Huskies football travels to Iowa hoping to keep its perfect record.
IA. FAYETTE — The Michigan Tech Huskies football team moved to 2-0 on the season by holding off the Pioneers in the second half and winning 24-20 over Wisconsin-Platteville last Saturday after taking an early lead.
Coach Dan Mettlach was pleased with his team's second non-conference win of the season and their first on the road, but he thought they left a lot on the table.
In Week One, he observed, "We felt like we had very little adversity." We travel for the first time in Week Two. Although I thought we moved the ball effectively, we played incredibly carelessly and turned the ball over five times. There were maybe four more plays, two passes, and two balls that we put on the ground but eventually recovered that might have gone any way.Those two items are arguably the most notable.
In light of where the Pioneers would take control of the ball on the field, Mettlach said the Huskies' defense performed admirably.
"Every time we put them in a bad situation, they responded to it in a very positive way," he claimed. "Therefore, everyone is learning in every circumstance. But there's no denying that the defense played a significant role in Saturday's victory."That's something that we talked about since winter conditioning, is that to go from a four-win team a year ago, whether you're talking about practice in the spring, practice in early camp, learning these types of lessons early in the fall, you've got to learn how to win," he said.
"It's a skill that's something that you can work on. It doesn't just happen overnight."
While Mettlach is quick to point out the turnovers the Huskies surrendered on offense, he is also pleased with the developing bond between junior quarterback Alex Fries and sophomore wide receiver Ethan Champney. Fries went 27-of-44 for 288 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. Champney came up with 11 of those catches for 143 yards and the touchdown.
"I thought they did a nice job," said Mettlach. "There was some stuff that we left out. (We) know it was not Alex's best day, and he knows that. Everybody knows that. So, we need to keep harping on that. But, I thought that, for the negatives, the turnovers, and putting the ball in jeopardy, those two had a great day. If you weren't at the game, it was probably tough to see it."
Perhaps more encouraging was the play of junior wide receiver Darius Willis. While Willis did not score a touchdown, he proved very important in short-yardage throws and he found ways to turn them into big plays. He finished with 10 receptions for 123 yards on the afternoon.
"Darius played out of his head," Mettlach said. "(He) didn't score, but put us in a situation where, whether it was line-of-scrimmage screens to him, or making plays downfield, what we saw last year from Darius, showed out on a Saturday.
"I don't remember exactly what it was. I want to say eight or nine catches maybe for Darius, but we got him the ball, and the Jet sweeps and whatever else. He probably should have touched it 10 more times, to be honest with you."
While Fries and Champney have been working well as a pair to this point, Mettlach wants to see his quarterback do a better job of reading the field, especially if a defense starts to take Champney away as an option.
"When they started taking Champney away on the boundary to the field, our best football player is standing by himself quite a bit, and we just weren't seeing him," said Mettlach. "That's all part of what we've been talking about since the beginning of early camp. There are going to be some mistakes that a young (quarterback) makes, where things start moving fast, they start changing up coverages. You have to be disciplined with your eyes."
Mettlach said that his staff is not challenging Fries with an overly complicated offensive scheme at this point, but he expects his young passer to continue to improve as he gets more comfortable under center.
"It didn't go great on Saturday for him in terms of what happened, but it had nothing to do with his knowledge or what he knows, what he's comfortable with," said Mettlach. "He's done an incredible job of putting the time in the classroom, film study, (he) understands what we're telling him on the field during the week.
"He threw it 44 other times to where I think he was just under 300 yards passing with a running touchdown, (and) a passing touchdown. It wasn't like he played completely terrible. It was just his mistakes were very costly."
SCOUTING THE PEACOCKS
This Saturday, the Huskies hit the road again, this time to the Upper Iowa Peacocks. The Peacocks are 2-1 on the season with a season-opening loss to Concordia-St. Paul followed by wins over Saint Ambrose and Missouri S&T the last two weeks.
The Peacocks offense was anchored by sophomore quarterback Darryl Overstreet, Jr., but he came out of the game against Missouri S&T during the first offensive series. Junior Marcus Orr stepped in and went 21-for-31 for 234 passing with five touchdowns and one interception.
Junior wide receiver Mante Morrow has 13 catches for 250 on the season with three touchdowns. Junior running back Willy Camacho is also a threat on the outside with 20 receptions for 180 yards receiving and a touchdown. nike dunk high orange and black
Fifth-year running back Jayden Mitchell leads the ground game with 31 carries for 153 yards for a team that likes to go to the air more than utilize the run. nike dunk high panda nike
On defense, senior linebacker John Butsch is tough to stop. He has 19 solo tackles and eight assisted tackles. He also has five tackle for loss and 1.5 sacks. how do nike dunk highs fit