The Match-Up: Lafayette is slated to kick off the 2021 spring football season on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., hosting Colgate in Fisher Stadium. Like FCS football action, the Leopards' 2020 fall season was postponed by COVID-19. The Maroon and White haven't played a game since Nov. 23, 2019, a memorable contest that saw Lafayette close out the season with a 17-16 win over its archrival. 

Streaks: The win in the 155th meeting vs. Lehigh, gave Lafayette victories in four of its last five games in 2019. The Leopards finished second in the Patriot League standings with a 4-2 record after winning three straight in conference play (the longest streak since 2009).

2021 Slate: With the rescheduling of the 2020 fall season to this spring, six football teams will be competing for the Patriot League title. Each of the teams (with the exception of Georgetown which chose not to compete this season) will play four conference opponents with the conference championship game scheduled for April 17. Lafayette is not scheduled to face reigning champ Holy Cross.
    A quirk of the 2021 spring season means that Colgate's last opponent in 2019, Lafayette, will be its first opponent. They will play again on Nov. 13 when Lafayette hosts the Raiders.

Season Openers: Saturday's season opener marks the first meaningful football that has ever been played in March on College Hill since the program was established in 1882. The Leopards' last season-opening win came in 2016, a 24-10 decision at Central Connecticut State. All-time, the Leopards are 86-49-3 in openers.

Home Openers: Lafayette is 88-47-3 all-time in home openers. The last home-opening win was Sept. 13, 2014, a 50-3 victory over Robert Morris.

99 Awards: Junior DL Malik Hamm has been named the Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Hamm won the honor in 2019 and was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 2018. In early February, Athlon Sports selected him to its Spring 2021 Preseason FCS All-America Team.
    The 6-3, 260-pound Hamm earned All-Patriot League First-Team honors in 2019 and achieved sophomore All-America status from Hero Sports along with Patriot League First-Team honors from Phil Steele. In 2019, Hamm led the team with 11.5 tackles for loss of 55 yards and 8.0 sacks for a minus-47 yards. He recorded 43 tackles, the most of any defensive lineman in the Patriot League, and paced the team with eight quarterback hurries in his 12 starts. Hamm managed at least one sack in each of his final seven games of the season, finishing with 7.5 TFLs and 7.0 sacks in league play, and has secured at least one sack in 10 of the 12 league games played during his two-year career. He is 10th among all active FCS players, averaging 0.72 sacks per game during his career.

Preseason Poll: The Leopards were picked fourth in the preseason poll with 48 points, trailing Holy Cross with five first-place votes and 15 points, Colgate with two first-place votes and 36 points, Fordham with three first-place votes and 35 points and ahead of Lehigh (19) and Bucknell (16). Georgetown has decided not to participate in the Spring 2021 season.

Offense On the Upswing: The numbers show that Lafayette's offense has steadily improved each of the first three seasons of the John Garrett era in Lafayette football. From 2018 to 2019, the per game averages for passing yards and rushing yards jumped by 57 and 26 yards per game, respectively (gains of 25 and 23 percent, respectively).

QB Competition: The quarterback competition will be closely watched, as three players vie for the starting spot. Seniors Sean O'Malley and Cole Northrup bring the most experience. O'Malley was a starter his first two seasons and moved to a backup role and as the team holder in 2019. O'Malley completed 426-of-739 for 3,708 yards and 16 touchdowns in his freshman and sophomore seasons combined. 
    Northrup started the first game of 2019, completing 10-of-17 for 127 yards while running 10 times for 39 yards and a touchdown at William and Mary. He served as the backup for the remainder of the season. 
    Freshman Rent Montie is a likely challenger at QB. He was an all-state quarterback in Florida at Clearwater High School. He threw for 5,133 yards (356-of-609) for 55 touchdowns in his career, adding in five rushing scores. He holds school records for career passing yards, completions and passing touchdowns, the single-season record for completions (170), passing yards (2,485) and passing touchdowns (25) and the single-game record for passing touchdowns (6).

Attendance Policy: Lafayette Athletics will permit two guests per Leopard student-athlete, families of coaches and a limited number of Lafayette students to attend events at Lafayette outdoor venues this spring when the College is at operational level 1. Faculty and staff enrolled in the College's weekly testing protocol will also be granted access. The change takes effect March 13 for all Lafayette outdoor sports. 

Confident Conference Defense: Patriot League play saw the Leopards' defense step up its game. Lafayette allowed an average of 300 yards of total offense in conference action vs. 446 yards in non-conference play to lead the Patriot League. 
    The Leopards surrendered a season-low 224 yards against Colgate (95 rushing , 129 passing), 280 at Holy Cross (108 rushing, 172 passing). 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). In the season finale vs. Lehigh, Lafayette gave up 376 yards, but held Lehigh to just 16 points.

Year Four In The Garrett Era: John Garrett is in his fourth season at Lafayette. Garrett took over the coaching reins on Dec. 21, 2016. He  guided Lafayette to a pair of 3-8 campaigns in 2017 and 2018 before a 4-8 mark in 2019. Lafayette registered a third-place conference finish in 2017 (3-3), a fourth-place finish in 2018 (2-4) before break through with a second-place finish in 2019 when Lafayette won four of its last five games. 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.

The Opponent: Colgate is coming off a 2019 season in which the Raiders were 4-8 overall and 3-3 in Patriot League play. 
Colgate is slated to play Lehigh, Holy Cross and Fordham following the season opener. The  Raiders have been picked to finish second in the preseason poll
     Senior Grant Breneman enters his fourth season as the Raiders' signal caller. The dual-threat quarterback was an All-Patriot League First-Team selection in 2018 when he led the Patriot League in completion percentage and pass efficiency. He is coming off a 2019 campaign when he completed 146-of-240 for 1,588 yards with five TDs and INTs. He also carried 120 times for 212 yards and two touchdowns. 
    Defensively, junior Coleman Coco was a Preseason All-Patriot League selection up front. He had 46 tackles, eight TFL and four sacks in 2019. Classmate Collin Heard was also a preseason All-Patriot League selection.  
    Colgate is coached by Dan Hunt (Springfield '92) who is in his  seventh season as the Raiders' head man. He was on the Colgate staff from 1995-2013 as an assistant coach under Dick Biddle.

Red-Zone Opportunities: Lafayette made the most of its red-zone opportunities in 2019, turning 24-of-28 (86%) chances into points (17 touchdowns and 7 field goals). Lafayette was a season-best 5-for-5 with four touchdowns and a field goal vs. Fordham.