BLOG 46: Bulldogs know they face a challenge against the Huskies

By Sandy Gholston

Ferris State football player Tim Hogue carries the football during the Bulldogs’ 31-24 home win over Northern Michigan last Saturday (Sept. 27). (FSU Photographic Services)

BIG RAPIDS – Ferris has not had a whole lot of success in recent seasons against Michigan Tech on the football field.

In fact, the Huskies are riding a five-game winning streak over the Bulldogs. That means Ferris has not defeated Michigan Tech since a 21-14 win in 2002. Since that game, the series has been fairly lopsided as the Huskies have won 49-30 (2003), 28-6 (2004), 35-19 (2005), 41-7 (2006) and 40-12 (2007).

This season, however, nationally-ranked Ferris is 4-1 overall and 3-1 in the GLIAC as it enters this Saturday’s road contest at Sherman Field (renovated with the installation of a new artificial playing surface) in Houghton hopeful of reversing a recent ugly trend.

“One of the things we know about Michigan Tech is we’re going to be playing a good football team,” said Ferris head coach Jeff Pierce, whose team enters this contest ranked 25th in the nation by the American Football Coaches Association and D2football.com. “We know we’re going to have to play a lot better than we did in our last game (a thrilling 31-24 come-from-behind victory over Northern Michigan at Top Taggart Field) if we’re going to expect to come away with a win on the road against this team.”

Pierce is looking for mistake-free football as Ferris fights to steal a win against a Tech team hosting homecoming festivities in Houghton.

“We know we’re going to have to play more of a mistake-free brand of football,” said Pierce, whose team won thanks to a 75-yard interception return for a touchdown from junior strong safety Chad Wilson who went on to be named GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week and D2football.com National Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts (that also included nine tackles in total). “That means we have a lot of things to clean up to be ready to play.”

Ferris will have to find a way to slow down a prolific MTU passing attack led by Steve Short, one of the top quarterbacks in the GLIAC. Short has eight touchdown passes this season. The Huskies might be even more powerful with a running attack led by the league’s leading rusher, Phil Milbrath, a sophomore, who already has 604 yards on the ground with 12 touchdowns.

If you have any questions, ideas or comments feel free to contact Sandy Gholston at sgholston2@netzero.com