining until the season opener, Lynch has acknowledged how far the team has come, but also acknowledged that they are not quite ready yet.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got a little bit of additional time to open up the season. I think we’re making good progress, our guys have really worked hard, and I think if we’re able to continue to add things with our offense, our defense, and our kicking game, we’ll be ready when we start September 10.”
The Tigers open up their season on Sept. 10, against Mount St. Joseph’s at 1 p.m. The game will be played at Blackstock Stadium.