Illinois Wesleyan at Elmhurst - Game Notes
October 21, 2006

THE GAME: Illinois Wesleyan (2-4, 1-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) plays at Elmhurst (4-2, 1-2 CCIW) at Langhorst Field at 1 p.m. on Sat., Oct. 21. This is the Bluejays’ Homecoming game.

ON THE AIR: The IWU/Elmhurst game will be broadcast live via the Internet on www.wjbc2.com.

OCTOBER: In October, IWU is 52-35 (.598) in the Norm Eash era.

FOR THE RECORD: IWU is 70-38 in its last 108 games (.648) since 1995...The 38 losses have come to Wheaton and Augustana (7); Millikin (6); Carthage (4); North Central (3); Simpson, UW-Eau Claire and Elmhurst (2); and Coe, Mount St. Joseph, Mount Union, UW-LaCrosse, and Washington U. (1)...The Titans are 65-26 (.714) at home and 52-41-1 on the road (.558) under Eash...2005 and 2004 are the first back-to-back losing seasons for IWU since 1987 (4-5) and 1988 (4-5)...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.

ON TO THE NEXT 500: IWU is 503-375-42 (.571) in 114 football seasons... The 500th win came in a 23-14 win over Wheaton on Oct. 22, 2005.

AT WILDER FIELD: Illinois Wesleyan is 55-19 (.743) at Wilder Field in the last 15 seasons (1991-2006). 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).

LAST WEEK: Sophomore Martin Ceisel (Deerfield HS) caught an 11-yard pass from Nick Panno (Wheaton, Wheaton Warrenville So. HS) in overtime as Illinois Wesleyan claimed a 12-6 win over Millikin on Sat., Oct. 14 in Decatur. Junior Marcus Dunlop (Maywood, Proviso East HS) led Titan rushers with 58 yards while Ceisel had five catches for 41 yards. Panno threw for 132 yards as IWU amassed 240 yards of total offense to 286 for the Big Blue (2-4, 1-2 CCIW). Bo Osburn (Morton HS) had 10 tackles while Brian Smith and Rob Hoyland (Montgomery, Oswego HS) each had seven to pace IWU.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Chosen by Titan coaches to honor top players in the week’s game and practices. The “Titan Award” honors a player for work ethic, loyalty and spirit.

OFFENSE: Marcus Dunlop, junior, back, Maywood (Proviso East HS)

DEFENSE: Steve Groetsema, senior, linebacker, LaGrange Park (Lyons HS)

SPECIAL TEAMS: Josh Monk, sophomore, linebacker, Bloomington (Central Catholic HS)

SCOUT (Offense): Brad Pierson, freshman, line, Dalzell (Spring Valley Hall HS); Keely Flood, freshman, line, Lombard (Montini HS); John Nelson, sophomore, line, Wheaton (Wheaton Warrenville South HS); Keenan Clifford, freshman, line, Tinley Park (Lincoln Way East HS); Mike Smith, freshman, line, Chicago (Leo HS); Bob Lanning, junior, line, St. Charles (North HS)

SCOUT (Defense): Kevin O’Connor, freshman, end, Dunlap (Peoria Notre Dame); Mike Kotz, freshman, linebacker, Elmwood Park (St. Patrick HS)

TITAN AWARD: Brian Smith, junior, secondary, Louisville, Ky., (Trinity HS)

MARCUS DUNLOP: Junior Marcus Dunlop (Maywood, Proviso East HS) now has 1,629 career rushing yards, making him 12th all-time at IWU. He is immediately behind (current North Central coach) John Thorne (1,696, 1965-68).

MIKE BERRY: Senior Mike Berry (Crystal Lake, Prairie Ridge East HS) kicked two field goals at Millikin and now is 4-for-4 this year and 13-of-20 in his career. The 13 field goals is tied for fourth most in an IWU career with Nils Lindskoog (1974-77). Berry was CCIW “Special Teams Player of the Week” vs. Olivet (Sept. 9) when he made field goals of 43 and 34 yards and also had an extra point in the 21-6 win. The 43-yard field goal is tied for the 7th longest in IWU history...Berry is No. 6 at IWU with 47 extra point kicks and has 88 career points.

THE COACHES: Norm Eash (Illinois Wesleyan, 1975) is in his 20th season as head coach at IWU and has an overall record of 118-67-1 (.637) and a CCIW mark of 88-52-1 (.628) 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, behind IWU’s Don Larson (142 wins), Bob Reade of Augustana (112) and Carthage’s Art Keller (105). Eash is second in victories at IWU, behind Don Larson (166 wins in 33 years, 1954-86). . .Tom Journell is in his third season as the Bluejays’ head coach and has a career mark of 14-12. An assistant head coach at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls for 15 years prior to coming to Elmhurst before the 2004 season, Journell inherited a Bluejay football team that came off its most successful season in 16 years.

THE SERIES VS. ELMHURST: In a series that dates back to 1930, Illinois Wesleyan holds a 44-9-1 lead in games vs. Elmhurst. The Bluejays won in 2005 by a 20-15 score in a game at Elmhurst. When Elmhurst beat IWU, 40-20, in 2003, it ended a 17-game winning streak against the Bluejays. The Titans have won 19 of the last 23 games between the two schools.

SCOUTING THE BLUEJAYS: This is the third straight season the Bluejays have started out at least 3-0. The Bluejays opened with wins over Benedictine (34-0), Chicago (23-10), Olivet (33-16) and Carthage (20-13) before losing to Augustana (28-14) and North Central (30-16)...Starting QB Chris Kudyba, the younger brother of former IWU quarterback Tom, was injured (ACL knee) on the fifth play of the first game of the year, had surgery this week and will miss the entire season...Last week, it was a tale of two different halves as the Elmhurst College football team dropped its second straight CCIW game. At the half, Elmhurst enjoyed a 6-3 lead and a 10-minute time of possession advantage while holding North Central to only 98 yards of total offense. But in the second half, Elmhurst turned the ball over four times while North Central rolled up 235 of total offense. The Cardinals scored 21 straight points to start the second half and pull away from the Bluejays. Elmhurst finished the game with 10-minute time of possession advantage and 271 yards of total offense (222 through the air and 49 on the ground). North Central finished with 333 yards with 204 coming through the air and 129 yards from the running game. Mike LaFluer and Ryan Freund combined to finish 18-of-39 for 222 yards and four interceptions. Michael Cooley was the Bluejays’ leading receiver, catching six passes for 68 yards. Freund was the top rusher for Elmhurst, carrying 12 times for 22 yards. John Scardullo was the Bluejays top tackler, recording nine tackles, including five solo stops.

THE RANKINGS: Five IWU foes have earned national rankings. In D3football.com this week, Wheaton (5-1) is No. 28, Coe (6-1) is No. 24, Mt. St. Joseph (6-0) is No. 25, Augustana (4-2) is No. 35 and North Central (4-2) is No. 39. In Don Hansen’s Football Gazette, Wheaton  is No. 22, Mt. St. Joseph is No. 29, Coe is No. 31 and Augustana is No. 36.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Titans return home for a 1 p.m. game on Sat., Oct. 28 against North Park and play the annual “Seniors’ Day” game at 1 p.m. on Sat., Nov. 4 against North Central before ending the regular season at Wheaton on Sat., Nov. 11.

HOMECOMING: After losing to Carthage on Oct. 7, the Titans are now 27-15 in their last 42 Homecoming games and have been 9-10 in the last 19 years, preceded by a six-game winning streak from 1982-87.

PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: Four from IWU earned honorable mention notice on the preseason All-America squads chosen by Don Hansen's Football Gazette — senior DE Mike Stephens (Orland Park, Providence Catholic HS), senior KR Eric Esch (Bloomington HS), junior RB Marcus Dunlop (Maywood, Proviso East HS) and sophomore WR Martin Ceisel (Deerfield HS).

CCIW PRESEASON POLL: IWU was picked to finish seventh in the 2006 CCIW preseason coaches’ poll. Augustana was No. 1 with 46 points, including four first place votes, followed by North Central (38 points, two first place votes), Wheaton (36 points, one first place vote). Millikin (one first place vote) and Elmhurst tied for fourth with 27 points, followed by Carthage (26 points), the Titans (17) and North Park (7).

SEASON OPENERS: IWU is 10-10 in opening-day games under Norm Eash.

EARLY START: In a check of records since 1965, this is the earliest home football game played in the modern era at Illinois Wesleyan. . . Last year the Titans hosted Simpson on Sept. 3, the earliest season start ever prior to this year, and in 2004 IWU played at Simpson on Sept. 4. 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). What a difference 40 years makes - the IWU season in 1965 started on Sept. 25 with a home game against Illinois State.