STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point football team faces its third-straight top-15 opponent when it takes on No. 6 UW-Whitewater in Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) play on Saturday at Community Stadium at Goerke Park.

THE BASICS
Who: No. 6 UW-Whitewater (5-1, 2-1 WIAC) at UW-Stevens Point (3-3, 1-2 WIAC)
When: Saturday, Oct. 24 – 1 p.m.
Where: Stevens Point, Wis. – Community Stadium at Goerke Park

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LAST TIME OUT
UW-Stevens Point held a 10-7 lead after three quarters but No. 5 UW-Oshkosh scored two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter and went on to defeat the Pointers 21-10 in the WIAC's oldest rivalry on last Saturday at J.J. Keller Field.

After UW-Stevens Point (3-3, 1-2 WIAC) led 10-7 entering the final 15 minutes, UW-Oshkosh (5-1, 3-0 WIAC) scored on a 20-yard end around by Zach Kasuboski on the first play of the final quarter. After a three-and-out by the Pointers, the Titans went up by two scores on a 74-yard pass from Jayden Essman to Sam Mentkowski, who got behind the UWSP secondary.
 
Trailing 21-10 with 12:55 remaining, UW-Stevens Point put together a 13-play, 52-yard drive that got as far as the UW-Oshkosh 20-yard line but the Titans' defense stopped the Pointers on fourth and six. UW-Oshkosh then ran more than four minutes off the clock to thwart any chance of a late comeback.

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RARE OCCURENCE
Last week's game marked the first time in his UW-Stevens Point career that Kyle Larson (Clayton, WI/Clayton) did not throw a touchdown pass. He had thrown at least one touchdown in his first 12 games. However, the Pointers did throw for a touchdown on a 36-yard pass from Matt Sosinsky (Princeton, WI/Princeton) to Jared Pankow (Mosinee, WI/D.C. Everest) on Sosinsky's first-career pass attempt early in the third quarter to open the scoring.

WRIGHT CARRIES THE LOAD
DeJuan Wright (St. Petersburg, FL/Keswick Christian) carried the ball a career-high 26 times for 124 yards in the defeat in Oshkosh. The senior's 124 yards were the second-highest output of his career and the most yards the Titans have allowed to an individual rusher this season. Wright has two 100-yard games this season and ranks fourth in the WIAC in rushing (69.5 ypg) and third in rushing touchdowns (5).

BROWN BEARS DOWN ON QB
With two sacks against the Titans, defensive end Dan Brown (Pewaukee, WI/Pewaukee) now has at least one sack in three consecutive games. The senior has 4.5 sacks in the last three weeks and his season total of 5.5 sacks is tied with UW-Platteville's Andrew Robinson for the WIAC lead. Brown, Tanner Beaman (Phelps, WI/Northland Pines) and Aaron Karlen (Edgar, WI/Edgar) have combined for 14 of UW-Stevens Point's 15 sacks this season.

LOOK OUT FOR LONGMEYER
Mike Longmeyer (Manitowoc, WI/Lincoln) recorded his second-straight game with an interception at UW-Oshkosh by picking off a Jayden Essman pass in the second quarter. The senior safety is currently tied with two other players for the WIAC lead with three picks this season and is second with nine passes defended.

IMPROVED DEFENSE
The UW-Stevens Point defense continued its improved play by holding UW-Oshkosh to a season-low 308 yards of offense. Since Albion and Coe combined for 1,188 yards in the first two games of the season, the Pointers have held their last four opponents to an average of 324.8 yards per game.

PERFECT ON PATS
UW-Stevens Point is the lone WIAC team to not miss an extra point so far this season. The Pointers are a perfect 31-for-31, as Jesse Vervelde (Oostburg, WI/Oostburg) is 27-for-27 and Shawn Prokash (West De Pere, WI/West) is 4-for-4. Vervelde also leads the conference in field goals made (5) and scoring among kickers (42 pts). No other WIAC kicker has more than 22 points this season.

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UW-Whitewater rebounded from its first loss in nearly three years by defeating UW-La Crosse 30-12 on Friday night at Perkins Stadium. Less than a week after the Warhawks fell 10-7 at UW-Oshkosh to end UWW's 36-game winning streak, UW-Whitewater scored the game's final two touchdowns after leading 16-12 early in the third quarter. In the game, the UW-Whitewater offense totaled 537 yards of offense and the defense had three interceptions and limited UW-La Crosse to 59 yards on 27 rushes.

The win over UW-La Crosse was UW-Whitewater's 21st consecutive win at Perkins Stadium, the third-longest run in program history. The Warhawks are 49-3 on the road over the last 10 seasons with one of the losses coming to UW-Stevens Point by a 17-14 score on Oct. 27, 2012 at Community Stadium at Goerke Park.

UW-Whitewater's defense ranks tied for 15th nationally in total defense (262.0 ypg) and has been especially stout against the run. The Warhawks boast the country's eighth-best rushing defense, yielding just 71.2 yards per game. Teams are averaging 11.3 points per game against UWW, the 13th-lowest mark among Division-III teams. The UW-Whitewater defense will be challenged by a UW-Stevens Point offense that ranks second in the WIAC and 30th in the country in scoring offense (39.7 ppg).

UW-Whitewater is ranked sixth in the D3football.com Top 25 and 10th by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) this week. Prior to the loss to UW-Oshkosh, the Warhawks had spent 20 consecutive weeks as D3football.com's top-ranked team.

Prior to the loss to UW-Oshkosh, UW-Whitewater had started the season 4-0, including a 33-30 win at Morningside, the No. 1 team in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), on Sept. 24 and a 17-7 victory over then-No. 14 UW-Platteville on Oct. 3. The Warhawks started their season with blowout wins over Belhaven (62-6) and Finlandia (66-3).

THE COACHES
Tom Journell is in his fourth season as the head coach at UW-Stevens Point and has a 17-19 career record at UWSP. His teams have steadily improved from 2-8 in 2012 to 5-5 in 2013 and 7-3 last season. In 2014, he led the Pointers to a 5-0 start that saw the team ranked No. 13 in the country, the team's highest ranking since early 2009. Prior to becoming the Pointers' head coach, Journell was the team's defensive coordinator for four seasons, helping UWSP to a 19-9 record. He was the head coach at Elmhurst from 2004-07 and compiled a record of 22-18 over the four seasons. Journell also spent 15 seasons at UW-River Falls as the Falcons' defensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

Kevin Bullis is in the midst of his first season at the head of the UW-Whitewater program, after being named the program's 21st head coach on Jan. 30, 2015, replacing Lance Leipold who became the head coach at the University of Buffalo. Bullis previously served as the defensive run game coordinator and defensive line coach for the Warhawks. In Bullis' seven years as an assistant coach at UWW, the Warhawks reached the national championship game six times, winning five national titles. Prior to coming to UW-Whitewater, Bullis was the defensive coordinator at UW-River Falls from 1995-2007, where he served as an assistant head coach for four seasons. He has also sent time on the defensive staff at Gustavus Adolphus and the University of Minnesota-Morris.

COACHING CONNECTIONS
Journell and Bullis spent time together on the staff at UW-River Falls for eight seasons from 1995-2002. In 1989, Journell was the Falcons' secondary coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator. In 1995, Journell was again promoted to assistant head coach and Bullis was his replacement as defensive coordinator. Both Journell and Bullis were on the UW-River Falls staff when UW-Whitewater special teams coach John O'Grady was the Falcons' head coach.

UW-Whitewater first-year assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Rob Erickson was an assistant on the UW-Stevens Point staff from 2003-04 and at Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH) from 2000-01. The Stevens Point native earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from UW-Stevens Point in 2003 and 2006.

SERIES NOTES
This is the 95th all-time meeting between UW-Stevens Point and UW-Whitewater in a series the Warhawks lead 63-31. The Warhawks have won seven of the last eight meetings in the series that dates back to 1895.

Last season, the Warhawks defeated the Pointers 49-17 at Perkins Stadium on Nov. 8, 2014. UW-Stevens Point racked up 408 yards of offense in the game behind a career-high 308 yards passing by Cody Nuernberg (Kewaskum, WI/Kewaskum). UW-Whitewater outrushed UW-Stevens Point 237-92 in the game.

Prior to last season's meeting, the last two games between the two schools had been decided by 10 points or less. UW-Stevens Point defeated UW-Whitewater 17-14 in 2012 before the Warhawks claimed a 17-7 win in 2013.