No. 11 Falcons close out regular season at UW-Oshkosh

The No. 11/15-ranked UW-River Falls football team closes out its regular season schedule this Saturday at UW-Oshkosh.

UW-RIVER FALLS (7-2, 4-2 WIAC) AT UW-OSHKOSH (5-4, 3-3 WIAC)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023
Time: 1 p.m.
Site: Oshkosh, Wis. // Keller Field at Titan Stadium

AGAINST THE TITANS

Saturday's matchup will mark the 67th all-time meeting between UW-River Falls and UW-Oshkosh, with the Falcons owning a 35-30-1 series advantage.
Last season, UWRF defeated then-ranked UWO 27-24 at Ramer Field, led by Michael Brown's second consecutive game with two interceptions.
- In 2021, the Falcons defeated the then-ranked No. 19 Titans 28-21 in Oshkosh, Wis. It marked the first Falcon victory over UWO since 2005.

LAST TIME OUT

UWRF conceded its second loss of the season last Saturday, falling 31-28 against No. 4-ranked UW-La Crosse.
- The Falcons trailed by as many as 31-7 in the third quarter and battled back with three second-half touchdowns to cut the Eagle lead to 31-28 with seconds remaining in regulation. The Falcons had a chance to tie the game with a field goal, but it was blocked by UWL.
- Kaleb Blaha finished with 337 yards of total offense and three rushing and one passing touchdown, passing for 249 yards along with 86 rushing yards.
- Michael Krueger compiled season-highs with 58 rushing yards and 75 receiving yards.

IN THE RANKINGS

UWRF dropped from No. 7 to No. 11 in the D3football.com Top 25 poll and No. 10 to No. 15 in the AFCA Coaches' Poll.
- Before this week, UWRF was ranked inside the D3football.com top-10 for eight weeks in a row, and ranked as high as No. 4 in both the D3football.com and AFCA poll, marking the highest in program history by a national coaches' poll and a national media outlet.
UWRF was picked to finish fourth in the WIAC Preseason Poll and debuted at No. 23 in the D3football.com Preseason Poll.

FALCON NOTES

The Falcon offense ranks seventh in DIII and leads the WIAC with 526.2 yards of total offense per game.
UWRF's 5-0 start was the best to start a season since 1993.
Quarterback Kaleb Blaha ranks second in DIII and leads the WIAC with 376.6 yards of total offense per game and is a three-time D3football.com Team of the Week honoree this season.
- Blaha also ranks second nationally and is the WIAC leader with 19 rushing touchdowns, paced by his program and WIAC-tying record six rushing touchdowns at UW-Stout (Oct. 28).
- At Ohio Wesleyan on Sept. 9, Blaha compiled a UWRF single-game record 566 yards of total offense, and he recently passed Ben Beckman (2015-19) on the Falcons' career leader list with 7,315 career yards of total offense. He's just 565 yards shy of the all-time record holder in Ryan Kusilek (2012-15).
- currently second all-time at UWRF with 6,980 career yards of total offense behind Ben Beckman's total of 6,991 (2015-19).
Senior wide receiver Jager Reissmann leads the Falcons with 35 receptions this season and ranks third all-time at UWRF with 132 career catches.
UWRF's scoring defense ranks first in the WIAC, allowing opponents to an average of 17.7 points per game. UWRF also leads the WIAC in defensive efficiency (108.8).
- UWRF's rushing defense leads the conference and ranks 21st nationally with 73.2 rushing yards against per game.
  - Jake McCortney leads the team and ranks fifth in the WIAC with eight tackles for loss.
  - Defensive back Dylan Brown ranks second in the WIAC in passes defended with 11 (10 pass breakups, one interception). At the University of Northwestern on Sept. 16, Brown tallied his 28th career pass breakup to become the UWRF all-time leader in pass breakups.