Senior Lan Sansone, 31, and junior Hamm Hooper, 17,
run drills at practice during preseason.
CHRISTA SCHROEDEL / THE DEPAUW
The Tigers (1-1, 0-1) have their second NCAC conference game this weekend against the Kenyon College Lords (0-3, 0-2), who have defeated the Tigers twice in the last two years, by a total of four points.
“Kenyon has been on our schedule for the past two seasons,” junior defensive back Paul Simon said. “We’ve come out on the losing end two years in a row by a margin of 4 total points. We know we can come out on the other side.”
It’s been a tough start for The Lords. They will come to Greencastle still searching for a win. They have lost their first three games by a total of 47 points.
“They do things a little differently on the defensive side of the ball,” DePauw Head Coach Bill Lynch said. “They outnumber you in the box which makes it difficult to establish a run game. We're going to have to find a way to do that and not just rely on the pass because they do a good job with their coverage and pass rush. We did not handle their pass rush at all last year, and that's something we're going to have to do a better job of.”
However, sophomore quarterback Matt Hunt is confident in his offenses' ability to break it down.
“We think we can exploit [their defense] in some areas,” Hunt said. “The key for us will be reacting to what they give us, but mainly sticking to what we do as an offensive unit.”
After the Wittenberg loss that included a lot of mistakes, the Tigers have a couple of goals for this week.
“We need to clean up the things that we did wrong there, particularly the turnovers,” Lynch said. “We need to take care of the ball, that's the number one thing. We also had too many penalties last week so we need to be cleaner in our execution.”
“After a game like we had last week, it can be tough to bounce back,” Hunt added. “I have not sensed that from our guys. If anything we are motivated this week, and are playing with a chip on our shoulders.”
The Tigers are ready to come out fighting this week.
“I learned [against Wittenberg] that when we are working together on offense we are a force to be reckoned with,” Hunt said. “We have to be each other's biggest supporters and pick each other up. Mistakes are going to happen and we need to help each other out when those happen.”
Luckily, the Tigers have managed to stay pretty healthy this season so far, which could play an important role in the upcoming games.
“We haven’t had any season-ending injuries, which is great,” Lynch said. “Like any football team after playing a couple of games, we've got a few guys that we're trying to get healthy to play on Saturday. A couple of them will be game time decisions.”
The chance to play in front of friends and family has some of the players excited for Saturday’s kickoff.
“Our guys are anxious to play,” Lynch said. “Hopefully the fact that it's family weekend and it’s a home game is to our advantage. But once the game starts that goes out the window and it's all about whoever executes the best.”
Saturday’s game begins a crucial two game homestand for the Tigers against Kenyon and Denison University. A pair of wins could set the Tigers up as they face road tests against conference opponents in the weeks that follow.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Blackstock Stadium.