The Match-Up: In the 150th season of college football, Lafayette and Lehigh will don the pads for the 155th time on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Lehigh's Goodman Stadium. The Lafayette Sports Network broadcast of the game can be seen nationally on MASN-HD (DirecTV 640, Dish Network 432), and regionally on RCN-4 HD and WBPH-60 HD and also streamed on the
Patriot League Network.
Rivalry Game: Rivalry games occupy one line of a schedule like every other game on the ledger, but for those immersed in the Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry, the game carries a heavier weight and offers a grander opportunity. The match-up can shine a career-defining spotlight on an accomplished player and provide a comparable showcase for average player to accomplish things not previously witnessed in their careers — in the one game when the levels of attention and the scrutiny far surpass those from the rest of the season.
There's no team trophy or clever nickname for the series, but Lafayette and Lehigh fans, families, friends and alumni will gather (sometimes together) in locations across the country to watch the 155th installment, joining the thousands who make the trek to Lehigh Valley to watch the annual renewal of Lafayette-Lehigh.
Patriot League Path: A Patriot League title is still an achievable goal for the Leopards, but they will need some help. Lafayette is 3-2 in Patriot League play while Holy Cross (4-1), Lehigh (3-2) and Bucknell (3-2) are all in the mix for at least a share. Only Lafayette and Holy Cross are in the running for the Patriot League's automatic qualifier for the FCS Playoffs. Lafayette needs a win and requires a Holy Cross home loss vs. Georgetown to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2013. Lafayette would win that tie via a head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Series: College football's most-played rivalry dates to 1884 (one year after standardized football rules were instituted in the U.S.) when Lafayette beat Lehigh 56-0 in Easton. The two teams met twice a year from 1884-1901 (three times in 1891) and once a year since then, with the exception of 1896 when a player eligibility dispute between the schools canceled the game. The Leopards lead the series 78-71-5. The rivalry has been played every year since 1897 without interruption, reaching 123 consecutive years in 2019, the longest streak of consecutive years in the nation.
Series MVP: Media members vote on the Lafayette-Lehigh game's MVP, an award established in 1960. Ross Scheuerman '15 was the last Leopard to win the award in 2014, running for a school-record 304 yards to lead the Maroon and White to a 27-7 win at Yankee Stadium in Rivalry 150. There have been nine two-time winners: Jon Hurt (2005, 06) Brad Maurer (2004, 06), Tom Costello (1988, 89) and Erik Marsh (1992, 94) from Lafayette and Kim McQuilken (1972, 73), Marty Horn (1983, 85), Ron Jean (1998, 99), J.B. Clark (2008, 09) and Nick Shafnisky (2015, 16) from Lehigh. In the series, there have been co-MVP's only twice (1976 and 2006).
Streaking: Colgate stopped Lafayette's three-game conference win streak, the longest Lafayette stint since 2009, with a 16-0 final in week 11. The Leopards are looking to halt Lehigh's four-game winning streak in the series.
All-American Honored: On Friday night, Dan Bengele '98, a linebacker from 1994-97 will be enshrined into the Maroon Club Hall of Fame. Bengele was named to the Associated Press All-America Second Team and The Sports Network All-America Third Team in his senior campaign of 1997. He collected All-America honors from the Football Gazette in 1996 and 1997 and was an ECAC All-Star First-Team selection in 1997 when he served as the team captain.
Named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in 1997, he led the conference in tackles with 145, a mark that currently places him fourth in Lafayette single-season history. He also added eight sacks, ranking him ninth in Lafayette single-season history. Bengele garnered All-Patriot League First-Team honors in 1996 and 1997 while securing second-team laurels as a sophomore in 1995. He finished his career with 408 tackles, ranking fourth in Patriot League history.
Greatest Game Never Played: The 1948 football team will also be enshrined on Friday. The team was 7-2 with wins over Fordham, Bucknell, George Washington, Washington and Jefferson, Muhlenberg, Ohio Wesleyan and Lehigh and losses only to No. 6 Army and Rutgers. The team averaged 260.2 rushing yards per game, among the leaders in the East, led by Maroon Club Hall of Fame quarterback Frank Downing '51.
More notably, Lafayette was invited to the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. The College rejected the invitation, however, after the Sun Bowl committee's decision to exclude David Showell '51 from the game because of his race, and the segregation laws in Texas. Showell, who played on offense and defense, served his country in World War II with the Tuskegee Airmen. The Greatest Game Never Played (as it was later referred to in a song) helped raise awareness of exclusion of African American players in college football bowl games based on their race.
Confident Conference Defense: Patriot League play has seen the Leopards' defense step up its game. Lafayette is allowing 288 yards of total offense in conference action vs. 446 yards in non-conference play. The Leopards surrendered a season-low 224 yards against Colgate (95 rushing , 129 passing), coming off a 280-yard performance (108 rushing, 172 passing) at Holy Cross. Versus Fordham, Lafayette gave up 383 yards (68 rushing, 315 passing) while limiting Bucknell to 287 (124 rushing, 163 passing) and Georgetown 264 yards (104 rushing, 160 passing).
Rookie Rewards: Lafayette has six Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors to its credit (more than any other team). Freshman QB
Keegan Shoemaker has four ROW honors, securing them on Sept. 9, Sept. 16, Nov. 4 and Nov. 11. Shoemaker also was the Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 16, Oct. 28 and Nov. 11.
Marco Olivas snagged the award Sept. 30 following a 17-tackle effort with a while DL
Damon Washington earned the honor on Sept. 23 following a game with a career-high 14 tackles.
Careful, You Might Catch Something: Lafayette's wide receiving corps has been a tough place to stay heathy in 2019. Of the top seven pass catchers, only senior
Julian Spigner has played in every game. Senior
Nick Pearson has missed the last three games with injury while freshman
Joe Gillette has sat out the last four. Junior
Quinn Revere has played in just four games. At tight end, soph. TE
Zadok Scott has missed five games, junior
Jake Taggart two and
Steven Stilianos one.
Red-Zone Opportunities: Lafayette has made the most of its red-zone opportunities, turning 21-of-25 (84%) chances into points (15 touchdowns and 6 field goals). Lafayette was a season-best 5-for-5 with four touchdowns and a field goal vs. Fordham.
Freshman Passing Record: Freshman QB
Keegan Shoemaker, who has thrown for 2,416 yards, holds the freshman single-season passing yardage mark at Lafayette. Shoemaker's effort ranks him seventh all-time in a season, passing Tom Kirchhoff '93 (2,248 in 1990) and Frank Novak '84 (2,257 in 1982 and 2,356 in 1983), both of whom are Maroon Club Hall of Fame selections. Shoemaker needs 45 yards to take over sixth place from Marko Glavic (2,460 in 2001), 111 yards to move by Hall of Famer Frank Baur '90 (2,526 in 1987) and 205 to best Baur's 2,621 in 1988.
Rice Award Watch List: Keegan Shoemaker 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. Soph. DE
Malik Hamm was on the watch list in 2018.
Major Contributions: Junior
Major Jordan is leading the defensive effort. The middle linebacker has a team-high 103 stops (30 more than any teammate) for the season and is 22nd in the nation in total tackles. He made a career-high 14 tackles vs. Bucknell, with 10 of those solo stops. Jordan is coming off an 11-tackle effort vs. Colgate (all solo stops). At Holy Cross, Jordan had eight tackles with three tackles for loss, including two sacks and added a fumble recovery. Jordan had 12 tackles in each of the William & Mary (8/31) and Georgetown (10/19) games. Against the Hoyas, Jordan also snagged his first career interception.
A Passing Fancy: Freshman QB
Keegan Shoemaker leads the Patriot League in total offense (246.7 yards per game), a mark that places him 43rd in the nation. The Prosper, Texas native has completed 60 percent of his passes, a mark that ranks him third in the Patriot League and 50th in the nation. He is also third in the conference (37th in NCAA) in completions per game (18.2), passing efficiency (125.9) and yards per completion (12.1) while ranking second in the league in passing yards (2,416), passing yards per game (219.6) and touchdowns passes (14).
Fresh Faces On the Two-Deep: Entering week 12, there are 13 freshmen on the two-deep.
Alex Barshaba started the first three games at left guard while
Keegan Shoemaker has started the last 10 at QB.
Nathan Slater has started nine games at LG,
Joe Gillette five at WR, Daron Gilbert five at DB and
Marco Olivas three at LB. Lafayette played 15 freshmen at William & Mary, 16 vs. Monmouth and Sacred Heart, 14 at Albany, 12 vs. Penn, 15 vs. Princeton, 16 vs. Georgetown, 14 vs. Bucknell, 17 vs. Fordham and 14 vs. Holy Cross and Colgate.
In 2018, 12 freshmen made the depth chart in the three phases, and four of them (
Ian Grayson, DE
Malik Hamm, OL
Joe Grundhoffer and FS
Romeo Wykle) started at least one game.
In the Classroom: Lafayette athletic teams ranked eighth in the nation in the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate. Lafayette boasted a 98 percent GSR overall for its 18 sports measured and a total of 15 programs registered a GSR of 100 percent. Lafayette football earned a ranking of 97, tied for 10-best in the nation and first in the Patriot League, tied with Holy Cross and Georgetown and ahead of Bucknell (91), Colgate (91), Fordham (84) and Lehigh (78).
Helmet Note: At the school credited with inventing the football helmet, a quick look at the 2019 version shows the Leopards' white helmet with a metallic "L" on each side. On the left side of the back is an American flag just above the words Cur Non which was the motto for the Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, and translates from Latin to mean "why not."
A Lafayette alum and all-time great running back, George "Rose" Barclay from the Class of 1898, is credited with inventing the helmet. The "threat of cultivating cauliflower ears" led him to piece three thick leather straps around his head for an 1894 game against Penn.
Opponent: Team brown enters No. 155 with a 4-6 overall mark, 3-2 in Patriot League play. Lehigh has lost its last three games to Sacred Heart (13-6), Bucknell (20-10) and Holy Cross (24-17). The Mountain Hawks started Patriot League play with wins over Colgate (21-14), Fordham (30-27 OT) and Georgetown (27-24) while also counting season wins against Merrimack (10-3) and in the Brown/White Spring game.
Senior Tyler Monaco is at the top of the depth chart at QB, having played in nine games while completing 165-of-302 for 1,891 yards with six TD with 7 INT. Senior Devon Bibbens and junior Jorge Portorreal are the top pass catchers with 63 and 52 receptions, respectively, and Bibbens reeling in six touchdowns. Soph. Rashawn Allen has 104 carries for 286 yards while freshman Zaythan Hill is averaging 7.4 yards per carry to go along with four scores at tailback.
Senior Keith Woetzel leads the team with 107 tackles, 12.5 TDL and 9.5 sacks. Fellow ILB Pete Haffner has 91 stops and two INT for Lehigh which is allowing 358 yards per game.
Tom Gilmore is in his first season as the head coach at Lehigh, where he was previously (2000-03) the defensive coordinator before a 14-year stint as Holy Cross' head coach.
