The College of Wooster football team (2-1, 1-1 North Coast Athletic Conference) will be looking to rebound from its first loss of the year this week when the team travels to Greencastle, Indiana, for a 1 p.m. game at DePauw University (3-0, 1-0 NCAC). Wooster's bid to beat Wabash three straight (counting) seasons - something that has not happened since DePauw won five straight years from 1996-2000 - was foiled by the Little Giants, who beat the Fighting Scots 48-14 on Black & Gold Weekend. DePauw rolled at Hiram College, winning 44-0, and the Tigers have won their last two games by a combined score of 99-0.
On The Air: DePauw will livestream this week's game at https://depauwtigers.com/sports/2022/8/5/depauw-video-player-2.aspx. Q Media Wooster (WQKT/WKVX) is not carrying this week's game.
All-Time Series: DePauw leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1975, 8-3. The Tigers have won the last two counting contests in the series. The teams met up in an exhibition contest in 2021 won by the Tigers, 37-3. Wooster's last win in the series came back in 2018 (24-21). In that contest, then-first-year Mateo Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) electrified the team with 388 yards passing in his first collegiate start, and Wooster's defense protected a three-point lead with an interception and fourth-down stop down the stretch.
Last Meeting: Wooster overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie DePauw at 24 with 7:52 remaining, but the Scots ultimately could not rebound from five turnovers during a 34-30 setback on September 25, 2021. Then-junior Lake Barrett (Columbia, S.C./Hammond School) tied the game with a 21-yard field goal. DePauw's Gus Baumgartner squirted through Wooster's defense for the go-ahead score with 1:46 remaining, and Joe Sullivan put the game out of reach with a 32-yard field goal with :52 remaining that made it a 10-point game. Then-junior Cole Hissong (Shreve, Ohio/Triway) caught a 17-yard touchdown pass from Renteria as time expired.
Last Time Out: Senior Andrew Yanssens (Columbiana, Ohio/Crestview) found success early on the ground, but Wabash contained Wooster's passing game, and a near-perfect afternoon by its quarterback, Liam Thompson, enabled the Little Giants to roll past the Scots 48-14 on Black & Gold Weekend. Yanssens rushed for a career-high 141 yards and had five carries that went for at least 10 yards. Thompson completed 28-of-31 passes for 435 yards and four touchdowns.
Offense Notes: Wooster's passing offense, which has been among the top tier within NCAA Div. III since 2016, has found success against DePauw during the stretch. Alumnus Gary Muntean threw for 435 yards - at the time the second-most in program history - against DePauw in 2016. Muntean threw for 365 yards against the Tigers a year later, a season in which he had a game where he finished with 362 (Ohio Wesleyan University), 363 (Oberlin College), 364 (Allegheny College), and 365 passing yards. As mentioned previously, Renteria torched DePauw for 388 yards in 2018, his first collegiate start, and he since went for 344 passing yards and 355 passing yards in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Renteria is second among active NCAA Div. III quarterbacks with 8,868 career passing yards, trailing Case Western Reserve University's Drew Saxton (9,607 yards). Yanssens logged his second-career 100-yard game against Wabash. His first came against Hiram in 2021, when he rushed for 107 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries. Yanssens is 17th nationally and second in the NCAC with 30 points on the year. Wooster's offensive line, with starters sophomore left tackle Logan Pugh (Youngstown, Ohio/Jackson-Milton), senior left guard Colton Rambur (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley), junior center Bryce Kamphues (North Manchester, Ind./Manchester), sophomore right guard Seth Robinson (Mesquite, Texas/Mesquite), and sophomore right tackle Tyler Ellsworth (Ravenna, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) did not allow a sack on Saturday, and it marked the third time since the start of the 2021 season the Scots did not allow a sack. Hissong, a first-team D3football.com Preseason All-American, has logged 18 receptions, 327 yards, and six touchdowns in his career against DePauw, with three of the scores coming in last year's meeting.
Defense Notes: First-year linebacker Q Renteria (Houston, Texas/Cypress Creek) is one of two players (Denison University's Clay Denstorff is the other) in the NCAC with two forced fumbles on the year. Senior defensive back Matt Ulishney (Greensburg, Pa./Serra District Catholic) is the only player in the NCAC with two fumble recoveries thus far in 2022. Renteria, junior linebacker Kobe Nadu (Summerville, Ga./Darlington School) and senior defensive end Brandon Holt (College Park, Ga./Banneker) are all third in the NCAC with two sacks apiece.
Special Teams Notes: Senior Matt Pardi (Arlington, Va./Washington-Liberty), a D3football.com Preseason All-American, is leading Div. III with a 47.0 punting average. The Scots are fourth nationally with a 43.15 net punting average.
This and That: Wooster has not won at DePauw since 2013, when the Scots left Greencastle with a 27-24 win on November 2. Wooster's 2013 win at DePauw came in the midst of the Scots' four-game winning streak that closed out the season. Wooster has three players on its roster from Indiana - first-year linebacker Braydon Hudson (North Liberty, Ind./Washington), Kamphues, and first-year defensive lineman Robert Mays III (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg).