ASHLAND — It’s not often the nation’s No. 1 team comes to town, but that’s precisely the scenario on Saturday night when Ashland plays host to the Ferris State Bulldogs at 7 p.m.
Coach Tony Annese’s team hammered Mercyhurst 54-12 on Thursday night to maintain its spot atop the Division II national rankings.
The Bulldogs have won back-to-back national titles and are the dominant power at this level of the sport.
“You have to give them their due,” first-year AU coach Doug Geiser said. “Tony Annese has done a heckuva job there. They’ve got tremendous players and a great scheme.
“It’s a great challenge for us. You’re not afraid of those situations, you relish those challenges.”
Geiser noted AU has played Ferris State to a standoff over the past 20 years, so he doesn’t see his team being intimidated.
“No. 1, you can’t beat yourself. When the plays are there to be made, you’ve got to make them,” Geiser said. “We also need to be really solid in special teams.
“That’s been the recipe in the past for us.”
The Eagles are coming off a 24-17 loss in the season opener at No. 16 Indiana University at Pennsylvania.
Geiser said he liked his team’s effort, but it made too many mistakes and suffered too many self-inflicted wounds to beat a ranked team on the road.
The Eagles’ special teams looked better than any other unit at IUP. AU blocked two punts and covered a muffed punt inside the Crimson Hawks’ 5-yard line.
“That was a big emphasis in the off-season to get a little more production on special teams,” Geiser said. “Our motto on special teams is ‘change the game.’
“We want to try to find a way to press the action a little more.”
One of the biggest area’s for improvement for AU is the passing game. The Eagles longest completion was just 13 yards in the opener.
Junior quarterback Trevor Bycznski completed 15-of-29 passes for 101 yards and an interception.
“We’ve got to stay on schedule more than anything else,” Geiser said. “We had a lot of 2nd-and-10s.”
AU stayed in the game thanks to special teams and a defensive effort which collected five sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
That group was led by senior linebacker Jackson Myers, who had 3½ tackles for loss among his eight total tackles, and sophomore safety Bobby Young, who recorded nine total tackles and an interception.
IUP outgained AU by a 366-189 margin, and went 9-of-16 on third-down conversions.
“I thought we were outstanding on 60 of 66 plays (defensively),” Geiser said.