2001 TITAN FOOTBALL
Illinois Wesleyan (0-0) vs. Washington U. (1-0)
September 8, 2001, 6 p.m.
Francis Field, St. Louis, Mo.

THE COACHES: Norm Eash, a 1975 IWU graduate, is in his 15th season as head coach at Illinois Wesleyan. He has an overall record of 92-38-1 (.706) and a CCIW mark of 71-31-1 (.694) with conference titles in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 2000. Eash is fifth in all-time CCIW coaching wins and is second in victories at IWU, behind Don "Swede" Larson (166 wins in 33 years, 1954-86).. . Larry Kindbom is in his 13th season at Washington U. and has a 77-44 record with the Bears. He has a career mark of 105-74-1 (.583), which includes six seasons at Kenyon.

FOR OPENERS: IWU is 9-5 in opening-day games under Norm Eash. IWU won last season’s season opener, 24-0, over Washington U. in Bloomington. Joel Castillo was 19 for 29 for 216 yards with two TD passes to Shawn Emerson. Kevin Kaplan (Cary, Cary-Grove HS) intercepted two passes and had five tackles. Brian Klesath (Peoria, Notre Dame HS) kicked a 37-yard field goal.

RANKINGS: IWU is No. 28 in the preseason Don Hansen’s Football Gazette rankings. . . IWU was No. 23 in the final AFCA rankings last season.

ON THE AIR: The IWU/WU game will be broadcast on the Internet at http://kwur.wustl.edu, the Washington U. campus station.

HONORS: Senior defensive back Brad Andrekus (Carol Stream, Glenbard North HS) was named to the fourth team of the preseason All-American squad chosen by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette. Andrekus was honorable mention All-American last season on both the Hewlett-Packard and usafootball.com teams.

FOR THE RECORD: IWU teams are 26-8-1 in September in the Norm Eash era and have not lost in September since 1995. . .IWU has won 11 straight regular season non-league games, dating back to a 24-21 loss to Simpson in 1995 . . .The Titans are 50-14 (.778) at home and 42-24-1 on the road (.634) under Eash. . .IWU is 39-7 (.841) at Wilder Field in the last 10 years . . . Dating back to 1995, IWU has won 44 of its last 53 games (.830) and has been over the .500-mark for seven straight years and 11 of the last 12 years. Of those nine losses, four have been to Wheaton, three to Millikin, and one each to Augustana and Mount Union.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: Bobby Collins, Jr. ran for 152 yards on 21 carries as Washington U. won a school-record 12th-straight season opener, 34-27, at Westminster. Collins, playing in his first game as a Bear, led a WU attack that got 228 rushing yards on 44 carries. The Bears held the Blue Jays to -31 rushing yards, but allowed 395 yards passing with four TDs. Jonathan Feig hit a pair of FGs and Mike Friedman scored on a two-yard run as WU led 12-0 after one quarter. Quincy Davis returned a kickoff 85 yards for a TD that made the score 18-7 and also ran back a blocked PAT attempt 90 yards for a two-point conversion to give WU a 20-13 halftime lead. John DeLeon gave the Bears their biggest lead (27-13) with a four-yard run early in the third quarter and Friedman got his second TD of the game on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter. Collins was the first Bear to top the 100-yard mark since 1999. . . WU was 6-4 last season and was 8-3 in 1999, losing in the first round of the Division III playoffs to Hardin-Simmons, 28-21.

THE SERIES: Dating back to 1899, Washington U. holds an 8-5 advantage in the series against IWU. The Titans have won the last two games in the series, including a 24-0 shutout in Bloomington last season.
1899 Washington U. 6, IWU 0
1949 Washington U. 41, IWU 25
1950 Washington U. 27, IWU 7
1951 IWU 14, Washington U. 7
1952 Washington U. 61, IWU 14
1953 Washington U. 54, IWU 6
1954 Washington U. 52, IWU 7
1975 Washington U. 20, IWU 7
1976 IWU 17, Washington U. 0
1994 IWU 28, Washington U. 14
1995 Washington U. 28, IWU 23
1996 IWU 48, Washington U. 27
2000 IWU 24, Washington U. 0

LOOKING AHEAD: The Titans play two more non-conference games - IWU hosts Aurora at 6 p.m. next Saturday night, the first night game at IWU since 1971, then hosts Taylor University at 1 p.m. on Sept. 22. IWU opens CCIW play on the road Sept. 29 at North Park.

CCIW: Under new head coach and IWU grad Robin Cooper, North Park lost their opener, 32-13, to Northwestern College (Minn.). The Vikings surrendered 22 fourth quarter points in the non-league game. NPU managed just 28 yards rushing and 126 passing yards.