Wabash and Oberlin meet Saturday in the Little Giants' 2023 home opener for the College's annual Homecoming celebration. Little Giant fans will also honor the 16 senior members of the 2023 team before Saturday's kickoff against the Yeomen.
 
Oberlin College (1-2, 0-1 NCAC) at Wabash College (1-1, 0-0 NCAC)
When: Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 2 p.m.
Where: Little Giant Stadium, Crawfordsville, Indiana
 
Wabash owns a 23-2-1 record versus Oberlin with an 11-1-1 in games played in Crawfordsville. The Little Giants lost the series' first game in 1945 and played to a tie in the 1979 meeting before winning 23 of the next 24 meetings between the two teams. Wabash defeated the Yeomen 49-20 in the last meeting between the two teams in Crawfordsville in 2019. Saturday's game is part of Wabash College's annual Homecoming celebration. Homecoming began on November 12, 1920, with a football game against Western Normal (now Western Michigan). Wabash is 67-27-8 all-time in Homecoming contests, including a 2-0-1 record versus Oberlin in Homecoming games.
 
In addition to celebrating Homecoming and Senior Day, Saturday's contest is also Wabash's first North Coast Athletic Conference game this season. The Little Giants were picked to finish second in the NCAC coaches' preseason poll.
 
Wabash is coming off a 47-21 road loss at the NCAA Division I FCS program from Butler University last Saturday. Wabash trailed Butler 21-0 and faced a fourth-and-sixth at its own 29-yard line. Blake White completed an 11-yard pass on the fake punt that sparked the offense and kept the drive alive. Six plays later, Jacob Riddle connected with Cade Campbell on a nine-yard wide receiver pass for the first Little Giant touchdown of the game. Wabash scored twice on touchdown passes from Liam Thompson of 22 yards to Derek Allen, Jr. and 18 yards to Riddle in the 47-21 loss to the NCAA Division I FCS Bulldogs.
 
Thompson completed 22-of-32 passes for 256 yards and two scores with one interception. Allen, Jr. caught a career-high ten passes for 99 yards and one TD. Penn Stoller added six receptions for 83 yards. Campbell paced the rushing attack with six carries for 36 yards and one touchdown reception.
 
Joe Rios led the Wabash defense with ten tackles. Will Netting added eight defensive stops.
 
Scouting Oberlin: Oberlin picked up its first win of the season with a 37-35 victory at home against Concordia University-Chicago. The victory snapped a home losing streak dating back to October 19, 2019, and gave head coach John Pont his first career win.
 
Sophomore quarterback Drew Nye earned North Coast Athletic Conference Offensive Athlete of the Week honors after the victory. He threw for 231 yards and four touchdowns on 21-of-33 passing in the win over Concordia Chicago. Nye was intercepted three times and sacked twice last week in a 70-0 loss to Denison in the Yeomen conference opener. He has thrown for 629 yards and five TDs through three games with a 52 percent completion percentage.
 
Junior Evan Smith-Rooks leads the Oberlin receiving corps with 17 catches for 152 yards. Sophomore wideout Connor Steele has caught two touchdown passes as part of his eight receptions for 71 yards. Nathaniel Castro, Jack Diskin, and  Ben Ephraim each have six receptions this season. Nye is the leading rusher for the Yeomen with 28 attempts for 176 yards. Senior back NuNu Samuels III ran 41 times for 120 yards in the first three games. Jamykle Benison has the only Oberlin rushing touchdown this season. He has carried the ball 13 times for 67 yards.
 
Junior linebacker Brandon Hall leads the Yeomen defense with 22 tackles. Sophomore linebacker Hunter Green's 4-5 tackles for losses totaling 21 yards and 3-1/2 sacks for 19 yards are tops for Oberlin through three games. Sophomore cornerback Solomon Brennan has the lone interception for the Yeomen this season.