The Match-Up: Week two takes the Leopards on a short excursion (traffic-cooperating) to Philadelphia where they will face Temple for the first time since 1965. The game is set for Lincoln Financial Field, the largest venue Lafayette has played in since a 2014 win over Lehigh in Yankee Stadium. 

The Week That Was: Lafayette kicked off its 141st season and the John Troxell era in style with a 6-0 win over Sacred Heart. The home- and season-opening win came against an experienced Pioneer squad that won the last two NEC championships and was picked to win a third. 

D Stands Up: Lafayette's win in week one wouldn't have been possible without the outstanding play on the defensive side of the ball. The Leopards limited Sacred Heart to 56 rushing yards despite facing a 13-minute deficit in time of possession. Safety Saiku White had a career-high 12 tackles to pace the performance. White came up with the game-clinching tackle short of the goal line on the final play of the game, stuffing All-American running back Malik Grant as time expired. That run stop followed two incomplete passes from the one-yard line on first and second down.  

Spoils of Victory: Saiku White's performance in the win over Sacred Heart netted him Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career. He was not alone, however, as rookie quarterback Ryan Schuster garnered conference Rookie of the Week honors. Schuster scored the game-winning touchdown vs. Sacred Heart. He finished with 34 rushing yards, 18 of which came on a touchdown run in the third quarter for the only points of the game. Schuster's 22-yard scramble on 3rd-and-30 at the SHU 41-yard line kept the drive alive and he followed by converting a 3rd-and-17 with his scoring run. 

Reaching a Milestone: Malik Hamm recorded 1.5 sacks in the season-opening victory over Sacred Heart to become the program's all-time leader in the statistical category. With 25 career sacks, he is tied with Harrison Bailey '95 for 11th in career sacks in Patriot League history. Hamm already ranks ninth and 10th in single-season sacks at Lafayette with 8.0 in 2018, and 8.5 in 2019, respectively.

Year One In The Troxell Era: John Troxell is in his first season as head coach of the Lafayette Leopards. The '94 Lafayette alum returns to College Hill after a 16-year head coaching stint at Franklin & Marshall College. When Troxell first arrived at F&M, the Diplomats hadn't managed a winning season in 13 years. Four years later, after a full recruiting cycle, the Diplomats finished with a 9-2 record and continued to climb, subsequently reaching the postseason on nine occasions.
    Leopards fans are hoping for similar results on College Hill as the Maroon and White search for their first Patriot League title since 2013.
    Troxell has been a key ingredient in program rebuilds at each of his stops, and his time on College Hill as an assistant coach on Frank Tavani's staff was no exception. He served various roles as the running backs coach, recruiting coordinator and special teams coach from 2001-05. His selection as the recruiting coordinator in 2003 helped kick off a stretch of three straight titles for the Leopards in 2004, 2005 and 2006 that coincided with the program's first three NCAA FCS Playoff appearances.
    Prior to Lafayette, Troxell was part of a dramatic reversal at Muhlenberg College from 1997-2000 under head coach Mike Donnelly. He served multiple roles, working as the special teams coordinator (1997-99), quarterbacks coach and wide receivers coach (1997-2000) and offensive coordinator (2000). Muhlenberg progressed from a 1-9 season in 1997 to the Eastern College Athletic Conference title with a record of 9-2 in 2000. In 2000, under Troxell's tutelage, the offense ranked 22nd in the nation and led the Centennial Conference in total offense (427.8 ypg) while averaging 31.0 points per game.
    Troxell joined the Muhlenberg staff after serving as an assistant coach for three seasons (1994-96) at Columbia University under head coach Ray Tellier, beginning his career path of coaching at elite academic institutions. In 1996, Troxell oversaw a secondary that recorded the third-best passing defense in the country. The turnaround tendency first showed itself at Columbia in 1994 when the Ivy League school recorded its first winning season in 23 seasons. An 8-2 mark and the program's best finish in 15 years followed in 1996.
    His first extended stint on College Hill came as a student-athlete from 1990-94, when he earned his bachelor's degree in government and law. Troxell was the starting free safety on the Leopards' 1992 Patriot League Championship team and received the Unsung Hero Award as a senior. He completed his master's degree in sociology and education in 1997 while on staff at Columbia.

Ringing The Bell: Among many changes for the John Troxell era is addition of a bell on the sideline. In lieu of a turnover chain, title belt, etc., Troxell has brought in the bell which a player will ring after securing a turnover or scoring a touchdown or a field goal. Troxell said that it symbolizes the "hard-fought battle" that is football. 
    Senior WR Joe Gillette, who finished cancer treatment this past summer, was the first to ring the bell on the Friday walk through before the season opener. For those undergoing cancer treatment, ringing a bell at the hospital is symbolic of part of ending cancer treatment or portions of it, which Gillette had done and why he was chosen to be the first to ring the bell.  
    "There wasn't one time he ever thought of quitting. No matter how bad it got, he never thought of it. He was here every single day," Troxell told the team. "So when you ring that bell, no matter if it's week 11, 10, 9, it's because you're not going to quit on each other. We'll keep fighting to the end."

Shoutout for the Shutout: Lafayette managed its first shutout since week six of the 2021 season, a 27-0 blanking of Patriot League foe Bucknell in the series' 99th meeting. It was the lowest-scoring win for the Leopards since 1980, when they beat Penn 3-0. 

Last Meeting: The last time the Leopards and Owls squared off was nearly 57 years ago on Oct. 16, 1965 when both were members of the Middle Atlantic Conference. Played before a Parents' Day crowd of 5,500 at Temple Stadium in Philadelphia, the game saw Temple claim a 27-12 win. Temple quarterback Joe Petro completed 12-of-18 for 225 yards. Eleven of his completions went to wide receiver John Fonash who had 213 receiving yards on the day and also had a 76-yard punt return. 
    The Leopards could not get their offense going until the second half when they registered 12 of their 16 first downs in the game. Bill Messick and Bill Vonroth were responsible for the running game in the second half, contributing 79 yards. Sophomore quarterback Gary Marshall hit Dave Brown for a 28-yard touchdown on Marshall's first play from scrimmage. The Leopards scored again on a 74-yard drive aided by three Temple penalties. With 2:13 left in the game, Vonroth ran it in from four yards out to put the final at 27-12.

Familiar Faces: Saturday's matchup with Temple will feature some familiar faces between the two programs. Current Leopard wide receivers coach Ryan Roeder spent three seasons (2006-08) as an offensive graduate assistant at Temple. 
    Temple safeties coach Marvin Clecidor is a 2009 Lafayette graduate who was a three-year starter in the defensive backfield and a two-time All-Patriot League selection. He helped the Leopards earn back-to-back Patriot League championships in 2005 and 2006 and has crossed paths with Lafayette in recent seasons on the staffs at William and Mary and Princeton. Fellow assistant coach Antoine Smith was the defensive line coach at Lafayette from 2004-05, helping Lafayette to a pair of Patriot League titles and NCAA FCS Playoff appearances.
    Lafayette Director of Athletics Sherryta Freeman, who is in her fifth year at the helm of the Leopards' 23-sport program, worked at Temple from 2005-15, serving as the Senior Associate A.D., Associate A.D. for Compliance and Student Services and the Assistant A.D. for Compliance.

Preseason Poll: Lafayette was picked fourth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll which is voted on by conference coaches and football sports information directors. With 42 points, the Leopards were slotted behind Holy Cross (71), Fordham (61) and Colgate (50) and ahead of Lehigh (35), Georgetown (21) and Bucknell (14).

The Opponent: Temple (0-1) opened its season with a 30-0 loss at Duke in week one. The Owls are coming off a 3-8 record in 2021 with wins over Akron, Wagner and Memphis. 
    Temple is coached by Stan Drayton who is in his first season with the program. Drayton's 28-year coaching career features 12 collegiate coaching stops (Texas, Ohio State, Florida, Syracuse, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Bowling Green, Villanova, Penn, Eastern Michigan and Allegheny) and two stints in the NFL (Green Bay and Chicago).
    Soph. D'Wan Mathis is the returning starter at quarterback after playing in seven games in 2021. He spent two seasons at Georgia before transferring to Temple. Mathis completed 11-of-21 for 83 yards in the opener at Duke. Classmate Edward Saydee returns at tailback and was one of eight ballcarriers in the Duke game.  
    Defensively, soph. Alex Odom is the team's top returning tackler after making made 67 stops in 2021. Soph. defensive lineman Darian Varner recorded 7.5 tackles for loss in 2021 and is one of five team captains along with sophomore linebacker Jordan Magee, fellow lineman senior Xach Gill, grad student offensive lineman Adam Klein and junior tight end David Martin-Robinson.