The Match-Up: The Leopards (6-1, 2-0) remain on the road, venturing to Georgetown for a 12:30 p.m. Saturday matchup. The Hoyas are 4-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play and have split the last four meetings with the Leopards. 

Cracking the Top 25: Coming off a 38-35 Patriot League road win over No. 11/15 Holy Cross, Lafayette broke into both top 25 polls. The Leopards are ranked 19th in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll and 21st in the Stats Perform Poll, which selected Lafayette its FedEx Ground FCS National Team of the Week on Monday. The last time Lafayette was ranked in either poll was Dec. 21, 2009, then No. 24 in the Sports Network Poll (now Stats Perform) and No. 25 in the FCS Coaches Poll. Lafayette had garnered votes in each of the last two weeks. The Leopards also jumped into CBS' FCS Football Power Rankings at No. 25 on Oct. 9.

Streaking: The Leopards have won five straight games this season and have put together seven consecutive wins over FCS opponents, dating back to the win over Lehigh in the 2022 season finale. The  lone "blemish" this season is a 42-7 final at Duke.

So Far…So Good: 2023 has been a breakthrough season for the Leopards. Lafayette has
    • Eclipsed its win total (4) from 2022 and equalled or surpassed the win total from the previous 13 seasons.
    • Finished its non-league season with a 4-1 mark for the first time since 2009
    • Beat Princeton for the first time in 13 meetings and the first time on the road since 1982.
    • Recorded a win over No. 11/15 Holy Cross, the Leopards first top-25 win since 2013, a victory that snapped Holy Cross' 18-game conference win streak.
    • Guaranteed the program its first winning season since 2013
    • Been nationally-ranked for the first time since 2009

Conference Ledger: The Leopards are 2-0 in conference play for the first time since 2017, rolling up wins over Bucknell, 56-22 on Sept. 30, and Holy Cross, 38-35 over on Oct. 21. Holy Cross and Georgetown sit in second place in the standings at 2-1 with Fordham and Colgate close behind at 1-1 with four weeks of football remaining. 

Running the Ball: Lafayette is averaging 205.4 rushing yards per game, a mark that ranks the Leopards 15th in the nation among 128 schools. Behind a solid offensive line, soph. Jamar Curtis accounts for most of the yards, racking up a Patriot League best 132.4 yards per outing (second in the nation) and 927 total rushing yards (third in nation). Curtis ranks second in the conference and 15th in the nation in yards per carry (6.7 ypc).

Stacking Up the Sacks: The Leopards are leading the nation in sacks per game (4.14) and rank second for tackles for loss (8.0). Lafayette piled up seven sacks each against Princeton, Bucknell and Monmouth. For the season, 11 different players have been able to get home, with Billy Shaeffer (7.0) and Tim O'Hearn (4.0) leading the way. 

Turnover Tales: The Leopards have gone the last four games without a turnover. For the season, Lafayette is plus-four in the turnover category.

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• Start the season at 7-1 for the first time since 2009
• Open Patriot League play at 3-0 for the first time since 2017
• Register program win No. 698
• Improve to 4-2 against Georgetown in Halloween week (within four days)

Shaeffer's Sacks: Senior OLB Billy Shaeffer has turned up the pressure in the last three games, with seven sacks and 11 tackles for loss in Leopard victories. 
    At Holy Cross he had seven tackles with 2.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks in the win. Shaeffer was coming off two straight weeks with Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors (10/2, 10/9). At Princeton, he had 10 tackles with three TFL, including two sacks, in a 12-9 victory. Shaeffer's second sack of the game and accompanying forced fumble stopped the would-be go-ahead scoring drive in the third quarter. Lafayette held Princeton to three rushing yards and just 3-of-13 overall on third down.
    In the Patriot League opener vs. Bucknell, Shaeffer rang up 3.5 sacks, 5.5 tackles for loss and forced a fumble to go along with nine tackles.  

DeNobile Under Center: Soph. Dean DeNobile has started the last six games. The Upper Saddle River, N.J. native has completed 68 percent for 1,043 yards with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions. He ranks first in the conference and 12th in the nation in completion percentage. In his last outing, DeNobile threw for a career-high 262 yards. 
    The Economics major twice has secured Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors. He ran for two TDs and threw for two others in a win over Monmouth. DeNobile completed 10-of-14 for 110 yards while carrying the ball 12 times for 50 yards. Against Bucknell, he threw four touchdowns (the first Leopard to do so since 2015) in the second quarter to four different receivers in a 56-point effort. 

700 On the Horizon: The Lafayette football program is approaching 700 all-time wins since its inaugural season in 1882. Lafayette currently has 697 program victories and ranked 52nd among all levels of college football at the beginning of the 2023 campaign. Among Patriot League programs, Lafayette sits behind Lehigh (707) and ahead of Colgate (670). Entering the season, only 49 programs had won 700 or more games. 

Curtis Runs For 100+: Soph. Jamar Curtis ran for his fifth 100-yard rushing game (first with 200-plus) of the season (sixth of his career) vs. Holy Cross. With 927 rushing yards, the Waldorf, Md. native has already surpassed his 2022 rushing total (465 yards).

Troxell Hits the Century Mark: Lafayette's win over Bucknell marked the 100th career coaching victory for Leopard head coach John Troxell '94. Troxell came to Lafayette with 92 head coaching wins while at Franklin and Marshall and has 10 wins through parts of two seasons at Lafayette. 

Opponent: Georgetown enters its week nine matchup at 4-4 overall with a 2-1 clip in conference play where the Hoyas have wins over Fordham (28-24) and Lehigh (17-7) and a loss to Colgate (28-18) last week. 
    Fifth-year senior Tyler Knoop is the only player to have thrown a pass for the Hoyas this season, completing 168-of-267 for 1,765 yards with 14 TDs and eight interceptions. Soph. WR Nicholas Dunneman is his favorite target, reeling in 55 catches for 574 with two TDs.
    Knoop also has positive rushing yards (62-165, 2 TD), but it has been graduate student Joshua Stakely (100-562, 5 TD) and junior Naieem Kearney (107-530, 4 TD) who have accounted for the bulk of the yardage for a team averaging 174 yards per game on the ground.
    Defensively, senior LB David Ealey leads the team with 46 tackles while Zeraun Daniel (33), Jaden Dugger (31) and Ibri Harrell (31) have combined for 95 stops. 
    The Hoyas are coached by Georgetown alum Rob Sgarlata '94 who is in his 10th season as head coach and 27th as a member of the staff. He is 4-4 vs. Lafayette in his career as a head coach.

A Grand Run: Soph. TB Jamar Curtis needs 73 yards to be the first player to hit 1,000 in a season since Ross Scheuerman in 2014. 

200+ Plus = Wins: The Leopards churned out 223 rushing yards at Sacred Heart, a mark they had not reached since week three of 2019. They followed with 239 vs. Columbia, 206 vs. Monmouth, 316 vs. Bucknell, and 236 at Holy Cross, all leading to victories. The 316-yard performance vs. Bucknell is the high-water mark in the Troxell era as is Jamar Curtis' 229-yard day at Holy Cross. Curtis was the first player since Ross Scheuerman in 2014 to run for 200-plus yards.  

Weekly Winners X 8: Lafayette has had eight Patriot League weekly award winners this season. Billy Shaeffer was the last winner, taking home Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 9. Lafayette had three honorees on Oct. 2 when Billy Shaeffer (Defensive) Dean DeNobile (Offensive) and Troy Bruce (Special Teams) were recognized. It was the second straight award for DeNobile who also won on Sept. 25. The first three winners came from the freshman class. Following the Columbia game, freshman DL Jaylon Joseph made his second start of the season and recorded three tackles with a half sack to garner rookie honors. Joseph helped the Leopards limit Columbia to 137 yards of total offense. Classmate Jack Simonetta secured special teams laurels on Sept. 18, connecting on his first career field goal, a 34-yarder in the fourth quarter. Michael Vaughn (9/4) was the rookie of the week after a two-sack performance in the opener vs. Sacred Heart.