College football: With two games down, UW-Eau Claire evaluates during bye week
Sep. 16—Two games into the year, the UW-Eau Claire football team has already seen the highs and lows a season can bring. The Blugolds opened their campaign with a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Loras, but fell to nationally-ranked Central last weekend.
The team's bye in Week 3 offers an opportune chance to evaluate with a small but notable sample size to look at.
"This last week, it was a really good showing of what we can do and what we can't do," said defensive back Jacob Wysocki, who had an interception against Central. "I think that if we are firing on all cylinders, we can play with any team in the conference, no doubt about that. I think this bye week can really get us going and really get us confident for next week's opponent."
The week off from game action has helped patch up any minor injuries sustained through the early season, too. Coach Wesley Beschorner said the time off will benefit some players.
"Having a bye early on really helps us get our bodies back," running back Ivan Ruble said. "Little nicks here and there through the first two weeks, but we need to get the body healthy and prepare for the tough road ahead that we have with the WIAC schedule."
Close games have been a theme of the Blugolds' season so far. Eau Claire scored the winning touchdown in the final 30 seconds of its 30-27 win over Loras, and the Blugolds were within eight points of the lead early in the fourth quarter in a 31-13 defeat at Central.
The Dutch ran out to a 21-point lead on Saturday before Eau Claire scored 13 straight to make it a one-possession game.
"We didn't start as fast as we needed to offense. We started pretty fast on defense and then let a couple of plays get away from us," Beschorner said.
Ruble's 11-yard touchdown run made it a 21-13 game with 14:30 remaining against the Dutch, but Central pulled away later in the period. The Dutch are ranked 12th in this week's D3Football.com Top 25 poll.
The defeat wasn't ideal, but the effort to rally offered some bright spots for the Blugolds.
"It gives us all the world of confidence," Ruble said. "We went down there and played a really tough team in Central, and we proved to ourselves in that locker room that we can stick with anyone in this nation."
Of course, a loss is still a loss. The Blugolds know they can compete, but want to be winning those types of games.
"We got ourselves back to within a one-score game," Beschorner said. "Just too many self-inflicted wounds to win a game like that. But I thought our guys prepared well and we did some really good things."
The Blugolds will look to close out nonconference play on a high note next week. They host Albion on Sept. 24, with kickoff slated for 1:10 p.m.
The Britons are 2-0 and have outscored opponents 103-2 entering this Saturday's game at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Albion received the most votes of any team outside of the Top 25 in the D3Football.com poll.
"I do think (the bye) is coming at a really good time," Beschorner said, "because we've got another really good opponent coming in, and we're going to have to up our game even more.
