Football Game Notes - Week 7

Setting the Scene

The Wittenberg University Tigers hit the road for the second straight week, traveling the familiar path to Wooster, Ohio, home of North Coast Athletic Conference rival College of Wooster Fighting Scots. The Tigers, ranked 16th in the latest American Football Coaches Association poll, are 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the NCAC after last weeks 72-14 road win over Denison.

This weeks game figures to be another stern test for the young, injury-riddled Tigers as they attempt to become the first team ever to win four straight outright NCAC titles. After opening the season with lop-sided back-to-back home victories over Urbana and Heidelberg, the Tigers lost at Alma to snap a 33-game regular season win streak. Since the start of conference action three weeks ago, however, the Tigers have rebounded to defeat Wabash and Allegheny in low-scoring home games before they walloped the Big Red last Saturday.

Wooster comes in hoping to salvage some pride and perhaps get back into the 2001 NCAC race. The Scots, 1-3 overall and 1-2 in the conference, are coming off a 35-7 defeat at Wabash last Saturday. Their lone win this season came against Kenyon on Sept. 22, while their losses were to undefeated Kalamazoo by two points in the season opener, to undefeated Ohio Wesleyan by six points in a see-saw battle on Sept. 29 and last week to Wabash.

Scouting the Tigers

Wittenberg is 5-1, ranked No. 16 in the nation, and situated in its customary position atop the NCAC with a 3-0 record. But make no mistake, it has not been easy.

Junior tailback Daniel Grove leads the team with 522 yards rushing and eight touchdowns, although he has only topped 100 yards in two of the six games this year as he tries to fill a monstrous hole in the backfield, a year after Casey Donaldsonbroke almost every school and conference rushing and scoring record. Senior wide receiver Michael Aljancic has been sensational with 38 catches for 566 yards and seven touchdowns, including the game-winner with 16 seconds left against Allegheny. He is just one catch, 104 yards and one touchdown away from his career highs in each category. Junior quarterback Greg Cornett has played well in his first season under center, completing 87 of 146 passes for 1158 yards and 12 touchdowns. His efficiency rating of 147.9 is tied for 26th in the nation with Wooster quarterback Jeff Spraggins.

Defense, expected to be a strength for the Tigers in 2001 after they led the NCAC in total defense for the eighth time in nine years in 2000, has risen to the challenge recently. Junior linebacker Ryan Gresham leads the Tigers with 26 tackles. Senior defensive end Tim Daoust tops the squad and the NCAC in sacks with 7.5. Senior defensive tackle Juan Howard is among the best in the conference with 12 tackles for loss.

Scouting the Scots

After a run of success in the late 1990s with a strong defense and a ball-control offense, the Scots have aired things out in 2001 to overcome a shaky defensive unit.

Leading the charge is quarterback Jeff Spraggins, who has an efficiency rating of 147.9. He has completed 58 of 111 passes for 966 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2001, good for an average of 241.5 yards and 2.5 TDs per game. That aerial attack is supplemented by tailback Scott Jones, who has 364 yards on 91 carries this season, good for an average of 91.0 yards per game.

Defense is the issue for Wooster, who are surrendering 30.5 points and 372 yards of total offense per game. In their three losses, the Scots have been tagged with 35, 36 and 39 points.

The Scots are coached by Mike Schmitz, who is in his second season at the helm in Wooster. Schmitz has an overall record of 7-7, including last years 6-4 record.

Last Meeting with Wooster

The Tigers won for the 28th consecutive time in the regular season and the 19th straight time against NCAC opponents with a second-half blitz of visiting Wooster that led to a 42-26 win last year at Edwards-Maurer Field in Springfield.

The two teams battled to an even draw through the first three quarters until Tiger tailback Casey Donaldson broke off a 16-yard touchdown run with 45 seconds left before the final stanza to put the Tigers back on top for good at 33-26. Donaldson was the difference in the game, going for 262 yards on 34 carries and scoring four touchdowns. His 61-yard TD burst with 8:34 left in the game sealed it for the Tigers before defensive end Tim Daoust rounded out Wittenbergs scoring with a sack of the Wooster quarterback in the end zone for the first safety of his college career.

Also finding the end zone in the game was wide receiver Michael Aljancic, who hauled in a 44-yard TD strike from quarterback Anthony Crane to open the scoring in the first quarter. The pair added a 29-yard hook-up late in the second quarter as well. 

For Wooster, Josh Arbour caught an 8-yard TD pass from Justin Abraham in the first quarter; Scott Jones scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter, caught a 6-yard TD pass in the second, and scored on another one-yard plunge in the third quarter. The Scots missed their first extra point, and on the play placekicker Joe Zombek injured his knee. So Wooster went for two after each ensuing score.

The Wittenberg/Wooster Series

Wooster is one of the Tigers most common opponents over the years as the two teams have met 35 times on the football field, dating back to 1912. Wooster won five of the first six meetings between the two teams and had a 9-1-1 edge over the Tigers through 1956. Since then, the Scots have managed just one victory over Wittenberg in 16 meetings on the gridiron, that coming in 1997.

Since Wittenberg joined the NCAC in 1989 and the two teams began playing every year, the Tigers have won 11 of the 12 games by an average of 22 points per game, including a pair of shutouts (66-0 and 56-0) in 1994 and 95.

Last Week

After three straight nail-biters the Tigers got back on track last Saturday with a 72-14 rout of Denison. Wittenberg, which has beaten Denison 12 straight times by an average of more than 35 points per game, improved to 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the NCAC. The win was the Tigers 25th straight in the NCAC.

The Tigers were dominant from the outset, sacking Denison quarterback Greg Neuendorf on two of the first three plays of the game. After a short Big Red punt, Wittenberg struck quickly as quarterback Greg Cornett threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Skip Ivery on the Tigers first play from scrimmage.

Denison then caught Wittenbergs secondary napping with a 65-yard touchdown pass, but after Wittenberg turned the ball over on downs on the next drive, the Tigers forced a fumble on the very next play and linebacker Nic Black pounced on it in the end zone to give Wittenberg a lead they would never relinquish. Senior defensive backJason Jackson returned an interception 55 yards less than two minutes later, leading to a four-yard TD run by tailback Daniel Grove. That was followed by a touchdown pass from Cornett to wide receiver Michael Aljancic, freshman fullback Raymar Hampshires first collegiate touchdown from one yard out, tailback Jason Stephans10-yard scoring burst and wide receiver Adrian Cranes 16-yard scoring catch.

The second half was a time for reserves to shine, particularly freshman tailback Alex Smith. In the first playing time of his college career, Smith went for 107 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries in just one half of football. He scored twice in the third quarter and junior fullback Trent Coffman capped the scoring with an 18-yard run with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, Wittenberg gave up several big plays but came up with even more of its own. Neuendorf, who was averaging 395.5 yards per game of total offense, was sacked 10 times and managed just nine completions for 125 yards. Senior defensive tackle Juan Howard led the charge with six tackles, including 2.5 sacks.

Streaks

The loss at Alma on Sept. 15 snapped Wittenbergs school-record regular season win streak at 33, dating back to Nov. 4, 1997 against this weeks opponent, the College of Wooster. Wittenberg still has several streaks intact, however. The Tigers extended their regular season home win streak to 33 games with four wins in the first five weeks of the 2001 season. That streak dates back to the second game of the 1996 season against Allegheny. The Tigers have also reeled off 25 straight NCAC victories dating back to the 1997 loss at Wooster.

Finally, Wittenberg has gone nearly 10 years since losing back-to-back games. In 1991, Case Western Reserve and Allegheny both claimed wins over the Tigers. At the end of the 91 season, Ohio Wesleyan defeated Wittenberg, and then the Tigers were beaten in the 92 opener by Baldwin-Wallace before they reeled off eight wins and a tie to close the season.

Since the loss to B-W, Wittenberg has played 102 games without losing two straight (not including a forfeit win over Oberlin in 1992). The Tigers record during that time is 91-10-1.

A Fine Debut

Freshman tailback Alex Smith led Wittenberg with 107 yards rushing against Denison. Smith, who was making his first collegiate appearance and first road trip with the team, almost didnt get the opportunity because he misplaced his jersey and had to wear teammate Skip Iverys No. 1.
All of Smiths 19 carries came in the third and fourth quarters. He also scored two rushing touchdowns.

Spreading the Carries Around

Smith is the third different Wittenberg running back to top the century mark in 2001. He joins starter Daniel Grove, who had more than 100 yards against Urbana and Alma, and fellow freshman Justin Blackley, who needed just eight carries against Heidelberg in Week 2 to pick up 106 yards.

In addition, seven different players have scored rushing touchdowns this year, including three freshmen Smith, Blackley and starting fullback Raymar Hampshire.Last year, only four players all year scored rushing touchdowns.

Keeping Pace

Getting just one half of work in last weeks blowout victory at Denison hurt Greg Cornetts chances of breaking several season passing records that he was previously on pace to reach. With four games remaining, Cornett has 1158 yards, 87 completions and 12 touchdowns, putting him on pace for 1930 yards, 145 completions and 20 scores. The records are 2181 yards, 141 completions and 24 TDs.

Landmark Victory

Wittenberg University is home to the winningest football program in NCAA Division III history. A win today would be No. 620 for the program, dating back to its first season of recorded play in 1892. The next closest Division III program is Washington & Jefferson with 581.

Interestingly, despite several mediocre years and the fact that the program has made just one appearance ever in the NCAA playoffs, next weeks opponent Ohio Wesleyan started the year No. 10 in terms of all-time victories with 506.

SackMaster

Senior defensive end Tim Daoust is once again making opponents quarterbacks see Red. 
A year after totaling a team-best 10.5 sacks, Daoust has a team- and league-leading 7.5 in 2001. That gives him 27 for his career, one shy of the Wittenberg record of 28 set by Tim Altman between 1992 and 95. The season record is 12 by David Smith in 1991.

Team SackMasters

While Daoust is on a pace to break several school sack records, the team is also on pace to reach a school mark. With 29 sacks in the first six games, the Tigers need just 19 more in the last four games to reach the record total of 48 accumulated by the 1994 team.

All Eyes on Al

Senior wide receiver Michael Aljancic is putting together his finest season in what has been an outstanding collegiate career. With 38 catches, 18 more than anyone else on the Wittenberg roster in 2001, Aljancic has moved to No. 2 on the all-time receiving list. That is one of several charts on which he is moving up:

Career Records

PASS RECEIVING No. Yds. Avg. TD
1. Rod Miller (1964-67) 143 2,288 16.0 26
2. Michael Aljancic (1998-00) 131 2,025 15.5 24
3. Jim Collins (1984-87) 116 1,560 13.4 11
4. Labon Storts (1997-00) 96 1,612 16.8 14
5. Ray Ward (1967-69) 95 1,308 13.8 13
6. Bob Cherry (1961-63) 90 1,790 19.9 27
7. Eugene Hardin (1994-96) 89 1,321 14.8 15
8. Russ Fedyk (1995-99) 85 1,317 16.8 14
9. Mark Peters (1991-94) 80 1,146 14.3 12
10. Chris Thompson (1990-93) 73 866 11.9 9

Aljancic is averaging 6.3 catches per game in 2001, which projects to a total of 63 for the season. That would break the Wittenberg season receptions record of 53, set four years ago by Russ Fedyk. Aljancic is just one catch, 104 yards and one touchdown away from his career highs in each category.

SEASON Records

PASS RECEIVING G No. Yds. Avg. TD
1. Russ Fedyk (1997) 10 53 954 18.0 10
2. Rod Miller (1966) 9 49 706 14.4 8
3. Jim Collins (1987) 10 46 557 12.1 7
4. Bob Cherry (1963) 9 45 886 19.7 13
5. Ray Ward (1969) 9 44 582 13.2 7
6. Eugene Hardin (1995) 10 39 718 18.4 8
7. Michael Aljancic (2000) 10 39 670 17.2 8
8. Rod Miller (1967) 9 38 603 15.9 6
Michael Aljancic (2001) 6 38 566 14.9 7
9. Ray Ward (1968) 9 37 534 14.4 5
Michael Aljancic (1999) 10 37 572 15.5 6

Among the Best

Wittenberg is ranked first in the NCAC in scoring offense (39.0 ppg), scoring defense (13.3 ppg), kickoff returns (25.9 avg), punting (35.1 net/p), turnover margin (1.67), total defense (267.7 ypg), pass efficiency (139.9), sacks (29 for 195 yards lost), opponent fourth-down conversions (15.4 percent) and PAT kicking (32 of 32).

In the most recent NCAA Division III statistics, Wittenberg is 15th in turnover margin, scoring offense and rushing defense (71.3 ypg) and 20th in scoring defense. Individually, Wittenberg does not have a single player leading an offensive statistical category in the NCAC. Daoust is tied for the lead with 7.5 sacks. The only player who ranks in the national numbers is Cornett, who is tied for 26th in pass efficiency at 147.9.

Coach of the Year

Joe Fincham is now 57-6 in his career. Perhaps even more impressive, Fincham is 53-3 in regular season games. Last year, he became the first Wittenberg coach to earn conference coach of the year honors three straight years. Dave Maurer won the award in the Ohio Athletic Conference three times in four years (1976, 1978, 1979) and Bill Edwards coached at a time when such awards were not given. Maurer and Edwards both also won national coach of the year on two occasions.