Junior Conner Jeffers (left) prepares to tackle sophomore
Jason Kirchhoff duirng a drill. The Tigers travel to the College of
Wooster this weekend. ZACHARY TAYLOR / THE DEPAUW
While the rest of DePauw students were on break, the athletes were on campus, hard at work. The football team had two games: one against Ohio Wesleyan University at home and the other at Allegheny College.
First, they battled against the Battling Bishops at Blackstock on the first Saturday of break. Despite having a longer time of possession, Ohio Wesleyan scored on a last-minute touchdown, with the final score at 23-16.
“I think the biggest thing that our team learned from the loss against OWU was that we got outplayed,” first-year running back Jack Gruber said. “We lost our focus that we had in the previous games and that resulted in our loss.”
The Tiger’s only touchdown came from junior running back Amen Galley, while kicker Marko Adams had three field goals, two that were 29-yards and one that was 39-yards. Sophomore quarterback Matt Hunt had 225 yards passing and one interception.
“Against OWU, I thought I tried to force the ball a couple times and that hurt us,” Hunt said.
Against Allegheny, the Tigers were a different team entirely.
DePauw had 565 total yards of offense against the Gators, 412 of those on the ground. They held them to only seven points and forced a fumble, which was recovered by junior Ray Webb.
“We were excited to get back to the way we were playing before OWU and that’s why the Allegheny game resulted in a victory,” Gruber, who had 99 yards rushing and three of DePauw’s six rushing touchdowns, said.
“We ran the ball really well,” Hunt said. “As long as our running game is there, it will open up our passing game which is key. We have the capability to run the ball effectively on anyone in our conference.”
Junior wide receiver Connor Jeffers, who caught a 26-yard touchdown from Hunt in the third quarter, agreed with his quarterback.
“[The run game] allowed us to make some key plays in the passing game as well. When we are able run the ball well, good things seem to happen,” he said.
The Tigers dominated the Gators in every statistical category and won 59-7, the largest point margin win for DePauw since 1982. They are now 5-2 overall and 4-2 in the NCAC.
“I think the key to our win against Allegheny was our approach and the run game,” Gruber said. “We knew going into the game that we were bigger, faster, and stronger so we just needed to come out and play the way we do and control the line of scrimmage like we did.”
DePauw’s next matchup, The College of Wooster Fighting Scots, are currently 3-4 overall, and 3-3 in NCAC play.
“You need to bring the same intensity each week or you will get beat in this conference,” Jeffers said. “We've had a great week of practice and will be ready to go.”
When it comes to threats Wooster poses, Hunt said, “They have a different defensive scheme then we have seen the past couple of weeks, so we will have to adjust the game as the game goes on.”
Jeffers also discussed the offensive threats the Fighting Scots bring.
“Wooster's a very good team; they have a very dynamic offense that can score a lot of points,” Jeffers added. “We're preparing the same way this week as we have the entire season; our coaches do a great job of coming up with schemes that give us a great chance of winning each week.”
The Tigers run game hopes to play a huge part in this game as well.
“If we come out and control the line of scrimmage like we did against Allegheny then we should be able to take care of Wooster as well,” Gruber said. “The attitude that we had after the OWU loss will transfer over to the Wooster game as well and hopefully lead to another W.”
WGRE sports play-by-play broadcaster, first-year Robert Sherman, who will be travelling to Wooster to broadcast the game, offered some inside information on the Fighting Scots.
“The main thing I see in my research with Wooster is their general lack of experience,” Sherman said, “which is weird for me to say when they are bringing back their starting quarterback, running back, and many other receivers and starters. When I say ‘lack experience’ it's more about dealing with certain in game situations.”
Wooster, like DePauw, has a relatively new coaching staff—their head coach Frank Colaprete is in his second season.
“They haven't seen a lot of the field and we haven't really seen what they can do with a program,” Sherman said. “Wooster had a good last year in the head coach’s first season with the team, but they aren’t as sharp this year.”
Sherman has a couple keys to the game for DePauw. First, they need to run the ball early on and heavily.
“Matt Hunt, if everything goes according to plan, will throw the ball about 20 times on Saturday which is when the DPU is at its best because it means the running game is setting the tone,” Sherman said.
The Tigers learned a lot from the Ohio Wesleyan loss—they need to focus on one game at a time. With the Monon Bell game [Nov. 15] against Wabash looming, this is more important than ever.
“Monon is always in the back of your mind,” Hunt said. “We learned from OWU that you can't take any game for granted and there are no teams in this conference that we can just show up and win against.”
The last time the Tigers won the Monon Bell? 2008.
“I think the biggest thing keeping everyone focused on the game ahead of us is that our goal is to go into Monon week with a 7-2 record,” Gruber said.
“You can’t look too far ahead,” Jeffers added. “You have to approach each week's game as the biggest game of the year, which is exactly how we're approaching this week's game at Wooster.”
The Tigers and the Fighting Scots will kick things off at 1 p.m. at Wooster’s John P. Papp Stadium.