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Wisconsin-Whitewater has won 46 straight games, which is the longest active win streak in college football.
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Caesarae Lewis has an Empire 8-best four touchdowns and is in second place with 14 receptions and 236 receiving yards.
After a disappointing loss to Brockport, the Buffalo State football team will have another tough matchup on their hands.
The Bengals will be facing the three-time defending NCAA Division III national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater, a team that has won 46 straight games, They have the longest active streak in college football and are one win away from tying the University of Oklahoma for third place, all-time in the NCAA.
Wisconsin-Whitewater is also coming off of a bye week after defeating Washington University in St. Louis 34-0 and will be expecting a big turnout since the game has been designated National Champions and Youth Day. The first 500 fans will receive a Willie Warhawk Bobblehead.
Washington University in St. Louis had a 6-4 record last season, but Wisconsin-Whitewater held their offense to just 55 net yards offensively. Their starting quarterback completed just eight of 23 pass attempts for 45 yards and four interceptions while their running back gained 31 yards on 17 carries.
“I’m excited,” said center Kyle Shreve. “It’ll be a good game. We just have to go out there and execute.”
Buffalo State’s offense had a record breaking 706 yards of offense in their Week 1 win against Cortland, but was held to just 321 yards in Week 2 against Brockport.
Quarterback Casey Kacz enters Week 3 with 874 passing yards, best in the Empire 8 and his 62.9 completion percentage and 6 passing touchdowns are the second-best following a record-breaking 579 passing yards against Cortland which earned him Empire 8 offensive player of Week 1. Running back Rich Pete’s 129 rushing yards are seventh best and his three rushing touchdowns are second-best.
Wide Receiver Ryan Carney leads the Empire 8 with 18 receptions and 325 receiving yards. He was named to the D3Football.com National Team of Week 1 for his 12 receptions, 242-yards and two touchdowns performance against Cortland.
Wide Receiver Caesarae Lewis has an Empire 8-best four touchdowns and is in second place with 14 receptions and 236 receiving yards. His kick return average of 27.5 yards is second best and he earned Empire 8 Special Teams Player of Week 2 following his performance against Brockport where he had four kick returns for 152 yards, including a 67-yarder.
In Week 1, Wisconsin-Whitewater senior quarterback Lee Brekke completed 13 of 25 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown with Steve Morris catching seven passes for 103 yards and a touchdowns while running back Desmin Ward had 14 carries for 108 yards and a score.
Defensively, the Bengals have struggled and rank second worst allowing an average of 477.5 total yards, 335.0 passing yards and 142.5 rushing yards. Cornerback Chris Hall’s 4 interceptions and linebacker Pasquale Vacchio’s six tackles for a loss lead the Empire 8 while Vacchio’s 21 tackles are third-most and safety Matt Wesolowski’s 17 tackles are sixth-most.
“I feel as a cornerback, we need to get more reps,” said cornerback Sean Mapp. “They need to get their set corners and really play us. They keep switching us in and out and that’s not working obviously. They need to get their set corners, play us and have us do our job. For me, I get better as the game goes.”
The Bengals will hit the road on Thursday after practice and dinner before stopping at a hotel in Toledo, Oh at night. On Friday, the team will travel the rest of the way to Wisconsin-Whitewater to have their, practice, dinner and meeting before Saturday’s game at 2 p.m. EST.
“We were our own worst enemy on Saturday and it was very disappointing,” said head coach Jerry Boyes. “I thought we had kind of overcome that hurdle, but obviously we have not yet. There are a lot of questions after that game because there is a complete reversal of our first game. You take a look at our first game and the comparison is Brockport was Buffalo State and Buffalo State was Cortland because that’s what it was.”
“They wanted the game much more,” Boyes added. “They were out there to prove something and apparently to me all we had to do is just show up and we were going to win the game. Is it a lesson learned? Only time will tell, but it’s a very harsh lesson and it’s unfortunate, but the best team won this past Saturday. We’ll see if our guys will learn anything after that game.”