Round 2 Franklin at UW-Whitewater: GAMEDAY CENTRAL

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Notes and Quotes heading into Round 2 playoff action

• The key for Whitewater will be to jump on Franklin College early. Even with its 45-0 loss to Whitewater back in September the Grizzlies are averaging 40 points per game and sophomore quarterback Johny West has thrown for over 3300 yards and 31 touchdowns. He ranks 4th in NCAA Division III quarterback statistics.

• UW-Whitewater quarterback Matt Blanchard is no slouch either. The senior is ranked 6th in pass efficiency. Blanchard, who was named a 2011 Gagliardi Trophy finalist, has thrown for just over 2300 yards along with 20 passing touchdowns. Matt’s completion percentage is 68%. Last year Blanchard finished 2nd in pass efficiency.

• This year’s “national” bracketing will have an impact on the – quote – Whitewater bracket. The winner of Saturday’s Whitewater-Franklin game will play the winner of the Salisbury State (Maryland)-Kean (New Jersey) 2nd round game. If Whitewater wins Saturday the 3rd round playoff game will be played at Perkins Stadium.

• This year’s new “national” bracketing in the Division III Playoffs isn’t being favored by everybody. One of Saturday’s 2nd round games has Linfield (Oregon) flying 3500 miles to play Wesley College in Dover, Delaware. Linfield coach Joe Smith said deserves a better buildup. "It's great for Division III [but] it's ridiculous that it's in round two," Smith said. "I think that's an absolute sham. This should be a semifinal-type matchup, or at least a quarterfinal matchup, and I think that's a disservice to the two programs, but there are seven or eight teams [that can win the Stagg Bowl] and these are two of them."
• As of Friday evening at 5:30 it looks like it could be a wet day at Perkins Stadium. Hopefully we’ll be able to draw more than the 1211 that were in attendance at the Perk last Saturday.

• I criticized Warhawk football fans for not making it to Perkins Stadium last Saturday. It led me to do a full breakdown of round-one playoff attendance. I found that Whitewater fans weren’t the “lone rangers.”

• Only five of the 16 1st round playoff games exceeded regular season per game attendance average. Three of the sixteen 1st round playoff games drew attendance figures less than half the venues regular season per game attendance. The two locations – Mount Union and Whitewater.

NCAA Division III First Round Playoff Game Attendance Figures

Note: The following is attendance figures for each of the 16 NCAA Division III playoff games played Saturday (Nov. 19) The first number is Saturday's attendance. The second figure in perentheses is the venues 2011 regular season per game attendance average)

(Whitewater Bracket)
Christopher Newport at Kean Attendance: 3943, (1812)
Western New England at Salisbury Attendance: 1183, (1699)
Thomas More at Franklin Attendance: 2850, (2820)
Albion at Wisconsin-Whitewater Attendance: 1211, (8040)

(Delaware Valley Bracket)
St. Scholastica at St. Thomas Attendance: 2350 (in snow storm), (4596)
Monmouth at Illinois Wesleyan Attendance: 2150, (1996)
St. John Fisher at Johns Hopkins Attendance: 1501, (1230)
Norwich at Delaware Valley Attendance: 1476, (2160)

(Mary Hardin-Baylor Bracket)
Redlands at Mary Hardin-Baylor Attendance: 1962, (2956)
McMurray at Trinity (TX) Attendance: 1373, (2022)
Cal Lutheran at Linfield Attendance: 1552, (2432)
Hobart at Wesley Attendance: 1531, (1738)

(Mount Union Bracket)I
llinois College at Wabash Attendance: 1359 (rain), (4509)
Dubuque at North Central Attendance: 1576, (2646)
Hampden-Sydney at Centre Attendance: 1312, (964)
Benedictine at Mount Union Attendance: 1823, (4043)

- Five of the sixteen 1st round playoff games exceeded regular season per game attendance average.

- Three of the sixteen 1st round playoff games drew attendance figures less than half the venues regular season per game attendance. The two locations – Mount Union and Whitewater

Leipold: This game is over, now we focus on Franklin

UW-Whitewater head coach Lance Leipold knows the Road to Salem is a month-long battle. Step 1 on the playoff road had few bumps as the Warhawks rolled to a 59-0 win over mistake prone Albion College.

(In the adjacent photo - UW-Whitewater head coach Lance Leipold leads his team out of the lockeroom prior to Saturday's playoff opening win over Albion College - Photo is courtesy of Jeff Seisser, Daily Jefferson County Union)

Whitewater forced three consecutive turnovers followed by three Levell Coppage touchdowns to give the Warhawks a 21-0 lead on its first three possessions.

The Wahawks scored the first five times it had the ball. Whitewater led 24-0 after the first quarter. 38-0 at halftime. With the second unit taking over in the third quarter the Hawks upped the lead to 52-0 after three quarters prior to adding a TD in the 4th quarter.

The 59 points is the most Whitewater has scored in an NCAA playoff game since defeating Lakeland College 70-7 November 21, 2009.

To view Coach Leipold's postgame press conference CLICK HERE

NCAA Division III 1st Round Playoff Scores

(Whitewater Bracket)
UW-Whitewater 59, Albion 0
Franklin 24, Thomas More 21
Kean 34, Christopher Newport 10
Salisbury 62, Western New England 24

(Delaware Valley Bracket)
St. Thomas 48, St. Scholastica 2
Monmouth 33, Illinois Wesleyan 27 (3 OT)
St. John Fisher 23, Johns Hopkins 12
Delaware Valley 62, Norwich 10

(Mary Hardin-Baylor Bracket)
Mary Hardin-Baylor 34, Redlands 13
McMurry 25, Trinity (Tex) 16
Linfield 30, Cal Lutheran 27
Wesley 35, Hobart 28

(Mount Union Bracket)
Wabash 30, Illinois College 20
North Central 59, Dubuque 13
Centre 61, Hamden-Sydney 41
Mount Union 47, Benedictine 7

Warhawks to face Franklin College in Round 2 of the Playoffs

The UW-Whitewater will meet a familiar foe in round-two of the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Hawks play Franklin College next Saturday. Franklin (10-1) held on to defeat Thomas More College (Kentucky) 24-21 in its playoff opener Saturday in Franklin (Indiana).

Franklin dominated play most of the first half and took a 17-0 advantage into the halftime intermission. But the Saints (9-2) struck back in the third quarter with a pair of touchdowns to pull to within three points.

The Grizzlies got some breathing room when sophomore quarterback Jonny West hit a wide open senior wingback Logan Worley on a 6-yard pass play to put FC up 24-14 with 13:14 to play in the game.

West completed 26 of 44 passes for 228 yards and one touchdown with an interception. Sophomore split end Kyle Linville made eight catches and Cook rushed for 44 yards and his TD on 12 carries.

Franklin gained 323 yards of total offense as a team to Thomas More’s 246 total.
For full story on Franklin-Thomas More game CLICK HERE

Next Saturday’s Franklin-Whitewater matchup will be the third time the two teams have met in the past 12 months.

The Warhawks travelled to Franklin in week-2 back in September. The Hawks beat the Griz 45-0 in the non-conference game. The two teams also met in last year’s playoff opener at Perkins Stadium. The Griz were down by a 21-14 score at halftime before Whitewater exploded for a 52-21 victory.

The NCAA will announce the site of next Saturday’s game sometime on Sunday.

UW-Whitewater routs turnover-prone Albion in playoff opener

(In the photo above - Jaren Borland (43) gets a convoy off the field after scoring the first of two touchdowns in UW-Whitewater's 59-0 1st round playoff win over Albion College - photo courtesy of Jeff Seisser, Daily Jefferson County Union)

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater scored the first five times it touched the ball, with both the defense and special teams contributing, and extended the nation's longest active win streak to 41 games with a 59-0 win over Albion College in a NCAA III playoff first round game at Perkins Stadium in Whitewater, Wisconsin Saturday.

The 59 points is the most Whitewater has scored in an NCAA playoff game since defeating Lakeland College 70-7 November 21, 2009 in Whitewater. It is the most points Whitewater has scored in any game, regular season or playoff, since topping UW-River Falls 63-14 October 23, 2010 in River Falls.

UW-Whitewater, 11-0, will play Franklin College (IN), a 24-21 winner over Thomas More in another first round game, next Saturday in a NCAA playoff second round (sweet sixteen) game. The location of that game will be announced late Sunday.

To read Micheal Bleach's game-story in the Wisconsin State-Journal CLICK HERE