Game Information – Wabash College (2-2, 1-1 NCAC) at Wittenberg University (2-1, 2-0 NCAC)

• When: Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 1 p.m.
• Where: Springfield, OH
   
• Wabash lost 35-14 at home to the Tigers last November. Wittenberg took a 21-14 lead at halftime and scored a touchdown in the third and fourth quarters. Wabash was shut out in the second half, the first time since Wooster blanked the Little Giants' offense in the second half of a 24-10 loss to the Scots in 2019. Wittenberg outgained Wabash 222-87 on the ground. Liam Thompson threw for 341 yards and one touchdown but was intercepted four times while completing 29 of 55 passes. He was also sacked three times by the Tiger defense.
   
• Wabash and Denison combined for 35 points in the fourth quarter of last Saturday's NCAC football game at Little Giant Stadium. The Little Giants took a 42-38 lead with 45 seconds left in regulation on a seven-yard TD pass from Liam Thompson to Penn Stoller, but Denison answered with a five-play, 76-yard drive that took only 34 seconds. The Big Red connected on an 18-yards touchdown pass from Drew Dawkins to Billy Guzzo with six seconds on the clock for a 45-42 win. The victory was only the second win by Denison at Wabash and snapped a 25-game Homecoming winning streak for the Little Giants.
   
• Thompson threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns in the loss, giving him his second consecutive game of 300 or more passing yards for the first time since games against Kenyon and Wittenberg last year. He added 73 rushing yards on 12 carries to account for 420 of the Little Giants' 560 yards of total offense.
   
• Wabash enters the weekend ranked 13th among Division III teams in total offense with an average of 526.2 yards per game. North Central leads the nation with a 626.7 yards-per-game average. The Little Giants are second in the conference and 11th in the country in passing offense. Wabash is averaging 337.8 passing yards through four games. Macalester averages 408.3 passing yards a game for the top average among NCAA DIII teams.
   
• Liam Thompson ranks second in the nation in total offense with an average of 391.2 yards per game, trailing Michael Nadeau from Macalester with a 396 yards-per-game average. Thompson is fourth in Division III with 1,335 passing yards and fifth in passing yards per game, averaging 333.8 ypg. He leads the conference and ranks 10th among DIII quarterbacks with 12 touchdown passes this season.
   
• Thompson's three TD passes against Denison moved his career total to 55 and into a tie for fourth place with Chris Ings '96 on the Wabash all-time passing touchdowns list. Thompson trails Russ Harbaugh '06 by one for third place on the all-time list. Thompson moved up one spot to 10th among active Division III quarterbacks in career touchdown passes and 12th in career passing yards.
   
• Thompson threw one of his touchdown passes against Denison to his younger brother, Connor Thompson, for Connor's first career touchdown reception. The sophomore wide receiver finished the game with two receptions for 49 yards, including the 35-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown to open the fourth quarter.
   
• Junior tailback Donovan Snyder ranks eighth in the nation with six rushing touchdowns. He added two more to his season totals on Saturday versus Denison. Junior wide receiver Derek Allen, Jr. leads the conference and ranks 18th in the nation in touchdown receptions with four. His 365 receiving yards are third-best in the conference and 20th among Division III players.
   
• Junior tight end Penn Stoller recorded his first 100-yard receiving game after gaining 103 yards and five receptions versus Denison last Saturday. Stoller is the fourth current Little Giant receiver to record a 100-yard game in his career. Cooper Sullivan leads the team with seven 100-yard games as a receiver, including a 134-yard effort this season versus Wooster. Allen, Jr. has turned in three 100-yard games with a 172-yard effort in the 2022 season opener versus Hampden-Sydney.
   
• Freshman linebacker Gavin Ruppert leads the Wabash defense and ranks second in the conference and eighth in Division III in total tackles with 36. He recorded a team-high 18 tackles with six solos and 12 assists versus Denison. His 18 tackles are the 11th-most in Wabash single-game history. Ruppert also forced a fumble and recovered the loose ball in the loss to Denison.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Wittenberg is riding a two-game winning streak after dropping its season's opening game at SUNY-Corland (48-28). The Tigers followed the opening loss with North Coast Athletic Conference road wins over Kenyon (51-28) and Hiram (38-14).
 
Junior quarterback Collin Brown ranks 10th in the nation in completion percentage at 70.6 percent and is seventh in the country in passing efficiency with a rating of 196.8. He has completed 48-of-68 attempts through three games for 794 yards and seven touchdowns with only two interceptions. Brown averages 264.7 passing yards per game, second in the conference behind the 333.8 ypg average of Liam Thompson. Brown threw for 123 yards and two touchdowns last year versus Wabash. Senior Jake Saus is Brown's top target, with eight receptions for 119 yards. Junior running back Garrett Gross has eight receptions for 118 yards and one touchdown. Junior Tyler May leads the team with 155 receiving yards on five catches, with two of those five going for touchdowns.

Gross leads the Tiger ground game with an average of 83 rushing yards per game, with one rushing touchdown scored this season. Gross carried eight times for 53 yards last year against the Little Giants. Senior Bryce Anderson, who ran for 135 yards and two touchdowns versus Wabash in 2021, averages 74 yards in two games this season with two rushing touchdowns.
 
The Wittenberg defense ranks third in the conference and 36th among Division III teams in scoring average by limiting opposing teams to an average of 39 points a game. Cameron Snurr earned NCAC Defensive Football Athlete of the Week honors after making a team-high six tackles against Hiram. The junior linebacker leads the team with 23 tackles this season. He has also intercepted a pass and has two tackles for losses of 13 yards with a sack. Mike Knock's 3-1/2 tackles for losses totaling 18 yards and three sacks for 18 yards tops the list for the Tiger defense.