After a convincing 62-7 win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire last week, the No.12-ranked St. Thomas football team seeks to sweep the nonconference portion of this season’s schedule when it goes toe-to-toe with Wisconsin-La Crosse Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
While the Tommies looked like an offensive juggernaut against the Blugolds in their opening game, the Eagles’ offense racked up 389 total yards in a 26-19 victory over Luther last Saturday. Coach Glenn Caruso said La Crosse excels when it runs its no-huddle offense.
“They do a good job with their no-huddle tempo,” Caruso said. “Any time you’re coming from one game that is a huddle game where things are very controlled…and you face a team that’s a no-huddle team that will also swap personnel like La Crosse does, I think that’s something you always have to have your radar out for.”
La Crosse quarterback Trent Cummings excelled at running the no-huddle offense in last week’s win over Luther, throwing for 226 yards and three touchdowns while distributing the ball among his offensive players. 10 Eagles had at least one carry and seven different players had at least one reception against Luther. Linebacker Ryan Winter said identifying personnel will be key to stopping the eagle offense.
“They run many different formations, and the keys will be who is in the backfield, whether it be running back, full back or wide receiver,” Winter said. “When we establish who is in the game it will help us identify which types of plays they will most likely run.”
While the Eagles ran for 163 yards against the Norse last weekend, the Tommie defense stalled the Blugolds and allowed them to chalk up just 73 yards rushing. Even with a solid performance in the books, Winter said the defense could be better.
“We made a few mistakes which come from the first game, but they were corrected and we always strive to improve each game,” Winter said.
Solid on offense, La Crosse’s defense struggled to contain Luther, surrendering 387 yards to the Norse. The Eagles will have their hands full against a Tommie offense that racked up 471 yards against the Blugolds. Quarterback John Gould threw for 335 of those yards and three touchdowns but said statistics don’t matter unless the offense is efficient.
“We don’t really worry about stats,” Gould said. “We just want to execute as best we can, and if that means a lot of yards that is great. But we do not care if the yards we put up are high or low as long as we execute well.”
St. Thomas crushed La Crosse 46-0 in last year’s matchup and ended the game with 302 rushing yards and 217 passing yards. Caruso said since all three facets of the team were successful, leading to a great victory.
“It’s so difficult to shut a team out,” Caruso said. “Looking back at last year’s game, it was the first glimpse of what can happen as a team when offense and defense and special teams kind of click together … not just the independent group, but they flow sequently off one another.”
Jesse Krull can be reached at krul7386@stthomas.edu.