2008 Woodie Awards
Road victory over Sewanee takes team to 3-0
By: Matt Clemens
Issue date: 9/25/07 Section: Sports
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Despite being plagued by missed field goals and injuries, the football team moved to 3-0 for the first time in 22 years. The team toughed out a 14-10 victory over the host Tigers of the University of the South-Sewanee Saturday to pick up a highly coveted Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) road win.
On a day when their star player, senior running back Jeremiah Marks, was out with a minor knee injury, coach Matt Walker said the whole team did their part to win the game.
"We talked about having a solid game overall," Walker said. "We didn't change the game plan."
With the Tigers racking up 352 yards of total offense, the game plan didn't need much of a face-lift. Senior running back Dorrius Ford, who replaced Marks, scored both of DePauw's touchdowns and had 76 of the Tigers' 144 rushing yards on 20 carries.
Midway through the fourth quarter, however, the Tigers found themselves in a place that they hadn't been all year long - trailing. After a field goal put the Tennessee Tigers up 10-7, DePauw started a drive from their own 28. With 10:54 left in the game, sophomore quarterback Spud Dick went 4-4 for 59 yards and engineered a drive to score the game's final points.
"The biggest thing was just for us to score," Dick said. "That was the first time all year that we had a deficit so the biggest thing for us was just to get points on the board, especially a touchdown, since we were down by three."
Although DePauw limited last week's SCAC Player of the Week Blake Mears to just 35 yards on 16 carries, and held a six minute edge over Sewanee in time of possession, the scoreboard told a different story for the Tigers as the score was close all afternoon. While the Tigers minimized their turnovers, they had two drives of at least six and a half minutes that resulted in missed field goals.
"We did some good things offensively," Walker said. "We just had some problems finishing drives."
But on a day when the team perhaps needed it the most, the DePauw defense came through once again. Despite giving up four big runs, DePauw crushed any hopes of a late Sewanee comeback.
"We relied heavily on the defense," Walker said. "We only had one turnover, and so by protecting the football and not turning it over, we put our defense in a position to let them win the game."
Dick agreed.
"We really weren't all that concerned with the amount of time that we [left Sewanee]," Dick said. "Other than [four big runs], they were stingy all day long. We definitely had confidence in our defense."
On a day when their star player, senior running back Jeremiah Marks, was out with a minor knee injury, coach Matt Walker said the whole team did their part to win the game.
"We talked about having a solid game overall," Walker said. "We didn't change the game plan."
With the Tigers racking up 352 yards of total offense, the game plan didn't need much of a face-lift. Senior running back Dorrius Ford, who replaced Marks, scored both of DePauw's touchdowns and had 76 of the Tigers' 144 rushing yards on 20 carries.
Midway through the fourth quarter, however, the Tigers found themselves in a place that they hadn't been all year long - trailing. After a field goal put the Tennessee Tigers up 10-7, DePauw started a drive from their own 28. With 10:54 left in the game, sophomore quarterback Spud Dick went 4-4 for 59 yards and engineered a drive to score the game's final points.
"The biggest thing was just for us to score," Dick said. "That was the first time all year that we had a deficit so the biggest thing for us was just to get points on the board, especially a touchdown, since we were down by three."
Although DePauw limited last week's SCAC Player of the Week Blake Mears to just 35 yards on 16 carries, and held a six minute edge over Sewanee in time of possession, the scoreboard told a different story for the Tigers as the score was close all afternoon. While the Tigers minimized their turnovers, they had two drives of at least six and a half minutes that resulted in missed field goals.
"We did some good things offensively," Walker said. "We just had some problems finishing drives."
But on a day when the team perhaps needed it the most, the DePauw defense came through once again. Despite giving up four big runs, DePauw crushed any hopes of a late Sewanee comeback.
"We relied heavily on the defense," Walker said. "We only had one turnover, and so by protecting the football and not turning it over, we put our defense in a position to let them win the game."
Dick agreed.
"We really weren't all that concerned with the amount of time that we [left Sewanee]," Dick said. "Other than [four big runs], they were stingy all day long. We definitely had confidence in our defense."
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