Complete Game Notes (26-page PDF)
 
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 11th-ranked Slippery Rock University football team will travel to Millersville University Saturday for a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover contest set for a noon kickoff from Biemesderfer Stadium.
 
Below you will find all pertinent information regarding tickets, parking, tailgating and live coverage, along with complete game notes.
 
LIVE INTERNET COVERAGE
• Live Stats  |  Provided by Millersville Athletic Communications.
• Live Streaming Video  |  Provided by Millersville Athletic Communications.
• 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. All 11 regular season SRU football games will be available on the app.
* This game will be produced by Millersville University.
 
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.
• The Live Streaming Video link above will also work on all mobile devices.
 
TICKETS
• Fans are encouraged to purchase tickets online HERE.
• Tickets will also be available at the gates.
• Adults - $10
• Students and Seniors 65+ - $5
 
PARKING AND TAILGATING
• Designated tailgating spots can be purchased for $5 online HERE.
• Tailgating lots open at 9 a.m.
• Millersville Tailgating Policy
 

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GAME PROGRAM INFO
Access all the traditional information found in printed game programs via the links in the table below, including game notes (If available), depth charts, rosters, schedules and stats for both teams, as well as PSAC standings, stat leaders and more.
  

Week 3: Slippery Rock at Millersville
The Rock (2-0)	Millersville Marauders (0-2)
Game Notes	Game Notes
Depth Chart	Depth Chart
Roster	Roster
Schedule	Schedule
Statistics	Statistics
Coach: Shawn Lutz	Coach: J.C. Morgan
Program Records	Program Records
PSAC Standings
PSAC Stats Leaders
PSAC Composite Schedule

THE GAME
No. 11 Slippery Rock will look to improve to 3-0 for the third straight year and win its 10th straight game against Millersville with a noon kickoff on the road Saturday against the Marauders.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Slippery Rock opened the year nationally ranked for the eighth straight season at No. 23 in the AFCA preseason poll and No. 24 in the D2football.com poll. In two weeks, SRU has climbed all the way to No. 11 in the AFCA national poll and No. 13 in the D2football.com poll. Both polls are available on page 9 of the PDF notes linked above.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES
Slippery Rock owns a 19-4-1 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 1938. The Rock have won the last nine straight meetings in the series and 13 of the last 14 meetings. The lone Millersville win in that stretch came in 2004. This marks the first time the teams will meet since playing in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019, when The Rock posted a 2-0 record by a combined score of 106-10, including a 49-0 win at home in the last meeting back in September of 2019. The full game-by-game results of the series are listed on page six of the PDF notes linked above.
 
• First Meeting: 1938 (Tied 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 2019 (SRU won 49-0)
• Current Streak: Slippery Rock +9
• at MU: SRU leads 9-2-1
• at SRU: SRU leads 10-2
• Most Points Scored (MU): 35 (1977)
• Biggest Win Margin (MU): 35 (1977)
• Most Points Scored (SRU): 75 (2015)
• Biggest Win Margin (SRU): 75 (2015)
• Last MU Win: 2004 at MU (17-14)
 
COACHING MATCHUP
Slippery Rock head coach Shawn Lutz is in his 27th overall year at The Rock and his seventh year (sixth season) as head coach, where he owns a 50-14 record with three PSAC West titles and three trips to the NCAA playoffs. 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 50 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 has been a member of the coaching staff for 11 of SRU's PSAC West titles. Lutz played tight end at West Virginia University, graduating in 1996, and earned a master's degree in sport management from SRU in 2003.
 
J.C. Morgan is in his fifth year as head coach and is coaching his fourth season at Millersville, where he owns a career record of 6-29. The Marauders have had nine players earn All-PSAC honors since Morgan took over prior to the 2018 season. He came to Millersville after a 13-year stint as an assistant coach at Shippensburg, where he served the last three of those years as the offensive coordinator. Morgan played fullback at Bucknell University, graduating in 2004 with a degree in business administration.
 
LUTZ FASTEST TO 50 WINS IN SRU HISTORY
Last week, SRU head coach Shawn Lutz won his 50th career game in the second week of his sixth season on the sideline, becoming the fastest head coach to 50 wins in SRU program history by reaching the milestone in just 64 games. Lutz is already No. 4 on the all-time head coaching wins ledger at SRU.
 
MILLERSVILLE QUICK HITS
• Millersville enters the game at 0-2 with loss at Saint Anselm (28-10) and home vs. Gannon (16-10).
• The Marauders have posted back-to-back-to-back 2-9 seasons the last three years.
• Millersville is scoring 10.0 points per game through two weeks, while opponents are scoring 22.0 points per game.
• The MU offense is averaging 68.0 rushing yards per game and 146.5 passing yards per game for 214.5 total yards per game.
• Millersville has yet to throw an interception through two weeks on offense and has yet to pull down an interception on defense.
• The defense allows 129.5 rushing yards per game and 255.5 passing yards per game for 385.0 total yards per game.
• QB Anthony Butler is 17-of-31 for 171 yards with two touchdowns. Jack Stagaard is 12-of-31 for 108 yards. WR Mekhi Alexander is the top target with 11 catches for 138 yards and two scores.
• Garrett Cox leads the defense with 21 total tackles, including 3.5 TFL and 2.0 sacks.
 
LAST MEETING – SEPT. 21, 2019  |  Box Score
Slippery Rock jumped out to a 42-0 halftime lead and cruised to a 49-0 shutout win over Millersville the last time these two teams met back in week three of the 2019 season. SRU posted a 491-177 advantage in total offense with 375 passing yards and 116 rushing yards to Millersville's 154 passing yards and 23 rushing yards. Roland Rivers III was nearly perfect at QB for Slippery Rock, completing 21-of-26 passes for 339 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions in just under three quarters of work. Cinque Sweeting caught six passes for 185 yards and three touchdowns and Henry Litwin grabbed two scores. Millersville QB Miles Miller was 17-of-31 for 140 yards. Evan Morrill caught six passes for 81 yards. The Rock defense recorded seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss.
 
LAST WEEK FOR SLIPPERY ROCK
Slippery Rock put together a dominant second half to pull away and win 35-14 on the road at West Chester. The Rock scored 28 unanswered points after the game was tied at 7-7 early and the SRU starting defensive allowed very little from the West Chester offense all day. The Golden Rams got 73 yards on a final drive against many reserve defenders to finish with just 253 total yards of offense. SRU put up 408 yards of offense with 250 passing yards and 158 rushing yards. The Rock defense came up with four sacks, 12 tackles for loss and two interceptions from Jacob Williams and Jalen Dangerfield. Munchie Johnson paced the defensive line with 3.0 tackles for loss. Chris D'Or rushed for 108 yards and one touchdown and Noah Grover threw for 250 yards with one score while also rushing for another TD.
 
LAST WEEK FOR MILLERSVILLE
Millersville saw a late comeback fall short in a 16-10 loss at home against Gannon. The Golden Knights got an early safety and led 9-3 at halftime before extending the lead to 16-3 late in the third quarter. Millersville scored on a 52-yard pass from Anthony Butler to Mekhi Alexander with 12:28 to play, but could not score again. Gannon posted a 380-157 edge in total offense, holding the Marauders to 135 passing yards and 22 rushing yards. Butler completed 13-of-23 passes for 121 yards with one TD and was sacked five times. Alexander grabbed six passes for 73 yards and one score. Matt Frauen led the ground game with nine carries for 23 yards. Rafael Lozada paced the defense with 10 total tackles and 1.0 tackle for loss.
 
ROCK OPENS ROAD SCHEDULE WITH ANOTHER WIN
After winning at West Chester last week, Slippery Rock is 11-2 in the last 13 seasons in its first road game of the year and both of those losses came on the road at Shippensburg (2012, 2018).
 
EARLY SEASON CROSSOVERS
Since 2006, Slippery Rock has posted a record of 27-4 against PSAC East teams in the early season mandated crossover games. The Rock have won their last six straight early season PSAC crossovers and are 16-1 against the PSAC East in the early season crossovers dating back to 2013, with the lone loss coming week two at Shippensburg in 2018 when SRU fumbled in its own end zone in the closing minute and Shippensburg recovered the fumble to win 25-21.
 
LOOKING FOR THIRD STRAIGHT 3-0 MARK
Slippery Rock is looking to improve to 3-0 for the third straight year in its quest to reach a fourth straight NCAA postseason tournament. The Rock won their first 13 games of the 2019 season before losing in the NCAA semifinals and opened the 2021 season with six straight wins.
 
D'OR EARNS WEEKLY HONOR
Rock running back Chris D'Or was named the PSAC West Offensive Athlete of the Week this week after running for 108 yards and one touchdown on just 14 carries last week, averaging 7.7 yards per carry. Slippery Rock has won both of the weekly PSAC West offensive awards handed out so far this season.
 
TOUCHDOWNS ON OPENING DRIVES
Slippery Rock is 2-for-2 in scoring a touchdown on its first offensive possession this season. The Rock only needed to cover 42 yards for the opening score against Wayne State after a 58-yard kickoff return opened the game. SRU covered more than twice that distance last week with an 11-play, 89-yard touchdown drive on its first possession at West Chester.
 
DEFENSE SETS TONE OUT OF LOCKER ROOM
The Rock defense has not allowed a single point in either the first or third quarters this season, setting the tone out of the locker room and allowing SRU to put games away. The Rock have outscored opponents 28-0 in the first quarter through two games and 14-0 in the third quarter. SRU is outscoring opponents 49-10 in the first half this season.
 
GROVER AS A STARTER
In six games as the starting QB at SRU, Noah Grover has thrown for 2,065 yards and 19 touchdowns and is averaging 344.2 passing yards per game and 3.2 passing touchdowns per game in his six starts, three of which came against teams ranked in the top 15 nationally.
 
GROVER AGAINST UNRANKED TEAMS
SRU QB Noah Grover has started six total games at SRU after taking over as the starter for the final four games of the 2021 season, but only three of those six games were against unranked teams as he faced No. 3 Cal U, No. 16 Kutztown and No. 6 Notre Dame (Ohio) in his second, third and fourth career starts in 2021. In the three games against unranked teams, Grover is 71-of-100 for 965 yards with 12 passing touchdowns and two rushing scores. He also didn't play the fourth quarter of two of those three games.
 
D'OR HAS FIRST 100-yard rushing game
Sophomore running back Chris D'Or topped 100 rushing yards for the first time in his career last week at West Chester with 108 rushing yards. He became the 24th Slippery Rock player since 2002 to have at least one 100-yard rushing performance. The Rock had just three 100-yard rushing efforts in 12 games during the 2021 season with Tim Smith owning two of those and Evyn Holtz having one.
 
RECEIVERS SHARING THE BALL
The biggest question for SRU on offense this year was what the passing game would look like with the departure of Henry Litwin, Jermaine Wynn Jr. and Cinque Sweeting, who collectively were the best 1-2-3 combo in the country and combined for 7,866 receiving yards and 98 touchdowns in their SRU careers. That question has been answered early on by a balance of five players primarily sharing the ball. The Rock's top three receivers all have between 124 and 139 yards so far. Jacob Odom leads the way with 11 catches for 139 yards, while Kyle Sheets has seven grabs for 132 yards and two TDs and Cohen Russell has six catches for 124 yards and two TDs. Jawon Hall has four catches for 78 yards and Max Maciejewski has four grabs for 29 yards.
 
CHEMISTRY IS KEY
Rock QB Noah Grover and WR Jacob Odom have connected a team-high 11 times for 139 yards. That should be no surprise as the two have been friends and teammates for years. Odom was with Grover at North Dakota before Grover transferred to SRU. One year later, Odom followed Grover to The Rock and became roommates with his former QB and friend.
 
EDWARDS GETTING MORE TOUCHES
Slippery Rock has a formidable 1-2 punch in the running game this year with the explosive and shifty Chris D'Or and newcomer Isaiah Edwards, who figures to get more involved in the offense as the season progresses. At 6-0 and 230 pounds with good vision and speed, Edwards has proven tough to tackle. His workload expanded last week to nine carries, which he turned into 51 yards and one touchdown. In two games, he is averaging 5.8 yards per carry with a pair of touchdowns and no negative yardage runs on 13 carries.
 
RUNNING BACK DEPTH IS STRONG
While D'Or and Edwards look solidly like the top two backs on the roster for now, Slippery Rock is enjoying perhaps its best running back depth in more than a decade. The Rock also boast 2021 All-PSAC performer Tim Smith and Division I transfer Chris Wells (St. Francis), who are both expected to continue to get carries. Wells was slowed by an injury during preseason but is returning to form and found the end zone last week at West Chester. With that much depth at the position, Slippery Rock should be able to limit the workload of the backs, especially during the early season.
 
DEFENSE DOMINATES
While the offense has been solid for SRU early this season, The Rock defense has been dominant. Through two weeks, the SRU defense has allowed just 494 yards of total offense, holding opponents to 247 yards per game and an average of just 3.5 yards per play. Opponents are averaging just 12.0 points per game, a number that would likely be much lower had the starting unit played the fourth quarters of games. Both West Chester and Wayne State scored late touchdowns against many backups when the games were already decided.
 
DEFENSIVE LINE OFF TO STRONG START
The overall strength of the defense starts up front, where the defensive line has controlled the first two games of the year. SRU put up four sacks and 12 tackles for loss last week at West Chester and saw just about every member of the line get involved in the action. Munchie Johnson tallied 3.0 TFL and 0.5 sacks, D.J. Adediwura had 1.0 sack, Cottrell Hatchett had 1.0 sack, Jeff Marx had 1.0 TFL and a half-sack and Dez Johnson had a half-sack. Johnson, Adediwura and Hatchett are all in the top five total tacklers on the team through two weeks. Adediwura has a team-high 2.0 sacks to go along with 3.0 TFL and five QB hurries.
 
TUCK-HAYDEN LEADING TEAM
Wayne State transfer linebacker Brandon Tuck-Hayden has led SRU in tackles in each of the first two weeks and has 18 total stops, 3.0 tackles for loss and one pass breakup through his first two games at The Rock, which included a win over his former teammates.
 
MARX MAKING IMPACT
Preseason All-America defensive tackle Jeff Marx has rarely made his way into the box scores during his career, but has always garnered the attention of opposing coaches, as evidenced by his two first team All-PSAC selections and his preseason All-America nod this year. Marx has made impact plays in each of The Rock's first two games, grabbing his first career interception against Wayne State and recording four tackles, 1.0 TFL and a half-sack against West Chester.
 
MUNCHIE FEASTS ON GOLDEN RAMS
Fellow defensive tackle Munchie Johnson had his best performance at Slippery Rock last week at West Chester, finishing with a career-high eight total tackles to go along with 3.0 tackles for loss and a half-sack. Through two games, Johnson is third on the SRU roster in tackles with 11 total stops.
 
PASSING DEFENSE
The Rock defense ranked first in the PSAC and sixth in Division II against the pass in 2021 and has picked up right where it left off. Through two weeks, SRU has limited opponents to just 22-of-62 passing for 247 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions. Opponents are completing just 35.4 percent of their passes and averaging only 4.0 yards per pass attempt and 123.5 passing yards per game.
 
BALL HAWKS
The Rock secondary have been stellar through two weeks and account for three of the team's four interceptions. Corners Jacob Williams and Ali Abdul-Hakim each have one pick and safety Jalen Dangerfield also has one. In addition to those three picks (DT Jeff Marx has the fourth), SRU has broken up 10 other passes for 14 total passes defended. Selvin Haynes and Kevin Hyde have both accounted for two of those and have both proven very difficult to throw against.
 
PINNED DEEP? NO PROBLEM
Slippery Rock has scored touchdowns in back-to-back weeks after being pinned inside its own five-yard line. The Rock put together a 99-yard drive against Wayne State after a punt was downed at the one-yard line and followed that up with a 97-yard drive against West Chester last week when punt rolled out of bounds at the three-yard line. Five of The Rock's 11 total touchdown drives this fall have come on drives of 75 yards or longer.
 
PAT STREAK
Rock placekicker DJ Opsatnik is a perfect 11-for-11 on PAT kicks to open the year and has now made 34 consecutive PAT kicks over the last eight games dating back to a blocked kick Oct. 9, 2021. He has now made 63 total PAT kicks since the start of last year, moving up to No. 10 on the all-time career ledger at SRU.
 
13 PLAYERS HAVE MADE FIRST SRU STARTS
Exactly half of The Rock's 22 starters in week one made their first SRU starts and two more players joined that list last week to give SRU 13 players that have made their first start at SRU in the opening two weeks. That number is a bit misleading though, as most of the new defensive starters are experienced transfers, including former All-Conference selections D.J. Adediwura (DE, Fairmont State), Kevin Hyde (DB, Tiffin), Jacob Williams (DB, Ashland) and Dez Johnson (DE, Clarion), along with linebackers Brandon Bischof (Akron) and Brandon Tuck-Hayden (Wayne State), who both have more than 30 games of collegiate experience. Linebacker Jake Miller (Akron) and DE Cottrell Hatchett (Lackawanna) also have previous experience. Other first-time SRU starters include WR transfer Jacob Odom (North Dakota) and SRU returners Chris D'Or (RB), Sawyer Morgan (C), Kenyon Johnson (WR) and Ali Abdul-Hakim (CB).
 
UP NEXT
Slippery Rock returns home to open the PSAC West portion of the schedule with a 6 p.m. kickoff next Saturday, Sept. 24, against Seton Hill. The game will serve as the cap to the annual Slippery Rock VillageFest.



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