DETROIT -- The Wayne State University football team (2-7 overall, 1-5 GLIAC) will conclude its home season on Saturday afternoon by hosting Northern Michigan (2-7 overall, 0-6 GLIAC) at 1:00 p.m.

GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State hosts Northern Michigan for the 2018 home finale on Saturday and the Warriors are looking to carry the momentum from topping Northwood 55-21 two weeks ago and nearly upsetting second-ranked Ferris State on the road last Saturday.  A win would give WSU a 3-3 record at home.  The program will honor the 15 seniors prior to kickoff in their final contest at Tom Adams Field.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Northern Michigan enters Saturday's game at 2-7 overall and still searching for its first league victory.  The Wildcats are coming off a 35-33 setback in the Miner's Cup against Michigan Tech in Marquette.  Head coach Kyle Nystrom is in his second season leading the NMU football program.  Sophomore quarterback Latrell Giles has thrown for 810 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, while completing 53.7 percent of his passes.  Senior running back Jake Mayon leads the GLIAC in rushing at 1,232 yards and just broke the school record for career rushing yards at 3,947 yards.  He has found the end zone 12 times on the ground this season and 36 times in his career.  Mayon needs 237 yards to set the school's single-season rushing mark of 1,469.  Redshirt freshman Benjamin Loutsis is the team's leading receiver in terms of catches at 21 and receiving touchdowns at four, while sophomore Ravon Johnson has a team-best 395 receiving yards.  Junior safety Troy Mayon leads the team with 68 tackles.  As a team, NMU is scoring 27.8 points per game and allowing 29.8.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails 14-17 in the all-time series versus Northern Michigan, but has a 9-6 mark at home.  The Warriors have won each of the last two meetings, both coming in Detroit.  Head coach Paul Winters is 6-5 versus NMU in his time at Wayne State, including a 5-1 mark at Adams Field.  The teams began playing in 1957 and met as GLIAC counterparts for the first time in 1988.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State battled #2-Ferris State all game long but eventually ran out of gas as the Bulldogs won 38-28 in Big Rapids.  FSU scored first to lead 7-0 but the teams traded touchdowns until the Warriors trailed by three at halftime, 24-21.  James Hills found the end zone from three yards out to put the visitors on top 28-24 with 12:32 left to play in the third quarter.

However, Ferris State answered with two scoring drives to end the contest and win by 10.

Hill rushed for a team-high 64 yards on 21 attempts with two touchdowns, while DeOntay Moffett added 33 yards on the ground and one score.  Jake AmRhein was 16-of-29 for a career-high 262 yards and one touchdown with one interception.  Darece Roberson, Jr. had a game-high 134 receiving yards on his five catches, including a TD.

Kyle Toth and Anthony Pittman both tallied nine tackles, while Toth and Greg McDade both were able to intercept FSU's Jayru Campbell.

SENIOR DAY
Wayne State will recognize 15 senior members of its football squad on Saturday.  Both Shane Hynes (Kent State) and Ali Scheib (Michigan State soccer) joined the team this year as graduate transfers.  Corey Ester, Randy Garvin, Paul Graham, Presto Pelham, and Tommy Richardson are graduate students, while the fifth-year seniors include Derrick Coleman, Drew Dowding, Israel Helms, Anthony Pittman, Logan Smith and Devyn Manson.  Samson Tai and Malcolm Williams both joined the Warriors as a junior college transfers in 2017.  Two other seniors are slated to return in 2019.  Adam McJunkin has used two playing seasons among his first eight full-time semesters, while senior Deiontae Nicholas, who will be receiving a medical redshirt for 2018, will also return in 2019 as a graduate student since he will be earning his bachelor's degree in December.

KICKING HIS WAY INTO THE RECORD BOOKS
Paul Graham has moved into sixth place in career scoring, second among kickers, with 227 points on 116 PATs and 37 field goals.  His 116 PATs rank second in program history behind Stefan Terleckyj's 169, while his 95.9 PAT percentage is second behind Terleckyj's 98.3.  In addition, Graham has made 37 field goals, which is two behind Terleckyj's school mark of 39.  Graham's 86.0 career field goal percentage is the best mark in WSU history, with Terleckyj's 68.4 (39-of-57) ranking second.

In 2014, Graham scored a season-high 12 points in Marquette on 3-of-3 PATs and 3-of-3 field goals, including a career-long 47-yard attempt in the Superior Dome.  The following year, Graham scored eight points against the Wildcats with two made field goals (a season-high) and two PATs.  After missing the 2016 campaign, Graham scored a career-high 14 points in last year's victory over Northern Michigan on two PATs and 4-of-4 field goals, including a 38-yard attempt.  His fourth quarter field goal was the difference in the 26-24 win.

A MATURING OFFENSIVE LINE
Going into the 2017 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 (10), Justin Tockstein (11), Charlie Younger (11), Lane Potter (11) and Adam McJunkin (1) gained valuable experience since the 2017 season began with only three combined starts (all by then senior Greg Webber).  With the return of Tommy Richardson and his 41 career starts, the 2018 offensive line now has 120 career starts.

CONSISTENT LEADER
Paul Winters has become the longest tenured football coach in program history this fall as he is in his 15th season.  He passed the founder of WSU athletics David Holmes in 2014 at 11 seasons (1918-28).  Winters surpassed Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis, who held the post for 14 seasons (1932-45).  Winters enters the Northern Michigan contest ranked 33rd among all active DII football head coaches with 83 wins.  The game at Ferris State on Sept. 30, 2017, was his 150th as the Warrior head coach.  Gembis (101) and Holmes (80) are second and third in career games coached.

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 23 of its last 28 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the 2018 season-opener over Walsh, where the Warriors totaled 237 yards on the ground and vs. Northwood when WSU rushed for 399 yards.  The first three setbacks when accomplishing the feat 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.

Twice this year WSU has lost when rushing for at least 200 yards - at UIndy on Sept. 8th where the Green & Gold compiled 202 yards on the ground and Sept. 22 at Saginaw Valley.  During the last seven-plus seasons (2011-18), Wayne State is 33-9 when rushing for 200 yards, including a 13-7 mark on the road.  Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 52-18 under those parameters, including a 33-5 mark at home.

NCAA STATS REPORT
Wayne State ranks in the top 50 nationally in several categories.  The Warriors are fourth in fewest passing yards allowed per game (137.3), 11th in fewest penalties per game (4.56), 14th in total penalties (41), 24th in punt return average (14.08), 34th in blocked punts (1), 39th in fewest tackles for loss allowed per game (5.33), 41st in fewest fumbles lost (5), 42nd in passing yards per completion (13.82), and 49th in total defense per game (336.4).

Darece Roberson, Jr. is fifth in yards per reception (23.20), seventh in punt return touchdowns (1) and 41st in receiving touchdowns (7).  Paul Graham is 24th in Division II with a .750 field goal percentage.  Spencer Stephenson ranks 17th with two fumble recoveries. James Hills ranks 23rd in rush yards per carry (6.44) and 49th in rushing touchdowns (8), while DeOntay Moffett is 32nd with nine rushing TDs.  Jake AmRhein is 31st in passing yards per completion at 14.11.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
WSU is seventh this week by the NCAA in terms of toughest schedule with an opponent winning percentage of .632 (43-25 / Walsh 2-5, Indianapolis 6-1, Ashland 4-3, Saginaw Valley 5-3, Tiffin 8-0, Davenport 5-3, Michigan Tech 3-5, Northwood 2-5 and Ferris State 8-0).  The Warriors remaining opponents are 10-8 (.556) and WSU's composite schedule is seventh with a cumulative opposition record of 53-33 (.616).  

CLOSE CALLS
Wayne State was close in many contests this year.  In the loss against Ashland, the game was tied 14-14 at halftime, and the Warriors trailed 24-21 in the fourth quarter and had the ball.  In the setback at SVSU, WSU led 22-7 midway through the third period, and had a potential 32-yard game-winning field goal on the final play of regulation blocked.  Wayne State had a 14-7 lead over Davenport late in the first stanza, and despite trailing 21-14 in the second half, the Warriors had five consecutive non-scoring drives.  In the Oct. 13th defeat at Michigan Tech, WSU led 10-0 and later tied the contest at 20-20 midway through the fourth quarter.

NEAR UPSET
The Warriors gave second-ranked Ferris State one of its stiffest tests of the season last Saturday.  Wayne State led on three occasions (14-10, 21-17 and 28-24).  The 28 points is the second most that the Bulldogs have allowed in 2018 and the four-point lead WSU held at the 12:32 mark of the third quarter was the second-latest deficit that Ferris State has faced this season.  Prior to last weekend, FSU had scored at least the first 13 points in five of the first six games, including 28 or more points on three occasions.

HOME COOKING LEADS TO CAREER DAY
Junior wide receiver Darece Roberson, Jr. had his first career 100-yard receiving effort with five receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown last Saturday in Big Rapids near his hometown of Muskegon.  His first catch was a 42-yard touchdown reception which knotted the game at 7-7.  Roberson's 40-yard catch on the final play of the opening quarter gave the Warriors a first-and-goal at the FSU 1, with James Hill scoring on the next play to give WSU a 14-10 lead.  His acrobatic 39-yard reception on a third-and-five play led to another Hill touchdown run and a 28-24 Wayne State advantage.

900TH GAME
Wayne State played its 900th football game on Oct 13th.  The first contest was a 41-0 win on October 6, 1918, at Assumption (Ont.) College (became Assumption University in 1956).  The record by school names is Detroit Junior College (24-12-6), College of the City of Detroit (24-57-5). Wayne University (70-86-11) and WSU (261-339-7).

PARTICIPATION BREAKDOWN
Of the 70 players to participate this year for WSU, there were three true freshmen, 18 redshirt freshmen, two true sophomores, seven redshirt sophomores, one true junior, 22 redshirt juniors, one true senior, nine redshirt seniors and seven graduate students.