DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football program 1-2 overall, 0-1 GLIAC) aims to avoid a three-game losing streak as the Warriors travel to take on unbeaten Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (3-0 overall, 0-0 GLIAC) on Saturday afternoon. WSU will be making its first trip to University Center, Mich. since 2012. The Cardinals have visited Detroit each of the last three meetings.
SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
Saginaw Valley State won its first three contests against non-conference opponents, averaging 35.7 points per game, which ranks second in the GLIAC. The Cardinals edged Truman State, 21-20, last week at Wickes Memorial Stadium. Head coach Jim Collins is in his 11th season leading the SVSU football program. Junior quarterback Ryan Conklin has become a dangerous offensive threat, completing over 65 percent of his passes for six touchdowns and 685 yards, while throwing just one interception.
SVSU relies on a trio of running backs to establish the run. Senior running back Jermaih Johnson leads the team with 143 rushing yards (47.7 per game) and a score, while sophomore Nate McCrary has a team-best three rushing TDs and senior De'Juan James is averaging 41.7 yards per game and a team-high 5.2 yards per carry. Sophomore Chad Gailliard leads the league with 23 catches for 315 yards (105 yards per game) and four touchdowns. Defensively, senior linebacker Michael Alexander leads the unit with 21 tackles, while junior defensive tackle Heath Williams' seven tackles for loss (3.5 sacks) is tied for the most in the conference.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails 9-29-1 in the all-time series versus SVSU. The Warriors have won the last two meetings (41-31 in 2017 and 42-14 in 2016). WSU is 5-13-1 all-time on the road in the series and
Paul Winters is 3-7 against the Cards (1-3 on the road). The tie came on Nov. 10, 1979, in University Center when the teams both scored seven points.
LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State lost 30-21 against Ashland on Sept. 15th. The teams were tied 14-14 at halftime after redshirt sophomore
Jake AmRhein tossed touchdown passes to
Darece Roberson, Jr. and
Steven Glenn.
The Eagles scored 10 third-quarter points to lead 24-14 before AmRhein found Roberson again to bring the Warriors within three at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
However, a WSU fumble led to an AU field goal and the Green & Gold offense stalled as the visitors added another field goal for the 30-21 final.
QUARTERBACKS' FIRST START
Since 2002, the most passing yards in a first start by a WSU signal caller was 202 by James Phillips on Nov. 2, 2002, at Northwood until
Jake AmRhein passed for 211 yards plus three touchdowns last Saturday against Ashland.
MAKING THEIR DEBUTS
Of the 58 players who saw action for the Warriors vs. Walsh, 15 were making their collegiate debut (
Sean Banaszak,
Samari Dean,
Damani Green,
Avery Hall,
Tieler Houston,
Nick Isley,
Cameron Judge,
Cooper Kukal,
Jacob Mass,
Donte McClure,
Ryan Motala,
Nick Poterack,
Spencer Stephenson,
Reid Thompson and
Brandon Tuck-Hayden). Dean, Houston and Mass are true freshmen. Two others made their WSU debut (
Kenneth Cephus and
Shane Hynes). Plus
Ali Scheib who played four years of soccer at Michigan State made his collegiate football debut. Redshirt freshman
Joe Ziedas made his collegiate debut at Indianapolis.
EARLY SEASON SUCCESS
Since the start of the 2008 season, WSU has a 31-15 record for games played in August and September. The Warriors are 24-21 in October during that same time period, 12-11 in November and 2-1 in December.
A MATURING OFFENSIVE LINE
Going into the 2017 season, fans of Warrior football knew the offensive line was going to be a work in progress after losing 144 combined starts from the group of Robert Kelly (41), Nate Theaker (33),
Tommy Richardson (32), Andrew Zimmerman (21) and JT Pillars (17). The group of
Israel Helms (10),
Justin Tockstein (11),
Charlie Younger (11),
Lane Potter (11) and
Adam McJunkin (1) gained valuable experience since the 2017 season began with only three combined starts (all by then senior
Greg Webber). With the return of
Tommy Richardson and his 36 career starts, the 2018 offensive line now has 91 career starts.
TOM ADAMS HOME COOKING
Tom Adams Field is not an easy place to play for visiting programs. The Warriors have defended their home turf extremely well in the past 11 seasons (2008-18) to a 41-19 tune. WSU had a winning record at Adams Field for nine straight seasons, until a 2-4 record in 2017. In the Coach Winters' era, the Warriors are 48-32 (.600) in home games. WSU is 32-16 at Tom Adams Field this decade and carries a 216-217-19 all-time record at home in the first 101 years of the program as Detroit Junior College (1918-23), College of the City of Detroit (CCD / 1923-34), Wayne University (1934-56) and WSU (1956-present).
CONSISTENT LEADER
Paul Winters will become the longest tenured football coach in program history this fall as he is in his 15th season. He passed the founder of WSU athletics David Holmes in 2014 at 11 seasons (1918-28). Winters surpasses Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis, who held the post for 14 seasons (1932-45). Winters enters the SVSU contest tied-for-31st among all active DII football head coaches with 82 wins. The game at Ferris State on Sept. 30, 2017, was his 150th as the Warrior head coach. Gembis (101) and Holmes (80) are second and third in career games coached.
LAST 100-PLUS GAMES
Wayne State has compiled at least a .500 season in eight of the last 10 years (2008-17) combining for a 69-48 mark over the last 117 games. Prior to Coach Winters arrival in 2004, the Tartars/Warriors had 10 consecutive losing seasons on the field and only one winning season on the field in 19 years.
QUARTERBACK WIN TOTALS
In baseball, the starting pitcher gets a win for going at least five innings so we thought we would take a look at the best win totals for WSU starting quarterbacks since 1959 (except 1980-81). The same rules from baseball apply here -- the QB that was in when the winning points were scored received the decision.
Keeping with the baseball theme,
D.J. Zezula earned a "save" in the win over Walsh.
1. Mickey Mohner (2009-12), 30-15-0, .667
2. Ed Skowneski (1972-75), 20-12-0, .625
3. D.J. Zezula (2015-SA), 15-14-0, .517
Jim Gendron (1976-78), 15-7-0, .682
5. Mark Friday (1991-93), 13-13-0, .500
6. A.J. Vaughn (1965-67), 8-5-0, .615
7. Trent Pohl (2006-07), 8-10-0, .444
Richard Popp (1983-86), 8-15-1, .354
9. Kevin Smith (2008), 7-2-0, .778
Carl Roscoe (2012-15), 7-7-0, .500
Anthony Frederick (1992, 94-95), 7-12-0, .368
Michael Gluski (1994-95, 97-98), 7-16-0, .304
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Dakota Kupp (2016-SA), 4-1, .800
Jake AmRhein (2017-SA), 0-1, .000
WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 22 of its last 26 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the 2018 season-opener over Walsh, where the Warriors totaled 237 yards on the ground. The first three setbacks when accomplishing the feat came in 2016-at Ashland, where the Warriors ran for exactly 200 yards in a losing effort; at Ferris State; at Ohio Dominican when WSU ran for 242 yards; and at UIndy on Sept. 8th where the Green & Gold compiled 202 yards on the ground. During the last seven-plus seasons (2011-18), Wayne State is 32-8 when rushing for 200 yards, including a 13-6 mark on the road. Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 51-17 under those parameters, including a 32-5 mark at home.
VERSATILE THREAT
Junior wideout
Darece Roberson, Jr. caught two touchdown passes against the Eagles on Sept. 15th, bringing his career total to 10, which ranks the Muskegon native tied-for-10th all-time in program history. In addition, he tallied 118 kickoff return yards and 22 punt return yards, along with 57 receiving yards to finish with a game-high 197 all-purpose yards.
NCAA STATS REPORT
Wayne State ranks second in both passing yards allowed per game (95.3) and fewest penalties per game (3.0), fifth in fewest penalties (9), 15th in tackles for loss allowed per game (3.67), 31st in first down defense (42), 32nd in total defense (290.7) and 36th in scoring defense (19.3).
DaVarie Halliburton and
Spencer Stephenson are tied-for-18th with one fumble recovery each.
Darece Roberson, Jr. ranks 21st with three receiving touchdowns and 34th in combined kick return yards (213), while
Leon Eggleston ranks 48th with 1.7 tackles for loss per game.
16-GAME SEASON
In the 45-year history of NCAA Division II football, the 2011 Warrior squad is the only team to play a 16-game schedule.
WINNINGEST MICHIGAN FOOTBALL PROGRAMS
Over the last decade, Wayne State ranks sixth among all Michigan football programs in winning percentage (both regular season and playoffs). Meanwhile, the 69 wins rank fifth (Michigan has 76 victories).
1. Grand Valley State, 104-26 / .800
2. Michigan State, 94-40 / .701
3. Ferris State, 80-40 / .667
4. Adrian, 68-37 / .648
5. Hillsdale, 69-46 / .600
6. Wayne State, 69-48 / .590
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Demetrius Stinson became the 12th running back in school history to surpass the 2,000-yard rushing total with his 81 yards vs. Walsh. His career total is at 2,176 following the Ashland contest, which ranks 11th all-time. Stinson has his sights set on 10th place (2,404) and ninth place (2,415).
LEON WILL SEE YOU IN THE BACKFIELD NOW
Leon Eggleston had a team-high eight tackles, including four for loss (-11 yards) as the Warrior defense limited Walsh to 155 yards of total offense. His first TFL came with WSU leading 3-0 on a third-and-one at the Walsh 44 (-2 yards); he had a two-yard TFL on the next series on the play following Walsh's deepest penetration of the game (WSU 39); he combined with
Derrick Coleman on a six-yard sack on third-and-nine on the drive after WSU took a 10-0 lead; on Walsh's first drive of the second half, Eggleston combined with
Kyle Toth for a three-yard TFL on second-and-10. He continued to lead the defense with seven tackles at UIndy. Eggleston added a TFL during the Ashland game to bring his season total to five, which is tied-for-fourth in the GLIAC.
