The Match-Up: The Leopards, who are coming off their bye week, open Patriot League play on Saturday. They take short trip to the Bronx to face Fordham at 1 p.m. Lafayette won the 2023 matchup, 24-16 in Easton, spurred by a 204-yard rushing day from Jamar Curtis. 

Patriot League Opener: Saturday's game is the Patriot League opener for both teams. Lafayette is 21-17 in conference openers, with play beginning in 1986 as the Colonial League, and 19-15 since 1990 when the league took its current name. Since 2000, the Leopards are 12-11 in Patriot League openers, having won the last three (56-22 vs. Bucknell in 2023, 24-14 at Bucknell in 2022 and 24-10 vs. Colgate in the spring 2021 season).

Common Opponent: Lafayette and Fordham both played Monmouth during the non-conference portions of their schedules. The Leopards scored twice in the final minute and recovered an onside kick to beat Monmouth 40-35 on Sept. 7. Fordham played from behind the entire game on Sept. 28, giving up a 100-yard kick return to start the game. The Rams, who were playing without QB CJ Montes for a second straight game, dropped a 63-21 final after surrendering 49 first-half points. 

Last Time Out: Columbia scored on its first two possessions and forced Lafayette to play from behind the entire day. The Lions knocked the Leopards out of both Top 25 polls with the 31-20 final on Sept. 21. Jamar Curtis managed his first 100-yard rushing game of the season, finishing with 102 yards on 25 carries. Junior QB Dean DeNobile completed 23-of-35 for 272 yards and a pair of touchdowns, playing without the team's most consistent deep threat Elijah Steward.

Persing Stepping Up: Soph. Carson Persing's production has increased significantly as of late. In the home opener vs Marist, the Danville, Pa. native had nine receptions for 82 yards (both career highs). At Columbia, Persing pulled down 10 receptions for 58 yards. In the first four games of 2024, he has 26 receptions for 181 yards following a 2023 campaign in which the economics major managed 31 catches for 306 yards. 

The Patriot Poll: Lafayette was a unanimous selection to repeat as Patriot League champions in 2024 when the preseason poll was announced on July 24. The poll, voted on by conference coaches and sports information directors, saw the Leopards receive all 12 of the first-place votes, good for 72 points. Behind Lafayette were Holy Cross (56), Fordham (53), Colgate (46), Georgetown (27), Lehigh (24) and Bucknell (24). In 2023, Lafayette was selected fourth in the preseason poll and finished first.
 
3K for DD: With 272 passing yards at Columbia, junior QB Dean DeNobile surpassed 3,000 passing yards for his career. He needs 649 passing yards to crack Lafayette's all-time top 10.  

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.

Carasia's Career Campaign: Senior Chris Carasia has had a touchdown catch in every game this season. The Ocean Township, N.J. native secured four catches for 114 yards and a touchdown at Columbia. For the season, he has 19 receptions for 267 yards and four touchdowns in 2024. He is on pace to set single-season career highs in all three categories.

DeNobile Still Dealin': Against Columbia, junior QB Dean DeNobile was 23-of-35 for 272 yards with two TDs and an INT. For the year, DeNobile has completed 97-of-136 (71%) for 3,066 yards and six touchdowns. With 639 more passing yards and 26 additional completions, the program's career completion percentage leader will enter Lafayette's career top 10 in those categories.
    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 fifth in the nation in completion percentage (71.3). He also paces the conference in passing yards (1,069), passing yards per game (267.3) completions per game (24.3) and total offense (271.8), ranking 13th, ninth, sixth and 11th, respectively, among NCAA peers. 

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• notch program win No. 703
• make it two straight wins over Fordham
• open Patriot League play with a win for a third straight season
• give Lafayette a 2-2 record against Empire State teams in 2024

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 has moved into ninth place on the career rushing list with 2,214 yards, needing 305 to take over eighth place from Tony Giglio '74 (2,519).

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. 

Scoring Frenzy: Lafayette's offense erupted for a combined 96 points against Monmouth (40) and Marist (56). 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).

The Last Time They Met: No. 23/25 Lafayette beat Fordham 24-16 behind a 204-yard rushing performance from Jamar Curtis on Nov. 11, 2023. Curtis ripped off a 40-yard run that set up the Leopards' first score and pushed him over 1,000 rushing yards for a season (the first Leopard to reach the 1,000-yard plateau since Ross Scheuerman in 2014). He later added a 72-yard run. Defensively, senior LB Billy Shaeffer finished with eight tackles while Marco Olivas, Gabe DuBois and Reggie Thomas added six stops apiece. 

The Opponent: Fordham comes into the Patriot League opener searching for its first win of the season with losses coming to Bowling Green, Central Connecticut State, Stony Brook, Dartmouth and Monmouth. The Rams, who have played four of their first five on the road, have Holy Cross (10/12) and Lehigh (10/26) next up on the ledger. 
    Junior dual-threat QB C.J. Montes, a preseason Third-Team All-American, has missed the last two games due to injury. Classmate Jack Capaldi has stepped in, completing 41-of-86 for 449 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Senior Julius Loughridge has done the bulk of the running, averaging 108.8 yards per game. He had 24 carries for 97 yards and a pair of touchdowns at Monmouth. 
    Defensively, Fordham relies on fifth year LB Mike Courtney (31 T, 1.5 TFL) and 2024 Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Matt Jaworski (24 T, 5.5 TFL) to lead the unit. The Rams have played without senior LB James Conway, a 2023 All-Patriot League selection who had 129 tackles.
    Joe Conlin (Pittsburgh '02) is in his seventh season on the Fordham sidelines.