Complete Game Notes (30-page PDF)
 
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 15-ranked Slippery Rock University football team will travel north on I-79 Saturday for a noon Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division kickoff at Gannon University.
 
Below you will find all pertinent information regarding tickets, parking and live coverage, along with complete game notes.
 
LIVE INTERNET COVERAGE
• Live Stats  |  Provided by Gannon Media Relations.
• Live Streaming Video  |  Provided by Gannon Media Relations.
• Live Audio (Online and Radio)  |  Provided by The Rock Station 97.7 FM (Butler County).
• Twitter  |  All scoring information and in-game updates.
 
WATCH ON YOUR TV
• Fans can watch the game live and on-demand for free on the Rock Athletics Digital Network.
 • Search for "Rock Athletics Digital Network" in the app stores on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and Android TV devices to download the app. Each of the football games against PSAC opponents this season will be available on the app through the PSAC Sports Digital Network.
* This game will be produced and operated by Gannon University and will be simulcast on the Rock Athletics Digital Network.
 
MOBILE APP
• Fans can also watch all PSAC football games on the PSAC Sports Digital Network mobile app that is available for free in the app stores on Apple and Android devices.
 
TICKETS
• Tickets can be purchased at the gate.
• Adults - $5
• Students and Senior Citizens - $3
 
PARKING AND DIRECTIONS
• Gannon Directions Link
 

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THE GAME
No. 15 Slippery Rock will look to keep its PSAC Championship and NCAA Playoff hopes alive with a victory on the road in Erie for the second week in a row. The Rock are coming off a 20-17 victory at Mercyhurst last Saturday. An upstart Gannon team riding a two-game winning streak is looking for a signature win and enters the game with a 4-4 overall record with three losses to nationally ranked opponents.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Slippery Rock owns a 9-6 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the first meeting in 1949. The teams didn't play again until 2002 after that and have met every year since 2008. The Rock have won the last six consecutive games in the series and have scored at least 31 points in all six of those meetings, including a 56-7 win at Gannon back in 2019. The last Gannon win in the series came in 2013 in Erie.
 
• First Meeting: 1949 (GU won 15-0)
• Last Meeting: 2019 (SRU won 56-7)
• Current Streak: SRU +6
• at GU: SRU leads 4-3
• at SRU: SRU leads 5-3
• Most Points Scored by GU: 51 (2009)
• Largest Win Margin by GU: 15 (1949)
• Most Points Scored by SRU: 56 (2019)
• Largest Win Margin by SRU: 49 (2019)
• Last GU Win: 2013 at GU (38-27)
 
COACHING MATCHUP
Slippery Rock head coach Shawn Lutz is in his 26th overall year at The Rock and his fifth season as head coach, where he owns a 46-12 record. Lutz was the PSAC West Coach of the Year in both 2018 and 2019 and was the Don Hansen Football Gazette Division II National Coach of the Year in 2019. The 46 wins are the most among all PSAC head coaches since the 2016 season. Lutz was an assistant at SRU for 20 years before taking over the program in 2016. He served four years as the associate head coach and eight as the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach before taking over. Lutz has been a member of the coaching staff for 11 of SRU's PSAC West titles. He played tight end at West Virginia University, graduating in 1996, and earned a master's degree in sport management from SRU in 2003.
 
Eric Raeburn is in his first full season as head coach at Gannon after taking over following the 2019 season. Raeburn coached Gannon to a 1-3 record in an abbreviated spring season and has the team 4-4 this fall, already a two-win improvement from the 2019 squad that went 2-9. He was the offensive coordinator at Gannon in 2019 before assuming the head coaching role. Prior to that, he was head coach at Savannah State for three years. Raeburn is a 1994 graduate of Mount Union.
 
SUPER REGION RANKINGS
The first set of NCAA Super Region rankings were released this week. The Super Region rankings will determine which seven teams make the NCAA playoffs after week 11 of the season. The rankings will be updated each of the next two Mondays before the final playoff field is announced Nov. 14. SRU sits at No. 8 in the first set of rankings due to having one of the lowest weighted strength of schedules in the region. Still, The Rock control their own destiny with games against two of the top four teams still on the schedule. A loss by SRU in any of the next three weeks could take SRU out of playoff contention.
 

Rank	Team	DII W-L	Weighted SOS
1	Bentley	7-0	0.530
2	Kutztown	7-1	0.587
3	Shepherd	7-1	0.603
4	Cal U	7-0	0.442
5	Notre Dame (Ohio)	7-1	0.528
6	New Haven	6-1	0.483
7	Indiana (Pa.)	5-2	0.621
8	SLIPPERY ROCK	7-1	0.406
9	Stonehill	5-2	0.560
10	Charleston (W.Va.)	5-2	0.515

SRU RESULTS AGAINST THE REGIONAL RANKINGS
Slippery Rock has only played one game against teams in the first set of regional rankings and lost that game at home against No. 7 Indiana (Pa.). The Rock will host No. 4 Cal U next Saturday and are currently scheduled to play at No. 3 Shepherd in week 11. Those games will give SRU a significant boost to its strength of schedule number.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Slippery Rock moved up two spots to No. 15 in this week's American Football Coaches Association rankings. The Rock opened the year ranked No. 5 and were ranked between fifth and eighth for the first seven weeks of the season before sliding to No. 17 two weeks ago, which marked the first time Slippery Rock was ranked outside the top 15 since November of 2018. The Rock were ranked in the top 10 from Sept. 23, 2019 through Oct. 18, 2021. SRU is also ranked No. 16 in the D2football.com poll this week. Both polls are available on page nine of the PDF notes linked above.
 
LAST MEETING WITH GANNON  |  Box Score
No. 9 Slippery Rock improved to 10-0 on the year with a convincing 56-7 win on the road at Gannon on Nov. 9, 2019. The Rock jumped out to a 35-7 halftime lead and held Gannon off the scoreboard for the final three quarters. SRU posted a 518-181 advantage in total offense with 340 passing yards and 178 rushing yards. Gannon rushed for 144 yards and threw for just 37 yards on 7-of-11 passing. Roland Rivers III went 20-of-26 for 293 yards with four touchdowns. Henry Litwin caught nine passes for 134 yards and two scores. Jermaine Wynn Jr. caught five passes for 94 yards and one score. Gannon got 147 rushing yards and one touchdown from Zevin Holley, who carried the ball 27 times.
 
PSAC TITLE HOPES STILL ALIVE
Slippery Rock got the help it needed last week in the form of Cal U coming back to defeat IUP, which keeps SRU alive in its quest to return to the PSAC title game for the third straight season. The best chance for that to happen involves SRU winning this week at Gannon AND Cal U winning at home against Seton Hill. If both of those things happen, IUP would be eliminated from contention and next Saturday's game between Cal U and SRU would decide the PSAC West representative. An SRU loss this week would make it extremely unlikely that SRU could reach the title game. The only path for SRU with a loss this week would be IUP losing both this week and next (Edinboro and Seton Hill) and Cal losing this week (Seton Hill) and at SRU next week.
 
STARTING A NEW PSAC WEST STREAK
Slippery Rock's loss to IUP two weeks ago marked the first SRU loss against a PSAC Western Division opponent in a stretch of 1,456 days dating back to Oct. 21, 2017. The Rock won 19 straight games in the PSAC West and didn't lose a game against its divisional rivals from Oct. 21, 2017 all the way up to Oct. 16, 2021. SRU is 24-3 against the PSAC West in its last 27 divisional games and has won six of the nine PSAC West titles dating back to 2011.
 
SLIPPERY ROCK'S RECENT SUCCESS
The Rock are 31-5 since the beginning of the 2018 season and three of those five losses came in postseason games against teams ranked in the top 11 nationally. SRU has been beaten only twice in regular season play since the beginning of the 2018 season (week two at Shippensburg in 2018, week seven against IUP in 2021) with the other three losses coming in the PSAC title game in 2018 (to No. 9 West Chester), the NCAA quarterfinals in 2018 (at No. 11 Notre Dame) and the NCAA semifinals in 2019 (to No. 4 Minnesota State).
 
ROAD WINNING STREAK HITS 10
Slippery Rock won its 10th straight road game last week with a 20-17 win at Mercyhurst. SRU was a perfect 6-0 on the road in 2019 and has not lost a game away from Mihalik-Thompson Stadium since a 21-17 road loss in the 2018 NCAA quarterfinals at Notre Dame (Ohio) on Dec. 1, 2018. The Rock are 20-4 in their last 24 road games dating back to the start of the 2017 season and are 12-0 in their last 12 road games in PSAC West play. The last time SRU lost a PSAC West game on the road was Oct. 21, 2017, at Edinboro.
 
SRU GETS THROUGH CROSSOVERS UNBEATEN
Slippery Rock is one of only two teams from the PSAC West to make it through the two weeks of mandated PSAC crossover games against the Eastern Division without a loss. The Rock and Cal U both benefitted from the schedule makers and emerged unblemished while every other PSAC West team lost at least one of their two crossover games against the Eastern Division. That could be a factor later in the year, as record in mandated PSAC games including crossovers is one of the tiebreaker criteria used to decide divisional winners if multiple teams are tied.
 
CROSSOVER SUCCESS
SRU is 16-1 against PSAC East opponents over the last seven seasons in the two mandated regular season crossover contests that take place early in the season. The only loss during that stretch in those games, which are typically played in weeks two and three, came on the road at Shippensburg in 2018 when SRU fumbled in their own end zone to hand the Red Raiders a late 25-21 win.
 
LAST WEEK FOR SLIPPERY ROCK
Slippery Rock came back from 7-0 and 14-7 deficits early and put together a game-winning drive after Mercyhurst tied the game with 5:11 to play to escape Erie with a 20-17 win over Mercyhurst last Saturday in a rain-soaked game. The Rock offense was slugglish, fumbling six times in the game and never really gaining any rhythm, but the defense limited the Lakers to just 11 offensive first downs. Mercyhurst capitalized on its only two serious scoring chances of the game, after returning a kickoff 78 yards to the SRU 15-yard line on the opening play and by returning an SRU fumble for a touchdown. Outside of those two touchdowns, the SRU defense limited Mercyhurst to just a field goal all day and 222 total yards of offense. SRU went for 343 yards and recorded three takeaways on defense, including a game-ending interception from Isaiah Manning with under one minute to play.
 
LAST WEEK FOR GANNON
Gannon scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to erase a 10-7 deficit and held off Edinboro for a 21-18 win over the Fighting Scots at home last week. The Golden Knights ran for 316 yards and threw for 116 yards to post a 432-240 advantage in total offense. The big edge in offensive yardage was slightly negated by 106 penalty yards on Gannon as Edinboro picked up five first downs in the game off penalties. Melvin Blanks carried the workload with 29 rushes for 239 yards and two touchdowns. Kory Curtis completed 8-of-17 passes for 116 yards with a touchdown pass to Johnny Freeman, who caught three passes for 52 yards. Malachi Woody had 1.5 sacks and Nick White recorded 2.0 tackles for loss.
 
OPSATNIK COMES UP CLUTCH
Slippery Rock entered last week with only five field goal attempts on the season and hadn't tried a single field goal since week four at Seton Hill. When called upon in the first must-have kicking situation of the entire season, DJ Opsatnik came through. The sophomore kicker booted a 30-yard field goal with 1:24 to play to lift SRU to the win last week. He also kicked another 30-yarder earlier in the game and was perfect on the day with a pair of extra points to account for eight of The Rock's 20 total points last week. Opsatnik is now 5-for-7 on field goal attempts this fall.
 
HOLTZ FINALLY READY TO GO
Rock running back Evyn Holtz transferred in from Portland State and was expected to be the starter this fall and get the bulk of the carries, but Holtz was injured in preseason camp and missed all but one play the first seven full weeks of the season. He saw his first real action of the year last week and showed why he was the projected starter, rushing for 73 yards on 12 carries for an average of 6.1 yards per touch. He ran for 31 yards on six carries on the game-winning drive to set up the field goal. Holtz is likely to push for more touches moving forward as he works his way back from injury.
 
GROVER GETS THE BALL LATE
With the offense struggling throughout the day last week, SRU made the move to backup QB Noah Grover for the final drive of the game last week. Grover completed his first pass for 21 yards to Max Maciejewski and read the R-P-O well on the final drive as SRU marched 52 yards on nine plays for the game-winning field goal. Grover has appeared in four games this fall and is 22-of-32 for 221 yards with three touchdowns and one interception while playing mostly in clean-up roles with SRU leading big.
 
OFFENSIVE ISSUES TWO WEEKS IN A ROW
Slippery Rock scored 222 points over a four-game stretch between week three and week six, but has scored just 41 points over the last two weeks, first scoring a season-low 21 points against IUP in a week seven loss and then lowering that number to 20 points last week at Mercyhurst. The Rock have turned the ball over eight times in the last two weeks and are averaging 338.5 total yards per game, which is more than 100 yards below the season average of 457.8.
 
TURNOVER PROBLEMS CONTINUE
Slippery Rock turned the ball over four times last week for the second week in a row. The Rock have now thrown nine interceptions and lost seven of their 15 fumbles for 16 total turnovers on the season. SRU came up with three takeaways last week and now have nine interceptions and two fumble recoveries on 14 opponent fumbles. The -5 total turnovers ranks SRU 132nd in Division II in turnover margin at -0.6 turnovers per game.
 
OPPONENTS TRYING TO GRIND THE CLOCK
Slippery Rock enters this week with opponents averaging almost six minutes more possession time per game over the course of the season. Mercyhurst posted a 33:18 to 26:42 advantage in the possession game last week, while Indiana managed a 37:13 to 22:47 advantage and Edinboro posted a 34:06 to 25:54 advantage. Over the last three weeks, The Rock defense has spent 104:37 on the field, while the offense has been on the field for 75:23. That equals out to a total advantage in time of possession of 29 minutes and 14 seconds over the last three weeks for The Rock's opponents, who are spending nearly 10 minutes more per game with the ball during that stretch.
 
TECAK MAKES FIRST START ON LEFT SIDE
All-Region offensive tackle Jake Tecak made his first career start at the left tackle spot last week after starting 22 straight games on the right side. Tecak's move to the left was an attempt to help shore up the left side of the line, which was also missing starting left guard Colton Rossi last week. Yuriy Hryckowian started at left guard last week and Anthony Rebar made his second start of the season at right tackle.
 
OFFENSE STILL AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
Despite recent struggles, Slippery Rock still boasts one of the nation's best offensive units entering week nine of the season. The Rock rank 10th in passing offense at 321.9 yards per game, 13th in scoring offense at 38.6 points per game and 16th in total offense at 457.8 yards per game. SRU ranks 14th in passing efficiency and 24th in third down conversions (48 percent).
 
DEFENSE RANKS AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS
The Rock defense also ranks high nationally among Division II schools. SRU enters this week ranked eighth in the country in total defense with opponents averaging 253.2 yards per game. SRU ranks sixth in passing defense at 124.4 yards per game, 16th in scoring defense at 16.2 points per game and 18th in total first downs allowed at 116.
 
LITWIN TOPS 3,000-YARD MILESTONE
Henry Litwin became the second player in SRU history to surpass 3,000 receiving yards at The Rock when he grabbed a 42-yard TD pass in the third quarter last week. Litwin's career story is remarkable. A walk-on at SRU, Litwin played primarily on special teams in his freshman season in 2017, finishing the year with no catches. After moving into a starting role in 2018, Litwin has racked up 191 catches for 3,036 yards with 37 touchdowns over his last 36 games. His 37 TD grabs are already a career record at SRU. He set single-season records at SRU last fall for catches (103), yards (1,509), touchdowns (21) and scoring (128 points) on his way to All-America honors. Litwin needs 25 catches and 347 yards to break Greg Hopkins' career records of 215 catches for 3,382 yards at The Rock. He currently ranks second behind Hopkins in both career categories at SRU.
 
LITWIN A NATIONAL SEMIFINALIST FOR CAMPBELL TROPHY  |  Full Release
Henry Litwin is also one of only four players in Division II to be named a first team CoSIDA Academic All-American in each of the last two years. He was announced this month as a national semifinalist for the 2021 Campbell Trophy, known in college football as the Academic Heisman. Litwin is one of just 15 Division II players to make the semifinal list for the Campbell Trophy. He already graduated from SRU with a degree in safety management and is currently working on an MBA.
 
JERMAINE WYNN JR. LEADS TEAM IN CATCHES
Despite missing one game this fall, Jermaine Wynn Jr. enters this week leading SRU in receptions with 38 for 526 yards and five touchdowns. He has 411 receiving yards and five touchdowns in the last five weeks alone. Wynn also took a punt 77 yards for a touchdown against Clarion and enters this week ranked second among all players in the PSAC in all-purpose yardage at 131.1 yards per game.
 
JERMAINE WYNN JR. BY THE NUMBERS
In 35 games in the SRU lineup, Jermaine Wynn Jr. has pulled down 184 passes for 2,610 yards and 29 touchdowns. He needs 32 catches to break Greg Hopkins' SRU career record. Wynn grabbed 95 passes for 1,339 yards and 15 touchdowns last year, ranking him second behind only Henry Litwin on the SRU single-season ledger in catches and touchdowns and third in yards. He also caught 26 passes for 562 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman at Alderson Broaddus in 2017 to bring his collegiate career totals to 210 catches for 3,172 yards and 35 touchdowns at the Division II level.
 
LIT-WYNN COMBINED
Through 36 games in the same lineup, Henry Litwin and Jermaine Wynn Jr. have put up almost identical numbers. They have combined for 375 catches for 5,645 yards and 66 receiving touchdowns. Since they stepped on the field together for the first time in 2018, the duo are collectively averaging 10.4 catches for 156.8 yards and 1.8 touchdowns per game. They are the second and third SRU players to ever top 2,500 receiving yards in a career and are the only SRU teammates to ever top 2,000 yards during the same seasons.
 
WYNN JR. AND LITWIN RANK 1-2 IN DIVISION II
Jermaine Wynn Jr. and Henry Litwin are currently the only two active players in Division II with more than 3,000 career receiving yards. Wynn leads all players in Division II with 3,172 yards when also counting his one year at Alderson Broaddus. Litwin is close behind in second with 3,036 yards. Litwin's 37 TD grabs are tied for the most among all active Division II players, while Wynn's 35 rank him one spot back in third among all active players in the nation. Fourth on the list is 31 touchdowns as only four active players in Division II have more than 27 career touchdowns.
 
FROM QB TO ALL-AMERICAN DEFENSIVE END
All-American DE Chad Kuhn played quarterback in high school at Kiski Area. He didn't play a single defensive snap in his football career before coming to Slippery Rock and accepting the challenge of moving to the defensive side of the ball. Since then, Kuhn has racked up 27.0 career sacks and 42.0 tackles for loss and become one of the top defensive ends in the country.
 
KUHN JUMPS HIGHER ON SRU CAREER LISTS
Chad Kuhn had two more sacks last week at Mecyhurst to bring his career total to 27.0 sacks and move him up to third all-time at SRU in sacks and fifth all-time at SRU in tackles for loss (42.0). Kuhn also had another forced fumble last week and now has seven career forced fumbles, which is third all-time at SRU.
 
KUHN AMONG ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS IN DII
Chad Kuhn ranks third among all active players in Division II in career sacks (27.0) and that number ranks first among all players that have played their whole career in Division II. The only players ahead of him, two linemen from Frostburg State tied with 30.0 sacks each, began their careers in 2018 when Frostburg was a Division III member. Kuhn also ranks second among all active players in Division II in forced fumbles with seven on his career.
 
KOESTER AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS
Rock QB Andrew Koester enters this week ranked ninth in the nation in passing touchdowns (23), eighth in passing yards per completion (15.4), 11th in points responsible for (162), 13th in total passing yards (2,318) and 13th in passing efficiency (161.2).
 
KOESTER 8-2 AS STARTING QB
Andrew Koester is now 8-2 as The Rock's starting quarterback with a 7-1 record this year and a 1-1 mark in the first two games of the 2018 season, where he was injured in the first half of week two and gave way to Roland Rivers III, who started from week three of the 2018 season through the 2019 season when he won the Harlon Hill Trophy.
 
MARX SHUT DOWN FOR SEASON
Slippery Rock defensive tackle Jeff Marx started 34 straight games before missing his first career start two weeks ago. Last week, SRU got the news that Marx will miss the rest of the season with an injury, which will leave a tough hole to fill in the defense. Marx is a two-time first team All-PSAC selection and The Rock's primary run-stuffer. Jevon Lang moved into the starting tackle spot in Marx' absence the last two weeks and has nine total tackles and one tackle for loss in those two games.
 
McDONALD CLOSING IN ON A RETURN
Slippery Rock starting linebacker Trysten McDonald, who missed most of 2019 after suffering a season-ending injury, was poised for a breakout return this year and was among the leaders of The Rock defense early this season, but has now missed sixed straight games while nursing an injury. Peyton Remish has played well in replacing McDonald, but The Rock have certainly missed McDonald over the last six weeks. In just two games, McDonald had 16 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and one pass breakup. He still ranks 13th on the team in total tackles without playing for six weeks. Remish has 35 stops, 6.5 tackles for loss, a half-sack and the only defensive touchdown for SRU this season with a pick-six at Seton Hill since sliding into the starting lineup. McDonald is hopeful to return this week.
 
DE BIEN HAVING A BREAKOUT SENIOR YEAR
Slippery Rock has a formidable combo at the DE position with Garrett de Bien opposite Chad Kuhn. De Bien is not-so-quietly off to the best start of his career with 10.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks already through eight games. His previous career highs for a single-season were 8.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, which came over 14 games in 2019. De Bien has already matched or surpassed those numbers. He and Kuhn have combined for 18.0 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks this year.
 
SWEETING DOES IT ALL
Slot receiver Cinque Sweeting has scored five touchdowns in his last four games with one receiving score in three different games and two rushing touchdowns against Edinboro. Sweeting has 35 catches for 350 yards with five touchdowns as part of a three-headed receiving core with Jermaine Wynn Jr. (38 catches, 526 yards, 5 TD) and Henry Litwin (37 catches, 686 yards, 8 TD). Sweeting has also rushed for 164 yards and two touchdowns (9.6 yards per carry) and has 250 combined kick return yards. He averages 95.5 all-purpose yards per game.
 
D'OR GETTING MORE REPS
Rock freshman Chris D'Or has slowly been working his way into more and more touches as the season goes on. The speedster from Florida appears poised to take over the role played by Cinque Sweeting in the future, as D'Or is proving to have value in the passing and rushing games, as well as the return game. He enters this week averaging 77.0 all-purpose yards per game to rank fourth on the roster behind the trio of Wynn, Sweeting and Litwin. D'Or is averaging 5.3 yards per carry on 47 rushes, 20.5 yards per reception on 11 catches and 23.7 yards per return on six kick returns. He has scored five total touchdowns on the year.
 
ROCK COMING UP WITH INTERCEPTIONS
After recording one interception total over the first three weeks of the season, Slippery Rock has at least one pick in every game over the last five weeks and has racked up eight interceptions over the last five games, including a season-high three last week with De'Vijan Franklin, Dalton Holt and Isaiah Manning all grabbing one. Khadir Roberts and Selvin Haynes also have two picks on the year, while Peyton Remish and DaShaun Wright each have one.
 
FIRST QUARTER BREAKDOWN
Slippery Rock is outscoring opponents 69-29 in the first quarter this season as both SRU and its opposition have started relatively slow. The Rock are averaging 8.6 points per game in the opening period while opponents are scoring 3.6.
 
MIDDLE FRAMES
The middle periods have been where Slippery Rock has really distanced its opponents this year. The Rock are outscoring opponents 101-43 in the second quarter and 102-27 in the third quarter for a totals of 203-70 over the second and third quarters. The most impressive periods for SRU have been the first period after halftime, as The Rock are outscoring opponents by an average of 12.8 to 3.4 in the third quarter.
 
10 POINTS AGAINST STARTERS IN FOURTH QUARTER
Slippery Rock has allowed 31 total points in the fourth quarter this season, but 21 of those were scored against SRU's reserves in the fourth quarter of games with the result already decided. The Rock's starting defensive unit has allowed just 10 total points in the fourth quarter through eight weeks this season.
 
FRESHMEN EVERYWHERE
Counting the players that redshirted in 2019, the recruits that joined the program for 2020 but had their season canceled and the true freshmen that joined the program in the fall of 2021, Slippery Rock has three classes of players that are listed as freshmen in terms of their football eligibility. All of those classes add up to a total of 20 positions on this week's two-deep that include a freshman as either the starter or the backup.
 
FIRST ZERO IN PROGRAM HISTORY
Middle linebacker and team captain Tim Vernick will be wearing the number zero on his jersey this year to become the first SRU player to ever wear the zero in an NCAA competition. The number was not previously allowed as a jersey number in football, but the NCAA changed that rule this year and will now allow the number zero.
 
END OF THE VERNICK ERA
This fall will mark linebacker and captain Tim Vernick's final season at SRU and with that the end of a streak of eight consecutive years where a member of the Vernick family has been the middle linebacker at SRU. Tim's older brother, Bob Vernick, was an All-Region selection and also served as team captain while playing from 2013-16. The Vernick brothers have contributed 481 total tackles, 51.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks and eight interceptions to The Rock football defense over the last eight seasons. Tim's career numbers so far: 239 total tackles, 28.5 TFL, 5.5 sacks, 2 INT. Bob's career numbers: 243 total tackles, 23.0 TFL, 6.0 sacks, 6 INT. The Vernick's have been part of 76 wins and counting. SRU is 76-20 with a Vernick brother in the lineup over the last eight seasons.
 
CAPTAINS
Slippery Rock named its four team captains for the 2021 season back in April: Receiver Henry Litwin, center Austin Wayt, linebacker Tim Vernick and defensive end Chad Kuhn are the team captains.
 
GRADUATES PLAYING ONE MORE SEASON
With the 2020 season being canceled and players retaining their eligibility, this fall will see a large number of student-athletes that have already graduated playing collegiate football. Slippery Rock is no exception, as a total of 13 of The Rock's players have already earned their undegraduate degrees: D.J. Adediwura, Kyle Butts, Garrett de Bien, Andrew Koester, Chad Kuhn, Henry Litwin, Trysten McDonald, Hunter Merritt, Cinque Sweeting, Jake Tecak, Tim Vernick, Austin Wayt, Jahmal Wynter.
 
DEFENDING PSAC CHAMPIONS
Slippery Rock is the reigning PSAC champion after defeating Kutztown in a battle of 10-0 teams in the 2019 PSAC title game played at Kutztown. That title marked the 12th overall PSAC championship for SRU and its third since 2014. SRU is attempting to win the PSAC West and advance to the state title game for the third straight year, a feat it also accomplished from 2013-15.
 
PLAYOFF STAPLES
Slippery Rock has reached at least the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Playoffs in each of the last two seasons with a trip to the Super Region One final in 2018 and a Super Region title and a trip to the NCAA semifinals in 2019. The Rock have reached the NCAA Playoffs in five of the seven seasons dating back to 2013.
 
WINNING SEASONS STREAK
Slippery Rock has put together a winning season in each of the last 11 years, which ranks tied for the ninth best active streak in Division II. The only other program in the PSAC with more consecutive winning seasons currently is Cal U, which has strung together 16 winning seasons entering 2021. Both SRU and Cal U are already guaranteed to extend that streak.
 
STARTERS NOTES
Tim Vernick and Chad Kuhn lead all players on the roster with 42 starts. Austin Wayt has started 36 consecutive games. Khadir Roberts has started 39 games, Henry Litwin and Jeff Marx have started 34 games, Trysten McDonald has started 31 games and Dalton Holt has started 30 games to give The Rock eight players with 30 or more starts. SRU has had a total of 12 players make their first career start this season with five in week one: RB Tim Smith, LT Yuriy Hryckowian, DT Munchie Johnson, LB Isaiah Manning and LB Cody Ross, three more in week two: OL Anthony Rebar, WR Gavyn Barnes, CB Savion Harrison, two more in week three: OL Nick Stazer and WR Kyle Sheets, one in week five: TE Max Maciejewski and one week seven: DL Jevon Lang.
 
GANNON QUICK HITS
• Gannon is under the direction of Eric Raeburn, who took over after spending the 2019 season as the offensive coordinator. He has already won two more games this fall through eight weeks than the 2019 team (2-9).
• Gannon is moving the ball well on offense and averages 26.5 points per game with 391.1 total yards per game thanks to 181.1 rushing yards and 210.0 passing yards per game. The defense allows 27.9 points, 392.9 total yards, 243.9 passing yards and 149.0 rushing yards per game.
• RB Melvin Blanks, this week's PSAC West Offensive Athlete of the Week, ran for 200 or more yards in each of the last two weeks, including 239 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries in a win over Edinboro last week. He averages 7.2 yards per carry and has 945 yards and eight touchdowns on the year.
• QB Kory Curtis is at his third school after beginning at Ohio State and transferring to Bryant. Curtis started nine games at Bryant in 2019 and threw for 1,700 yards with seven TDs and six INT. He played in two games in 2020 before transferring to Gannon, where he has started all eight games this fall, completing 50 percent of his passes for 1,658 yards with 16 TDs and four INT. 
• TE Alex Whitaker leads the team with 5 TD catches, while receivers Sam East (328 yards, 3 TD), Johnny Freeman (322 yards, 2 TD) and Damerisse Freeman Jr. (327 yards) share the ball pretty evenly.
• Gannon has given up just eight total sacks in eight weeks.
• LB Trey Baker leads the team with 55 tackles. DE Nick White has 8.5 TFL and 4.0 sacks, DT Malachi Woody has 3.5 sacks and safety Khwan Mickens has two interceptions.
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock returns home for the final time in the regular season and will host No. 4 Cal U at 1 p.m. next Saturday. The Rock will recognize their 2021 senior class in a pregame ceremony.



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