The UW Oshkosh football team returned to action for their third and final Non conference opponent Saturday at Titan Stadium. The No. 14 nationally ranked Titans faced off against division two school Michigan Tech. Unfortunately, this one did not have a good result for the Titans as the Huskies toppled UWO 44-7.
The first quarter was promising, in QB Cole Warren’s first start. UWO started the game on offense and was driving the ball down the field thanks to three big completions from Wide receiver Trae Tetzlaff which combined for a total of 36 yards. The Titans were able to get all the way to the MTU 27, unfortunately they came away with nothing as the Huskies blocked the field goal attempt from Nolan Mobley. The First quarter was the only scoreless quarter in the game as both defenses held their own.
With that being said, everything went wrong in the second quarter. On their first drive of the second quarter, Michigan Tech cracked the scoring open with a seven yard touchdown from running back Jake Rueff to make it 7-0 Huskies. After holding the UWO offense to consecutive three and outs, MTU was once again able to punch it in with a deep 40 yard pass from quarterback Alex Fries to wide receiver Brandon Michalak to make it 14-0 Huskies. To make matters worse for the Titans, MTU converted an onside kick attempt and got the ball back. The Huskies was able to take advantage of that and get another touchdown from Fries to Michalak again to make it 20-0. MTU missed the extra point kick, but thanks to a UWO interception they were able to end the half up 23-0.
Even though UWO moved the ball well in their first drive of the second half, a pass to Trae Tezlaff which was deemed incomplete in the endzone on fourth down ruined any chance UWO had at getting back in it. The Titans were able to get on the scoreboard with a TD from Tristan Taylor but it was with 28 seconds left in the game.
Despite the big loss to MTU, Coach Jennings is happy with how his team performed these three games as they now shift their focus to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Conference Play. “I think we are a good team and we have the potential to make noise in conference play.” He said, “You don’t know what you got if you don’t challenge yourself.” Jennings is not wrong with that quote, the Titans non conference schedule consisted of two ranked teams in No. 9 Wheaton and No. 21 Linfield along with Michigan tech who obviously is a Dll school. Unfortunately, the road doesn’t get any better for the Titans as their next two games are against UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse. Thankfully, the Titans will have an off week to reset this weekend to get ready for the grind of WIAC football.
The Titans will return to action on Saturday, Oct 4th for their WIAC opener. UWO will travel to Perkins Stadium at UW-Whitewater, kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m
