Illinois Wesleyan (1-4, 0-2 CCIW) vs. Augustana (4-1, 2-0 CCIW)
                                                    Game Notes for October 15, 2005

THE GAME: Illinois Wesleyan (1-4, 0-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) plays at Augustana (4-1, 2-0 CCIW) at 1 p.m. at Ericson Field in Rock Island. It will be Homecoming on the Augustana campus. The Vikings have moved up to No. 23 in the latest D3football.com poll.

ONE WIN TO 500: IWU is 499-368-42 (.578) in 113 years of football. That win total is 21st among Division III schools heading into the season. The leader is Wittenberg with 650 wins in 111 seasons.

FOR THE RECORD: IWU is 66-31 in its last 97 games (.695) since 1995. The 28 losses have come to Wheaton (7); Augustana and Millikin (5); North Central (3); Carthage, Simpson, UW-Eau Claire and Elmhurst (2); and Mount Union, UW-LaCrosse, and Washington U. (1)...The Titans are 64-23 (.744) at home and 50-37-1 on the road (.580) under Eash... In 2004, IWU (3-7) had its first sub-.500 season since the 1993 team was 4-5. The Titans had been at .500 or better for 10 straight years.

THE OCTOBER STORY: In October, IWU is 49-33 (.613) in the Norm Eash era and was 2-3 last season in the month.

AT WILDER FIELD: Illinois Wesleyan is 53-16 (.779) at Wilder Field in the last 15 seasons (1991-2005). The IWU football facility is the fifth oldest football stadium in the country (1893), behind Wesleyan [Conn.] (1881), Williams [Mass.] (1883), Sewanee [Tenn.] and Amherst [Mass.] (both 1891).

CCIW IN THE RANKINGS: Four College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin teams are ranked among the top 27 in the weekly Division III poll done by D3football.com. North Central is No. 16 and Carthage is No. 22 while Augustana checks in at No. 23 and Wheaton is No. 27.

TITAN NOTES: North Central’s Kam Kniss threw for 356 yards and three TDs as North Central topped Illinois Wesleyan, 36-14, on Oct. 8 in Bloomington. North Central took advantage of six IWU turnovers, sending the Titans to a 1-4 overall mark, 0-2 in the CCIW. Kniss was 22 of 32 in the game and had scoring strikes of 16, 38 and 10 yards to Tyke Spencer. Spencer made nine catches in all for 196 yards for North Central as the Cardinals rolled up 410 yards from scrimmage. The Titans got 142 rushing yards on 24 carries from sophomore Marcus Dunlop (Maywood, Proviso East HS) and junior Brandon Cotter (Bradley, Bradley-Bourbonnais HS), filling in for an injured Tom Kudyba (Des Plaines, Elk Grove HS) at quarterback, threw for 114 yards (13 of 26 with three interceptions) and a touchdown to Jordan Musselman (Bloomington, Normal Community HS). Freshman Martin Ceisel (Deerfield HS) was the Titans' top yardage receiver, making three grabs for 84 yards. Sophomore quarterback Bryan Kelly (Evanston HS) ran for the other Titan TD with 6:51 to play in the game. Senior linebacker Damon Banks (Bellwood, Walther Lutheran HS) was IWU’s tackle leader with 12 (and a fumble recovery) while junior Mike Mastro (Sarasota, Fla., Cardinal Mooney HS) had 10.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Chosen by Titan coaches to honor top players in the week’s game and practices. The “Titan Award” is new in 2003 to honor a player for work ethic, loyalty and spirit.
OFFENSE: Marcus Dunlop, sophomore, running back, Maywood (Proviso East HS)
DEFENSE: Mike Stephens, junior, end, Orland Park (Providence Catholic HS)
SPECIAL TEAMS: Will Long, freshman, secondary, Park Forest (Rich East HS)
SCOUT (Offense): Joe Murphy, junior, quarterback, Riverside (Riverside-Brookfield HS); Josh Monk, freshman, back, Bloomington (Central Catholic HS)
SCOUT (Defense): Ron Watts, freshman, line, Hazel Crest (Hillcrest HS); Dan Souder, freshman, linebacker, Elk Grove Village (Elk Grove HS)
TITAN AWARD: Mike Stephens, junior, end, Orland Park (Providence Catholic HS)

THE SERIES VS. THE VIKINGS: In a series that dates back to 1917, Illinois Wesleyan leads by a margin of 38-31-1 but the Vikings have won the last four contests and five of the last six including a 30-28 decision last year on a field goal with 38 seconds to play…The Titans won four straight from 1995-98 before Augie stopped a four game losing streak with a 41-0 shutout in 1999…At one time IWU led the series, 32-12-1, but 11 straight Viking wins trimmed the margin to 32-24-1 heading into 1992.

THE COACHES: Norm Eash (Illinois Wesleyan, 1975) is in his 19th season as head coach at IWU and has an overall record of 114-59-1 (.668) and a CCIW mark of 85-46-1 (.653) with league titles in 1992, 1994, 1996, 2000, and 2001. Eash, the CCIW “Coach of the Year” in 1992, 1996 and 2001, is fourth in all-time CCIW coaching wins. Eash is second in victories at IWU, behind Don Larson (166 wins in 33 years, 1954-86)... Head coach Jim Barnes is in his sixth season at Augustana and he is 42-14 with the Vikings, including a 10-2 campaign in 2001 that resulted in a CCIW title and a berth in the NCAA Division III national playoffs. Overall he is 79-27, including 37-13 in five years at College of Wooster. He headed into the 2004 season ranked 13th in all of NCAA Division III with a winning percentage of .743.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS: After a season-opening 25-24 overtime loss to Central (Iowa), Augustana has wins over Catholic (52-26), UW-Platteville (45-14), North Park (50-6), and a 7-0 win over No. 12 Carthage last Saturday in Kenosha, Wis...Augustana scored its lone touchdown on a 17-yard pass from Matt Roe to Tom McIntire...Despite being limited to 131 yards on 60 rushes, Augustana is still No. 1 in Division III with 358.2 rushing yards per game ...Scoring at 35.6 points, the Vikings hold a 35:24 to 24:36 edge in minutes of possession in games...Senior cornerback Tom Anthony was selected College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin defensive "Player of the Week" for his effort in the Vikings 7-0 victory over Carthage. Anthony had eight solo tackles, intercepted a pass and broke up another in the shutout. The Vikings held the defending CCIW champion Redmen to only 225 yards of total offense (66 rushing and 159 passing). So far this season, Anthony has 13.5 total tackles (12 solo and three assists) with an NCAA Division III leading seven interceptions and one pass deflection...The Vikings lead the conference in six team categories: turnover margin (+2.40), rushing offense (358.2 yards per game), pass efficiency (175.7), fourth down conversions (.857), red zone efficiency (.952) and time of possession (35:24)...Central (Iowa), the team that dealt Augustana its lone loss, is No. 25 in the D-III rankings.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Titans return home to face Wheaton at 1 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 22.

EARLY START: In a check of records since 1965, the Sept. 3 season opener was the earliest home football game played in the modern era at IWU. In 2004, the Titans played at Simpson on Sept. 4, the earliest season start ever prior to 2005. Other early season openers have been on Sept. 7, 1985 (DePauw at IWU); Sept. 8, 2001 (IWU at Washington U.) and Sept. 8, 1984 (IWU at DePauw) and Sept. 9, 2000 (Washington U. at IWU). The IWU season in 1965 started on Sept. 25 with a home game against Illinois State..