Football | 11/8/2017 1:00:00 PM

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football program (4-6, 3-5 GLIAC) will end the 2017 season on the road at Davenport (1-9, 0-8 GLIAC) on Saturday with kickoff slated for noon.

GAME STORYLINES
It looked as though Wayne State was going to give its seniors a comfortable victory on Saturday after the Warriors led 20-0 midway through the second quarter.  However, Northern Michigan battled back to take the lead late in the third period.  The fourth Paul Graham field goal and a solid fourth quarter defense allowed WSU to earn the 26-24 victory.  The Green & Gold have its sights set on ending the season with a road victory at Davenport.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
In its first season in the GLIAC, Davenport has gone through some growing pains, going 1-9 overall.  The Panthers are still searching for their first league victory after failing on eight previous attempts.  Head coach Sparky McEwen is in his first season with DU after serving as an assistant coach at Ferris State for five seasons.  Three quarterbacks have seen significant time but junior Haiden Majewski has started the last four games throwing for 387 yards and four touchdowns.  Junior William Gist has rushed for a team-best 330 yards, while sophomore Nate Couturier leads the team with 19 catches for 215 yards.  On defense, the Panthers rely on sophomore linebacker Kye Black who leads the roster with 82 total tackles, including 16 for loss and six sacks.  Sophomore cornerback Brian Williams is tied for the league lead with five interceptions.

ALL-TIME SERIES
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs as Davenport began playing football in 2016.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Wayne State has played the second toughest schedule nationally up to this point of the 2017 season.  The Warriors past opponents have combined for a .612 winning percentage (52-33).  Overall (including the final regular-season game), WSU's schedule is the 14th toughest in Division II with all 11 opponents winning 56 percent of their games.

PAUL'S BIG DAY
Paul Graham made all four field goal attempts against Northern Michigan, including the game-winner in the fourth quarter.  The four field goals made are one shy of the school record set in 1980, and equaled the second-best total by David Chudzinski in 2008.  Graham also made both PAT attempts to finish with 14 kicking points, one shy of the 15 set by Carey Starnes in 1980 vs. Towson State.  Graham is the active leader among all NCAA kickers (FCS, FBS, II and III) in terms of field goal percentage with at least 17 made (29-of-32 for .906). 

GAME-WINNING DEFENSE
Myron Riley made four solo tackles in the win over Northern Michigan, including one for loss.  His TFL, which led to a punt, came on a second-and-10 from the WSU 34 in the third quarter with Wayne State holding a 20-10 lead.  His interception came in the final 30 seconds of the contest and on NMU's first play after crossing midfield. 

JUSTIN ON THE SPOT
Justin Hollins has three career fumble recoveries, all this season which has him one shy of the single-season school record of four accomplished seven times.  He is tied-for-35th in school history with the career record of eight fumble recoveries set by Joe Golaszewski (1989-92).

TOUGH SLEDDING
As the end of the season approaches, Wayne State continues to be decimated by injuries.  Two All-Region players in guard Tommy Richardson and all-purpose back Deiontae Nicholas have been on the sidelines.  Richardson has missed all 10 games this year, while Nicholas has missed the last six-and-a-half contests.  Three All-GLIAC players in defensive ends Jake Carrizales and Derrick Coleman, and cornerback James Howard have also missed time.  Carrizales has not dressed for a game this year.  Coleman did not dress against Grand Valley State, while Howard did not dress at Tiffin.  All told, WSU has lost 136 man-games due to injury.  That is over 13.5 injured players per game that were unable to dress.

LOOKING AHEAD
In 2018, Wayne State is slated to return nine starters on offense and eight starters on defense.  The group of returnees will be bolstered by the addition of All-Region caliber performers in guard Tommy Richardson, running back Deiontae Nicholas and defensive end Jake Carrizales.

Both Richardson and Carrizales were injured during August camp and did not dress for a game in 2017, while Nicholas was injured in the first half of game four.  

Of the 110 starts on offense this year, 86 will return (the 24 lost will be 10 for Romello Brown, nine by Greg Webber and five for Manny Mendoza).  Seventeen different players have combined for the 86 returning starts on offense, including four wide receivers, six offensive linemen, two tight ends, one fullback, two running backs and two quarterbacks. 

Of the 110 starts on defense, 76 will return with 34 being lost to graduation (10 for Dustin Carlin, nine for James Howard, eight for Ronny Brant II, four by Blake Mazur and three by LaMonte Baker).  Six players with starts on the defensive line will return in 2018, along with four linebackers and six players in the secondary.

ROAD WOES
Dating back to 2004, Wayne State is 33-44 on the road (including neutral site contests).  However, the Warriors could finish with a winning record on the road for the first time since 2014 (3-2), and for the sixth time under Winters, with a win on Saturday at Davenport.  WSU won its last away contest, 20-14, at Michigan Tech.

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, Lane Potter, Reagan Kropp and Adam McJunkin is gaining valuable experience since starting the year with only three combined starts (all by Webber).

NATIONAL RANKINGS
In the weekly NCAA Football stats report for Division II, Wayne State is fifth nationally in fewest penalties per game (3.90 per game) and eighth in fewest penalty yards per game (39.10 yards per game).

As a team, WSU is 13th nationally in time of possession (33:01), 25th in both fumbles recovered (10) and kickoff returns (23.25 yards per return), 26th in fewest passes had intercepted (6), 30th in fewest tackles for loss allowed (4.90 per game), 34th in fourth-down percentage defense (35.7 / 5-of-14), 38th in red zone offense (85.2 percent / 23-of-27 / 14 touchdowns plus nine field goals), 45th in fewest sacks allowed (1.50 per game), 46th in third-down conversion percentage (42.0 / 63-of-150), 48th in punts blocked (1), and 49th in rushing offense (184.6 yards per game).

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 10 seasons (2008-17) to a 40-18 tune.  WSU had a winning record at home for the past nine seasons, including a 5-1 mark in 2016, until this year's 2-4 record.  In the Coach Winters' era, the Warriors are 47-31 (.602) at home.  WSU is 31-15 at home this decade and carries a 215-216-19 all-time record at home in the first 100 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).

PLAYING RANKED OPPONENTS
Since the 2004 season when Coach Winters took over, Wayne State is 10-29 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 an eight-game losing streak against ranked teams on Oct. 28th vs. Ashland.

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 has matched Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis, who holds the WSU record with 14 seasons (1932-45).  Winters enters Saturday's contest tied-for-30th among all active DII football head coaches with 80 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.

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 67-46 mark over the last 113 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.

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
Romello Brown's streak of not reaching 100 rushing yards ended at six games at Michigan Tech; 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 rushed for over 100 yards in 15 of those 20 games.  He totaled 113 yards on 25 carries and helped WSU secure the victory at MTU with 10 carries on the final drive.  Brown collected his third 100-yard game of the season in the win over NMU with 116 yards on 25 attempts.

BIG PLAY RAY
Ray'Jon Williams-Jackson had more catches in the Northern Michigan game (nine for 153 yards) than his previous career total (eight for 55 yards).  The 153 receiving yards against the Wildcats by Williams-Jackson was the most by a Warrior since Jamel Hicks had five receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the 2016 opener at Northwood.  Eight of his nine receptions went for first downs.  After not having a reception for more than 17 yards this season, Williams-Jackson had four catches in the win over NMU of at least 18 yards, with two of his receptions coming on third-and-eight and third-and-seven and both leading to field goals.

MAKING THE MOST
Senior linebacker Dustin Carlin, who has started all 10 games this season, has recorded 42 tackles this year (22-20) after notching 38 tackles (22-16) in his first three seasons for the Green and Gold.  Senior defensive tackle LaMonte Baker has all 12 of his career tackles (9-3) in 2017.  Junior defensive end Derrick Coleman has totaled 37 stops (26-11) this year after tallying a then career-best 23 tackles (15-8) a year ago.

RED ZONE OFFENSE
When presented with the opportunity to put points on the scoreboard, Wayne State has capitalized.  The Warriors rank 38th in all of Division II football and third in the GLIAC in red zone offense, scoring 23 times in 27 opportunities this season when getting inside the 20-yard line.  WSU has seven passing TDs, seven rushing scores and nine field goals in its 27 trips to the red zone.

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 19 of its last 22 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the win over NMU where the Warriors totaled 243 yards on the ground.  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 six seasons (2012-17), Wayne State is 28-7 when rushing for 200 yards, including a 12-4 mark on the road.  Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 47-16 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 a negative 47 yards. 

FOOTBALL BANQUET
The 2017 football banquet will be held on Dec. 10, 2017, at the Westin Southfield.  You may sponsor a player(s) by contributing $30, which is a tax-deductible gift to WSU Football.  For more information, please contact Justin Munson at (313) 577-1501.