Each week, a football team faces a new set of challenges. This Saturday's game at Kenyon will challenge the Wabash football team mentally as much as physically.

"They're a power team that does a lot of weird formations, motioning back and forth everywhere," linebacker Connor Ludwig said. "This week has been more like a mental week for us to line up against their different formations and packages."
Wabash (5-0, 4-0 NCAC) hasn't lined up against a power-running team like Kenyon all season. The Lords (0-5, 0-4 NCAC) rely heavily on the classic Power-I formation that is all but extinct in college football. Ludwig and the rest of the Little Giant defense will need to bring their "big boy" pads.

"It will be nice to hit a little more," Ludwig said with a smile. "Spread teams are out there playing finesse — against Kenyon it will be good to play against the power and bang a little bit."

The Little Giants have had no problem against the spread offense. Through the first half of the regular season against predominantly spread teams, Wabash's scoring and total defense tops the NCAC.

Ludwig has shared duties at linebacker with Grant Klembara this season, but might see more playing time Saturday. The thicker Ludwig has made 14 tackles including two-and-a-half for loss.
  
Although the Lords often line up in power formations, they are still an efficient passing team. Junior quarterback Jake Bates is completing almost 66 percent of his passes and has thrown five touchdowns. Bates has relied on sophomore receiver Brian Hunca. The young receiver leads the team with 33 catches for 411 yards and a score.

"Although their quarterback is doing a great job throwing the football, they believe in being physical and running the ball like we do," Coach Erik Raeburn said. "They get in a lot of formations that we don't have to defend every week, so it puts a lot of challenge on you mentally to get your run fits right and line up properly."

Brandon January leads a trio of Kenyon backs. The senior has 226 yards and a touchdown on 63 attempts.

Defensively, the Lords are just as confusing.

"They're maybe the most diverse team defensively in our conference," Raeburn said. "They get in a million different fronts and they do different things in pass coverage. It seems like every week they have a different blitz to throw at whoever they're playing."

The Wabash quarterback — whoever it is — will have plenty to dissect. Raeburn said he will continue to split quarterback duties between Michael Putko and Connor Rice after each player saw the field last weekend at Ohio Wesleyan.

"I thought it was great to see each quarterback against a starting defense," Raeburn said. "Obviously Connor doesn't have as much experience as Michael does, so it was really good for him to get in there when the game was still in doubt. I think in Connor's first series, we were down 13-10, so it's great for him to be in those situations."

Raeburn complimented Rice's performance in practice and said that was the reason for giving Rice significant snaps. The sophomore finished the game 3-of-4 for 47 yards.

Putko saw more action and produced stellar results. He finished 14-for-19 for 168 yards and three touchdowns, and added 74 rushing yards.

"It's hard to count the plays up and get the plays even, so we (rotate quarterbacks) by series," Raeburn said. "If one guy is playing really good and the other guy is struggling, we don't have to rotate. I thought they both played really well. The way it worked out, Connor didn't throw as many passes as Michael did, but both of them completed about 75 percent of their throws."

The rotating quarterbacks didn't disrupt any offensive rhythm as Wabash hung 45 points on the Battling Bishops. Raeburn said he doesn't think different signal callers will be an issue going forward.

"I don't think it's a big adjustment for the guys to be honest," Raeburn said. "Most of them are worried about what they're supposed to do on every play, and not even thinking about who's doing what at quarterback. I thought they handled it well on Saturday, but we do it in practice every day so it's not a big deal."

The Lords will provide plenty to think about Saturday on both side of the ball. Kickoff will be at 1 p.m. from Gambier, Ohio.