The University of Wisconsin-Platteville made the Lakeland University football team's first home game against a ranked team in nearly 10 years a rough one, rolling past the Muskies 56-0 Saturday afternoon at Taylor Memorial Field.

The Pioneers-ranked 10th in the latest D3football.com poll-were in charge in all phases of the game, and Lakeland was foiled in its attempt to start 3-0 for the first time since 1997. Instead it was UWP of the tough Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference moving to 3-0.

It was a long day at the office for the Muskies, who struggled to sustain offense and had trouble getting off the field on defense. A week after rolling up 621 yards in a dramatic win over Albion (Mich.) College, Lakeland was limited to 160 yards of total offense this week and particularly struggled passing, completing just 13 of 38 passes for 82 yards and three interceptions.

The Muskies' offense also went just 2 of 16 on third down, and that's where the problems started on defense, too. UW-Platteville converted 12 of 19 third downs, and if the Pioneers weren't making it on third down, they also moved the chains on two of four fourth downs.

The Pioneers appeared intent on making a statement early, running the ball right up the middle twice on 3rd-and-10 or more on their first drive. Platteville converted both times, and did so on 3rd-and-long one more time when on 3rd-and-9 from the Lakeland 12, quarterback Tom Kelly hit Quinn Buschbacher for a 12-yard TD to open the scoring.

In all, UWP gained 656 yards of offense and held the ball for 38:10 to the Muskies' 21:50. The Pioneers also scored on seven of eight possessions over the second and third quarters to put the game out of reach after Lakeland hung around early.

The score was just 7-0 midway through the second quarter when Platteville converted on 3rd-and-long again, as Kelly found Patrick Sheehan for 28 yards down to the Muskies' 1-yard line. Kyle Whitman plunged in on the next play to make it 14-0 with 8:14 left in the first half, and the Pioneers then added two touchdowns just 56 seconds apart on their next two drives, the second on a 50-yard pass from Kelly to Tim Jansen that helped make it 28-0.

Any chances of a Lakeland comeback were extinguished quickly in the second half. A turnover on the Muskies' first offensive play of the third quarter quickly turned into a UWP touchdown, and the Pioneers scored three more times in the quarter, two on long touchdown receptions by Jansen, who caught three passes for 164 yards and three scores in the game.

Michael Whitley (Jr.-Vidalia, La.) completed 9 of 25 passes for 48 yards and threw two interceptions while also rushing for 32 yards. Running backs Dezmon Eddie (Fr.-Alexandria, La.) and Eldrada Meeks (So.-Southfield, Mich.) both had some success on the ground and through the air, with Eddie rushing seven times for 22 yards and catching a team-high four passes for 24 yards, while Meeks rushed nine times for 33 yards and also caught a pass for 17 yards.

Mason Ross (Jr.-Pulaski, Wis.) led the Lakeland defense with a career-high nine tackles and also forced a fumble. Donte Rowell (Jr.-Chicago, Ill.) also added nine tackles, Airiss Hargrow (Sr.-Flint, Mich.) made eight tackles, and Sam Bartlett (Fr.-Racine, Wis.), Jaron Johnson (Fr.-Marksville, La.) and Brandon Pribbernow (Jr.-Brillion, Wis.) all had a sack. The defense had its disruptive moments with three sacks plus a fumble recovery by Kory Peterson (Jr.-Detroit, Mich.).

Lakeland was hosting a ranked team and a team from the WIAC for the first time since losing to No. 2-ranked UW-Whitewater 41-7 to open the 2007 season.

The Muskies will have to regroup quickly with a big game coming up next week. Lakeland will host Concordia University Wisconsin at 1 p.m. in the annual Cheese Bowl game, which also is being played on Homecoming this year.

Muskies by the numbers:
3 - Sacks by the Lakeland defense
8 - Drives of 1:07 or less by the Muskies offense on Saturday
9 - Career-high tackles for Mason Ross. Fellow secondary member Donte Rowell also added nine tackles.
26 - Yards in kickoff returns for Jamal Hawkins-Sconiers, who returned the first two kickoffs of his collegiate career.
29 - Number of players to register at least one tackle on the Lakeland defense.
44 - Average spot on its own yard line where UW-Platteville started its drives Saturday.
96 - Combined yards by Dezmon Eddie and Eldrada Meeks, who had a hand in well over half of Lakeland's offensive output