On Saturday Nov. 28, Wayne State stole a 14-12 win against previously unbeaten No. 12 Augustana at home on a snowy afternoon in the annual Egg Bowl.
The win marks the first win against Augustana since 2016 and the first win at home in 13 years.
“When I was a graduate assistant here, Augie was undefeated and top 10 in the nation,” Head Coach Logan Masters said. “They came here and we beat them as well to end their perfect season. That’d have been in 2010, so that’s about 13 years.”
The weather played a big part in the contest, with two inches of snowfall in the first half of the game and temperatures as low as 28 degrees.
“I wouldn’t call it blizzard, but it was it was it seemed like it for a while,” Masters said. “We talked about how we’ve got to be a team that’s mentally tough.”
The Wildcats did not start the game on a good note, recording three bad snaps and a safety in their first offensive drive in the snow.
“I mean, we were moving the ball okay early,” Masters said. “Then the bad snaps kind of derailed us and that’s something we’ll get fixed. But I mean, that’s what we talk about all the time in life and in the game of football. There’s going to be adversity.”
The Wildcats’ offense struggled to get anything going on the ground with a combined negative 23 rushing yards. Through the air they had only 43 passing yards. A large chunk of the passing yards came on a 31-yard touchdown pass from Nick Bohn to Kendrick Watkins-Hogue at the beginning of the second quarter.
The Wildcats’ defensive effort kept them in the game, forcing four total turnovers: three interceptions and a fumble recovery.
“We’re doing a good job obviously cover guys because we got three interceptions.” Masters said. “Then we had the defense punch the ball out and our true freshman Luke Lambert, who had a pretty stinking good game for a true freshman against a good offensive line, recovered it.”
Two interceptions came from senior safety Tanner Cooper who returned one for a touchdown and had another pick six called back due to penalty. Cooper was nominated as the Egg Bowl MVP for his impressive performance.
“I thought Tanner played his best game as a Wildcat,” Masters said. “I mean, he was locking down guys, he probably should have had another pick too.”
“I’m not going to lie; I want to win them all,” Masters said. “I don’t care who it’s against, but it’s a little bit sweeter when it’s a school that’s close to you view as a rival.”
Wayne State will look to continue their push for the playoffs when they travel to Sioux Falls, S.D. to take on the Sioux Falls Cougars on Saturday, Oct. 4.