Football | 9/28/2017 12:16:00 PM

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football team (2-2, 1-1 GLIAC) will look to bounce back against 15th-ranked Ferris State (2-1, 1-1 GLIAC) on Saturday afternoon at Top Taggart Field at 3:00 p.m.

GAME STORYLINES
The Warriors will need to regroup after a disappointing loss at Tiffin last time out, falling 41-21 to the Dragons.  Wayne State will aim to get back on track at 15th-ranked Ferris State this weekend as FSU welcomes WSU for its Homecoming contest.  After the "Road Warriors" of 2011 where WSU went 8-1 on the road on its way to the National Championship game, the Green & Gold are 9-19 away from Tom Adams Field.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Ferris State dropped to 15th in the latest AFCA Coaches Poll after falling 20-3 at Ashland.  Head coach Tony Annese is in his sixth season with Ferris State and his 2-1 overall record in 2017 has pushed his career mark to 51-13.  The Bulldogs' offensive attack is led by their senior quarterback Reggie Bell, who is averaging 120 rushing yards per game and has thrown for 460 yards plus five touchdowns and zero interceptions.  He carries a 189.2 efficiency rating into this week's matchup.  Also in the backfield is senior running back Jahaan Brown who has rushed for 182 yards (60.7 per game).  FSU's top pass catcher is Malik Taylor, who has 16 receptions for 243 yards and a touchdown.

Senior defensive back Kenny James and senior linebacker Terrell Porter are tied for the team lead with 17 tackles each.  However, junior defensive end Zach Sieler should be who WSU coaches spotlight in gameday preparations as he was a Preseason All-American and finished with 29.5 tackles for loss last season and has four such tackels in 2017.  Ferris State leads the league and ranks sixth in the nation at 506.0 yards per game, including 286.3 yards on the ground, which ranks fourth nationally.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails the all-time series 22-27 against Ferris State, including a 9-13 mark in Big Rapids, Mich.  The two sides began playing in 1920 but first met as GLIAC counterparts in 1975, where the Bulldogs have won 23 of 36 conference matchups.  WSU does have a 13-14 mark in home games against FSU, while head coach Paul Winters is 2-5 (1-3 on the road) in his 13-plus seasons with the Green & Gold.

A SOLID SIGNAL CALLER
Junior D.J. Zezula has been an offensive threat this season, completing over 64 percent of his passes for 632 yards and 11 touchdowns with just two interceptions.  The Clarkston native ranks fifth nationally in passing efficiency (186.3 rating), ninth in passing touchdowns (11), 20th in points responsible for (68), 22nd in yards per pass attempt (9.03), 23rd in completion percentage (64 percent / 45-of-70) and 34th in passing yards per completion (14.04).  His 58.2 career completion percentage and 148.5 pass efficiency rating are the best marks in program history.  Zezula moved into second place on WSU's all-time passing touchdowns list with two TD throws at Tiffin which increased his career total to 39, trailing only Mickey Mohner (2009-12), who had 55 TD passes.

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
11.    D.J. Zezula to Manny Mendoza -- 6
         D.J. Zezula to Darece Roberson, Jr. -- 6
13.    D.J. Zezula to Deiontae Nicholas -- 4

TURNOVER MARGIN
Coming into the game at Tiffin, the Warriors were -1 in the turnover margin department but had four takeaways against the Dragons to improve to +1 on the season (seven takeaways, six turnovers).

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 has been strong despite only combining for three starts coming into 2017 (all by Webber).

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), 15-10-0, .600
       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

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.

PLAYING RANKED OPPONENTS
Since the 2004 season when Coach Winters took over, Wayne State is 10-25 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 will look to end a five-game losing streak against ranked teams on Saturday at Ferris State.

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 3,249 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, Jr. is ninth nationally in receiving touchdowns (5).

Junior quarterback D.J. Zezula is approaching the 5,000-yard plateau (4,720) of total offense.  He moved past Jason Charron (4,266) into fifth place on the all-time list with 213 yards (193 passing, 20 rushing) vs. Indianapolis and is 70 yards shy matching of fourth place, currently held by Ed Skowneski (1972-75) and 265 yards from moving into third place ahead of Michael Gluski (1994-98). 

100 YEARS OF WSU ATHLETICS
On Sept. 16, the Wayne State University Athletics Department began its celebration of 100 years.  Some of the special events included a parade of former student-athletes and 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 tied-for-28th among all active DII football head coaches with 78 wins.  Saturday's game will also be 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 nine years (2008-17) combining for a 65-42 mark over the last 107 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.

ALL-PURPOSE STARS
Several of WSU's offensive skill players can do a number of things well with the ball in their hands.  We all know about Romello Brown, the traditional straight-ahead running back that just moved into the top 10 in all-purpose yards with 3,330 (3,249 of that is rushing yards).  But a few other players have been a bit more diverse.  Deiontae Nicholas is just outside the top 20 (21st with 2,400) and has spread those yards out over rushing (781), receiving (508) and special teams (1,111).  At Tiffin, Nicholas returned five kickoffs for 116 yards to finish with a team-best 136 all-purpose yards and jump from 23rd to 21st in that category inside WSU's record book.

DECADE TO REMEMBER
Wayne State has 51 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 51-34 (.600) 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.  He was signed to the Cowboys practice squad at the end of August, but was released on September 19.  In the last week, he had tryouts with the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills.  In his six years at Wayne State, Theaker played in 42 career games out of 43 contests, making 33 starts.  A team captain, he was selected to the 2016 All-America First Teams by the AFCA, Associated Press "Little", D2Football.com and the D2CCA, while earning Second Team All-Ameriac accolades from the Don Hansen Football Gazette.  A GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team selection, Theaker was 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 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.

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.