Coach Doup's Weekly Radio Show

WESTERVILLE, Ohio—The Otterbein University football team, sitting in a three-way tie for first place in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), will be facing its strongest OAC challenge yet this season, hosting Heidelberg University Saturday in Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
 
The Cardinals, riding a two-game winning streak, come into the game off a 49-21 win at Wilmington College last Saturday. Otterbein, 2-1 overall, shares the top spot in the OAC with the University of Mount Union (3-0) and John Carroll University (3-0), each 2-0 in the league.
 
The Berg, 2-1 overall, won a wild one over Ohio Northern University, 69-52, last Saturday in Tiffin, and shares fourth place in the OAC with three other teams at 1-1. The Student Princes opened conference play with a 43-16 loss at John Carroll Sept. 20.
 
Otterbein scored touchdowns on its first four possessions in its win at Wilmington.  

Senior quarterback Brick Davis turned in a career performance, throwing for 280 yards and three touchdowns, while the Otterbein defense recovered two fumbles and sacked Wilmington's quarterback eight times in the win.
 
"We're doing a great job in getting as many people involved as we can on offense," said Otterbein head coach Tim Doup.
 
For the third-straight game, Otterbein had nine players make at least one reception. Ten different players made at least one catch in each of the first two games.
 
"I think Brick is doing a great job in managing the game, putting us in good situations," Doup said. "The defense can't concentrate on just one person. That's what we need. We need to spread it around."
 
Heidelberg, under head coach Mike Hallett, rolled up 729 yards of offense—410 passing and 319 rushing—in its win over Ohio Northern.
 
Quarterback Michael Mees, reigning OAC offensive player of the week, completed 24 of 32 pass attempts for 410 yards and five touchdowns. Mees also rushed for 116 yards and one TD on seven attempts. Running back Cartel Brooks, with 103 yards and a TD on 21 carries, became Heidelberg's all-time leading rusher.
 
"It's scary," Doup said about Heidelberg's win over Ohio Northern. "You're talking about almost 1,400 yards of offense. Both of those offenses are really good, and Heidelberg has great players on defense."
 
Otterbein and Heidelberg will also be playing for possession of the Rhine River Cup. The series began in 1992 when the two teams played the first-ever collegiate football game in Germany, which ended in a 7-7 tie. The Cardinals hold a 13-8-1 lead in the Rhine River series although the Berg has won the last three meetings.
 
"We have to slow their run game down," Doup said as one of the keys to the game. "We've got to maintain their tailbacks and try to keep them bottled up as much as possible.
 
"We've got to put some kind of points on the board when we're in the red zone," Doup continued. "If we don't, we're in trouble. And we've got to create turnovers—there is no way we can turn the ball over to these guys."