An opening-round win and now the UW-La Crosse football team gets the No. 3 team in the nation.
The 18th-ranked Eagles made easy work of Northwestern (Minn.) with a 59-14 win at home Saturday.
At noon Saturday, UW-L travels to undefeated St. John’s (10-0), which will air on the WKTY App and on 96.7 FM / 580 AM.
The Johnnie’s have three wins against ranked opponents this season — two of those against No. 21 Bethel and also against No. 11 Wartburg.
St. John’s beat Bethel 41-33 in the MIAC title game last weekend and again 45-20 earlier this season. They also beat Wartburg 35-13 in Week 2.
Meanwhile, the Eagles are 1-3 against ranked teams this season, including the No. 2 team in Division II.
UW-L lost three consecutive games early in the year against:
- No. 2 (DII) Grand Valley State 20-13
- No. 24 UW-Platteville 30-27 (OT)
- No. 20 UW-Oshkosh 34-33
The UW-P loss came as the Pioneers had yet to shoot up the polls. They are currently No. 7 in the nation.
And the UW-O loss came after blowing a 19-point, second-half lead to the Titans, who are no longer ranked.
UW-L and St. John’s have met six times in history, dating back to 1968 and three times in the 1990s. St. John’s won the first five matchups, with UW-L winning 37-30 in 1996.
In last weekend’s win, four of UW-L quarterback Kyle Haas’ 10 completions were touchdowns. The Eagles racked up 602 yards on offense — 320 yards in the air, between Haas, Zach Weir and Levi Liedke, who threw one pass — a 24-yard completion. Haas was 10 of 14 for 257 yards and Weird was 6 of 7 for 39.
Wyatt LeMoine had three catches for 104 yards, which included a 74-yard touchdown reception early in the second quarter. The Eagles were up 45-7 at halftime.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – UW-L’s Ross Gengler had eight tackles, including two sacks in the teams opening-round win against Northwestern on Nov. 23, 2024 (PHOTO: UWLathletics.com).