• Game Notes (.pdf)

CAL U (6-2, 4-1) vs. #24/20 SLIPPERY ROCK (7-1, 4-1)
• When: Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013
• Where: Slippery Rock, Pa.
• Stadium: Mihalik-Thompson Stadium (10,000)
• Kickoff: 1 p.m.
• TV: CUTV (tape delay)
• Live Radio: WCAL (91.9 FM)
• Live Video:  WSRU-TV
• Live Stats: Fan Stats I Media Stats

SERIES BREAKDOWN
• All-Time Series: Slippery Rock leads 44-28-3
• First Meeting: 1919 - Cal U 7-0
• Last Meeting: Oct. 27, 2012 @ Cal U - Slippery Rock won 28-26
• Streak: Slippery Rock +2

CAL U NOTES
• The Vulcans continue their run of pivotal divisional games down the stretch, as they remain tied for first place in the PSAC West standings. Cal U cruised to a 35-7 victory over Gannon last Saturday, while Slippery Rock rolled to a 44-20 victory against Edinboro last weekend.

• The Vulcans rushed for a season-high 252 yards and scored 28-unanswered points last weekend in a 35-7 victory against Gannon, which entered the game tied for first place in the PSAC West standings. Junior Jeff Knox, Jr. finished with 102 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while freshman Nick Grissom rushed for a season-high 81 yards and a score. The Golden Knights were limited to a season-low 259 yards of total offense, which was over 200 yards below their season average. Senior Noah Taylor led the team with a career-high nine tackles, while classmate CJ Townes added eight stops and an interception.

• The Rock leads the all-time series that started in 1919 by a 44-28-3 margin. Cal U won seven of the eight meetings from 2003-10 before Slippery Rock won in both 2011 and 2012.

• The fourth-winningest active coach in NCAA Division II, Dr. George Mihalik is in his 26th year as head coach of The Rock. A 2012 inductee into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Western Chapter, he has posted a 174-104-4 record as a head coach. Mihalik was selected the PSAC West Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career in 2011 after leading Slippery Rock to an appearance in the PSAC Championship game.

• Slippery Rock returns 20 starters from last yearís team that finished 6-5 overall with only two losses in PSAC West play. The Rock boast one of the premier offenses in NCAA Division II this year, ranking among the top five in the country with 376.3 passing yards, 580.8 yards of total offense and 46.5 points per game. Senior quarterback Nigel Barksdale leads the PSAC with 348.8 passing yards per game and ranks eighth in the country with 23 touchdown passes. Senior wide receiver John Schademan ranks second in the league and among the top five in NCAA Division II with 1,012 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns this year. Junior Ken Amos has nearly totaled 600 receiving yards on 43 receptions, while sophomore Jaimire Dutrieuille has four touchdown receptions and averages over 18 yards per catch. The tandem of redshirt freshman Shamar Greene and junior transfer Teddy Blakeman has combined to rush for over 1,000 yards and Blakeman ranks third in the PSAC with 12 rushing touchdowns. Behind nine returning starters, Slippery Ranks ranks third in the league in both rushing defense and total defense this year. Junior defensive back Austin Miele leads the team with 61 tackles (36 solo), while adding 7.5 TFL and one interception. Senior linebacker Quindell Dean, an All-PSAC West selection last year, has 48 stops (28 solo) and 5.5 TFL, while classmate Tony Papley leads the team with a career-high 9.5 TFL. On special teams, senior James McCombie leads the PSAC and ranks sixth in NCAA Division II with a career-high 44.1 yards per punt.

• With two weeks left of divisional play, the Vulcans control their own fate in terms of reaching the PSAC Championship Game on Nov. 16. Cal U enters the weekend tied with Slippery Rock for first place in the PSAC West standings. The Rock has won four-consecutive league games after losing their divisional opener at Gannon, while the Vulcans have allowed only a combined 21 points in their last three league games after falling at IUP.

• Slippery Rock and Cal U were ranked fifth and eighth, respectively, in the initial Super Region One rankings released on Monday. The region enters Week 9 with three undefeated teams and two of those teams will face each other next Saturday. Super Region One consists of four conferences - PSAC, MEC (formerly WVIAC), CIAA and NE-10 - with no league earning automatic qualifiers to the post-season. The top-two teams in the final regional rankings receive first-round byes in the NCAA Playoffs, while the third and fourth seeds host opening-round games.

• For the first time since 2004, the Vulcans failed to earn at least a share of the top spot in the preseason PSAC West poll. Cal U was selected fourth in the league poll by the coaches after losing its last two divisional games in 2012. Meanwhile, Slippery Rock was picked to finish third in the division after winning four of its last five games.

• True freshman defensive back Aaron Terry set a season high with seven tackles (four solo) while making his third-straight start last week against Gannon. In the victory, the Maryland native also recorded his team-leading fourth interception of the season, which also ties him for first in the PSAC. The last time a freshman led the Vulcans in interceptions was 2006 when Terrence Johnson tied for the team lead with five.

• The Vulcans and The Rock have a combined five players on NFL rosters, including the last three players from the PSAC selected in the NFL Draft. Former Slippery Rock center Brandon Fusco has started all 23 games over the past two years with the Minnesota Vikings. Former Cal U All-American offensive linemen Eric Kush and Rishaw Johnson are both members of the Kansas City Chiefs, while Tommie Campbell is with the Tennessee Titans and James Nixon plays for the Green Bay Packers.

• Against IUP, sophomore Andrew Cerett recorded the longest punt in NCAA Division II this year at 79 yards. The distance ranks as the eighth-best punt in all NCAA divisions this year and is the longest by a Cal U punter in over a decade. Cerett led the PSAC in punting as a freshman and ranks third this season with a mark of 43.4 yards per punt.

• Sophomore quarterback James Harris has passed for over 900 yards and accounted for eight touchdowns (one rushing) since becoming the starter in Week 5. He has helped the offense average over 33.0 points in the last four games, which is an increase of nearly 10 points from the opening four weeks of the season. Harris, who played baseball at Wake Forest from 2011-13, has thrown for a pair of touchdowns three times in his four starts.

• Senior defensive lineman Noah Taylor led the team with a career-high nine tackles in last weekís victory over Gannon. He has posted a combined 16 stops in the last two games against the Golden Knights, highlighted by career highs of 2.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks last season. A product of Woodland Hills, Taylor leads the defensive front and ranks fourth on the team with a career-high 34 tackles (14 solo) in his first year as a starter. He has made at least four stops in each of the past four weeks, including 2.0 TFL at Seton Hill on Oct. 19.

• Junior running back Jeff Knox, Jr. posted the first 100-yard game by the Vulcans in over a calendar year during last weekís victory over Gannon. Over the last decade, Cal U has posted a 55-8 overall record (.873) when a player eclipses the century mark on the ground. The Vulcans have featured a 100-yard runner three times against Slippery Rock since 2004 (3-0).

• After starting only four games in 2012, Slippery Rock senior quarterback Nigel Barksdale has become one of the most dynamic players in the country this season. He helped lead The Rock to a 28-26 upset victory at then-No. 14 Cal U last season after posting 402 yards of total offense and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Barksdale also became the first quarterback to rush for over 100 yards against the Vulcans since the 2010 season-opener.

• In each of the last three weeks, Cal U has limited its opponents to only seven points. The Vulcans rank second in the PSAC and eighth in the country this year in scoring defense at 14.4 points per game, as only one opponent has scored more than 21 points this season. Under first-year defensive coordinator Mike Lopez, Cal U also leads the league and sits No. 10 in the nation in total defense at 298.0 yards per game.

• The Vulcans have averaged nearly 200 rushing yards and scored a combined seven rushing touchdowns during their current three-game win streak. Last week, Cal U posted a season-high 252 yards on the ground with junior Jeff Knox, Jr. and freshman Nick Grissom both establishing season-high totals. The Vulcans were limited to only 77.4 rushing yards per game and two rushing touchdowns through the opening five weeks of the year.