FB Game Preview -- Game Three vs. Ashland

Football 9/12/2018 7:54:00 AM Cameron Weidenthaler, Assistant Media Relations Director

Football Opens GLIAC Schedule vs. Ashland

The Warriors aim to rebound after road loss at UIndy.

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football program (1-1 overall, 0-0 GLIAC) will look to rebound this Saturday against Ashland (0-2 overall, 0-0 GLIAC) in the GLIAC opener for both squads. The Warriors were impressive in their season-opening win over Walsh, but could never get it going at #22-Indianapolis last weekend, falling 28-6.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Ashland started the season with games against two ranked opponents and dropped both contests. #4-Indiana (Pa.) bested AU, 21-17, in Ashland on Aug. 30th, before #17-Ohio Dominican won a 24-17 thriller in Columbus, Ohio, last time out. Head coach Lee Owens is in his 15th season leading the Ashland program. Two quarterbacks have seen the field for the Eagles this season. Senior transfer Billy Bahl started the season opener and completed 15 of 21 passes for 115 yards, while redshirt freshman Austin Brenner has played in both games. He started at ODU and went 19-for-27 for 196 yards. Senior running back Andrew Vaughn is one of the better ball carriers in the league, totaling 202 yards and two scores in 2018. Redshirt sophomore Logan Bolin has caught nine balls for 61 yards to pace the AU receiving corps. Sophomore Satchel Denton has made both of his field goal attempts, including a long of 39 yards. The defense is anchored by junior linebacker Clay Shreve (17 total tackles) and senior defensive end James Prater, Jr. (16 total tackles and 1.5 sacks). As a team, Ashland is scoring 17 points per game and allowing 22.5 points per game.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails 7-24 in the all-time series versus Ashland. The Eagles have won five of the last six meetings. The last time WSU won was in 2013, 34-22, when AU was ranked #21. The Warriors are 4-11 at home in the series and head coach Paul Winters is 3-9 in his time in Detroit vs. Ashland.

PLAYING RANKED OPPONENTS
Since the 2004 season when Coach Winters took over, Wayne State is 10-28 versus ranked opponents. The last time the Warriors knocked off a top-25 program was when WSU topped Carson-Newman 41-31 on Sept. 4, 2014. Five of those 10 victories came in 2011 as Wayne State won four road playoff contests en route to the title game. The Green & Gold will look to end a seven-game losing streak against ranked teams on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State suffered a 28-6 setback at 22nd-ranked Indianapolis on a rainy Key Stadium on Sept. 8th.

The Greyhounds drove 76 yards in 10 plays on their second drive of the game to take a 7-0 lead on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jake Purichia to Daveon Bell. The Warriors answered with a sustained drive as Deiontae Nicholas had three carries for 37 yards. On WSU's first play in the red zone, WSU was assessed a holding penalty. A bad snap on a field goal attempt led to an interception.

Five plays later UIndy led 14-0 after a 12-yard touchdown run by Tyre Lee. UIndy would score again just before halftime, then added a touchdown in the third quarter to make 28-0. Jake AmRhein found Tyler Blaszczak for a five-yard touchdown for WSU's only points.

MAKING THEIR DEBUTS
Of the 58 players who saw action for the Warriors vs. Walsh, 15 were making their collegiate debut (Sean Banaszak, Samari Dean, Damani Green, Avery Hall, Tieler Houston, Nick Isley, Cameron Judge, Cooper Kukal, Jacob Mass, Donte McClure, Ryan Motala, Nick Poterack, Spencer Stephenson, Reid Thompson and Brandon Tuck-Hayden). Dean, Houston and Mass are true freshmen. Two others made their WSU debut (Kenneth Cephus and Shane Hynes). Plus Ali Scheib who played four years of soccer at Michigan State made his collegiate football debut. Redshirt freshman Joe Ziedas made his collegiate debut at Indianapolis.

EARLY SEASON SUCCESS
Since the start of the 2008 season, WSU has a 31-14 record for games played in August and September. The Warriors are 24-21 in October during that same time period, 12-11 in November and 2-1 in December.

A MATURING OFFENSIVE LINE
Going into the 2017 season, fans of Warrior football knew the offensive line was going to be a work in progress after losing 144 combined starts from the group of Robert Kelly (41), Nate Theaker (33), Tommy Richardson (32), Andrew Zimmerman (21) and JT Pillars (17). The group of Israel Helms (10), Justin Tockstein (11), Charlie Younger (11), Lane Potter (11) and Adam McJunkin (1) gained valuable experience since the 2017 season began with only three combined starts (all by then senior Greg Webber). With the return of Tommy Richardson and his 35 career starts, the 2018 offensive line now has 86 career starts.

TOM ADAMS HOME COOKING
Tom Adams Field is not an easy place to play for visiting programs. The Warriors have defended their home turf extremely well in the past 11 seasons (2008-18) to a 41-18 tune. WSU had a winning record at home for nine straight seasons, until a 2-4 record in 2017. In the Coach Winters' era, the Warriors are 48-31 (.607) at home. WSU is 32-15 at home this decade and carries a 216-216-19 all-time record at home in the first 101 years of the program as Detroit Junior College (1918-23), College of the City of Detroit (CCD / 1923-34), Wayne University (1934-56) and WSU (1956-present).

CONSISTENT LEADER
Paul Winters will become the longest tenured football coach in program history this fall as he is in his 15th season. He passed the founder of WSU athletics David Holmes in 2014 at 11 seasons (1918-28). Winters surpasses Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis, who held the post for 14 seasons (1932-45). Winters enters the Ashland contest tied-for-30th among all active DII football head coaches with 82 wins. The game at Ferris State on Sept. 30, 2017, was his 150th as the Warrior head coach. Gembis (101) and Holmes (80) are second and third in career games coached.

LAST 100-PLUS GAMES
Wayne State has compiled at least a .500 season in eight of the last 10 years (2008-17) combining for a 69-47 mark over the last 116 games. Prior to Coach Winters arrival in 2004, the Tartars/Warriors had 10 consecutive losing seasons on the field and only one winning season on the field in 19 years.

QUARTERBACK WIN TOTALS
In baseball, the starting pitcher gets a win for going at least five innings so we thought we would take a look at the best win totals for WSU starting quarterbacks since 1959 (except 1980-81). The same rules from baseball apply here -- the QB that was in when the winning points were scored received the decision.

Keeping with the baseball theme, D.J. Zezula earned a "save" in the win over Walsh.

1.   Mickey Mohner (2009-12), 30-15-0, .667
2.   Ed Skowneski (1972-75), 20-12-0, .625
3.   D.J. Zezula (2015-SA), 15-14-0, .517
   Jim Gendron (1976-78), 15-7-0, .682
5.   Mark Friday (1991-93), 13-13-0, .500
6.   A.J. Vaughn (1965-67), 8-5-0, .615
7.   Trent Pohl (2006-07), 8-10-0, .444
    Richard Popp (1983-86), 8-15-1, .354
9.   Kevin Smith (2008), 7-2-0, .778
   Carl Roscoe (2012-15), 7-7-0, .500
   Anthony Frederick (1992, 94-95), 7-12-0, .368
   Michael Gluski (1994-95, 97-98), 7-16-0, .304
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   Dakota Kupp (2017-SA), 4-1, .800

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 22 of its last 26 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the 2018 season-opener over Walsh, where the Warriors totaled 237 yards on the ground. The first three setbacks when accomplishing the feat came in 2016-at Ashland, where the Warriors ran for exactly 200 yards in a losing effort; at Ferris State; at Ohio Dominican when WSU ran for 242 yards; and at UIndy last week where the Green & Gold compiled 202 yards on the ground. During the last seven-plus seasons (2011-18), Wayne State is 32-8 when rushing for 200 yards, including a 13-6 mark on the road. Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 51-17 under those parameters, including a 32-5 mark at home.

DYNAMIC DEIONTAE
Deiontae Nicholas averaged 13.3 yards per carry at UIndy recording 80 yards on six carries. He had a season-long 28-yard carry early in the second half.

NCAA STATS REPORT
Wayne State ranks fourth nationally in blocked punts (1), seventh in fewest penalties per game (3.5), eighth in red zone defense (.400), ninth in fewest penalty yards per game (30.5), 15th in blocked kicks (1), 29th in scoring defense (14.0), 31st in opponent third down conversion percentage (.280) and 32nd in rushing offense (219.6).

Drew Dowding and Kyle Toth are tied-for-22nd with 0.50 forced fumbles per game, while DaVarie Halliburton and Spencer Stephenson are tied-for-seventh with one fumble recovery each. Leon Eggleston ranks 32nd with 2.0 tackles for loss per game.

16-GAME SEASON
In the 45-year history of NCAA Division II football, the 2011 Warrior squad is the only team to play a 16-game schedule.

LEAGUE OPENERS
In the Paul Winters era (since 2004), Wayne State is 4-10 in GLIAC openers. In terms of home league openers under Winters, the Warriors are 9-5.

WINNINGEST MICHIGAN FOOTBALL PROGRAMS
Over the last decade, Wayne State ranks sixth among all Michigan football programs in winning percentage (both regular season and playoffs). Meanwhile, the 69 wins rank fifth (Michigan has 75 victories).

    1. Grand Valley State, 103-26 / .798
    2. Michigan State, 94-40 / .701
    3. Ferris State, 79-40 / .664
    4. Adrian, 67-37 / .644
    5. Hillsdale, 68-46 / .596
    6. Wayne State, 69-47 / .595

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Demetrius Stinson became the 12th running back in school history to surpass the 2,000-yard rushing total with his 81 yards vs. Walsh. His career total is at 2,115 following the UIndy contest. Stinson has his sights set on 11th place (2,171) and 10th place (2,404).

LEON WILL SEE YOU IN THE BACKFIELD NOW
Leon Eggleston had a team-high eight tackles, including four for loss (-11 yards) as the Warrior defense limited the Cavaliers to 155 yards of total offense. His first TFL came with WSU leading 3-0 on a third-and-one at the Walsh 44 (-2 yards); he had a two-yard TFL on the next series on the play following Walsh's deepest penetration of the game (WSU 39); he combined with Derrick Coleman on a six-yard sack on third-and-nine on the drive after WSU took a 10-0 lead; on Walsh's first drive of the second half, Eggleston combined with Kyle Toth for a three-yard TFL on second-and-10. He continued to lead the defense with seven tackles at UIndy.

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