Menu
DePauw shutout by No. 17 Wittenberg 45-0
The DePauw football team had no answer for the lightning-quick, precision offense Wittenberg threw at them on Saturday. The home opener on the new turf at Blackstock Stadium ended with a 45-0 loss for the host Tigers.
Wittenberg (1-1, 1-0 NCAC) ran 45 offensive plays in the first half, opened the game with a 13-play drive that took just 4:37 and scored on each of its first three possessions.
"They're a great football team," DPU head coach Bill Lynch said. "They're a physical bunch and they really played flawless the first half. We couldn't stop them and offensively we couldn't control the ball."
Sophomore Justin Murray started the game at quarterback for DePauw (0-2, 0-1 NCAC), as he did in the season-opener two weeks ago, but lasted only three uneventful drives before giving way to freshman Matt Hunt.
Hunt's first pass went to senior wide receiver Barry Flynn, who took it 17 yards to the Wittenberg 16 for DePauw's first scoring chance midway through the second quarter, but his second was tipped by a linebacker and intercepted on the four-yard line.
"Justin is still our starting quarterback," Lynch said. "I told them both that Matt was going to play, and I didn't know how much. It was just kind of the flow of the game. He's going to be a good quarterback."
Hunt played with confidence, stepping up in the pocket and unafraid of letting the ball go down field, but Wittenberg's defense overwhelmed DePauw at the line and in the secondary. He finished the game nine-for-18 for 97 yards.
Murray came back in at quarterback to start the second half, then swapped again with Hunt a few possessions later. The two quarterback system was a new wrinkle for DePauw this week, but it didn't give them any new answers on how to move the ball.
Wittenberg gave a few younger players some in-game experience in the fourth quarter and DePauw was finally able to move the ball, eventually getting to a third-and-goal from the one yard line.
Senior Nikko Sansone, primarily a wide receiver last season, had three carries that drive and finished as DePauw's leading rusher with 26 yards.
Hunt quarterbacked most of the 61-yard drive to Wittenberg's goal line, but Murray came back into the game to attempt a quarterback sneak. The sophomore has about 35 more pounds on his frame than Hunt, which Lynch said he hoped would allow him to move the pile and DePauw into the endzone, hopefully saving face.
When the third down play was stuffed, DPU tried again to pound it in, this time with an off-tackle run from the pistol formation. It was stopped for a two-yard loss.
"On the last play I probably got stubborn," Lynch said. He also serves as offensive coordinator. "I wanted to see if we could knock them off the ball and knock it in. We didn't."
Flynn was the Tigers' leading receiver with seven catches for 68 yards. He was the only player on DPU with multiple receptions.
Wittenberg senior quarterback Reed Florence threw for 212 yards on 20-of-31 passing and picked up another 43 yards on the ground. Sophomore Sean Gary had 110 rush yards on 14 carries for Wittenberg.
DPU was outmatched on Saturday, but Lynch said the team will try to take some solace in the defeat coming at the hands of Division III's winningest program.
"Playing a team like that, we learned a lot about what it takes in this conference," he said. "We'll keep going. We'll learn from what happened today when we watch the tape and get ready for next week. ... Nobody is going to hang their head. We're going to come back tomorrow, watch the tape and we're going to practice and get ready for the next one."
DePauw is on the road for the next two weeks for a pair of games against more North Coast Athletic Conference opponents. They'll take on another Kenyon this Saturday, then travel to Denison on Oct. 5.
Grabservations
The freshmen class look like keepers.
The DePauw defense struggled to find any success on Saturday, but a trio of freshmen have emerged early in the season. Safety Cody Baker led the team with 16 tackles and broke up a pass, Will Longthorne had seven tackles, one for a loss, and Tommy Gray carried out his assignments throughout.
The coaches found a way to get Nikko Sansone touches.
Sansone came to DPU as a wide receiver after spending his freshman season as a walk-on at Missouri. He had 27 carries as a sophomore, but just one last season when the Tigers aired the ball out more and put him in the slot. Sansone has quick feet and good hands, and he's not afraid to stick his nose into traffic.
Given how much DPU has struggled with running the ball in the first couple games of the year, it made sense to try to get him touches out of the backfield. Most of his yards on Friday came after Wittenberg dipped into its defensive reserves, but he could give the Tigers some big plays going forward.
"I think the biggest thing is finding a spot for him, and we're going to play him at running back," Lynch said. "He still can play wide receiver, but we feel like he can give us some explosive plays at running back just like he did."
Barry Flynn is nearly unguardable.
As far as division III is concerned.
He might not put up huge numbers this season, because the Tigers have struggled with pass blocking and they're working with young quarterbacks, but Flynn has 16 catches in the first two game and his size (6-foot-5, 225 pounds) is impossible for DIII cornerbacks to overcome. With Flynn flanked out, DPU will have a target for a consistent five-10 yards on any play.