(In the adjacent photo – Matt Behrendt cheers on the UWW defense in the Hawks Homecoming win over UW-Platteville – Photo courtesy of UWW Marketing and Media Relations
The UW-Whitewater football team will take an unbeaten record into Saturday’s round-two NCAA Division III playoff game vs. Franklin College (IN) at Perkins Stadium
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If you are looking for reasons for Whitewater’s renaissance after missing the playoffs last year the first place to look at is the play of quarterback Matt Behrendt.
The junior out of Nazareth Academy in Westchester, Illinois gave Warhawk fans a preview late last year by starting the final three games of a 7 & 3 season. Behrendt played the second half of UWW’s loss to eventual conference champion UW-Oshkosh. The following week the Hawks dropped a 17-14 decision at Stevens Point to take the team out of playoff contention.
Behrendt was the first to admit that he was too inconsistent during his sophomore year.
“I came in and made more mistakes than I should have,” Behrendt indicated back in August at the team’s preseason media day. “My big focus in the off-season was dealing with things like working on my check downs and all that. Correcting my mistakes will help us win more games.”
Hawk head coach Lance Leipold had full confidence in Behrendt’s abilities entering the season.
“I’m excited about what Matt brings to the table,” Leipold told reporters. “Matt is a leader and that was borne out when his teammates elected him one of our team captains during spring practice. “What fans saw last year, Matt possesses a strong arm the ability to make something happen with his legs when things break down.”
Fast forward four months and Coach Leipold was “spot on” with his preseason comments as Behrendt guided the Hawks to a 10 & 0 regular season and the program’s record-tying 33rd conference title. Included in those 10 wins were back-to-back, late season wins over Top 10 ranked Oshkosh and Platteville.
Some Warhawk fans have used social media to question if Behrendt makes enough “big plays.” Lets take a look.
Matt’s stat line entering Saturday’s playoff game vs. Franklin College reads: 215 of 336 for 2,355 yards – just one interception and 29 touchdowns.
To put Behrendt’s season statistics in clearer context, all you need to do is take a gander at the Warhawk football record book.
His 215 completions ranks 5th all-time.
His 64% completion percentage ranks 5th all-time.
Matt’s 29 touchdowns is 3rd all-time behind only Justin Jacobs in 2005 and 2006
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Behrendt’s 1 interception is tied with Matt Blanchard for first place in the UWW single season record book.
What is even more remarkable is Behrendt’s numbers are through 11 games. Most of the other player’s stats were garnered in Stagg Bowl ending 15 game seasons.
Can Behrendt improve? Of course, but he is still the quarterback of one of the 16 teams still in the hunt for a berth in the 2013 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. He is putting together one heck of a season!
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