Dustin Huff's monster game earned the Wabash College senior quarterback some recognition.
After throwing for career highs of 416 yards and five touchdowns in a 42-28 win against Ohio Wesleyan (0-4, 0-1), Huff was named the North Coast Athletic Conference player of the week Monday.
Besides setting the personal records, Huff also became only the third quarterback in Wabash history to throw for more than 400 yards in a game. Former All-Americans Jake Knott '03 and Russ Harbaugh '05 are the other two quarterbacks who have broken the 400-yard plateau.
But Huff would rather give his teammates all the credit for his impressive day.
"It's a great honor and everything, but I give all credit to off unit as a whole," said Huff, who has thrown at least four touchdown passes in all three games. "The offensive line did a great job of blocking and giving me all time in world. Receivers ran great routes and I got ball to them. Our running backs ran well and blocked well, too. I don't think of it as individual honor. I like to think of it as a team honor."
With Huff's honor, it marked the second straight week a Little Giants player has won the North Coast Athletic Conference player of the week award.
Junior wide receiver Mike Russell earned the Sept. 17 award after his performance in a 38-31 win against Millikin. Russell caught five passes for 141 yards and scored a career-high two touchdowns, including an 80-yard touchdown reception.
Both players won the award for the first time.
And like Huff, Russell attributed the success to the offensive line. They even performed with a makeshift line for part of the game. Senior center Jeff Williams suffered a leg injury in the second quarter. Sophomore Nate Powell replaced him and performed admirably until Williams returned in the third quarter.
"It was amazing watching film (Monday) to see how much time the offensive line gave (Huff)," said Russell, who had his second straight 100-plus yard receiving game.
Huff completed 22-of-28 passes to eight receivers and threw touchdowns to four. Senior tight end Graham Nelson had two touchdown receptions, while senior wide receiver Geoff Walker and junior wide receiver Ray Green each caught one.
Through three games, Wabash has scored 118 points and has scored an average of 39.3 points per game.
In fact, Wabash's 579 total yards Saturday was its highest output of the season.
The Little Giants had a similar start last year, scoring 119 total points and winning their first three games.
But Huff admits the offense can still get better and become even more potent as the season progresses.
"We have a lot of weapons that can be really good," Huff said. "Each week we seem to be getting better and more confident. We're starting the game. But we can get better and still have things to improve on."
With their experience and quickness, Russell knows the Wabash offense can make big plays. He said the offense has clicked since the first game of the season, a 45-38 Sept. 9 overtime loss to Franklin.
"(Franklin) scored points and we had to score points back," Russell said. "We got into a rhythm early. Ever since then, we've been in a groove and played well. Our problem the first couple weeks was getting off early on the first couple drives. But we addressed that problem (Saturday) and have the problem fixed, so far."
Wabash coach Chris Creighton admits the Little Giants have no main receiving threat. So, Huff can throw to an array of wide receivers, tight ends or running backs, like he did in Saturday's win.
"We don't have to throw to Walker all the time," Creighton said. "We can throw it to Russell or Nelson or Gabe Guerrero or Green. If the play doesn't work, then Huff runs. We don't have a go-to guy. Our philosophy is to read the coverage and throw to the open man. Our offense is totally predicated on how people are playing us."
Bad weather leads Wabash to go deep
After Creighton heard there was a 90 percent chance of thunderstorms Saturday, he decided to have the Little Giants' offense go deep early.
On the second play of the game, Huff threw a 78-yard touchdown pass to Green. Green broke open on the right side and caught the ball near the 50-yard line, cut back inside at the Ohio Wesleyan 40-yard line and raced into the end zone for a touchdown. It was his only reception of the game.
But Green's touchdown put Wabash ahead 7-0 and the Little Giants never relinquished the lead.
"We made the long pass early because of the weather," Creighton said. "That's not our game plan normally."
Groth is the sports editor for The Paper of Montgomery County.