ASHLAND – Ashland University football team’s 18-game home winning streak will be on the line Saturday night against No. 2-ranked Ferris State.

“I’m really looking forward to it. I know our team is looking forward to it. We’re at home, and we can feed off that energy, and it helps. And if we get a big crowd, that helps,” AU coach Lee Owens said.

“I know the fair’s still going on. I get that, but this is going to be a heck of a game. I don’t know if there’s a better game in Division II football this week. It’s obviously an ESPN3 game. Between the two of us, we’ve won a bunch of games the last four or five years.”

The Eagle defense will face a tough challenge on its home field Saturday. The Bulldogs (2-0, 1-0) have one of the most potent in the country, as they lead D-II in total offense (645.0 ypg) and rushing offense (366.0 ypg).

Senior quarterback Reggie Bell leads the Ferris State offense. Through two games, Bell has rushed for 240 yards and four touchdowns and passed for 460 yards and five scores. He leads Division II with 11.4 yards per rush and his 189.2 passer rating is eighth-best in the country. Bell’s favorite target is Malik Taylor, with 11 catches for 189 yards and one touchdown.

Ashland’s “D” has been getting contributions across the board

  • Ashland’s seven sacks have come from seven different players.
  • Eight AU defenders have combined to break up 12 passes.
  • Seven Eagles have at least 10 total tackles, and 12 have at least eight.

“We like the depth of the guys we have playing at ‘backer, the depth of the number of guys we’re playing on the defensive line,” Owens said. “I think that’s going to help us. We’re playing tons of guys defensively. Even the guys in the back end, in the secondary, you could tell we’ve got some guys who can run and play and hit, and the future there looks bright.”

Sophomore inside linebacker Clay Shreve leads the Eagles with 24 total tackles and senior cornerback Michael Griffin has a team-high four pass breakups in addition to 20 total stops.

AU’s senior quarterback Travis Tarnowski continued his assault on the AU record books in Week 3, taking over first place in the all-time passing yardage list, adding to his place atop the passing touchdowns list. Tarnowski leads the GLIAC in touchdown passes (10) and passing yards (919) through three weeks. In all of D-II, Tarnowski is third in passing efficiency (201.4 rating), tied for fourth in touchdown passes and 10th in passing yards per game (306.3).

Tarnowski’s top target, fellow senior Matthew Wilcox, leads the conference in both receiving yards (386) and yards per reception (24.1) and has grabbed three scores. His 128.7 receiving yards per game puts him 10th in D-II through the first three games.

“Matt’s doing a good job of getting open,” said Owens. “He’s doing a great job of getting separation between himself and the defenders.

“Every week, we’re trying to have three or four new wrinkles, different sets, different motions, different routes, different stems into a route. You could see that in the first half last week. We have to continue to do that with Matt, because he catches the deep ball as well as anybody we’ve had here.”

The Bulldogs’ defense is led by senior linebacker Nick Huckabay, with 10 total tackles and three tackles for loss.

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