Game notes |
Live stats | Live audio
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Slippery Rock University's football team looks to end a two-game losing skid and remain in position to successfully defend its division championship Saturday when it heads into hostile territory to take on archrival Indiana (Pa.) in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division contest.
Indiana enters the game ranked 14th in the D2Football.com national poll and 22nd in the American Football Coaches Association poll.
ON THE AIR: The game will be broadcast live on WLER-FM 97.7 in Butler and on the World Wide Web via the "Listen Live" links on www.rockathletics.com, the official web site of Slippery Rock University athletics. Bob Cupp and Glenn Thompson will provide the play-by-play and color commentary of the game starting at 1:30 p.m. with "The Dr.
George Mihalik Coaches Show."
THE SERIES: The Rock and Indiana have battled to a 3-3 stalemate in their last six meetings after the Crimson Hawks won seven straight over the Green and White, starting with a 27-20 upset victory in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Division II playoffs and running through 2005. Prior to that, SRU beat Indiana in three consecutive meetings (1997-99) en route to outright PSAC-Western Division championships.
ROCK STATS: Through the first five games of the season, The Rock have had a balanced offensive attack with 990 rushing yards and 983 passing yards. The Green and White rank sixth in the PSAC in rushing (198.0 yards per game), eighth in passing (196.6 ypg) and ninth in total offense (394.0 ypg). Defensively, The Rock rank fifth in rushing (113.40 ypg), 11th in pass defense (273.8 ypg) and eighth in total defense (387.20 ypg).
ROCK STARS: The Rock's leading rusher is senior
Akeem Satterfield, the No. 7 rusher in the PSAC with a 92.0 ypg average. Redshirt sophomore quarterback
Jared Buck, a transfer from IUP, passed for 556 yards and six touchdowns with three interceptions as SRU's starting quarterback in the first four games this fall. Buck sat out last week's game due to injury and is questionable for this week's game. Junior
Nigel Barksdale (pictured) stepped into the starting role last week and passed for 261 yards and three TDs without throwing an interception to improve his season totals to 360 yards and four TDs with one INT. Barksdale also rushed for a team-high 169 yards and two TDs in last week's loss to Kutztown. Junior slot receiver
LaQuinn Stephens-Howling is SRU's top pass receiver with 20 catches for 244 yards and three TDs. Redshirt sophomore wide receiver
Ken Amos has caught 13 passes for 243 yards and one TD. Defensively, junior linebacker
Gary Allen leads the way with 43 tackles, including three for loss and one quarterback sack. Allen ranks 15th on the PSAC total tackles chart. Junior LB
Quindell Dean, the No. 2 tackler on the team, has recorded a team-high 5.5 tackles for loss and three QB sacks, senior Preseason All-America defensive end
Jeff Thompson has recorded 4.5 TFLs and 3.5 QBS and junior nose tackle
Tony Papley has four TFLs and 2.5 QBS. Redshirt sophomore free safety
Isaiah Coleman has intercepted a team-best three passes, while redshirt junior cornerback
Anthony Saunders has swiped two passes. On special teams, junior
James McCombie ranks ninth nationally with a conference-best 44.1 yards per punt average, redshirt sophomore
Admire Carter is second in the PSAC 14th nationally with a 16.0 yards per punt return average, true freshman
Jaimire Dutrieuille is fourth in the PSAC and 14th nationally in kickoff returns at 31.1 yards per kickoff return and senior kicking specialist
Kurt Brackman has been successful on 49 of his last 50 extra-point attempts.
SCOUTING INDIANA: Indiana's offensive attack is led by the nation's leading rusher, senior Harvie Tuck, who averages 152.4 rushing yards per game and has scored nine rushing touchdowns this fall. The Crimson Hawks have over twice as many rushing attempts as pass attempts after the first five games. Redshirt senior quarterback Pat Smith has passed for 375 yards and four TDs, while redshirt junior quarterback Mike Box, who made his first start of the season last Saturday in a win over Millersville, has passed for 475 yards and two TDs. The top pass catcher on the team is junior wide receiver Pat Brewer with 16 receptions for 276 yards and three TDs. Junior wide receiver Terrill Barnes has 11 catches for 190 yards and one TD. Redshirt junior linebacker Carl Fleming is Indiana's top tackler with 27 tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss. Junior linebacker Alexander Berdahl has 24 tackles, including four TFLs, 2011 first-team All-PSAC-West selection Johnny Franco, a redshirt senior defensive back, has 23 tackles and one interception, redshirt sophomore lineman Shane Meisner has a team-high eight TFLs and his older brother, redshirt senior lineman Greg Meisner, has five TFLs. Sophomore kicking specialist Brett Ullman, a first-team All-PSAC-West selection last fall, is a perfect 26-of-26 on extra-point tries and 4-of-8 on field goal attempts with a long of 42 yards.
LAST YEAR'S GAME: Redshirt sophomore cornerback
Brandon Burley picked off two passes, one of which he returned for a touchdown, to lead a four-pick defensive effort that helped propel The Rock (3-1, 1-0 PSAC-W) to a 20-6 win over Indiana at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. The Rock offense scored two TDs, a 59-yard pass from
Cody Endres to
Devin Goda in the second quarter and a 36-yard run by Satterfield with 2:01 left in the game. Endres finished the game with 17 completions in 29 attempts for 175 yards with one interception, Goda had eight catches for 104 yards and Satterfield rushed for 104 yards on 23 carries. SRU finished the game with a 321-258 advantage in total offense.
Tuck gained 125 yards on 28 carries for Indiana (1-2, 0-1 PSAC-W), which finished the game with 127 rushing yards and 131 passing yards. Smith was 5-of-13 passing for 48 yards and threw one INT, while Box was 5-of-12 for 83 yards with three INTs. The Rock also sacked the Crimson Hawks QBs three times for minus-10 yards.
Senior linebacker
Zach Sheridan recorded a career-high 15 tackles (11 assisted), senior strong safety
Jayson Nickson and senior free safety
Brandon Watters each recorded an INT for The Rock. Watters also broke up two other passes.
THE COACHES: George Mihalik owns a 163-101-4 (.618) career win-loss record in 25 seasons as The Rock's head coach. He is SRU's all-time leader in career wins and ranks third among active PSAC coaches, fifth on the conference's all-time wins chart and seventh among active NCAA D-II head coaches. Mihalik has compiled a 6-19 record vs. Indiana since being named as SRU's head coach in 1988.
Curt Cignetti has compiled an 11-4 record in two seasons as head coach at Indiana after serving four seasons as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Alabama. The son of Frank Cignetti, who compiled a 182-50-1 record as Indiana's head coach from 1986-2005, Curt is 0-1 against The Rock.
ROAD WOES: The Rock, in addition to seeking to snap their short, two-game string of losses, seek to end a four-game road losing streak. The last Rock road win came Oct. 22, 2011, in Lock Haven, 48-27. Owners of an impressive 59-44-4 (.570) record in road games played under Coach Mihalik from 1988-2007, The Rock have lost seven of their last 10 away games and 15 of 24 road games since the start of the 2008 season. That has dropped The Rock's overall road record under Mihalik's leadership to 68-59-4 (.534). The Rock has lost each of the last two road meetings with Indiana. The last SRU win in Indiana came in 2006, a nationally-televised 21-17 triumph that was the 127th of Mihalik's career and made him The Rock's all-time leader in career victories.
UP NEXT: The trip to Indiana will be the first of two The Rock will make on consecutive Saturdays. The Green and White visit Clarion, coached by former SRU defensive coordinator Jay Foster, for a 2 p.m. PSAC-West game Oct. 13, then return home to entertain Edinboro in a 2 p.m. SRU Homecoming Game Oct. 20 at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.
