Football | 9/6/2017 8:48:00 AM

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football team (1-0 overall) has its sights set on a 2-0 start but the 18th-ranked Indianapolis (1-0 overall) program comes in confident after winning its season-opener over Grand Valley State.

GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State welcomes Indianapolis to Tom Adams Field this Saturday for the home opener.  The Greyhounds are making their first visit to Detroit since 2010 when they were members of the GLIAC.  Both teams are looking to improve to 2-0 and take early control of the GLIAC and GLVC conferences, respectively.  The Warriors have won back-to-back season openers (2016 and 2017) after falling in four consecutive openers (2012-15).  Paul Winters is 7-7 in season openers in his 14 years at the helm of the Wayne State program.

SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS
Indianapolis shocked Division II with a 24-20 win over No. 2 Grand Valley State on August 31.  The Greyhounds bludgeoned the Lakers by running the ball 55 times for 326 yards.  UIndy moved into the AFCA Coaches Poll (18th) after the win over GVSU.  UIndy was fourth in the GLVC a year ago with a 6-5 overall record and a 5-3 mark in conference play.  The four-time GLVC Champions return 14 starters this year, including first-team All-Conference running back Andrew Walker, who enters tonight's game with 2,776 career rushing yards – 1,035 shy of the school record.  Head coach Bob Bartolomeo is in his eighth season at the helm of the Greyhounds with a 59-23 record.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails the all-time series with a 10-11 record against Indianapolis.  The teams last met in 2011 in Indiana.  The former GLIAC program is 7-3 overall at Tom Adams Field, but the Warriors have won the last five meetings.  Head coach Paul Winters is 6-2 against UIndy in his time with the Warriors.  The first meeting was in 1973 when Indianapolis was known as Indiana Central.  The sides have played two overtime games (1999 and 2004).  The 2004 contest was Coach Winters' first victory at Wayne State.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State scored a touchdown on its final four possessions of the first half to lead 28-3 at intermission in a 28-9 triumph against former GLIAC rival Walsh last Saturday afternoon at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

After punting on its first possession, the Warriors defense forced a fumble on Walsh's fourth play from scrimmage with defensive tackle Justin Hollins recovering at the Cavalier 22.  On the second play of the ensuing drive, quarterback D.J. Zezula, making his 22nd consecutive start, found tight end Preston Pelham for a 23-yard scoring strike.  Kicker Paul Graham connected on his first PAT since the 2015 season finale at Hillsdale due to missing last season with an injury.

On the first play following a Walsh punt, Zezula found wide receiver Darece Roberson, Jr.  behind the Cavalier defense for a 60-yard touchdown pass.  It was the second straight year that Roberson had caught a touchdown pass in the opening game of the season.

Walsh's Kasey Tingler connected on a 41-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the opening stanza.

The Warriors drove 71 yards in 15 plays following the kickoff with Roberson hauling in a three-yard TD pass on a third-and-goal.  It was the fourth consecutive third down conversion on the drive.

The Cavaliers had a nine-play drive but turned the ball over on downs at the WSU three-yard line.  After five offensive plays for the Warriors plus three penalties on WSU and one infraction on Walsh, Wayne State had a second-and-20 from the WSU 15.  Running back Deiontae Nicholas took a jet sweep hand off, managed to stay in bounds along the Warrior sideline, refused to be pushed out of bounds and cut back for an 85-yard touchdown run on the last play of the first half.  It was Nicholas' second career touchdown run of at least 85 yards and concluded a 97-yard scoring drive.

The only points of the second half was a 10-yard run by Walsh's Byron King on the third drive of the third period.  Tingler's PAT kick was wide right.

AN EXPLOSIVE BACKFIELD
Romello Brown's 6.10 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 10.09 yards per rush for his 67 career attempts, which is currently tops in program history.  At Walsh, Nicholas touched the ball nine times (five receptions and four carries) and finished with 174 all-purpose yards, including an 85-yard dash to close out the first half.

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), 14-8-0, .636 
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 jsut before intermission.

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 3,066 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.

Junior quarterback D.J. Zezula surpassed the 4,000-yard plateau of total offense by compiling 185 yards (149 passing, 36 rushing) at Walsh.  He moved past Mark Friday into seventh place on the all-time list, and needs just 86 yards to move into fifth place ahead of Joe Gough (4,204) and Jason Charron (4,266).

100 YEARS OF WSU ATHLETICS
The Wayne State University Athletics Department will soon be celebrating 100 years. Join us for our 100 year kickoff event on Sept. 16th featuring a parade of former student-athletes, football tailgate and game versus Saginaw Valley State.

COLLEGIATE DEBUTS
Of the 47 players who saw action for the Warriors at Walsh, seven were making their collegiate debut (Tyler Blaszczak, DaVarie Halliburton, Taylor McCarty, Lane Potter, Justin Rau, Quentin Taylor, and Ray'Jon Williams-Jackson).  Both Potter and McCarty are true freshmen.  Three others made their WSU debut (Samson Tai, Malcolm Williams and Keith Love).

Of the 10 players dressed who did not play, only four have played in previous seasons for the Green & Gold.

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 entered 2017 tied-for-28th among all active DII football head coaches with 76 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 64-40 mark over the last 104 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 continued during the season opener as WSU outscored Walsh 28-3 in the opening half but wa soutscored 6-0 after halftime.

TURNOVER MARGIN SUCCESS
Wayne State improved in several areas last season, but perhaps the most important is in the turnover margin department.  The Warriors were +5 in 2016 (19 takeaways and 14 giveaways) compared to a -9 mark in 2015 (23 giveaways and 14 takeaways).

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 (2008-16) to a 35-14 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 45-27 (.625) at home. WSU is 29-11 at home this decade and carries a 213-212-19 all-time record at home in the first 99 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 50-32 (.609) 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 signed to the Cowboys' practice squad on Monday.  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 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.

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.