The No. 25-ranked St. Thomas football team will try to win its seventh straight Homecoming game under coach Glenn Caruso when it faces off against Augsburg Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium.

The Tommies are coming off a 69-7 steamroll of St. Olaf last week in which the team compiled 685 yards of offense and 10 touchdowns. Caruso said the score and yardage totals were impressive but added that the most important thing was how the team played.

“We weren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but (we) at least got in a rhythm. I’m not just talking about moving the ball,” Caruso said. “Just getting in a rhythm of getting in and out of the huddle and consistency with getting off the ball that we haven’t found all year.”

Wide receiver Ryan Bradley said the victory over the Oles helped the Tommie offense find its identity.

“It felt great to get back on track,” Bradley said. “After the St. John’s game, we had to figure out who we wanted to be as a team.”

Despite last week’s success, Caruso emphasized that this weekend’s opponent will be much different than St. Olaf.

“(Augsburg is) a team that has an opportunity to put up points in bunches, and any time you face a team like that, that’s scary,” Caruso said.

Augsburg has scored more than 130 points this season – including three straight games of more than 30 points – and has scored touchdowns on 10 of its 15 trips to the red zone this year.

To match Augsburg’s offense, running back Nick Waldvogel said that St. Thomas’ offense will need to stay focused to have success on Saturday.

“I think if we play with the energy and focus similar to last week, we should be successful,” Waldvogel said.

Two-time All-MIAC quarterback Ayrton Scott leads the Augsburg offense. Scott is third in the MIAC in rushing yards with 386 and is tied for second with six rushing touchdowns. Caruso said the Auggies’ signal caller has supreme athleticism, but his ability to throw the ball is what sets him apart.

“(It’s) so difficult to prepare for a guy like (Scott) because he is so athletic, but he’s still, at the end of the day, a very accurate passer,” Caruso said. “He improvises tremendously well; he probably improvises better than just about any quarterback we’ve seen in seven years.”

Defensive end Josh Corbin said the key to stopping Scott will be to limit his chances to
improvise and extend plays with his legs.

“As a D-line, it’s our job to make sure that those opportunities just aren’t created,” Corbin said. “We keep him inside the tackles and shut down the option of scrambling by making the routine plays on first and second down, then there will be less opportunities for him to run.”

Scott is second in the MIAC with 1,000 passing yards and has thrown 10 touchdowns this season, but he also leads the conference with five interceptions.

Augsburg boasts two potent threats at wide receiver in Hunter Friesen and Joey Sonnenfeld. Each receiver has hauled in more than 20 passes for 300 yards this season, and Sonnenfeld is third in the MIAC with four touchdown catches. Sonnenfeld had 113 receiving yards and a touchdown against the Tommies last season, and Caruso said the Auggie wideout will once again be a challenge to defend.

“He’s a tough matchup because he’s athletic, and he’s smooth, and he’s fast, and he’s fairly big for a wide receiver. We were very aware of Sonnenfeld last year, and he still had a really nice day against us,” Caruso said. “He’s a guy that we’re going to have to work all week to try and make sure we keep him in check.”

The Auggies are coming off a bye week, and while Caruso said they will be well-rested, he added that the Tommies will benefit from being in the rhythm of the season.

“There’s always a balancing act that you have to do when you have a bye week. The benefit is you get to rest … focus on the other team if you want to,” Caruso said. “But there’s also something to be said for being in the rhythm and flow of the season.”

Waldvogel and fellow running backs Jack Kaiser and Brenton Braddock accounted for 291 total yards and six touchdowns against St. Olaf, and Waldvogel said their depth continues to play a big role in the Tommies’ offensive success.

“Jack, Brenton and I just need to continue to be ready at all times to play,” Waldvogel said. “It’s extremely beneficial to an offense to have three backs that can hurt a defense.”

In front of 2,750 fans during last year’s Homecoming game, St. Thomas defeated Carleton College 65-6. Caruso said that although the team won’t prepare for Saturday’s game any differently than other games, he pointed out that it will be important to play hard in front of the Homecoming crowd.

“We love Homecoming. Obviously it will be a great crowd there and a lot of people that have a lot of pride in this program and in this university,” Caruso said. “It’d be nice to be able to play well in front of them.”

Tom Pitzen can be reached at pitz2014@stthomas.edu.