The Match-Up: The No. 23/25 Leopards (7-2, 3-1) finish off their home slate on Saturday with a Senior Day matchup vs. Fordham (6-3, 2-2) which is receiving votes in the top 25 polls. Lafayette saw its six-game win streak snapped last week vs. Colgate in overtime. 

Patriot League Math: Lafayette's road to a Patriot League championship is fairly simple with two games remaining and the Leopards in control of their destiny. Lafayette needs to beat Fordham AND Lehigh to raise the Patriot League trophy for the first time since 2013. In that scenario, Lafayette and Holy Cross would finish 5-1 in conference play (assuming Holy Cross' victory over Georgetown), but Lafayette would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over Holy Cross, earning the automatic qualifier to the FCS Playoffs. For Lafayette to claim a Patriot League title with a loss to EITHER Fordham (2-2) or Lehigh (1-3), the Leopards (who would finish 4-2 in league play) would need Georgetown (2-2) to beat Holy Cross (4-1) in week 11 to remain in contention. 

In the Top 25: Lafayette's 38-35 Patriot League road win over No. 11/15 Holy Cross pushed the Leopards into the top-25 polls on Oct. 23. They were 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. After the road win at Georgetown, Lafayette moved to 16th in the Coaches Poll and 20th in the Stats Perform ranking on Oct. 30. The No. 16 ranking was the highest any Lafayette team has reached in the Patriot League era, surpassing the 2004 squad which finished at No. 19 in both polls. After the overtime loss to Colgate in week nine, Lafayette dropped to 23rd in the AFCA poll and 25th in the Stats Perform Poll. 
    Prior to this season, the last time Lafayette was ranked in either poll was Dec. 21, 2009, then No. 24 in the Stats Perform Poll and No. 25 in the FCS Coaches Poll.

Streaking: The Leopards had their six-game win streak snapped in overtime vs. Colgate on Nov. 4. Lafayette had also put together eight consecutive wins over FCS opponents (dating back to the win over Lehigh in the 2022 season finale). The six-game overall winning streak was the longest since the 2009 season. 

Shaeffer's Senior Campaign: Senior Billy Shaeffer's last campaign on College Hill has been his best. The outside linebacker has a team-leading 10 sacks (third in the nation), the most for a Leopard since 2000 and the second most ever in a season at Lafayette. Shaeffer also has 19.5 tackles for loss (second in the nation). Shaeffer, who has twice been named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week in 2023, shares the team lead in tackles (63) with Saiku White.

So Far…So Good: 2023 has been a breakthrough season for the Leopards in year two of the John Troxell '94 era. Lafayette...
    • 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) and snapped Holy Cross' 18-game conference win streak.
    • guaranteed the program its first winning season since 2013.
    • appeared in the Top 25  for the first time since 2009.
    • finished off the month of October undefeated for the first time since 2009.

Running the Ball: Lafayette is averaging 192.0 rushing yards per game, a mark that ranks the Leopards 19th 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 120.4 yards per outing (sixth in the nation) and 962 total rushing yards (eighth in the nation). Curtis also ranks third in the conference and 17th in the nation in yards per carry (6.5 ypc).

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• record eight wins for the time since 2009 
• secure four Patriot League victories for the first time since 2013
• register program win No. 699
• enter the Lehigh game with eight victories for the first time since 1981
• snap a two-game losing streak against Fordham

Maroon and "White": Junior Saiku White has been a defensive standout from his safety position. White, who shares the team lead in tackles (63), had a two-interception performance at Georgetown (10/28), one of which he returned 42 yards for a touchdown en route to collecting Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors. White opened the season with a game- and career-high 12 stops at Sacred Heart. The Atlanta, Ga. native followed with a game-high 11 tackles at No. 21 Duke. Against Monmouth, White made a game-high nine stops.  

Bruce Producing as a Rookie: Freshman RB Troy Bruce parlayed his 98-yard rushing game (including a 71-yard touchdown) at Georgetown into Patriot League Rookie of the Week laurels. He followed with 26 carries for 138 yards (both career highs) and a touchdown vs. Colgate. Bruce was also the Special Teams Player of the Week on Oct. 2.

A Stack of Sacks: The Leopards are leading the nation in sacks per game (3.7) and rank third for tackles for loss (7.8). 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 (10) and Tim O'Hearn (4.5) leading the way. 

Turnover Tales: The Leopards went four straight games (Monmouth, Bucknell, Princeton and Holy Cross) without a turnover before handing the ball over twice at Georgetown and three times against Colgate. For the season, Lafayette is plus-two in the turnover category.

Shaeffer's Sacks: Senior OLB Billy Shaeffer has turned up the pressure in the last five games, with 10 sacks and 18 tackles for loss in a 4-1 stretch for the Leopards. Versus Colgate, he had three TFL with two sacks and a forced fumble. 
    At Georgetown, Shaeffer had 12 tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss, a forced fumble and two pass breakups. That followed a Holy Cross game when 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 eight games. The Upper Saddle River, N.J. native has completed 65 percent of his throws for 1,451 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. He leads the conference and is 21st in the nation in completion percentage. DeNobile threw for a career-high 262 yards in an Oct. 21 win over nationally-ranked Holy Cross. 
    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 TDs (the first Leopard to do so since 2015) in the second quarter to four different receivers in a 56-point effort. 

The Opponent: Fordham, which is receiving votes in both Top 25 polls, is 6-3 overall and 2-2 in league play. The Rams have won three of their last four games, with the only loss a 49-47 home setback vs. Holy Cross on Oct. 28. Fordham holds conference wins over Lehigh (38-35) and Bucknell  (27-21) with its other league loss coming to Georgetown (28-24). 
    Fordham is averaging 33.9 points (16th in the nation) and 450 offensive yards per game. On the ground, junior Julius Loughridge has already run for 1,000 yards this season, averaging 115.4 per game. Soph. QB C.J. Montes has been productive leading the offense, throwing for 2,526 yards with 24 touchdowns and just one interception. Grad students M.J. Wright and Garrett Cody and senior Mekai Felton have seven TDs apiece.      
    Defensively, the Rams are allowing 386 yards per game (264 passing, 124 rushing). Junior LB James Conway leads the team and is fifth in the nation with 107 tackles. Junior DL Matt Jaworski has eight sacks. 
    Fordham is coached by Joe Conlin (Pittsburgh, '02) who is in his sixth season. 

700 On the Horizon: The Lafayette football program is approaching 700 all-time wins since its inaugural season in 1882. Lafayette currently has 698 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. 

A Grand Run?: Soph. TB Jamar Curtis needs 38 yards to be the first player to hit 1,000 rushing yards in a season since Ross Scheuerman in 2014. He missed the second half of the Georgetown game and all of the Colgate game with an injury.  

The Road to November: The Leopards did not play a home game in October, with three road games and a bye week on the ledger. Lafayette finished the month with an undefeated mark for the first time since 2009. 

Weekly Winners X 10: Lafayette has had 10 Patriot League weekly award winners this season. Saiku White and Troy Bruce were the Defensive and Rookie of the Week, respectively, following the Georgetown win. Billy Shaeffer took home Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 9. Lafayette had three honorees on Oct. 2 when Shaeffer (Defensive) Dean DeNobile (Offensive) and 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.