WIAC Preview 2-a-days Part 1

For this week leading up to the beginning of the NCAA Division III football season I will be previewing one of the nations higher profile conferences, the WIAC.  Much of the notoriety of this conference comes from back-to-back National Champion UW-Whitewater Warhawks but the WIAC is more than UWW and a series of also-rans. The WIAC is a deep and talented conference.  Throughout this week I will take a look at 2 teams a day Monday-Thursday and then on Friday I will take a look at the conference as a whole and make my predictions for the season.  So let’s get things started with who else but the 6 time defending conference champs the UW-Whitewater Warhawks.

UW-Whitewater:

Fast Facts:

Head Coach: Lance Leipold; 5th season at UWW; 57-3
Starters Returning/Lost on Offense: 5/6
Starters Returning/Lost on Defense: 5/6
Returning All-WIAC: Greg Arnold (Sr., LB, 2010-Second); Matt Blanchard (Sr., QB, 2010-First); Levell Coppage (Sr., RB, 2008-First, 2009-First, 2010-Player of the Year); Kris Rosholt (Sr., Punter, 2009-Second, 2010-First)

2011 Schedule

2010 Recap:

Last year the Warhawks went 15-0 and 7-0 in the WIAC en route to their 6^th straight conference title and 2^nd consecutive national championship.  They were driven by a powerful running game with a trio of running backs that rushed for over 3,500 yards and 38 touchdowns on the season.  While Coppage, Anderson and Stanley were great talents the Warhawk O-Line really made that kind of production possible.  Aaron Rusch stood out a Wide Receiver catching 88 balls for over 1,000 yards and 14 touchdowns.  Matt Blanchard was the team’s Number 1 Quarterback but missed significant time late in the season due to injury and Lee Brekke was forced to fill in.  Blanchard threw for over 2,000 yards 21 TDs and had a completion percentage of 72.4 with only 1 INT.  The Warhawks scored 40.2 points per game and only allowed 11.8 ppg.  The defense allowed a miniscule 1.7 yards per attempt on the ground.  UWW’s opponents gained just over half of the yards that the Warhawks gained.  Obviously this was one of Whitewater’s best years even for its standards.

2011 Outlook:

UWW is looking to make it 7 consecutive conference titles and will likely meet up with Mt. Union again in the D3 championship game (AKA the Stagg Bowl).  I personally see no reason why this team won’t make it 7 in a row.  Levell Coppage is an extraordinary talent and might rush for 2,500 yards plus this season with his backfield makes from last year, Antwan Anderson and Booker Stanley, having run out of eligibility.  Blanchard is back and has a year of starting under his belt.  The defense returns starters at every level including 3 defensive backs.  All of the Warhawk’s specialists return for the 2011 campaign.  This looks to be another great year of Whitewater football.

Big Question:

How will losing 6 starters on each side of the ball affect the Warhawks bid for a 3-peat?

If there is one thing that UWW fans have to worry about this season it is the team’s losses to graduation. The Warhawks lose two 1,000 yard receivers as well as their starting tight end.  Those same players caught 27 of Whitewater’s 33 receiving touchdowns. On defense they lose 3 starting linemen, a linebacker and 2 DBs one of which was the team’s best defensive player and leading tackler in Lane Olson and the other lead the team in interceptions in Matt McCulloch.  In my opinion the biggest losses are on the offensive line. 4 of the 5 starters from 2010 are gone including All-Americans Robby Ustruck and Matt Weber.  As I said before last year’s O-line made those 3,500 rushing yards possible and also allowed only 8 sacks on the season.  I’m not saying there’s trouble in paradise but I’m sure all of this at least a small concern to Coach Leipold and his staff.

Player to Watch:

Levell Coppage

As I wrote above Coppage is a sick talent.  D3football.com has a great feature on him as well. He has rushed for over 2,100 yards the past 2 years and that was with the also talented Antwan Anderson with him in the backfield.  Coppage is good enough to make up for the losses on the O-line and has a legit shot to earn the 2,400 yards he needs to become the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher regardless of division.  That means Coppage has a real chance to end up with more rushing yards than this man.

Bottom Line:

At the end of the day despite their losses Whitewater is a team the reloads.  I’m sure there are very talented players who have been waiting and practicing hard to get their chance and they’ll get it this year and they’ll probably succeed.  If Coppage and Blanchard were not on the team or get injured I could see this being the year UWW would get knocked off.  But since that is not the case I can only conclude that UWW will win the WIAC and appear the Stagg bowl, again.

Part 2 will be out later tonight and will feature Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, the UW-Stout Blue Devils.

TTFN