The UW Oshkosh football team will look to compete for the 2023 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) title after a strong 2022 season with first-year head coach Peter Jennings at the helm of the Titans.
UWO, ranked No. 21 in the nation in the preseason D3football.com Top 25 poll, was picked to finish third in the WIAC in a poll conducted by the league’s head coaches and sports information directors.
UWO is looking to build off a 2022 campaign in which UWO went 6-4 (4-3 WIAC), finishing fourth in conference play behind UW-Whitewater, UW-La Crosse and UW-River Falls. After starting the season 2-1 in non-conference play, Oshkosh dropped to 4-4 midway through the season before closing out the year with definitive victories over UW-Stevens Point (45-0) and UW-Eau Claire (61-0).
Jennings said at the end of the day, UWO football will continue to be blue collar tough.
“We are going to outwork opponents and we are going to be the best practiced team in America,” he said. “That is our goal, our guys will repeat it to you, and if we’re the best practiced team in America, we will turn some heads in the WIAC.”
UWO will have 54 returning letterwinners this season and six returning all-conference athletes including First Team All-WIAC safety Carson Raddatz and fellow First Team all-conference wide receiver Trae Tetzlaff. Raddatz, one of UWO’s five team captains this year, had the second-most tackles on the team (68) and second-most tackles per game (6.8). Tetzlaff returns for his third season with the Titans after leading the conference with 821 receiving yards and catching the third-most receiving touchdowns (7) in the WIAC last year.
Also returning for Oshkosh are Second Team All-WIAC athletes Kobe Berghammer (quarterback), Jared Saad (cornerback), John Schirger (tackle) and Tony Steger (wide receiver). Berghammer, a team captain, led the WIAC with 25 passing touchdowns and passed for over 2,400 yards last season with an offensive efficiency of 151.3. Saad, who returns for his senior season with the Titans, recorded 22 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery last year. Steger, a team captain, caught 45 passes for 567 yards and eight touchdowns last year for UWO.
The Titans will hope to have another dominant season offensively after UWO ranked second in the conference with an offensive efficiency of 151.8.
Oshkosh had the top-ranked defense in the WIAC last season, allowing just 14.6 points per game and 3,240 yards of total offense. Titan defenders combined for 75.8 tackles per game, 18 team sacks and nine interceptions during the 2022 campaign.
UWO’s pursuit of its 12th conference championship will kick off Sept. 2 against Texas Lutheran University at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium starting at 1:05 p.m. The Bulldogs went 4-6 last season, finishing fourth in the American Southwest Conference (ASC). Texas Lutheran quarterback Seth Cosme, running back Jacob Forton and kicker Cameron Welch were named to the ASC Preseason Watchlist, and all three players received All-ASC honors in 2022.
“The sky’s the limit for this group, because they’re really, really talented,” Jennings said. “We are very player-led, so we lean on our seniors for a lot of input. We have a very strong leadership group.”
The remainder of the 2023 season includes:
Sept. 9 — @ Wheaton College
Sept. 16 — @ East Texas Baptist
Sept. 30 — vs. UW-Whitewater
Oct. 7 — @ UW-Stout
Oct. 14 — vs. UW-Eau Claire
Oct. 21 — @ UW-La Crosse
Oct. 28 — vs. UW-Stevens Point
Nov. 4 — @ UW-Platteville
Nov. 11 — vs. UW-River Falls
