UW-Whitewater will travel to Stevens Point to face the Pointers in a battle of WIAC unbeaten teams Sataurday, October 31.
Won-Loss: UW-Whitewater is 7-0 overall, 4-0 in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. UW-Stevens Point is 5-2 overall, 4-0 in the WIAC.
This Season: UW-W defeated Dickinson State 38-3 (currently 6-2), Midland Lutheran 58-0 (5-3), Puget Sound 42-7 (0-6), UW-Platteville 35-3 (3-4), UW-Eau Claire 38-14 (3-4), UW-Stout 38-3 (5-2), and UW-River Falls 38-14 (2-5). The combined record of Whitewater's opponents is 24-26. Whitewater is 5-0 at home and 2-0 on the road. UW-SP lost to Central (IA) 22-21 (8-0), beat Missouri Science & Technology 21-17 (2-6), lost to Azusa Pacific (CA) 23-7 (1-8), beat UW-Eau Claire 48-33 (3-4), beat UW-Stout 7-6 (5-2), beat UW-Oshkosh 24-17 (4-3), and beat UW-La Crosse 26-14 (5-2). The UW-SP opposition has a combined record of 28-25. The Pointers are 2-0 at home and 3-2 on the road.
By The Numbers: UW-W's offensive line averages 281 pounds. It matches up against the UW-SP defense line, which averages 216 pounds. On the other side of the ball, Whitewater's defensive front averages 266 pounds versus 303 for the UW-SP offensive line. Whitewater starts three seniors and one freshman on offense, and seven seniors and no freshman on defense. Steven's Point starts four seniors and no freshman on offense, and seven seniors and no freshman on defense.
The Series: UW-W leads the all-time series, which began in 1895, 53-33. The largest margin of victory for UW-W came in a pair of 54-0 games in 1923 and 1971. Whitewater's longest win streak is nine games, from '68 to '76. Stevens Point's largest winning margin came in a 43-3 win in 1977. The most points the Pointers have scored came in a 60-30 win in 2003. Stevens Point's longest winning streak is three with the most current taking place from 2002-2004. The most points the teams have combined to produce in a game was the 2003 game (90). The lowest scoring game in the series history was a 2-0 UW-W win in 1932.
The Coaches: Whitewater's Lance Leipold, in his third season, is 34-3 overall and 17-1 in WIAC play. Stevens Point's John Miech is in his 21st season and is 143-74-2. Leipold is 1-1 versus Stevens Point, and Miech is 9-12 versus Whitewater.
Last Year: UW-Stevens Point won 17-16 in Perkin Stadium October 25. The Pointer win ended UW-W's WIAC record-tying 25 game win streak and ended Whitewater's string of 27 consecutive wins at Perkins Stadium. Whitewater turned the opening kickoff into a Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) to Aaron Rusch (Hartford/Hartford) 33 yard touchdown, but the Pointers blocked the PAT. The Pointers, using nine consecutive pass plays, converted on a 20 yard Ryan Grabowski field goal on their first possession. UW-W fumbled the ensuing kickoff return but the Warhawk defense topped UW-SP on a fourth and one. Grabowski added another field goal later in the quarter to knot the game at 6-6. An interception by Paul Wick (Franklin/Franklin) set UW-W up in Pointer territory in the second quarter, and Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park) went 35 yards to give UW-W a 13-6 lead going in to the locker rooms. Defenses dominated the third quarter with no change on the scoreboard. Early in the fourth Grabowski came through again for the Pointers, hitting from 22 yards out after the Warhawk defense stopped UW-SP at the five. With about five minutes left in the game it was the Point defense that stiffened, stopping UW-W at the Point one yard line, with Jeff Schebler (Davenport, IA/Assumption) booting a field goal that made it 16-9 Whitewater. After both teams failed to move the ball, UW-SP took possession at their own 16. The Pointers moved the length of the field, six completions from Jared Beckwith to Jared Jenkins (and one Beckwith scramble), to score with fifteen seconds left. Beckwith and Jenkins teamed up again on the two point conversion for the win. Beckwith completed 29-55 passes for 234 yards, 10-125 to Jenkins.
Pointer Notes: UW-SP will apply pressure to a Warhawk offense that has given up just two sacks this season. The Pointers rank twenty-third in Division III in sacks per game, 3.0, and sixteenth in tackles for a loss (8.5/game). DE Matt Lunder leads the team with 15 tackles for a loss and five sacks. DT Pierce Follansbe-DeLong has ten TFL and four sacks, and DE Charlie Diercks has contributed five sacks. UW-SP opened the season with a loss, but an impressive 22-21 decision to now undefeated Central College, ranked among the top five in both Division III polls. The Pointers also may have knocked UW-La Crosse out of contention for the WIAC crown with a 26-14 win last week. Both of those performances came on the road, where UW-SP has played five of its seven games this season.
Chip Hilton Lives: UW-SP's Jared Jenkins is a throwback. Not only does he rank sixth in Division III receiving yards per game, 128.8, and eighth in receptions per game, 8.7, but he is also third in DIII punting at 43.6 per kick. Jenkins and the Point punt team rank third in net punting yards. For good measure, Jenkins is also 2-2 for 27 yards passing and 4-53 rushing the ball.
Warhawk Notes: In the NCAA III statistics, UW-W is fifth in total offense (496.3/game) and sixth in scoring (41.0). Although there have been some injuries in the line, that unit has kept UW-W second in passing efficiency and is second in sacks allowed (0.3/game). The group up front has kept Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park) second in scoring (13.7/game) and eleventh in rushing (126.0), and QB Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) second in passing efficiency. On the other side of the ball, the Warhawk defense is second in points allowed (6.29/game), fourth in total defense (209.4 yards/game) and sixth in pass defense (115.0).
Record Watch: Warhawk TB Levell Coppage (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park), who scored three times last week moved in to a tie for second place in the school record book with 37 career touchdowns Justin Beaver (2004-2007) is number one with 44 rushing touchdowns. Coppage also passed Bill Roper (1971-73) with 2,343 career yards for ninth place, with Mike R. Miller (1981-83) ahead in eighth at 2,693. QB Jeff Donovan (Wauwatosa/East) has amassed 4,488 yards passing in his career, second all-time. He passed Ty Grovesteen (1996-98) last week and has Justin Jacobs (2003-2006) at 7,886 at number one. Donovan's 31 career TD passes also ties him for sixth in the UW-W record book with Randy Borgardt (1999-2002), with Dennis Bogacz (10990-1991) in fifth with 33.
No Name D: DE Anthony White (Milwaukee/Bay View) is eighth with 17 career sacks, two away from a four way tie for fifth. And he even has adjusted to a new role this year. UW-W has seventeen players in double figures for tackles this season, compared to eleven for UW-SP. That isn't to say that one way is better than the other, just that UW-W's philosophy of getting playing time for backups has paid dividends for this year's team (see Warhawk Notes) and possibly next year's as well.
Whitewater Last Week: After a slow start UW-W went on to a 38-14 win at home over UW-River Falls. Whitewater never trailed in the game, building up a 38-0 lead before surrendering two fourth quarter scores to the Falcons. Whitewater outgained UW-RF 466-249 and did not have a turnover or a penalty in the game.
Stevens Point Last Week: The Pointers led all the way at La Crosse, 6-0, 12-7 and 19-7 after the quarters. The Eagles pulled within 19-14, but on the following kickoff Point got a 45 yard return to set up their decisive score. Sophomore RB Garrett Medenwald led the Pointer offense, rushing 22-82 and leading the team with 6-35 in receiving. Safety Joe Mleziva led both teams with 15 tackles, 14 of them solo.
National Polls: UW-W is ranked second in the latest D3football.com poll and the AFCA Division III ranking. UW-SP is in the “others receiving votes” category in both polls.
The Schedule/Tickets: UW-Whitewater will wrap up their home schedule with UW-Oshkosh visiting Perkins Stadium November 7th at 1:00. The UW-W ticket office is located in the Connor University Center on the main campus mail and is open Monday-Friday during normal business hours. Tickets are also sold at the Perkins Stadium window on game day. Call (262) 472-2222 for ticket information.
