By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois Wesleyan football coach Norm Eash waived his 24-hour rule this week as the Titans prepare for Augustana on Saturday.
“We had to go to a 48-hour rule,” Eash said in response to the Titans’ 48-24 loss to No. 6 Wheaton on Saturday. “Usually we have a 24-hour rule that we either enjoy the victory or we have to get over a loss. This one was a little tougher.”
The Thunder scored the game’s final 34 points after IWU jumped out to a 10-point second quarter lead.
Freshman Brandon Bauer threw for 399 yards, the fourth highest single-game total in school history, in only his second collegiate start. He was sacked five times in the second half after being unscathed in the first 30 minutes.
“We were feeling good going into halftime, but we didn’t come out in the second half like we wanted to and kind of shot ourselves in the foot at times and we’ve got to learn from that,” Bauer said.
Defensive end Eric Debose said each defender has to stick with his assignment.
“Everybody tries to do a little bit more, which is not a bad thing,” Dubose said. ‘It’s always, we have to focus on our job. I think we are mostly focusing on our job this week.”
The Titans offense will be without wide receiver Adam Mullers who leads the Titans with 210 receiving yards and shares the team lead with two touchdowns. He suffered a broken hand in the loss, but Eash added he could return to handle field goal and extra-point kicking duties later this season.
The Titans (2-2, 1-2 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) will host Augustana (2-3, 1-2) in a 1 p.m. kickoff from Tucci Stadium.
WJBC.com will have the action starting at 12:45 p.m.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
