Setting The Scene: Signs of life could be seen on the football field last week as the Wittenberg Tigers rebounded from a disappointing season-opening loss to Capital to challenge top-ranked NCAA Division I-AA mid-major powerhouse Dayton on Sept. 10 before falling 41-23. After having just about everything go wrong that could go wrong against Capital, the Tigers showed some mettle against UD, taking a 20-13 lead into the locker room at halftime before running out of steam on a hot day in the Flyers' home stadium.
If the last two weeks were the frying pan, however, then this week may well be the fire for the Tigers. The next challenge is a road date with the Alma College Scots, the preseason Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association favorite after another NCAA Division III playoff run a year ago. The Scots, with their high-octane passing offense, are a tough match-up for any defense, but Wittenberg's has surrendered more than 500 yards in each of its first two games, making for a daunting challenge in the Tigers' final nonconference game of the season.
Scouting The Tiger Offense: In recent years, the Wittenberg Tigers have been one of the most prolific offensive teams in all of NCAA Division III. Most recently, the Tigers ranked among the leaders in the NCAC and NCAA Division III in 2004 with averages of 45 points and 485 yards per game.
After a rough start in the 2005 season opener against Capital, the Tiger offense rallied against Dayton behind senior tailback Tristan Murray. After emerging as the Tigers'most consistent offensive threat a year ago, Murray, the No. 3 rusher in the NCAC a year ago with 132 yards per game and a robust 6.1 yards per carry average, opened the 2005 season with 73 yards on 20 carries and another 39 yards on five receptions against Capital and a whopping 239 yards and two touchdowns rushing against Dayton.
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Quarterback Ryan Holmes, a fifth-year senior who had started every game the last two years, led the NCAC and ranked among the nation's leaders in pass efficiency rating in 2003 and 2004, but he is out with an injury currently. Freshman Matt Brumfield filled in capably against Dayton after struggling in his relief stint against Capital, finishing with 104 yards on 14-of-19 passing against the Flyers.
Senior wide receivers Jered Glover, who has led the Tigers in receptions in each of the last three seasons, and Braden Freeman, who posted 25 receptions for 443 yards in 2004, have combined for just seven catches through two games in 2005. Glover stands No. 3 in school history with 139 career receptions, just eight behind record-holder Michael Aljancic (1998-2001).
Scouting The Tiger Defense: Defensively, the Tigers allowed an uncharacteristic 29 points per game in 2004 and then yielded a whopping 54 points to Capital in the 2005 opener. Things got better against Dayton as the Tigers allowed 41 points, including just 13 in a hard-fought first half, but big plays still plagued Wittenberg.
Junior safety Mitch Fonseca continued to shine in the loss to Dayton as he racked up 10 tackles to lead the team for a second straight week and an interception. The team leader in tackles last year, Fonseca tallied a career-high 18 stops, including 14 solos, in the season opener.
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The defensive line has played well at times, applying significantly more pressure on the Dayton passing game than Capital experienced. In each game, senior defensive end Chris Vennefron has been a factor, and against Dayton senior defensive tackle Matt Stechschulte stepped up with nine tackles, including a sack that drove the Flyers back 13 yards and forced a punt in the second quarter.
Scouting The Scots: Alma has emerged as one of the most consistent winners in NCAA Division III in recent years, and the Scots are off to an outstanding start again in 2005 with a 48-12 win over Aurora in last week's season opener.
The key for Alma is its high-scoring spread offense, nicknamed the Scot Gun, that has been among the most impressive statistically for almost a decade. A year ago, led by current junior quarterback Josh Brehm, Alma ranked seventh in the nation with 300.6 passing yards per outing. Brehm is approaching several school records held by Steve Slowke, who was at the controls the last time Wittenberg traveled to Alma for a regular season game. That was a 26-24 Scots win in the third game of the 2001 season, just days after the historic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.
Alma returns eight starters on offense, and in the season opener the Scots showed their versatility with 175 rushing yards from senior tailback Mat Lambourn. That helped Alma overcome a three-interception performance by Brehm.
Defensively, Alma yielded 21.5 points and 300.5 yards per game in 2004, fairly average numbers for a playoff team. Five starters, including senior linebackers John Ditmar and Chad Abbey, are back in 2005 to attempt to improve upon those numbers. Aurora managed just 12 points and 233 yards of total offense in the season opener.
Tigers on the Radio: All Wittenberg athletic broadcasts can be heard locally on WUSO 89.1-FM, the university's student-operated station. They can also be heard around the world on the Internet thanks to Wittenberg's partnership with Stretch Internet. Wittenberg fans do not have to pay to listen to broadcasts, and anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can log in and listen.
Wittenberg is blessed with outstanding radio coverage again in 2005 as Marty Bannister heads things up for a 13th straight year. Bannister will be joined in the booth by former Tiger captain Tim Dellapina, Jim Scoby or Wittenberg senior Sean Golden, who has provides on-field insights and postgame interviews for home games. Scott Leo, the play-by-play announcer for the Tiger men's and women's basketball teams that last two years, is coordinating the broadcasts and handling pre-game duties each week.
Coaches Show: Tiger Talk is back and better than ever in 2005, and the first show of the season is scheduled for Thursday at Joe's Route 40 Grill in Springfield. It can be heard locally on WUSO 89.1-FM and on the Internet from 8-9 p.m. Bannister and Scott Leo are the hosts of the show.
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Jered Glover
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Up The Charts: Jered Glover finished an injury-riddled 2004 season with 37 receptions for 511 yards and seven touchdowns, pushing his career totals to 133 receptions, 1,881 yards and 20 touchdowns. He ranked among the top four in the first two categories and No. 5 in TD receptions coming into the 2005 season, which he has opened with a pair of three-catch performances.
He is now No. 3 in Wittenberg receiving annals with 139 receptions after surpassing former teammate Skip Ivery, who finished his career with 138 catches from 2000-03. Michael Aljancic caught 147 passes from 1998-2001 to establish the current receiving standard.
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Tristan Murray
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Mr. Everything: If it weren't for a seven-touchdown performance by Earlham quarterback Justin Rummell in a 69-62 win over Manchester last Saturday, it's almost certain that Tristan Murray would have been the NCAC's Offensive Player of the Week. Murray racked up 239 yards rushing in a little over three quarters of action against Dayton, one of the best defensive units statistically in NCAA Division I-AA year in and year out.
Murray not only leads the Tigers' rushing attack, he tops the team in receiving as well. Murray has accounted for 312 of Wittenberg's 375 yards rushing on the season, and he has 43 of the team's 173 receiving yards in 2005.
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Big Leg: Senior punter Jacob Thomas has picked up right where he left off in 2004. After breaking the school record for punting average in a season with 42.3 in 2004, Thomas was called upon six times against Capital, and he responded with a 43.2 average. That average was helped significantly by a 65-yard boot in the third quarter, the second-longest of his career.
He kept the outstanding work up against Dayton, handling seven long snaps for an average of 42.6 yards. His long on the day was a 49-yarder.
Since he did not have enough punts to qualify for the NCAA Division III statistics in 2004, Thomas was not recognized with any All-America honors. However, he was a first-team All-NCAC and second-team All-North Region honoree.
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Mitch Fonseca
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Defensive Dynamo: Mitch Fonseca has been Wittenberg's leading tackler in each of the first two games of the 2005 season, reaching double figures against both Capital and Dayton.
In the opener, Fonseca had a career-high 18 tackles, including a whopping 14 solos. He added 10 tackles, including one for a two-yard loss, and his first interception of the season against Dayton.
Twenty-eight tackles in the first two games comes on the heels of a 2004 season in which Fonseca led the Tigers with 68 total tackles, 29 of which were solo stops. For his career, Fonseca, who has started 20 of 22 games, now has 162 tackles, more than any other Tiger player during that time.
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Homecoming Of Sorts: When the Tigers travel to Alma this weekend with Mark Mandich in the starting lineup at offensive tackle, it will be a homecoming of sorts. Mandich's father, Jim, was an All-American at the University of Michigan before going on to win a Super Bowl with the Miami Dolphins.
Jim Mandich was recently inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. Four Wittenberg players and coaches are also enshrined there - Bill Edwards, Ernie Godfrey, Dave Maurer and Charlie Green.
Mark Mandich, a junior from Miami Lakes, Fla., is in his first season as a starter at Wittenberg.
Series History: Wittenberg leads the all-time series 3-1, but Alma had the upper hand the last time the two met on the gridiron. In 2001, the Scots captured a dramatic 26-24 home victory over Wittenberg to end a 33-game regular season winning streak for the Tigers.
Ranked No. 3 in the nation by the American Football Coaches Association at the time, Wittenberg fell behind 14 points early in the game and trailed 23-14 by halftime. In the second half, however, the Tiger defense stiffened, allowing only a field goal with 2:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately for Wittenberg, that field goal provided the two-point cushion necessary for the upset win as the offense turned the ball over on downs at midfield on its final drive.
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Last Time Out: Wittenberg faltered in the fourth quarter against the University of Dayton in the renewal of a long dormant rivalry, falling 41-23 on Sept. 10.
Tristan Murray ran for a 96-yard touchdown on the game's first play from scrimmage, a school-record 181 yards in the first quarter and 239 yards and two touchdowns by game's end. However, Dayton had all the answers, scoring on a 65-yard pass play on its first play from scrimmage and reeling off 28 points in a second-half comeback.
Murray's 239 yards was 10 short of his career best of 249 set a year ago in the season finale against Allegheny, and it was the highest total against Dayton since 1977, when the Flyers moved into the non-scholarship ranks. Freshman quarterback Matt Brumfield showed great poise in his first career start with 14 completions in 19 attempts for 104 yards. Sophomore tailback Derrick Braziel added 24 yards on seven carries and a team-best 42 yards on three receptions.
The Coaches: Wittenberg is led by Joe Fincham, a 1988 graduate of Ohio University. In his ninth season at the helm, Fincham has a 88-16 overall record, including a mark of 57-7 in the NCAC and a regular season record of 82-11. His teams have claimed five conference titles, including four straight outright with undefeated records from 1998-2001. Fincham, who ranked second in winning percentage in NCAA Division III history among coaches with five or more seasons coming into the 2005 campaign, has been named NCAC Coach of the Year four times.
Alma is led by Jim Cole, a 1974 graduate of the college, who is entering his 15th season at the helm. Alma has won four MIAA titles and advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament four times during his head coaching career, which also includes an 83-52 overall record. Before taking the head coaching position in 1991, Cole put in seven seasons in the high school ranks and eight years as an Alma assistant. A former All-MIAA quarterback for the Scots, Cole was a member of three conference championship teams.