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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. –  The nation's third-ranked passing offense dissected the nation's top pass defense Saturday afternoon as hosting Slippery Rock University rolled to a 42-16 win over No. 7 Indiana (Pa.) in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division football action at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

The outcome gave both teams a 5-1 overall record and a 2-1 PSAC-West and put them in a tie for second place behind division-leading Gannon (4-2, 3-0) with four PSAC-West games left to be played this fall.

The Rock, who averaged 389.6 passing and 565.4 total yards in their first five games, collected 449 passing yards and 676 yards Saturday against an IUP defense that had allowed its first five opponents only 118.2 passing and 213.4 total yards.

Equally impressive was the fact SRU's passing and total yardage marks were the largest ever allowed by an IUP defense. The previous best marks were 659 total yards by Texas A&M-Kingsville in a 1994 national semifinal game and 438 passing yards by California, Pa. in 2012.

Adding even more polish to the effort was the fact SRU also outrushed the ground-oriented Crimson Hawks by a 227-59 margin Saturday afternoon.

Senior quarterback and Harlon Hill Trophy candidate Nigel Barksdale led The Rock attack as he completed 27 of 38 passes for 425 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Barksdale also rushed for 68 yards and one TD on 17 carries and caught a flea-flicker pass for 24 yards to finish the day with 517 all-around yards.

Redshirted senior wide receiver John Schademan caught six passes for 170 yards and two TDs and classmate Ken Amos had nine catches for 85 yards to lead The Rock receiving effort.

Junior running back Teddy Blakeman, who began his collegiate career at IUP, ran for 55 yards and two TDs to complement redshirt freshman Shamar Greene's game-high 101 yards on 17 carries. Redshirt sophomore Brett Crenshaw also scored a rushing TD for The Rock.

Defensively, The Rock held IUP redshirt senior running back D'antwan Williams to only 34 yards on 13 carries.

Senior linebacker Gary Allen (fumble recovery), redshirt junior strong safety Isaiah Coleman (forced fumble) and senior nose tackle Tony Papley (1.5 tackles for loss) each recorded seven tackles to lead The Rock's defensive effort.

Junior defensive end Matt Peacock recorded SRU's only quarterback sack, a 12-yard takedown of the Crimson Hawks redshirt senior Mike Box, while redshirt senior cornerback Brandon Burley picked off  a Box pass.

Box completed 18 of 41 passes for 278 yards and one TD and threw the one interception. Senior wide receiver Terrill Barnes had nine catches for 160 yards and one TD and redshirt junior wideout Drew Carswell caught seven passes for 103 yards for the Crimson Hawks.

The Rock held a 7-0 lead at the end of one quarter of action thanks to a one-yard TD run by Crenshaw at the 7:11 mark that capped a seven-play, 80-yard drive on SRU's second possession of the game.

Saturday's game marked the first time in six games this fall The Rock did not score a touchdown on their opening drive.

A 38-yard pass from Barksdale to Schademan culminated an eight-play, 71-yard Rock scoring drive on SRU's fourth possession and extended the hosts' lead to 14-0 less than a minute into the second quarter of action.

Two IUP series later,  Allen recovered a Crimson Hawks fumble at the guests' 16-yard line to set up a three-play drive that resulted in Blakeman's first TD run, a two-yard burst with 7:37 left.

Less than four minutes after that, Blakeman was back in the end zone with a three-yard run that capped a six-play, 65-yard march and gave SRU a 28-0 lead with 3:54 left in the first half.

IUP erased the goose egg from the scoreboard with an eight-play, 41-yard drive that set up a 44-yard field goal by Brett Ullman that made the score 28-3 with 1:08 left before the intermission.

SRU carried its first-half momentum into the final two periods as it scored on each of its first two second-half possessions to push the lead to 42-3 with 9:17 left in the third period.

Barksdale scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 11:47 left in the third stanza to cap a six-play, 58-yard drive, then hit Schademan for a 42-yard TD to close out a three-play., 71-yard drive.

IUP got two fourth-quarter TDs to make the final score somewhat respectable. Box connected with Barnes for a 23-yard score to convert a nine-play, 92-yard drive into points and Williams ran in from a yard out to cap a six-play, 34-yard drive.

Saturday's win was expected to catapult The Rock into both the American Football Coaches Association and D2Football.com national top-25 polls. SRU did not receive any votes in last week's AFCA poll and were not listed in the D2FB top 25.

SRU has not been ranked in the AFCA top 25 since Nov. 7, 2011, when they held the No. 24 spot one week after losing at Gannon as the No. 14 team.

More importantly, Saturday's win over IUP enhances The Rock's bid for their first NCAA Division II postseason berth since 1999. But the Green and White know they have a lot of football to play before that thought can enter their collective minds.

The Rock will look to ride the wave of emotion and momentum generated by the win over IUP into next Saturday's PSAC-West duel with neighboring Clarion University (3-3, 1-2) . Kickoff of the SRU Homecoming game against the Golden Eagles, coached by former Rock defensive coordinator Jay Foster, is set for 2 p.m. at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

Notes:

Saturday's performance propelled Barksdale, a second-year SRU player, into third place on SRU's single-season passing yards list with 2,190, six yards shy of second place (Nate Crookshank, 2,196 yards in 2007) and 355 yards away from the school record of 2,551 yards by Cody Endres in 2011 … Barksdale also moved into a tie with Randy McKavish (1998) for fourth place on SRU's single-season TD passes list with 20, into fifth place on SRU's career TD passes chart with 34, into seventh place in career completions with 223 and into eighth place in career attempts with 392 ... Barksdale ranks seventh in career passing yards with 3,605 … Schademan, a third-year Rock player, assumed fourth place in single-season TD catches (10), jumped six spots into fifth place on SRU's career pass receiving yardage chart (1,589), leaped 10 spots into fifth place in single-season receiving yards (828), moved into a tie with Jeremy Rock (1993-96) for eighth place in career pass receiving TDs (14) and took over 12th place in career receptions (89)  … Saturday's game marked the third time in six outings this fall Barksdale passed for more than 400 yards. He threw for 465 yards and a school-record six TDs in the season-opening Sept. 7 win at Northwood (Mich.) and had 439 passing yards and two TDs in the Sept. 28 win over Mercyhurst … Saturday's point total gave The Rock a school-record 294 tallies in the first six games. That total also betters the school records for points in the first seven games (261 in 1999) and eight games (293 in 2007) and is only 26 points shy of bettering the best-ever nine-game point total (322 in 1999).