Back in form? That's what the Wittenberg University Tigers are hoping after last week's 77-0 trouncing of Hiram College, a victory that spoiled the Terriers' Homecoming a week after the Tigers had their Homecoming interrupted by an overtime loss to Wabash College. Back up to 12th in the latest American Football Coaches Association poll - but more importantly situated in third place in the North Coast Athletic Conference - Wittenberg must now concentrate on taking care of its business while keeping one eye on the scoreboard and the latest scores from around the conference and the nation.

The Tigers have four games remaining in the 2002 regular season, and each one is nothing short of a must-win. After today's match-up with longtime rival Ohio Wesleyan, Wittenberg returns home for a games against Allegheny and Kenyon on Nov. 2 and 9 respectively, and then hits the road for what is potentially a monstrous regular season finale at the College of Wooster, which is 6-0 and off to its best start since 1923.

Ohio Wesleyan is 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the NCAC, a year after finishing 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the conference race. The Bishops' lone loss in 2001 was a 39-14 defeat at Edwards-Maurer Field in Springfield. This year, OWU has lost games at Albion 16-0, to Wooster 37-14 and at Wabash 27-7 last weekend. The Bishops have struggled offensively to replace the finest tailback in the NCAC a year ago, Matt Capone, but they still play the same stingy defense that has become a trademark of Head Coach Mike Hollway.

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.

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 last week, when they fell to the 16th following the loss to Wabash. Wittenberg is back to 12th in the nation this week. 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 77th meeting between the Tigers and Ohio Wesleyan, a rivalry that dates all the way back to 1894. Despite winning the first three games between the two, the Battling Bishops dominated the series until 1957, when Wittenberg captured a 20-13 victory at Selby Field in Delaware. Since then, Wittenberg owns a commanding 33-7 advantage, including a 10-3 edge since the Tigers joined the NCAC prior to the 1989 season.

Wittenberg, which leads the series 38-33-6, has won 10 straight over Ohio Wesleyan and haven't allowed more than 17 points in a game since 1993.

Around the NCAC Today: Week 8 of the 2002 season features five NCAC games, all slated for 1 p.m.: Allegheny at Denison, Earlham at Wooster, Hiram at Kenyon, Wabash at Oberlin and Wittenberg at Ohio Wesleyan.

Andy Dooley

The trainer's room has been a popular place in the fall 2002 sports season, and that's never good news for a football program, even one as deep as Wittenberg.

The key loss currently is senior tailback Daniel Grove, the leading scorer in the nation, who broke two bones in his foot against Wabash. Senior Jason Stephan, the No. 1 back-up, suffered a concussion and freshman Dave Taylor suffered a season-ending knee injury in that game as well. Freshmen Kyle Williamson andJustin Theriault have been sidelined with mononucleosis, and sophomore Alex Smith, the team's third-leading rusher in 2001, missed the Hiram game due to a family emergency.

As a result, the starting tailback last weekend was freshman Adam Hewitt, who had not previously seen action in 2002, much less gotten any carries. Backing him up was Miami University transfer Andy Dooley, who started the season at linebacker but has now been pressed into action on the other side of the ball. Grove is expected to miss a minimum of three weeks and possibly more, so the subs will get their opportunities. As of Thursday, Smith and Dooley are expected to be the top two tailbacks in the game against OWU, depending upon Stephan's injury and other factors.

In addition, back-up tight end Mike Flickinger has a broken hand and is out of action this week and starting defensive tackle Joey Binkley is questionable due to an ankle injured suffered in the win over Urbana. Cornerback Tim Gaal is back and playing after an early season knee injury, as is back-up cornerback DeAron Long,who recovered from a dislocated finger. Freshman wide receiver Braden Freemanleads a long list of players who were not on the original two-deep and have suffered season-ending injuries.

Adrian Crane

Wittenberg is used to perfect regular seasons, but didn't enjoy one in 2001. So on Senior Recognition Day at Edwards-Maurer Field, the Tigers did the next best thing - they foiled Ohio Wesleyan's bid for an undefeated regular season with a 39-14 victory.

The Tigers jumped in front on a play that would become a recurring theme - or nightmare, for the OWU defense. TailbackDaniel Grove, who ran for a career-high 259 yards on 31 carries in the game, scored the first of his three touchdowns of the day on an 11-yard run to cap Wittenberg's opening drive and give the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the second quarter as wide receiver Adrian Crane and quarterback Greg Cornett hooked up on a 36-yard pass play following a short OWU punt. After the Bishops scored on an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mike Jonesco to wide receiver Bryan Beigie, Wittenberg got a pair of field goals from kicker Conrad Hindert sandwiched around a 72-yard touchdown run by Grove.

The third quarter was more of the same domination by Wittenberg, beginning with Grove's third TD, this one coming from two yards out. Fullback Raymar Hampshirecapped Wittenberg's scoring with an eight-yard scamper. Ohio Wesleyan senior tailback Matt Capone, who broke the school rushing record with 135 yards on the day, finally got the Bishops back on the board with a two-yard scoring run with 3:45 remaining in the game.

Wide receiver Skip Ivery led both teams with five receptions, while Crane was tops with 105 receiving yards. Defensively, linebacker Nic Black led with seven tackles and linebacker Andy Pope was everywhere with 6.5 tackles and 1.5 sacks for a loss of 19 yards.

Skip Ivery

As a team, Wittenberg leads the NCAC in scoring offense (47.5 ppg), total offense (490.8 ypg), punt returns (12.4 ypg), total defense (226.5 ypg) and scoring defense (12.7 ypg). The Tigers rank second in passing offense (254.0 ypg), rushing defense (76.2 ypg), punting (33.2 yards per punt), pass efficiency (145.3) and passing defense (150.3 ypg). In addition, Wittenberg is third in rushing offense (236.8).

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).

Daniel Grove

Wittenberg ranks No. 8 in total offense (490.8 ypg), No. 11 in total defense (226.5 ypg), No. 19 in rushing offense (236.8 ypg), No. 18 in rushing defense (76.2 ypg), No. 33 in passing offense (254.0 ypg), No. 20 in pass efficiency defense (84.4 rating), No. 20 in scoring defense (12.7 yards per game) and No. 3 in scoring offense (47.5 ppg).

Individually, Daniel Grove ranks No. 10 in rushing at 143.6 yards per game, No. 35 in all-purpose yards (160.8 per game) and No. 1 in scoring (18.4 points per game). Mike Freeman ranks first in punt returns (21.2 ypg) and Greg Cornett stands at No. 27 on the pass efficiency list (146.8 rating).

Wittenberg is spreading it around almost perfectly on offense this year. The Tigers are averaging 254.0 yards per game through the air and 236.8 yards per game on the ground. Wittenberg has 247 rushing attempts this season and 182 passing attempts, but the difference in the average per attempt - 5.8 versus 13.9.

Mike Freeman

Freshman defensive back Mike Freeman started out the season platooning with Jason Stephan on punt returns. But after Stephan suffered a concussion against Wabash, Freeman moved into the starters role 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.

As mentioned previous, 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. No one else in the NCAC has an average higher than 11.7.

Jered Glover

Game by game, wide receivers Skip Ivery and Adrian Cranemake catches. Since the start of the 2001 season, both had at least one reception in every game, including playoffs, until the 53-7 win over Denison on Oct. 5, when Crane was shut out in just one half of action. Both have been in the act in the two games since.

They have been joined in 2002 by freshman Jered Glover, who has developed into a deep threat for the Tigers. He hauled in 10 passes for 121 yards in the loss to Wabash and now has 26 receptions on the season, just three less than Ivery.

The Tigers have been spreading the ball around through the air. Fifteen different receivers have made at least one catch this year, including six who have just one reception. Seven different players have at least six catches, including senior Josh McCoy, who led the team with five against Hiram.

Daniel Grove

Senior tailback Daniel Grove rambled for 717 yards on 95 carries in the first five games of the season before 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 thus far 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. Casey Donaldson, Grove's predecessor at the tailback position, leads in both career rushing and career scoring by wide margins.

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 six games, Cornett has 94 completions in 153 attempts for 1,321 yards and nine 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). Cornett is averaging 15.7 completions, 25.5 attempts and 220.2 yards per game.

For his career, Cornett has 3,193 passing yards, 234 completions and 382 attempts, ranking him sixth on all three all-time 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.

Joe Fincham

Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. Entering his seventh season at the helm, Fincham has a 68-8 overall record, including a mark of 44-3 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 62-4. 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.

Ohio Wesleyan is led by Mike Hollway, who has a 103-52-1 record in 16 seasons leading the Battling Bishops. The 1989 NCAC Coach of the Year has posted 12 winning seasons in his first 15 years as head coach in Delaware, including last year's 9-1 overall mark and runner-up finish in the NCAC. He is a third generation football coach and a 1974 graduate of the University of Michigan. Prior to arriving on the OWU scene, Hollway guided Marietta for four seasons, turning around a program that went 0-9 his first year and taking the Pioneers to a 6-4 mark in 1986.