Game Notes (PDF)
WESTERVILLE, Ohio—The Otterbein University football team opens Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play Saturday, taking on the Quakers of Wilmington College on Homecoming. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. in Memorial Stadium.
As a part of the Homecoming celebration, Otterbein will recognize five OAC championship teams at halftime: the 2003 women's tennis team, and the 2003 and 2008 men's and women's golf teams.
The Cardinals, idle last Saturday, opened the 2013 season Sept. 7 at home with a 28-0 loss to then 24th-ranked St. John Fisher College, who has since moved up to 18th in the D3football national poll following a 41-21 victory over Washington & Jefferson College.
Since that loss, Otterbein second-year head coach Tim Doup has had his team focus in on key areas in practice over the last two weeks.
"Offensively, we went right back to day one," Doup said. "We started over. We took our offense and dummied it down. We are going to get good at certain things. Maybe we had too much in.
"Defensively, Doup continued, "we worked on stopping the big play over the middle."
Wilmington, under first-year head coach Stacy Hairston, is also coming off a bye week. The Quakers opened the new season with a 48-27 loss to Olivet College Sept. 7 in Wilmington.
Senior quarterback Brandon Arehart threw for 360 yards and three touchdowns, completing 18 of 34 attempts. Sophomore linebacker Tarrell Starckey led the defense with 12 tackles, including 2.5 for loss.
"He could have thrown for 500 yards," Doup said about Arehart's performance against Olivet. "He only took two sacks. He can scramble and get out of there. We have to contain him, force Wilmington to run the football a little bit."
On the defensive side, Doup is concerned about Wilmington's size up front, which includes senior nose guard Donnie Ary, a second team All-OAC selection in 2012. "Their ends have been there two years too," Doup said. "There is the problem. Can we handle them up front?"
Otterbein has won the last six meetings with Wilmington, including a 54-10 victory at Wilmington last season. The Cardinal defense finished with six pass sacks and four interceptions in that game.
Following Wilmington, Otterbein travels to John Carroll University Sept. 28 for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
