Football | 10/11/2017 9:41:00 AM

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football team (2-4, 1-3 GLIAC) will host Northwood (3-3, 1-3 GLIAC) on Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. in the 81st Homecoming game in program history.

GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State will need to win its Homecoming game to avoid its first four-game losing streak since 2013.  Beginning with this Saturday's contest, the Warriors play three of their next four games at home before finishing on the road.  The Green & Gold host Northwood on Homecoming for the seventh time and are 5-1 against the Timberwolves in those contests.  In the 80 previous Homecoming matchups, WSU is 43-36-1 dating back to the very first Homecoming game in 1935.

SCOUTING THE TIMBERWOLVES
Northwood enters Saturday's matchup at 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the GLIAC after winning its Homecoming game against Michigan Tech, 29-24, last weekend.  Head coach Leonard Haynes is in his third season with NU after serving as the interim head coach in 2015 and as an assistant coach with the program for nearly 20 years.  Sophomore quarterback Joe Garbarino has thrown for 354 yards on 55 attempts and just two touchdowns as the T-Wolves like to keep the ball on the ground.  Freshman Grant Dunatchik, the backup signal caller, has thrown the ball 47 times for 282 yards.  Six players have at least 100 rushing yards led by junior Dominick Giovinazzo with 215 yards.  Garbarino leads the team with four rushing scores.  Sophomore receiver John Hall has a team-high 11 catches.

On defense, sophomore linebacker Travis Wiltjer leads the team with 30 total tackles, while senior defensive end Charles Williams ranks in the league's top five with 7.5 tackles for loss.  As a team, NU is allowing 31.2 points and 376 yards per contest.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails 18-19 in the all-time series versus Northwood that began in 1975 when the GLIAC was formed.  Wayne State won the first five matchups and has taken six of the last eight meeting's, including the 2016 season opener, 28-3, in Midland.  The Warriors are 9-8 at home in the series and head coach Paul Winters is 6-6 against the Timberwolves in his time with WSU.

WORTH NOTING
D.J. Zezula ran for a career-best 69 yards against Grand Valley State, including his first rushing touchdown of the season.  Zezula had his 42nd career TD pass (in his 28th career game), which ranks second in school history behind Mickey Mohner's 55 touchdown passes (in 47 games) from 2009-12.

Zezula surpassed the 5,000-yard plateau (5,121) of total offense during the GVSU contest.  He moved past Michael Gluski (1994-98) into third place.  However, there is still quite a bit of work to be done to catch Joique Bell (7,008) and Mickey Mohner (7,186).

Demetrius Stinson continued to run well and collected his team-leading third rushing touchdown of the season vs. the Lakers.
In the GVSU contest, Manny Mendoza caught his second TD of the year and Darece Roberson collected his sixth receiving score of the season, which is tied for the league lead and ranks 16th nationally in receiving touchdowns (6).

Mendoza equaled a career-best with seven receptions last Saturday, while his 92 receiving yards were just 10 shy of his career-high set against Northwood in 2015.  Mendoza has at least one catch in 11 of the last 12 games he has played, and 20 of his last 22 contests.

After making 24 tackles (17-7) in the first four games, sophomore safety Kyle Toth had a game-high 16 tackles (9-7) at Ferris State, including a half-tackle for loss.  He also tied for a team-best with seven tackles (all solo) against GVSU.

Senior Romello Brown became just the fourth person in WSU football history to rush for over 3,000 career yards after gaining 113 yards in the win at Walsh.  Brown, with 3,363 career rushing yards, joins Joique Bell (6,728), Joe Gough (4,204) and Toney Davis (3,933) in that exclusive club.

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 nine seasons (2008-17) to a 36-16 tune.  WSU has had a winning record at home in each of the last eight seasons, including a 5-1 mark last season.  In the Coach Winters' era, the Warriors are 46-29 (.613) at home.  WSU is 30-13 at home this decade and carries a 214-214-19 all-time record at home in the first 99-plus 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).

TOUGH SLEDDING
With the midpoint of the season in the rear-view mirror, Wayne State has been decimated by injuries.  Two All-Region players in guard Tommy Richardson and all-purpose back Deiontae Nicholas did not dress last Saturday.  Richardson has missed all six games this year, while Nicholas has missed the last two-and-a-half contests.  Two All-GLIAC players in defensive end Jake Carrizales and cornerback James Howard have also missed time.  Carrizales has not dressed for a game this year, while Howard did not dress at Tiffin.  All told, WSU has already lost 69 man-games due to injury.  That is over 11 injured players per game that were unable to dress.

A YOUNG OFFENSIVE LINE
Going into the 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, Justin Tockstein, Charlie Younger, Greg Webber and Lane Potter is gaining valuable experience since starting the year with only three combined starts (all by Webber).

PLAYING RANKED OPPONENTS
Since the 2004 season when Coach Winters took over, Wayne State is 10-27 versus ranked opponents.  The last time the Warriors knocked off a top-25 program was when WSU topped Carson-Newman 41-31 on Sept. 4, 2014.  Five of those 10 victories came in 2011 as Wayne State won four road playoff contests en route to the title game.  The Green & Gold were unable to end a seven-game losing streak against ranked teams last week vs. Grand Valley State.
 
LAST 100-PLUS GAMES
Wayne State has compiled at least a .500 season in eight of the last nine years (2008-17) combining for a 65-44 mark over the last 109 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.

CONSISTENT LEADER
Paul Winters is tied for the longest tenured football coach in program history this fall with 14 seasons.  He passed the founder of WSU athletics David Holmes in 2014 at 11 seasons (1918-28).  Winters matches Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis, who holds the WSU record with 14 seasons (1932-45).  Winters enters tonight's game 30th among all active DII football head coaches with 78 wins. The game at Ferris State on Sept. 30th was his 150th as the Warrior head coach.  Gembis (101) and Holmes (80) are second and third in career games coached.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
Romello Brown's streak of not reaching 100 rushing yards is at five games; the longest of his career except for his first seven collegiate games.  Beginning with the Sept. 26, 2015, contest at Northwood through the 2017 season opener at Walsh, Brown had rushed for over 100 yards in 15 of those 20 games.

STRONG CONNECTIONS
Junior quarterback D.J. Zezula has several weapons on the roster and he
has used those weapons to move up within the program record books.  
Below are QB to WR touchdown totals (since 1991).
1.     Mickey Mohner to Troy Burrell -- 24
2.     Jason Charron to Pierre Brown -- 22
3.     Michael Gluski to Jimmy Hill -- 18
4.     D.J. Zezula to Jamel Hicks -- 11
5.     Carl Roscoe to Michael Johnson -- 10
        Dan Gray to Pierre Brown -- 10
7.     Dan Gray to Brandon Brown -- 9
        Richard Brown to Elbert Richmond -- 9
9.     Anthony Frederick to Nick Bush -- 8
10.    Randy Hutchison to Nick Body -- 7
         D.J. Zezula to Manny Mendoza -- 7
         D.J. Zezula to Darece Roberson, Jr. -- 7
13.    D.J. Zezula to Deiontae Nicholas -- 4
         D.J. Zezula to Corey Ester -- 4

RED ZONE OFFENSE
When presented with the opportunity for six points, Wayne State has capitalized.  The Warriors lead all of Division II football in red zone offense, with a perfect 11-for-11 mark this season when getting inside the 20-yard line.

WSU has six passing TDs, four rushing scores and a field goal in its 11 trips to the red zone.

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 17 of its last 20 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the win over SVSU where WSU ran for 257 yards.  The only setbacks when accomplishing the feat all came in 2016-at Ashland, where the Warriors ran for exactly 200 yards in a losing effort; at Ferris State; and at Ohio Dominican when WSU ran for 242 yards.  During the past five-plus seasons (2012-17), Wayne State is 27-7 when rushing for 200 yards, including an 11-4 mark on the road.  Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 46-16 under those parameters, including a 27-6 mark at home.

Against GVSU, the Warriors would have finished with over 240 rushing yards if it was not for a bad snap on a punt, which accounted for negative 47 yards. 

WHERE TO WATCH AND LISTEN
If you are unable to make it to Tom Adams Field for one of the six home games this season, all home games are broadcasted live on Comcast CN 900 and also replayed at select times throughout the following week.  Fans can also watch on Warrior All-Access on a pay-per-view basis (24 hour pass) or select to purchase a monthly or year-long pass.  Joe Abramson, Rod Beard, Tony Ortiz and Kevin Brechmacher will bring you all the action from Midtown Detroit.

Sean Baligian and Josh Renel return to call the action for every game live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM & 101.5 FM).  The pregame show begins 15 minutes prior to kickoff for every road game and 30 minutes for home action.  Ashley Casavant will serve as the sideline reporter this season at all home games.  Former Warrior defensive back Ryan Oshnock will fill in for Renel for this Saturday's contest.

WINTERS ON WEDNESDAYS
Family, friends and fans can hear the inside scoop on WSU Football from head coach Paul Winters as Winters on Wednesdays returns to Tony V's for another season.  Rod Beard or Sean Baligian will serve as your host during the hour-long show that includes special interviews and segments plus student-athlete profiles.

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. 
1.    Mickey Mohner (2009-12), 30-15-0, .667 
2.    Ed Skowneski (1972-75), 20-12-0, .625 
3.    D.J. Zezula (2015-SA), 15-12-0, .556
      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