THE OPENING KICK
MATCH-UP: For the first time in Lafayette's 134-year history, the Leopards travel to Staten Island, N.Y. for football, playing Wagner on Saturday at 6 p.m. Both teams are looking for their first wins of the season.
THE SERIES: Despite their close proximity, Lafayette and Wagner have played just three times with the Leopards holding a 3-0 record, including 2014's hard-fought 35-23 victory on Sept. 27. The series is a young one with the first meeting in 1976, a 44-21 Lafayette win. The second matchup was three years later, Nov. 10, 1979, a 21-3 Leopard win in Easton.
LAST TIME OUT: Princeton racked up 573 offensive yards while handing Lafayette a 40-7 loss at Fisher Stadium. The Leopards never found their offensive stride, rushing for 58 yards on the night before finally getting on the scoreboard late in the fourth quarter. Tackling was an issue early on, as Princeton rushed for 137 yards en route to 23 first-half points. The most telling stat was third-down conversions with Princeton converting 14-of-18 (77.7) while the Leopards managed 5-of-14 (35.7%). Princeton ran 20 more offensive plays than Lafayette while time of possession was even.
ON SPECIAL TEAMS: Lafayette head coach
Frank Tavani has pointed to junior punter
Ryan Forrester and sophomore long snapper
Michael Shiffert as two of the more consistent performers for the Leopards in the early going. Forrester has punted 17 times for 37.9 yards. The height and placement of his punts have resulted in just six returns. There isn't a stat to quantify Shiffert's contribution, but the fact that his name hasn't been called, other than for a special teams tackle, speaks volumes about his play.
LIMITING PENALTIES: The Leopards have limited penalties in the early going and are ranked fifth in the nation, averaging 26.7 penalty yards per game.
NO TURNOVERS: Turnovers don't always tell the story of the game. For the first time since the regular-season finale in 2013 (Nov. 23 at Lehigh), Lafayette did not commit a turnover the entire 60 minutes in the loss vs. Princeton on Sept. 19. For the season, the Leopards were +1 in turnovers vs. Princeton, -2 at Delaware and -1 vs. William & Mary.
THE START: Lafayette's last 0-3 start came in 2013 when the Leopards rallied to post a 4-1 conference mark and capture the Patriot League title. The last time a Lafayette team opened the season with four straight losses was 1998.
REED AT QB: Lafayette head coach
Frank Tavani had an open competition at quarterback entering the Princeton game between juniors
Drew Reed and
Blake Searfoss who had split time through two games. Reed was named the starter on Thursday prior to the Princeton game and went on to complete 26-of-34 for 220 yards with a touchdown. He missed the season opener when Searfoss was 31-of-45 for 243 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Against Delaware, Searfoss was 13-of-24 for 171 yards and an INT. Reed saw limited action, completing 5-of-8 for 44 yards.
INJURY (REALITY) REPORT: Nine of the Leopards projected starters have missed significant time this season. Four offensive starters (
DeSean Brown-1 game,
Dan Dellovade-2 games,
Nick Zataveski-2 games,
Tim Vangelas-3 games), and four defensive starters (
Darren Wright-out for season, Philip Parham-3 games,
Draeland James-2 games and
Chris Brockman-3 games) and one special teamer
Ryan Gralish (3-games) have missed significant time.
RED ZONE: The red zone has proved problematic for the Leopards, who have scored twice in seven attempts. Defensively, the Leopards have allowed opponents to score on 11-of-12 attempts. Six of those scores allowed have been touchdowns.
BRYANT IN THE NATION: Sophomore LB
Brandon Bryant continues to rack up tackles, ranking seventh in the nation in total tackles while averaging 12.7 per game. He made a career-high 18 stops at Delaware and garnered Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors, seven days removed from 13 tackles vs. William & Mary. In his last outing, Bryant had seven stops.
REED MOVING UP: Junior QB
Drew Reed currently sits in ninth place for career passing yards (3,173), surpassing Ed Baker '70 (2,921) in the Delaware game, and career completions (276), passing Ryan O'Neil in the Princeton game.
Reed is also the school recordholder for single-season (72.5% in 2013) and career completion percentage (62.5%).
ABOUT WAGNER: Wagner is coming off a 7-4 campaign in 2014 when the Seahawks finished 5-1 and in second place in Northeast Conference play. This year's installment is 0-2 after losses to Rice (56-15) and Monmouth (31-16) with a bye week in between. Saturday's game is the second of three straight home games for Wagner.
• The Seahawks return seven starters on offense and six on defense while welcoming back 47 lettermen.
• Wagner's offense features senior QB Chris Andrews and TB Otis Wright. Andrews has thrown for eight touchdowns in his career and rushed for five more. He has completed 16-of-33 with one TD and three INT's in 2015. Wright has more than 1,000 rushing yards with eight touchdowns in his career and has carried 23 times for 104 yards this season.
• Senior LB Stephon Font-Toomer leads the team with 12 tackles after registering 46 with 10 TFL in 2014.
• Wagner is coached by Jason Houghtaling (Binghamton '04) who is in his first season as head coach after replacing Walt Hameline who retired after 34 years. Hameline remains the school's athletic director. Houghtaling, who originally attended Lafayette before injuries cut short his career and prompted a transfer to Binghamton, spent seven seasons as Wagner's offensive coordinator.
