Playoff Preview: Ashland University Eagles travel to No. 1 seed Indiana (PA)

ASHLAND — Ashland University and Indiana (Pa.) University have a brief, two-game history on the football field. The third meeting Saturday will carry, by far, the most significance.

Ashland (10-1) will clash with IUP (9-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at George P. Miller Stadium in Indiana, Pa., in the NCAA Super Region I playoff semifinals. IUP is the region’s No. 1 seed, while AU is the No. 4 seed.

No. 2 Shepherd will play host to Slippery Rock in the other Super Region 1 semifinal.

While Ashland defeated Notre Dame College 20-13 in Week 1 of the playoffs, IUP had a first-round bye as the top seed in the region.

As in the two other meetings, both teams enter the game nationally ranked. Ashland finished 12^th in the final American Football Coaches Association Division II poll conducted after the regular season. IUP was ranked No. 15.

“It’s really helped us a little bit having some familiarity with both Notre Dame and now IUP,” Ashland coach Lee Owens said. “We’ve been there before. I think that helps a little bit. Been in that locker room, been on that field, know what to expect, know what kind of team they are, know how well they’re coached. I think all that helps.

“And a couple of our guys played against them in 2018 here. (Quarterback Austin) Brenner had a fake punt for a big run and (wide receiver) Logan (Bolin) caught a couple passes. It’s amazing we still have guys around who played in that game.”

Both of the previous season-opening meetings were doozies. The Crimson Hawks prevailed 26-23 in 2017 when they blocked an AU field goal attempt with 1:45 left in the game, then drove to a winning 46-yard kick as time expired.

The 2018 game was a 21-17 IUP win that came on the strength of three touchdown passes.

The 2017 game was the debut of IUP head coach Paul Tortorella, who was promoted after serving 22 years as the team’s defensive coordinator. Since then, he has compiled a 47-10 record with three NCAA playoff appearances and a 9-4 record against ranked opponents.

That 2017 IUP team went 13-1 and lost in the national semifinals to eventual national champion West Florida.

“I just remember both being really good football games and two teams that really played hard,” Owens said. “The first one could have gone either way. We had a couple chances even in the second game to finish it with a score at the end and came up a little short.

“Whether it’s a defensive stand or an offensive play, we have to make the last play. I just remember not making the last play in either one of those games.”

Both teams come into the game as conference champions. And both teams earned their league titles after suffering their only loss of the season on the same day.

While AU fell 36-20 at Hillsdale on Oct. 29, IUP was losing 43-36 at Gannon as the Golden Knights threw for 342 yards and four touchdowns and ran it for 122 yards.

The Eagles rebounded to beat Lake Erie and Kentucky Wesleyan to claim the Great Midwest Athletic Conference crown. IUP defeated Clarion and Shepherd in its final two regular season games to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

The win over Shepherd elevated the Crimson Hawks from the region’s No. 3 ranking to the No. 1 seed.

“Gannon was able to be pretty balanced with the run and pass,” Owens said. “They were one of the few teams who ran the ball a little bit against them.”

IUP’s defense is giving up 80 yards a game on the ground, and has allowed just five touchdowns. Overall, the IUP defense is giving up 283 yards and 17.6 points per game.

The Crimson Hawks offense is scoring 34.7 points per game, while rushing for 173 yards and passing for 264 more. Quarterback Mak Sexton, a graduate transfer from Pittsburg State in Kansas, has completed 179-of-274 attempts for 2,555 yards with 29 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

The leading receiver is redshirt senior Duane Brown. He earned PSAC Offensive Player of the Year honors with 66 catches for 1,045 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Redshirt sophomore Hilton Ridley has 46 receptions for 744 yards and seven TDs.

Redshirt sophomore running back Dayjure Stewart, who was suspended for the Gannon game, leads the Crimson Hawks with 794 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.

Defensively, linebacker Connor Kelly leads with 70 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Defensive back Darius Bruce has four interceptions.

“They’re doing the same things they did in 2017 and 2018, which was pretty good,” Owens said. “They’re a lot like us. We’re very similar on both sides of the ball. We both want to run the football, we both want to stop the run. We’re both old-school teams like that.

“They’ve got depth. That’s one thing they’re going to have a little advantage on us. But we’re fairly healthy. We came out of the Notre Dame game pretty clean.”

In the win over Notre Dame, the Eagles were a little sloppy in the red zone, where penalties cost them some points. That can’t happen this week against the Crimson Hawks.

“You can’t get the ball to the three-yard line and jump offside,” Owens said. “Not against this team. That’s gold, man. You can’t give those five yards up down there. Hopefully we’ve learned our lesson and show some discipline when things get tough down there in the red zone.

“This is by far the biggest challenge we’ve seen. It’s going to take the kind of effort we’ve had in the past when we’ve beaten (former Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponents) Grand Valley or Ferris State to beat this team. It really is. They’re a notch above what we’ve seen up to this point.”

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Ashland University Eagles to play Indiana in super region semifinals