RIPON, Wis. - Coming off a bye week, the Ripon College football team will look to push their record over the .500 mark for the first time this season when they'll travel to Illinois College on Saturday in the Red Hawks' first of two games against Midwest Conference South Division opponents, which does not count in the conference standings. This will be the first time in four years that Ripon has played Illinois College in a series that began in 1988. The Red Hawks lead the all-time series 14-8, but the Blueboys have won five of the last six meetings.

"The bye week was a good time to get some players healed up and it was good to see some of our players get some rest," Ripon Head Coach Ron Ernst said. "We've only played two games and we're such a young team, so I don't fully have a sense of how good we can be. We could potentially be very good, and this weekend will be a good test for us."

The one constant on Ripon's football team throughout the last decade and a half has been its running game, which again ranks in the top 10 in Division-III in rushing yards with a league-leading 282.5 rushing yards per game. The Red Hawks' 6.3 yards per carry ranks fifth in the country, while their five rushing touchdowns are tied for 43rd. Ripon has gained more rushing yards than their opponent in 27 consecutive games.

"I'm very pleased with our efficiency in the running game, which includes our yards per carry," Ernst said. "There's a lot of talent on our offensive line, but they're just very young. They're starting to figure things out and it's a credit to them and to our quarterback for making good reads and our running backs for running hard. That's why they call it the triple option, we have to do so many things well and we're starting to get there."

The Red Hawks are tied for second in the MWC this season in scoring offense with 35.5 points per game. Saturday, they will run into an Illinois College defense that is allowing just 16 points per game, which is third in the MWC, while also ranking fourth in total defense (288.5 ypg) and third in rushing defense (108.5 ypg).

"We don't know a whole lot about Illinois College because we haven't played them in a few years, but watching them on film, they possess some athletic players that could cause us some problems, and defensively, they run well to the ball," said Ernst.

Much like their defense, IC's offense also has some playmakers, as their passing offense ranks third in the MWC (196.5 ypg), and they are scoring 21 points per game, which is fifth in the MWC.

"Offensively, they want to throw the ball. They have a good quarterback in Drew Chance, and a few talented receivers," Ernst said. "They throw a lot to their receivers and running backs and like to spread the ball around, so they have the weapons that could potentially open things up, along with an offensive line that is big and strong."

Ripon will counter that offense with a defense that is allowing 24 points per game, but is coming off a 45-12 win at Finlandia in which they blocked two kicks and scored a pair of touchdowns. The defense is led by Senior Defensive Back Lane Barnes, who is a Preseason All-America selection, and is tied for second in the MWC this season in tackles with 27. He now ranks eighth in program history with 231 tackles and has scored seven career touchdowns, including two last week.

"Lane is certainly having a good season and as a whole, we're playing well on defense, while rotating several players at many positions. There's probably 25 to 30 guys who are playing regularly on defense, so we just need to see who is going to start to separate themselves from the other players," Ernst said. "I think our defense is playing well and I'm looking forward to this weekend to see what our players can do after having a great week of practice."

Saturday's game will begin at 1 p.m. in Jacksonville, Ill., and can be seen live, with LiveStats, at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ripon/.