Game Notes vs. Illinois College

RIPON, Wis. - The Ripon College football team suffered its first loss of 2013 last weekend, falling to St. Norbert, 33-6. Saturday, they'll look to get back in the win column as they'll face another tough test against Illinois College in what will be Ripon's annual Homecoming celebration.

Ripon (2-1, 1-1 MWC) leads the all-time series with the Blueboys, 13-6, and has defeated IC in five of their last eight meetings. When these two teams meet up, the scoreboard usually gets a workout, as they have averaged a combined 66.3 points in their last three meetings. That includes last year when Illinois College was victorious, 46-21 in Jacksonville, Ill.

"Our players know that they have to just put last week's game out of their minds. We talk about the game on Sunday night and when the meetings are done and film has been analyzed, we put it behind us and move onto the next one," Ripon Head Football Coach Ron Ernst said. "That's the way we've always done it no matter if we win or lose, so we just have to work to get better, move on and show improvement this Saturday."

The Blueboys (2-0, 1-0 MWC) bring with them one of the most powerful offenses in the Midwest Conference, ranking first in scoring (45.5 ppg), total offense (538.5 ypg), passing yards (327.0 ypg) and pass efficiency (169.7). They have reached the 42-point plateau in both of their games this season and have reached that mark in 12 of their last 23 games over the last two-plus years. That has helped the Blueboys win 16 of their last 19 conference games.

"They're a team that has a lot of weapons. They lean a little more towards the passing game, but they also have a good rushing attack. Their offensive line is big and they have an excellent running back in Cecil Brimmage," said Ernst.

In this, his senior season, Brimmage has already rushed for 146 yards in a game this season and goes into the weekend ranking third in the MWC with 117.5 rushing yards per game, to go along with two touchdowns on the ground and one more through the air.

Another weapon that the Red Hawks must key on is junior quarterback Michael Bates, who has shown complete control of the Blueboys offense through two games. Bates has completed 59.1 percent of his passes this season for 557 yards and a conference-best nine touchdowns. Possibly most impressive however is that he is yet to throw an interception on 66 pass attempts. That has helped him compile an MWC-best quarterback rating of 175.0.

"Bates is a very good quarterback and with him being in his third year as the starter, he has experience in that offense as well," Ernst said. "He has some good receivers and gets rid of the ball very quickly, so that's definately something we'll have to account for."

Thanks to Bates' early season success, Illinois College has three wide receivers that rank in the top five in the conference in receiving yards per game. Seniors Wes Graham and Kevin Fuller are second and fourth, respectively, with 70 and 68 ypg, while junior Josh Gentile ranks fifth with 65 ypg.

In order to stop that, Ripon will deploy a defense that ranks third in the MWC in yards allowed, giving up 334.3 per game. They have allowed 25.7 points per contest, but have forced just two turnovers in three games, which is something they hope to improve on as the season progresses.

The Red Hawks offense meanwhile is coming off its worst rushing performance of the season where they gained 128 yards on the ground. Despite that, Ripon still ranks second in the MWC with 225.7 rushing yards per game. They also rank sixth in total offense (353 ypg), and seventh in scoring (19.7 ppg).

They will be going up against an Illinois College defense that is allowing 13 points per game and ranks second in the MWC, allowing 315.5 yards per game of total offense. The Blueboys are also tied for second in the league with a +4 turnover differential, having forced four turnovers on the year.

Despite suffering a setback last week, Ripon is in no way out of the race for a conference championship. A win on Saturday could go a long way in the Red Hawks regaining momentum as they head into the heart of the schedule.

"Every conference game is huge and this is no different. It's a long season and there's a lot of football ahead of us," Ernst said. "I don't think the conference champion is going to go undefeated this year. I could see this year's conference champion finishing with one or two losses because the competition in this league is so good and this weekend's game is just as big as any on our schedule."

Saturday's game will begin at 1 p.m. at Ingalls Field in Ripon. The game can also be seen live on http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/ripon.portal#.