2002 Wittenberg Football Game Notes Week 8 vs. Allegheny College

Two weeks after suffering a crushing loss to Wabash, the Wittenberg University Tigers appear to be back on track after a 77-0 win over Hiram and a 58-17 victory over Ohio Wesleyan. But this weekend, the Tigers will get a much greater challenge as one of the best rivalries in the North Coast Athletic Conference is renewed when Allegheny College comes calling.

Don't let the Gators' 3-4 overall record fool you, Allegheny is a quality team with a win over nationally ranked Washington & Jefferson under its belt. The Tigers and Head Coach Joe Fincham don't figure to be fooled, especially after last year's 21-17 Houdini-esque escape on Homecoming weekend against Allegheny. Wittenberg is again in an absolute must-win situation, needing to win its remaining three games to have an opportunity to either share the conference title or receive one of just three Pool C bids into the NCAA Division III tournament.

After today's match-up with Allegheny, Senior Recognition Day against Kenyon takes place on Nov. 9. Then a potentially monstrous regular season finale is scheduled at the College of Wooster, which is 7-0 and off to its best start since 1923. The Scots and Wabash are tied atop the conference standings, and they square off today in Crawfordsville, Ind.

Allegheny is 2-2 in the NCAC, having lost a hard-fought 24-14 decision at Wabash and a 21-7 decision at home against Wooster earlier in the season. The Gators are led on offense by quarterback Bubba Smith, the league's reigning Offensive Player of the Week, and on defense by junior linebacker Ryan James, who has a team-best 44 tackles.

Wittenberg is blessed with outstanding radio coverage again in 2002, as Marty Bannister heads things up for a 10th straight year. He can be found on the radio dial in the same location, 1600 AM, but with new call letters. Formerly WBLY, the radio home for the Tigers is now WULM.

Bannister is joined in the booth by former Tiger All-American offensive lineman Xan Smith, who provides color commentary, while Scott Leo patrols the sidelines to provide insight and commentary for a third consecutive season.

All season long, WULM hosts weekly radio shows that focus on local sports and even Wittenberg athletic teams specifically. On Wednesdays, Leo hosts a sports show that includes interviews and analysis on high school and college sports teams other than football. On Thursdays, following a high school football show, Bannister hosts Tiger Talk, which includes interviews and analysis with Wittenberg Head Coach Joe Fincham and his players and assistant coaches.

The Rankings: Wittenberg opened the 2002 season at No. 4 in the first American Football Coaches Association poll, released on Sept. 17. The Tigers remained in that position until two weeks ago, when they fell to the 16th following the loss to Wabash. Wittenberg is back to 12th in the nation in that poll, while Don Hansen's National Football Gazette ranks the Tigers No. 13 currently.

Prior to the season, Wittenberg was ranked No. 7 in three preseason polls (Street & Smith's, Lindy's and Don Hansen's National Football Gazette) and No. 5 by d3football.com. The Tigers finished the 2001 season ranked No. 6 in the AFCA poll.

This is the 14th meeting between Wittenberg and Allegheny, a rivalry that has become one of the best and most heated in the NCAC. The two teams had never met before the Tigers joined the conference in 1989, but since then the games have been spirited and intense, and almost always meaningful.

Wittenberg holds a 7-6 advantage in the series thanks to a current five-game win streak dating back to 1997. Prior to that, Allegheny had been a constant roadblock for the Tigers and their NCAC title aspirations as the Gators had claimed six of the first eight games between the two. The last Allegheny win was in Week 2 of the 1996 season, a 26-14 victory at Edwards-Maurer Field. That was Tiger Head Coach Joe Fincham's second game at the helm.

Week 9 of the 2002 season features five NCAC games, all slated for 1 p.m.: Denison at Hiram, Kenyon at Ohio Wesleyan, Oberlin at Earlham, Allegheny at Wittenberg and Wooster is at Wabash in a match-up of unbeatens.

Adrian Crane

The Wittenberg University Tigers are used to winning on the football field. Just not this way.

After struggling to move the ball on offense all day, the Tigers rallied in the final eight minutes to stun visiting Allegheny, 21-17. Wittenberg came from 10 points behind on a pair of touchdown passes from quarterback Greg Cornett to Michael Aljancic the last one coming with just 16 seconds on the clock.

The game was primarily a defensive struggle, particularly in the first half as Allegheny managed just two first downs, 12 rushing yards and 63 total yards and Wittenberg was only marginally better with 167 total yards. The only score of the first half came with 4:25 left in the opening stanza as Cornett hit wide receiverAdrian Crane on a four-yard scoring strike.

Allegheny opened the second half with 17 unanswered points to put Wittenberg in the unfamiliar position of having to rally from the brink. The Gators drove 81 yards on 13 plays to start the fourth quarter but had to settle for an 18-yard field goal. That defensive stand would be a turning point as Wittenberg went 58 yards on six plays in response and Cornett hooked up with Aljancic from four yards out with 6:37 left to play. The Cornett to Aljancic connection produced 45 of those 58 yards on three receptions.

The Tigers then came up with another defensive stand and took possession of the ball again with 2:42 remaining and converted four third downs in a drive that took 2:26 off the clock, culminating in a game-winning six-yard touchdown pass from Cornett to Aljancic with 16 seconds left.

Wittenberg held the Gators to 219 total offensive yards and just 4-of-15 on third down conversions. Defensive tackle Michael Houck showed the way with 9.5 tackles, while defensive tackle Juan Howard and linebacker Ryan Greshamchipped in with three tackles for loss each. The Tiger defense racked up five sacks in the game.

Offensively, the story was once again the play of Aljancic. Two weeks after hauling in 10 passes for 143 yards against Alma, Aljancic set a new career high with 11 receptions for 130 yards, including nine for 105 yards in the second half alone. The 11 receptions in a game is the second-best total in school history.

Skip Ivery

As a team, Wittenberg leads the NCAC in scoring offense (49.0 ppg), scoring defense (13.3 ppg), passing defense (153.6 ypg), total offense (471.1 ypg) and punt returns (12.5 ypg). The Tigers rank second in passing offense (255.1 ypg), total defense (245.1 ypg) and rushing defense (91.6 ypg), punting (33.1 yards per punt), pass efficiency (145.3). In addition, Wittenberg is third in rushing offense (216.0).

Individually, wide receiver Skip Ivery leads the conference in receiving yards per game (83.7), freshman defensive back Mike Freeman is tops in punt returns at a whopping 21.2 yard average and tailback Daniel Grove leads in scoring (18.4 ppg). Quarterback Greg Cornett ranks second in passing yards per game (226.1) and total offense (223.6). Grove is second in rushing yards per game (143.6) and all-purpose yards per game (160.8).

Mike Freeman

Freshman defensive back Mike Freeman took over full-time punt return duties against Hiram and made the most of it, taking his first return to the house for a 54-yard touchdown. He finished the day with five returns for 148 yards, just two yards short of the five-year-old record of 150 punt return yards in a game set by Russ Fedyk.

In combination with Dane Dudley and his two returns, the Tigers set a new school record of 181 yards for the game, besting the 174 posted against DePauw in 1958.

The huge numbers Freeman put up against Hiram moved him to the top of the NCAC and NCAA Division III rankings for punt return average. He has 10 returns for 212 yards, good for an average of 21.2. He was forced to the sidelines by a knee injury prior to the OWU game so he couldn't add to his numbers. His status for this week is questionable.

Individually, wide receiver Skip Ivery leads the conference in receiving yards per game (79.2), freshman defensive back Mike Freeman is tops in punt returns at a whopping 21.2 yard average and tailback Daniel Grove leads in scoring (18.4 ppg). Quarterback Greg Cornett ranks second in passing yards per game (220.2) and total offense (219.5). Grove is third in rushing yards per game (143.6) and second in all-purpose yards per game (160.8).

Wittenberg ranks No. 9 in total offense (471.1 ypg), No. 22 in total defense (245.1 ypg), No. 28 in rushing offense (216.0 ypg), No. 28 in rushing defense (91.6 ypg), No. 36 in passing offense (255.1 ypg), No. 22 in pass efficiency defense (86.2 rating), No. 23 in scoring defense (13.3 yards per game) and No. 2 in scoring offense (49.0 ppg).

Individually, Daniel Grove no longer is included in the national rankings because he has missed the last two games. His rushing average of 143.6 yards per game would put him 11th in the nation and he would still rank No. 1 in scoring at 18.4 points per game. Mike Freeman ranks first in punt returns (21.2 ypg) and Greg Cornett stands at No. 7 on the pass efficiency list (160.4 rating).

Wittenberg is averaging 49.0 points per game through the first seven games of the 2002 season, which puts this year's squad on pace to break the school record for points in a season. The current record is 473 set in 1997. If the Tigers are going to break that mark, they will have to do it against two of the top five defenses in the NCAC, Allegheny and Wooster.

Wittenberg has made a habit of jumping on its opponents early in games. The Tigers have not given up a first-quarter touchdown this year and have outscored opponents by a whopping 343-93 margin. Even Wabash couldn't penetrate the Tiger defense in the first stanza, as Wittenberg opened a 14-0 lead in that game before getting hurt by turnovers and untimely penalties.

Wittenberg is spreading it around almost perfectly on offense this year. The Tigers are averaging 255.1 yards per game through the air and 216.0 yards per game on the ground. Wittenberg has 287 rushing attempts this season and 203 passing attempts.

Daniel Grove

Senior tailback Daniel Grove rambled for 717 yards on 95 carries in the first five games of the season before suffering a broken foot against Wabash. Grove's 1,260 yards rushing last year ranks eighth in Wittenberg history for rushing yards in a season and moved his career totals to 1,942 yards on 329 carries. In combination with his performance in 2002, Grove has moved to No. 8 in school history in rushing yards with 2,663.

His average yards per carry of 6.3 is a school record, and he has also moved to No. 2 all-time in scoring with 46 touchdowns and two-point conversion for 278 career points. Grove is hoping to make his return for the Senior Recognition Day game on Nov. 9 against Kenyon.

Greg Cornett

Senior quarterback Greg Cornett has put up even bigger numbers in 2002 than he did in his first season as the starter under center. Through seven games, Cornett has 110 completions in 172 attempts for 1,583 yards and 13 touchdowns. That puts him on pace to eclipse several school records, including completions (141 by Tim Green in 1987), attempts (240 by Tim Green in 1987) and passing yards (2,181 by Charlie Green in 1964). Cornett is averaging 15.7 completions, 24.6 attempts and 226.1 yards per game.

Cornett's 2001 numbers rank second-best in school history in all three categories for a season. His 2002 numbers currently place him eighth in passing yards, just behind the 1,664 yards that Rocky Alt had in 1969 and the 1,684 that Tim Green posted in 1987.

For his career, Cornett has 3,453 passing yards, 250 completions and 401 attempts, ranking him fifth, sixth and sixth on the respective school record lists. Charlie Green, who recently was inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., leads in all three with 5,575 yards, 555 attempts and 325 completions. It's unlikely Cornett will catch any of those records, but he will almost certainly move into the top four in each.

Next up on the career passing list for Cornett is No. 4 Gene Laughman, who threw for 3,878 yards in 26 games between 1964 and 1967.

Joe Fincham

Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. Entering his seventh season at the helm, Fincham has a 69-8 overall record, including a mark of 45-3 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 63-4. His teams have claimed the last five conference titles, including four straight outright with undefeated records. Fincham, who ranks second in winning percentage in NCAA Division III history among coaches with five or more seasons, has been named NCAC Coach of the Year each of the last four seasons.

Allegheny is led by Mark Matlack, who was introduced as the college's 33rd head football coach on July 9, 2002, replacing Blair Hrovat. He returned to his alma mater after 18 seasons as an assistant at New Hampshire. He had served as defensive coordinator since 1989. As a player at Allegheny, Matlack was a four-year letterwinner at fullback and a three-time All-Presidents' Athletic Conference selection.