ASHLAND, Ohio — A six-hour bus ride turned out to be more appealing than the prospect of a week off for high-flying Ashland University.
The 11th-ranked Eagles, fresh off last week’s 63-6 win at Lake Erie, will travel to Owensboro, Kentucky on Saturday to tangle with Kentucky Wesleyan College of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. It will be the first ever meeting between AU (6-1) and the Panthers (1-6) and is the latest non-conference game in AU coach Lee Owens’ tenure.
The bye week opened up when Malone University left the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The G-MAC will current GLIAC members Lake Erie, Findlay, Ohio Dominican, Walsh and Hillsdale next year.
“It really all came down to the open date and … visiting with our players,” Owens said. “Our guys did not want an open date. They did not want to think about practicing all week and not having a game.”
Kentucky Wesleyan may regret adding the Eagles to the schedule. Since suffering its only loss of the season at Tiffin on Oct. 1, AU has outscored its last two opponents by a combined score of 108-13.
Quarterback Travis Tarnowski completed 41 of 54 passes for 604 yards and eight touchdowns without an interception in those two games. He moved in front of former All-American Taylor Housewright for second on AU’s career passing yards list last week at Lake Erie.
“He’s really been productive with what he does,” Owens said. “He knows what he wants to do. He’s got a great feel for what’s going on out there.
“Of all the things that Travis does really well — we know he’s accurate, we know he’s tough — he’s really smart. He’s two steps ahead of all of us out there, including his offensive coaches.”
Kentucky Wesleyan played well in its 43-20 loss at No. 21 UNC Pembroke. The Panthers led 20-19 midway through the third quarter before surrendering 24 straight points.
Kentucky Wesleyan receiver Keelan Cole caught seven passes for 149 yards and a touchdowns, his eighth on the season. Cole was selected the G-MAC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time.
AU piled up 630 yards of total offense in last week’s win at Lake Erie. The Eagles rushed for a season-best 358 yards.
Owens didn’t want to risk a bye week midway through the season, especially with an offense firing on all cylinders.
“My biggest concern is we’ve had issues with offensive timing trying to come back from a week off,” Owens said. “Right now, our offensive timing is as good as it can be. It came down to our guys wanted to stay in our routine.”
Coverage of Ashland University Eagles athletics is produced in partnership with OhioHealth, the official sports medicine provider for Ashland University and dozens of high schools and universities throughout Ohio.
