The Match-Up: As the season moves to week four, the Leopards travel to Hamilton, N.Y. to open Patriot League play at No. 24 Colgate on Saturday at 1 p.m. The game can be seen online via watchStadium.com and through Facebook Watch.

See You in September?: The order of the Patriot League schedule slate has varied little over the years and the Lafayette-Colgate matchup has typically been in October or November. This is the earliest meeting between the two teams since 1985 when they played on Sept. 21.  Lafayette and Colgate have played each other every season since 1983.

Patriot League Openers: Lafayette and Colgate are playing the only Patriot League game on Saturday (and the second conference contest of the 2018 season). Lafayette is 18-14 in Patriot League openers, with play beginning in 1988 as the Colonial League, and 16-12 since 1990 when the league took its current name. The Leopards have won 10 of their last 14 league openers (Georgetown in '04, '07, '08, '09, Fordham in '05, Bucknell in '06, '12 and '13 and Holy Cross in 2017) with the losses coming to Georgetown in 2010 and 2011, Fordham in 2014 and 2015 and Holy Cross in 2016.

Younger Breaks Away: Sophomore J.J. Younger made his presence known immediately against Monmouth. He ran back the Leopards' opening kick off 95 yards for the score. It was Younger's first career touchdown and the Leopards's first touchdown of the season. The 95-yard return is the fifth-longest in school history.  

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. Hamm came off the bench to record seven tackles (two for loss) vs. Monmouth.

Flag Free: Lafayette was not whistled for a penalty against Monmouth. It was the first time Lafayette was flag free since Nov. 18, 2006 vs. Lehigh.

Last Time Out: Monmouth used two second-half scores to rally past Lafayette 24-20 in the Leopards' home opener at Fisher Stadium. Lafayette led for 40 minutes, taking a one-point advantage in the first quarter before surrendering it at the end of third quarter. Sophomore quarterback Sean O'Malley completed 20-of-37 for 221 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Nearly half of O'Malley's passing yards went to junior Nick Pearson who reeled in five catches for 106 yards. The Leopards were not penalized in the game.

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.

Major Contributions: Soph. LB Major Jordan hasn't needed much time to adjust to his starting role at WILL linebacker. After playing primarily on special teams last season and starting one game at linebacker, Jordan is third on the team in tackles with 22, including 1.5 tackles for loss.

Moving Up: With 20 completions against Monmouth, soph. QB Sean O'Malley moved into Lafayette's all-time top 10. Now with 290 career completion, he supplanted Ryan O'Neil '12 (274 | 2009-11.) Next on the list is Andrew Shoop '13 (293 | 2010-12).

Two QB or not Two QBs?: Lafayette has used two quarterbacks in two of three games in 2018. It is a departure from 2017 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. Through two games, O'Malley had taken about 75 percent of the team's snaps with Northrup at 25 percent. Against Monmouth, O'Malley was under center the entire game, completing 20-of-37 for 221 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.     

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. Versus Monmouth, Younger's 95-yard kick off return for TD was the special teams' highlight of the night.  

Pearson's Possessions: Junior WR Nick Pearson turned in the second-best receiving game of his career vs. Monmouth. The Mason, Ohio native is coming off a five-catch game when he finished with 106 receiving yards, the second most in his career. In weeks one and two, he had five catches for 63 yards and four catches for 41 yards. His career best game was a nine-catch performance for 107 yards vs. Georgetown in 2017.
    He has shown his ability as a run threat, scoring on a five-yard run vs. Monmouth. In the 2017 season finale, Pearson carried the ball six times for 95 yards.

Fresh Faces On the Depth Chart: There are currently 10 freshmen listed on the depth chart. Of those 10, four (DT Ian Gryason, DE Malik Hamm, OL Joe Grundhoffer, FS Romeo Wykle) have started at least one game with Grayson starting every game.   

Scoring Drives: The Leopards' longest scoring drive (in terms of yardage) of the 2017 season was a 90-yard drive vs. Princeton that was capped by a 70-yard pass play from Sean O'Malley to Joey Chenoweth. In terms of plays, Lafayette had three drives of 11 plays. The longest in terms of time of possession was a 10-play, 73-yard drive that took 5:58 on the first possession of the Lehigh game.
    In 2018, Lafayette has already had a 15-play drive that resulted in a score vs. Monmouth and covered 7:33 and a 12-play, 96-yard scoring drive vs. Monmouth.

Nationally-Ranked Opponents: Five of Lafayette's 2017 opponents were ranked in the top 25, but just one (week three opponent No. 7/8 Villanova) was ranked when facing the Leopards. Holy Cross, Lehigh, Colgate and Monmouth all spent time in the top 25 while Princeton and Harvard also received votes.
    In 2018, Delaware was ranked 10th in the nation the week prior to playing Lafayette, but dropped out of the top 25 after losing to CAA foe Rhode Island. Colgate sits at No. 14 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and is receiving votes in the STATS poll. The last time Lafayette beat a Top 25 opponent was Nov. 23, 2013, a satisfying 50-28 victory over Lehigh that clinched the Patriot League title.

About Colgate: No. 24 Colgate is 2-0 after beating Holy Cross 24-17 on Sept. 1 and No. 20 New Hampshire 20-3 in week two. Week three at Furman in Greenville, S.C. was cancelled due to Hurricane Florence.
    Colgate returns 18 starters (nine on each side) from a 7-4 squad in 2017 when the Raiders finished second in the Patriot League standings.
    Soph. QB Grant Breneman has completed 57 percent of his passes while accounting for three TDs. Senior James Holland leads the team in rushing, averaging 67.5 yards per game while classmate Owen Rockett has eight grabs for 146 yards in two games at wide receiver.
    Defensively, senior LB T.J. Holl leads the team with 19 stops, trailed by junior DT Nick Wheeler, senior DB Alec Wisniewski and senior LB Dillon DeIuliis, all with 15 tackles.
    Dan Hunt is in his fifth season as head coach and holds a 28-21 overall record.