The Match-Up: The Leopards are coming off a two-point win at Bucknell and continue on in Patriot League play with a short trip to the Bronx to face Fordham on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen on watchstadium.com and on Facebook Watch. 

Spreading the Wealth: Five different players scored for the Leopards in the win at Bucknell. Soph. QB Sean O'Malley was involved in two of the scores, running in a five-yard score in the third quarter while zipping a 10-yard yard scoring toss to Quinn Revere in the fourth quarter. Selwyn Simpson (one-yard run in the first quarter) and Mike Dunn (13-yard run in the third quarter) added touchdown runs and Jeffrey Kordenbrock had a 33-yard field goal mid-way through the fourth quarter.

Timely TFL's: Coaches would argue that there is never a bad time for a sack, but the Leopards picked opportune times to register theirs against Bucknell. Lafayette's first sack, by Andrew Chuma, followed a Leopard turnover that gave Bucknell the ball at the Lafayette 23-yard line. Chuma's 13-yard sack on first down helped the Leopards stop Bucknell on downs. The final two sacks of the afternoon came on Bucknell's potential game-winning drive as Jerry Powe (10 yards) and Keith Earle (16 yards) helped Lafayette stop Bucknell near midfield. 

Hamm and Rice: Freshman DE Malik Hamm has been named to the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award Watch List. The award, named after the Hall of Fame wide receiver, has been presented to the top FCS freshman since 2011. Hamm earned his first collegiate start at Delaware, registering five tackles with three tackles for a loss and a sack. When he sacked the Delaware QB, he stripped the ball, recovered the fumble and ran it back for 22 yards. 
    Hamm came off the bench to record seven tackles (two for loss) vs. Monmouth, and in a start at No. 24 Colgate he had seven tackles (1.5 TFL). Against Georgetown, he led the team with nine tackles and finished with 1.5 sacks and one forced fumble. He has started five games this season, including the last four. He is currently fifth on the team with 35 tackles, the most of any defensive lineman, and leads the team with 10 tackles for loss.

Running the Ball...Stopping the Run: Lafayette's defense held Bucknell to minus-two (-2) rushing yards, piling up 47 negative yards on six tackles for loss. By contrast, the Leopard offense managed its best rushing day of the season with six ball carriers combining to run for 138 yards. 

Time Of Possession: In the first four games of 2018, Lafayette opponents held time of possession differentials of 7, 17, 4 and 15 minutes, while in the last three games Lafayette has have advantages of 4, 4 and 11 minutes.

On the Line: The offensive line under assistant coach Gordie Sammis leads the Patriot League in sacks allowed (1.57 per game) and tackles for loss allowed (5.7 per game). The group is headed by senior captain Kevin Zataveski from his center position. 

Kick-off Returns: Lafayette is ranked 21st nationally and first in the Patriot League for kick-off returns, averaging 24.3 yards per try. J.J. Younger averages 27.7 yards per return to lead the Patriot League (10th in the nation), while CJ Amill checks in at 21.8 yards per return and was an All-Patriot League First-Team selection at return specialist in 2017 when he racked up 558 kick return yards (the eighth most in a season in Lafayette history). 

Moving Up: With 17 completions at Bucknell and now 372 for his career, soph. QB Sean O'Malley is moving closer to taking over eighth place at Lafayette for career completions (occupied by Shawn McHale '97 who had 386 from 1994-96).
    In terms of career passing yards, O'Malley has 3,292, ranking 10th all-time at Lafayette. He needs 413 yards to take over ninth place held by Andrew Shoop '13 (3,705 in 2010-12).

Pearson's Possessions: Junior WR Nick Pearson leads the Patriot League in receiving yards (517) and receiving yards per game (73.9) and ranks second in receptions per game (4.9). Against Georgetown he made 10 catches for 140 yards, (both career highs) and versus Monmouth in week three he had five catches for 106 yards.
    He also has shown his ability to run, scoring on a five-yard scamper vs. Monmouth while racking up 23 rushing yards at Bucknell. In the 2017 season finale at Lehigh, Pearson carried the ball six times for 95 yards. 

Second-Half Shutout: The Lafayette defense stood tall against Georgetown, shutting out the Hoyas the entire second half. Lafayette held Georgetown to 168 total yards (95 on the ground and 73 through the air). Georgetown used short fields (50 yards and 34 yards) to score both of its touchdowns in the second quarter.  

Kordenbrock Taking the FG's: Sophomore Jeffrey Kordenbrock accounted for both of Lafayette's scores against Georgetown with a pair of 40-yard field goals. It was the first two-field-goal game of his career. He has taken over the field-goal/PAT duties the last three games, also connecting on a 40-yarder at Bucknell.

Three TD's and Two Awards For Amill: Senior RB CJ Amill scored three touchdowns  in Lafayette's 31-24 win over Central Connecticut State, earning the Youngstown, Ohio native the Patriot League Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. Amill's decisive score, a 23-yard run, came with 33 seconds left to clinch the victory. Amill scored on a run of 11 yards just before halftime before punching in his game-winning score. It was his first touchdown of the day that drew the most attention, as he ripped off a 57-yard punt return for touchdown 10 minutes into the game. 

Opponent: Fordham comes in with the same marks Bucknell had a week ago: 1-6 overall, 1-1 in league play. The Rams' P.L. victory was a 43-14 lashing of Lehigh a week after losing 23-11 to Georgetown. Other losses have come to Charlotte, Richmond, Stony Brook, Central Connecticut State and most recently a 42-41 setback vs. Bryant last week. 
    Tim DeMorat has stepped in as the team's quarterback, completing 62 percent (78-of-125) with eight TDs and three INTs. He has been the Patriot League Rookie of the Week three times and is coming off a four-TD performance vs. Bryant. DeMorat completed 10 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns to senior Austin Longi, one of the top receiving threats in the league.
    Fordham has averaged 79 rushing yards per game, but is surrendering 192 per game and 254 through the air. Soph. LB Glenn Cunningham leads the team with 50 tackles and 10.5 TFL while junior CB Jesse Bramble has three picks.
    The Rams are coached by Joe Conlin in his first season.