The Match-Up: Week four takes No. 14/18 Lafayette to New York City to face Columbia in the Lions' season opener. The teams, who began playing in 1889, last met in week three of 2023, with Lafayette winning a low-scoring game (24-3) in Easton.

Last Time Out: Lafayette opened the home ledger with a dominating win over Marist, 59-14. The Leopards affected the game in all phases, scoring on a blocked punt (Gianlucca Tiberia) and return (Xavier Johnson) for touchdown, a 58-yard punt return for TD (Mason Kuehner), a defensive lineman interception return for TD (Jaylon Joseph) and five offensive scores (three by Jamar Curtis). Defensively, Lafayette limited Marist to 170 yards of offense and just 43 on the ground.

Weekly Rewards: Lafayette pulled down a pair of Patriot League weekly awards following the Marist win, as junior QB Dean DeNobile was named Offensive Player of the Week while freshman defensive back Xavier Johnson was selected Rookie of the Week.
    DeNobile completed his first 14 passes en route to a 20-of-23 day during which he finished with 241 yards and a touchdown, despite not playing the final 27 minutes of the game.
    Johnson has played every game on special teams and in the defensive backfield. In the first quarter against Marist, he recovered a blocked punt in the endzone for a touchdown to start off the Leopards' scoring. In the third quarter, the Muscle Shoals, Ala. native picked off his first career pass.

DeNobile Dealin': Prior to the Marist game, junior QB Dean DeNobile was slinging it all over the field vs. Monmouth. He completed 31-of-45 for 394 yards (all career highs), while throwing for two touchdowns in the final minute of action. DeNobile leads the Patriot League and is fourth in the nation in completion percentage (73.3). He also paces the conference in passing yards (797), passing yards per game (265.7) completions per game (24.7) and total offense (271.7), ranking sixth, eighth, sixth and seventh, respectively, among NCAA peers. 

Scoring Frenzy: Lafayette's offense has erupted for 96 points over its last two games, scoring 40 and 56 points against Monmouth and Marist, respectively. The last time the Leopards scored at least 96 points over a two-game span was October 1986 when Lafayette rang up 103 points in road victories over Davidson (51) and Bucknell (52).

Moving Up the Charts: Junior WR Elijah Steward needs eight more catches to break into the Lafayette top 10 for career receptions. The economics major currently has 120 career catches, trailing Ross Scheuerman '15 with 128 receptions. 

In the Top 25: Lafayette sits at No. 14 in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll and 18th in the Stats Perform Top 25 poll. The Leopards debuted in the 2024 polls at 17th (Stats Perform) and 18th (AFCA). In 2023, Lafayette peaked at No. 16 on Oct. 30, the highest any Leopard team reached in the Patriot League era until this season.  
        
2,000+ in 2024: Jamar Curtis eclipsed the 2,000-yard rushing plateau with 87 yards at Monmouth, becoming the 10th player in Lafayette history to do so. He's moved into 11th place on the career rushing list with 2,112 yards needing 47 to take over 10th place from Nick Kowgios '85 (2,158).

5 with 3 for 8(th): With three rushing touchdowns vs. Marist (9/14), Jamar Curtis ran into eighth place for Lafayette career rushing touchdowns, pushing his total to 22. He is currently tied with Tony Giglio '74 (22), needing one more score to move into seventh place occupied by Leonard Moore '99 (23). 

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• record program win No. 703
• start the season 3-1 for the second straight season, but just the second time since 2012
• make it two straight wins over Columbia
• give Lafayette a 2-1 record against Empire State teams in 2024

Swiss Army Knife: Freshman RB Gianlucca Tiberia played a major role in the win over Marist. On Marist's first drive, the Atlanta, Ga. native blocked a punt that classmate Xavier Johnson recovered in the endzone. Tiberia also played on return units, taking back a kickoff for 39 yards and a punt for 20 yards. The freshman ran the ball eight times for eight yards late in the second half. 

National Notice: Junior WR Elijah Steward was named the Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week and the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week following a performance with 15 catches (school record) for a career-high 244 yards at Monmouth (9/7). The Galloway, N.J. native had receptions of 42, 39 and 21 yards with 102 yards after the catch. In total, he reeled in seven catches of 15-plus yards. Steward snapped the previous school record for receptions in a game: 13 shared by Mark Layton (2010) and Mark Ross (2012). His performance was also the first 200+ yard receiving day for the program since 2006. Steward is first in the nation in receiving yards per game (124.7), second in receiving yards (374) and fourth in receptions per game (8.3). 

Ahead of Schedule: John Troxell '94 is in his third season at the helm of his alma mater's football program, and by all accounts the revitalization of Lafayette football is ahead of schedule. In 2023, Lafayette won a Patriot League title and advanced to the NCAA playoffs after posting the most wins in a season in more than 40 years. The team went from 4-7 (3-3 PL) in year one (2022) to 9-3 (5-1 PL) in year two (2023). Both seasons were capped by wins over archrival Lehigh.
    Troxell was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in 2023 and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. 

A Hand On it: The Leopards have blocked two punts in three games, equaling the number of punt blocks they recorded for all of 2023. Soph. Troy Bruce blocked a punt in game one at Buffalo, setting up the offense for its first score. In the home opener vs Marist, freshman Gianlucca Tiberia came off the edge to block the second of the season. That effort was recovered in the endzone by Xavier Johnson for the 7-0 advantage. The recovery was the first punt block returned for a touchdown since Kyni Scott in 2010. In 2023, Bruce owned the Leopards' only punt block, while Jaylon Joseph blocked a field goal.

The Last Time They Met: RB Jamar Curtis ran for 145 yards and two touchdowns in a 24-3 week three win over Columbia on Sept. 16, 2023. Dean DeNobile completed 15 of his 22 pass attempts for 149 yards, while finding the end zone on a one-yard scramble up the middle.
    The Leopards' defense was suffocating, holding Columbia to three points, 10 first downs, 157 yards of total offense and 65 rushing yards. Preston Forney, Jaylon Johnson and Marco Olivas all registered sacks in the game. 

Familiar Faces: Leopards head coach John Troxell spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Columbia (1994-96) under Ray Tellier. Current Columbia defensive coordinator Justin Stovall is in his 10th year with the school and third as its DC. Stovall graduated from Lafayette in 2007 after helping bring three titles to College Hill. Stovall's first coaching opportunity came in 2009, when he joined Troxell at Franklin & Marshall, coaching linebackers and assisting the defensive coordinator until 2011. Currently Columbia offensive assistant Jake Amsler was Lafayette's defensive quality control assistant in 2022, when the Maroon and White finished in the top 25 in the nation in rushing defense, red-zone defense and scoring defense.

The Opponent: Saturday's game is the Lions' season opener and kicks off the Jon Poppe (Williams '07) era of Columbia football. Poppe was hired in December of 2023 as the 22nd coach in the program's history. Poppe previously was a member of Columbia's coaching staff from 2015-2017. After a coaching stint at Harvard from 2017-22, Poppe took over at Union College for the 2023 season, leading the program to a 10-2 record and the second round of the NCAA D-III playoffs.
    Returning to lead the Lion offense are senior RB Joey Giorgi (146-638-3) and junior WR Edan Stagg (21-158). Soph. Chase Goodwin,who played in five games while throwing two passes last season, is listed as the starter at quarterback.
    On the defensive side of the ball, Columbia returns senior LB Anthony Roussos (93 T, 10.5 TFL) and senior DB Hayden McDonald (62 T, 1 INT, 5 PBU) to a unit that allowed just 15.5 points and 268 yards per game.
    Columbia travels to Patriot League opponent Georgetown next week before returning home to kick off Ivy League play against Princeton.