Titans Upset Nationally Ranked Blue Devils

The defense of the UW-Oshkosh football team came up big as the Titans upset nationally-ranked and pre-season WIAC favorite UW-Stout, 15-7, on Saturday (Oct. 4) at Titan Stadium. UW-Stout (2-2/0-1 WIAC) entered the contest ranked 11th in the NCAA Division III by D3football.com, 18th by the American Football Coaches Association and 22nd by Don Hansen's Football Gazette.

Coupled with a victory over UW-Whitewater in last year's season finale, UW-Oshkosh (4-0/1-0 WIAC) has won its last five games. The winning streak is the longest for the Titans since they won their last three games of the 1976 season and their first two contests of 1977. UW-Oshkosh also has won its last six home contests and begun a season unbeaten in four games for the first time since 1968.

UW-Oshkosh's defense smothered UW-Stout's offense from nearly start to finish, with the only exception being in the last three minutes of the game when the Blue Devils drove 71 yards in 13 plays for a touchdown. UW-Stout had 11 possessions prior to that score, but none of them covered more than 30 yards.

UW-Stout invaded Titan Stadium averaging 34 points and 457.3 yards of offense per game, but left the facility with just seven points and 237 yards of offense. The Blue Devils, who had two of their offensive starters miss the game due to an automobile accident that took place earlier in the week, had the football for just 21:59 of the game and made only three of their 15 third down conversions.

UW-Oshkosh's defensive effort was led by cornerback Jon Thomas (Sr. • Madison), end Jason Boehlke (Jr. • Germantown), linebacker Craig Korth (Jr. • Menasha) and strong safety Ryan Slowik (So. • Green Bay). Thomas had eight tackles, including one for a loss, and one forced fumble, while Boehlke had seven tackles, including a quarterback sack, and Korth and Slowik six tackles each.

After a scoreless first quarter, UW-Oshkosh changed the scoreboard twice in the second period on field goals by wide receiver/placekicker Mike Kinateder (So. • Waukesha). Kinateder gave the Titans a 3-0 lead with a 25-yard kick at the 7:58 mark of the second stanza and a 6-0 advantage with a 30-yard boot with just one second left before intermission.

UW-Oshkosh extended its lead to 15-0 in the fourth quarter on Stern's five-yard touchdown run with 7:09 left in the period and Kinateder's 26-yard field goal with 2:53 remaining. UW-Stout entered the scoring column with just 1:05 left in the game, a 10-yard touchdown run by quarterback Nick Ohman and an extra point kick by Evan Larsen.

Offensively, UW-Oshkosh controlled the football for 38:01 of the game. The Titans rolled up 22 first downs and 386 yards of offense, including 240 on the ground against a UW-Stout defense that yielded an average of just 88.7 per contest. Halfback Andrew Stern (So. • Wisconsin Rapids) led UW-Oshkosh in rushing with 125 yards and one touchdown in 36 attempts, while quarterback Nick Wara (Jr. • Oshkosh) added 85 yards in nine attempts.

In the air, Wara completed 12 of 24 passes for 146 yards, with wide receiver Chad LaLuzerne (Fr. • Algoma) catching five for 59 yards and tight end Chad Lindsley (Sr. • Oconomowoc) four for 53.

Ohman and halfback Luke Bundgaard accounted for 229 of UW-Stout's 247 offensive yards. Bundgaard, UW-Stout's all-time leading rusher, carried the football 18 times for 87 yards, while Ohman completed 13 of 34 passes for 111 yards and rushed nine times for 31 yards.

UW-Stout had four defensive players who had double-digit totals in tackles, including linebacker Travis Phillips who had 14, strong safety Kevin Dewey who had 13 and free safety Jordan Sinz who had 11.

UW-Oshkosh leads the all-time series against UW-Stout by a 26-20-1 count after defeating the Blue Devils for the second time in three years. In 2001 at Titan Stadium, UW-Oshkosh defeated UW-Stout, 19-7. The Blue Devils entered that game two years ago as both the eighth-ranked team in the NCAA Division III by D3football.com and defending WIAC champion.