Football | 9/14/2017 8:52:00 AM

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football program (1-1, 0-0 GLIAC) will aim to rebound on Saturday against Saginaw Valley State (2-0, 0-0 GLIAC) at Tom Adams Field.

GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State looks to rebound after a heartbreaking 31-28 loss to No. 18 Indianapolis last time out.  The Greyhounds kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to hand the Warriors the defeat.  Saturday's contest marks the GLIAC opener for both teams and WSU aims for another winning record in the league, which the Green & Gold have accomplished in eight of the last nine seasons.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
Saginaw Valley State looks to build upon a 2016 campaign in which the Cardinals posted a 5-5 overall record and mark in GLIAC play.  SVSU is 2-0 to begin the 2017 campaign under  head coach Jim Collins, who is in his 10th season (54-47) at the helm.  After wins at Alderson Broaddus and vs. Walsh, SVSU visits Tom Adams Field looking to avenge a 42-14 defeat last season at the hands of the Warriors.  Sophomore signal caller Ryan Conklin is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes for 238.5 yards per game and five touchdowns.  Redshirt freshman Nate Moore is the team's leading rusher with 205 yards, while senior Alfonso Vultaggio has caught a team-high five passes.  Redshirt freshman Chad Gailliard has 158 receiving yards and two scores.  Junior Michael Alexander and senior Bryan Jones are a solid one-two punch at linebacker for SVSU.  Both have 12 total tackles to lead the defense.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails the all-time series 8-29-1 against Saginaw Valley State, dating back to 1976.  WSU won five of the first six meetings before the Cardinals won 26 of 27 from 1982 until 2009.  WSU is 3-16 at home in the series, including last season's 42-14 rout of SVSU.  Head coach Paul Winters is 2-7 is his time at WSU.  All but one of the 38 meetings have come as GLIAC opponents as the sides played twice in 1989, once as a non-conference matchup.

LAST TIME OUT
UIndy drove 76 yards in eight plays following the opening kickoff and took a 7-0 lead on a 10-yard run by Tyre Lee.

The Warriors knotted the game at 7-7 on the ensuing drive with a six-yard completion on fourth down by quarterback D.J. Zezula to sophomore wide receiver Darece Roberson, Jr.

After the WSU defense forced a three-and-out, Wayne State took a 14-7 advantage early in the second period on a 11-yard pass play from Zezula to running back Deiontae Nicholas on a third-and-goal play.

The last four full drives before intermission concluded with a punt.

The punt theme continued after halftime as both WSU and Indianapolis were forced to punt on their first drives of the third quarter.

On Wayne State's second possession of the third stanza, Jacob Schmatz made a diving interception after Zezula's pass bounced off a Warrior receiver.

UIndy signal caller Jake Purichia called his own number on a third-and-goal and barely crossed the goal line on the three-yard scoring play to even the game at 14-14.
Following another WSU punt, the Greyhounds took a 21-14 lead as Al McKeller scored on an eight-yard run to complete a nine-play, 72-yard scoring drive.

The Warriors rebounded with a scoring drive of their own.  Running back Demetrius Stinson scored on a one-yard plunge to complete the 10-play, 65-yard drive.  Zezula was 4-of-4 for 37 yards on the drive, while Stinson contributed five carries for 22 yards.

Indianapolis struck quickly to grab a 28-21 advantage as Purichia hooked up with Tuwan Payton on a 39-yard scoring pass on the fifth play of a 78-yard scoring drive.

The theme of "anything you can do, I can do better" continued as Wayne State engineered an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to knot the score at 28 with 5:06 remaining.  WSU was 3-of-3 on third down during the drive which concluded with a 27-yard touchdown reception by Corey Ester, his first touchdown catch since Oct. 31, 2015, against Findlay.

The Greyhounds drove into Warrior territory but McKeller was stuffed for a two-yard loss on fourth down.  Wayne State went three-and-out, but Payton aided the Warrior effort with a minus five yard punt return.

Indianapolis went 64 yards in the final 57 seconds, aided by a 46-yard completion by Purichia to Aaron Matio, along with a roughing the passer penalty on WSU.  Brad Schickel's field goal came after UIndy called timeout with 2.5 seconds left.

AN EXPLOSIVE BACKFIELD
Romello Brown's 6.03 yards per carry for a career is the third-highest by any WSU player with at least 75 rushing attempts behind Gary Baillargeon, who averaged 7.29 (166-1,210) in 1951-52 and Vic Zucco (6.41 / 165-1,057) in 1953-54.  

On the other end of the spectrum in terms of running style, Deiontae Nicholas is averaging 9.65 yards per rush for his 71 career attempts, which is currently tops in program history.  At Walsh, Nicholas touched the ball 10 times (five receptions, four carries and one kickoff return) and finished with 174 all-purpose yards, including an 85-yard dash to close out the first half.

LEAGUE OPENERS
In the Paul Winters era (since 2004), Wayne State is 5-8 in league opening games.  At Tom Adams Field, the Warriors are 8-5 in home league openers under Winters.

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.    Jim Gendron (1976-78), 15-7-0, .682 
4.    D.J. Zezula (2015-SA), 14-9-0, .609 
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

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 16 of its last 19 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the win over Walsh where WSU ran for 287 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 26-7 when rushing for 200 yards, including an 11-4 mark on the road.  Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 45-16 under those parameters, including a 26-6 mark at home.

SCORE FROM ANYWHERE
Last season, WSU tallied 35 touchdown drives of at least 60 yards, including nine over 80 yards.  The Warriors had three scoring drives of at least 60 yards at Walsh, including a 97-yard TD drive just before intermission.  Against UIndy, three of WSU's four scoring drives were over 60 yards. 

WORTH NOTING
Senior running back 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 3,111 career rushing yards, joins Joique Bell (6,728), Joe Gough (4,204) and Toney Davis (3,933) in that exclusive club.

Sophomore wide receiver Darece Roberson had two touchdown receptions in the season-opening win at Walsh increasing his career total to three.  His lone touchdown catch as a true freshman in 2016 came in the season-opening win at Northwood.  He added another TD catch against UIndy  and leads the league in that category.

Junior quarterback D.J. Zezula surpassed the 4,000-yard plateau (4,394) of total offense by compiling 185 yards (149 passing, 36 rushing) at Walsh.  He moved past Jason Charron (4,266) into fifth place on the all-time list with 213 yards (193 passing, 20 rushing) last week.

100 YEARS OF WSU ATHLETICS
On Saturday, the Wayne State University Athletics Department will becelebrating 100 years.  Some of the special events include a parade of former student-athletes, a special football tailgate.  For more information and to follow along all year long, log on to WSUAthletics.com/100Years.  There is also a list of the most memorable moments on the site.

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 Saturday's game ranked 27th among all active DII football head coaches with 77 wins.

LAST 100 GAMES
Wayne State has compiled at least a .500 season in eight of the last nine years (2008-16) combining for a 64-41 mark over the last 105 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.

FIRST HALF DOMINATION
Wayne State was at its best in the first 30 minutes of the game last season.  The Warriors outscored their opponents 114-35 in the first quarter and 216-99 during the first half.  However, on the other side of the coin, WSU only outscored its opponents 147-141 in the second half.  That trend continues into 2017 as WSU is outscoring opponents 42-10 in the first half.  However, Walsh and UIndy turned in stronger second halves, outscoring Wayne State 30-14.

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 35-15 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 45-28 (.616) at home.  WSU is 29-12 at home this decade and carries a 213-213-19 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).

DECADE TO REMEMBER
Wayne State has 50 wins this decade, which is the second most wins in program history behind the 55 wins from the 1970s (55-37-2 / .596).  WSU is 50-33 (.602) to give this decade the highest winning percentage of any full decade.

ANOTHER WARRIOR IN THE PROS
After an All-American career, Nate Theaker joined the Dallas Cowboys and looks to find a spot with the best offensive line unit in the NFL.  He was signed to the Cowboys practice squad at the end of August.  In his six years at Wayne State, he played in 42 career games out of 43 contests, making 33 starts.  The team captain was selected to the 2016 D2Football.com All-America First Team and the Don Hansen All-America Second Team as well as being named to the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team. Theaker was selected to the AFCA All-America First Team, voted to the D2CCA All-America First Team after receiving All-Super Region 4 First Team accolades, and was selected to the Associated Press Little All-America First Team for Division II, III and NAIA.  The White Lake native collected Don Hansen All-Super Region 4 First Team accolades, while being voted the GLIAC Offensive Lineman of the Year along with earning First Team All-GLIAC honors.

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 to prior to kickoff every road game and 30 minutes for home action.  Ashley Casavant will serve as the sideline reporter this season.  This week's pregame will be an hour long to profile the 100th anniversary of WSU Athletics.

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.