The Match-Up: Week three brings the Leopards to the home turf of Fisher Stadium to host Monmouth on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Lafayette Sports Network broadcast of the game can be seen on RCN-HD and WBPH-HD and on GoLeopards.com
    The Leopards and Hawks meet for the third time overall and second time in the last two seasons, playing each other in 2019 and 2021 to wrap up the four-game series.
    
Home Openers: Lafayette is 88-45-3 all-time in home openers. The last home-opening win was Sept. 13, 2014, a 50-3 victory over Robert Morris. This is the latest Lafayette has opened at home since 2011 when the Leopards played four straight road games to open the season and did not play at Fisher Stadium until week five on Oct. 1.

Hammin' It Up: Freshman DE Malik Hamm has made the most of his playing time early in his career. Hamm earned his first collegiate start at Delaware. He registered five tackles with three tackles for a loss, including a sack. When he sacked Delaware QB Pat Kehoe, he stripped him of the ball, recovered the fumble and ran it back for 22 yards. In the season opener at Sacred Heart, he registered his first career sack.

Last Time Out: Delaware shut out Lafayette 37-0. The Blue Hens, who were receiving votes in both Top 25 polls, churned out 414 yards of total offense led by quarterback Pat Kehoe who threw for three touchdowns and finished the day 18-of-28 for 279 yards while completing passes to nine receivers.
    Delaware's offense held a distinct advantage in time of possession 38:31 to 21:29. Lafayette's offense remained without a touchdown for the second straight week, held scoreless for the first time since Nov. 11, 2017.

Crossan Back in Lineup: Senior FS Trent Crossan made his season debut at Delaware after missing the opener due to illness. The senior captain made 10 tackles with one tackle for loss and is the feature story in this week's game program.

Moving Up: Currently with 270 completions, soph. QB Sean O'Malley needs four more connections to move into Lafayette's all-time top 10. He trails Ryan O'Neil '12 who had 274 completions from 2009-11.  

Family Affair: Lafayette's game with Monmouth has more meaning for one member each of the Lafayette and Monmouth coaching staffs. First-year Lafayette running backs coach Kevin Callahan Jr. will face his father, Kevin Callahan, who is in his 26th season as the head coach and is the only coach that Monmouth football has had.

Two QB or not Two QBs?: Lafayette has used two quarterbacks through both games of 2018. It is a departure from the 2017 season when Sean O'Malley took nearly every snap of his rookie season. In the 2018 opener, the right-handed O'Malley was the starting signal caller but split time with southpaw classmate Cole Northrup (the only other QB to take a snap in 2017). O'Malley was 12-of-22 for 107 yards with two interceptions while Northrup completed 4-of-9 for 29 yards. At Delaware, O'Malley completed 17-of-33 for 111 yards with one INT while Northrup connected on 1-of-4 attempts for one yard with an INT. Overall, O'Malley has taken about 75 percent of the team's snaps while Northrup has taken 25 percent.   

Younger Steps In: The Sacred Heart game marked the collegiate debut for sophomore J.J. Younger who did not play in 2017. Playing in the fourth quarter, Younger had four carries for 45 yards and was a solid changeup substitution for CJ Amill and Selwyn Simpson.
    At Delaware, Younger's biggest contribution came in the return game when he had three returns for 75 yards, including a long return of 43 yards. He also had one carry and one reception.  

Bissell's Back: Senior Jacob Bissell had a solid showing in his 2018 debut. The Allentown, Pa. native was injured in the first half of the 2017 season opener and missed the rest of the season. Bissell was an All-Patriot League selection as a rookie and converted eight field goals each of his first two seasons. Bissell hasn't missed a PAT in 41 tries.
    At Sacred Heart, Bissell accounted for both of the Leopards' scores, hitting field goals of 44 and 29 yards. He also punted, averaging 41.8 yards per attempt, including a 51-yard strike. On kickoffs, two of three attempts resulted in touchbacks.  

The Garrett Era: John Garrett is in his second season as the head coach of the Lafayette Leopards. Garrett took over the coaching reins on Dec. 21, 2016 and saw Lafayette register a third-place finish in the conference in 2017. Garrett has more than 25 years of coaching experience at the NFL, NCAA FBS and NCAA FCS levels. Offensive coordinator stints at Richmond and Oregon State preceded his hiring.

Fresh Faces On the Depth Chart: There are plenty of freshman faces on the Lafayette two-deep, including five on the offensive side of the ball. WR Tim Payne is expected to be a big contributor on the receiving end while classmates Casey McCollum, Joe Grundhoffer, Ben Wild and Josh Roberts are all listed as back-ups.   
    On the defensive side of things, Ian Grayson, Malik Hamm and Romeo Wykle all have spent time in the starting 11 while Caleb Burr and Joe Egan also cracked the two-deep at corner from the Class of 2022.  

The Opponent: Monmouth comes into the weekend with a 1-1 mark. The Hawks opened the season with a 51-17 loss at FBS foe Eastern Michigan, but then bounced back with a 56-28 win over Hampton.
    Monmouth returns 16 starters (10 on offense) from a 2017 squad that posted a 9-3 mark and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA FCS playoffs after finishing second in the Big South standings.
    Junior QB Kenji Bahar is coming off a career day vs. Hampton when he threw for 326 yards with three touchdowns. Soph. RB Pete Guerriero (8.4 ypc)also had a career day, rushing for 209 yards to go along with Reggie White's 145 receiving yards.
     Defensively, the Hawks are surrendering 450 yards per game. Soph. SS Anthony Budd leads the team with 15 tackles while five other players have 10 or more tackles on the season.