By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Most coaches, including Washburn University football coach Zach Watkins, don't believe in moral victories.
Washburn sophomore quarterback Logan Madden threw for 366 yards and three TDs in last Saturday's 31-24 loss at Northwest Missouri and is among the nation's passing leaders. [File photo/TSN]
But Watkins does know that his Ichabods learned some things from last Saturday's tight 31-24 MIAA road loss at nationally-ranked Northwest Missouri that they can use moving forward, including Saturday's 11:05 a.m. conference game against Central Oklahoma in Yager Stadium. Saturday's kickoff time was moved up an hour due to weather concerns.
"We played our third game and we've gotten better each game and our competition has also gotten better,'' Watkins said. "Northwest Missouri is the best team we've played so far. They're a really good program and have been really good for a long time.
"Offensively, moving the ball and some of the things we can do, we can really build on. And defensively, outside a couple of plays, we played really well for the most part. There's no moral victories and we told our guys that after the game, but we really liked the progression that this team is starting to make.''
Sophomore defensive tackle Elijah Clarke-Boyd, a Junction City product, agreed.
"Obviously, we really wanted to win,'' Clarke-Boyd said. "We went in there expecting to win, because that's what we do, but I was proud of how we fought back the entire time.
"We stayed in the game, we played all 60 minutes and we did our best and worked together very well and got in our stride. And I feel like if we play like that for the rest of the season we're going to do great.''
The Ichabods will take a 1-1-1 record into Saturday's game while the 1-1 Bronchos lost 59-20 to NCAA FCS foe Central Arkansas.
The Bronchos lead the all-time series 9-5.
Sophomore Tre Calhoun caught nine passes for 125 yards and three touchdowns against the Bearcats last week, becoming the first Ichabod since J.J. Brainia-Hopp in 2018 to have three touchdown receptions in a game.
Calhoun is ninth in the nation in receptions per game with 7.3, leading the MIAA, while senior Nathan Lewis Jr. is 16th in the nation with 6.67 receptions per game.
As a team, Washburn is 10th in the nation in passing offense at 320.7 yards per game which is also third in the MIAA behind Central Missouri's 344.0 yards per contest.
WU sophomore quarterback Logan Madden is third in the nation in completions per game at 26.7 and is fifth in the nation in total passing yards (962), seventh in passing yards per game (320.7) and 14th in passing touchdowns (7).
Madden is coming off a career-highs of 366 passing yard, three touchdowns, 29 passing completions and 51 passing attempts.
Sophomore safety Brody Hayes is 19th in the nation and leads the MIAA in solo tackles with 6.0 per game and junior Washburn Rural product JC Heim is 32nd with 5.67 solo stops per game.
Former Topeka High standout Jayden Norman had career-highs of four catches for 46 yards against Northwest Missouri last time out.
Cam Robinson had career-highs of 82 receiving yards against Northwest Missouri to go with 140 all-purpose yards.
UCO's win this season was a 59-7 rout at NAIA foe Texas Wesleyan.
The Bronchos are eighth in the nation in passing offense at 326.0 yards per game and 18th in scoring offense, scoring 39.5 points per game.
Jett Huff is 38 of 55 passing with three touchdowns and three interceptions, passing for 250.5 yards per game.
Tahkari Bethel has eight catches for a team-high 177 yards, averaging 22.1 yards per catch with two scores and 88.5 yards per game, while Makal Paiva has 12 catches for 148 yards and 12.3 yards per catch and 74 yards per game.
Defensively, UCO is led by Xavier Booth and Reese Roller with 11 tackles each. Roller has a team-high 4.5 tackles for loss with a forced fumble and a sack.
Central Oklahoma took a 34-28 home decision over the Ichabods in last year's game.
The Ichabods will be on the road at Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday, Sept. 26, at 1 p.m.
After an open week on Oct. 3, Washburn will host Pittsburg State on Oct. 10 as part of Washburn's Hall of Fame Weekend.
