Football 9/5/2018 4:00:00 PM Cameron Weidenthaler, Assistant Media Relations Director

Football Hits the Road for Clash at #22 UIndy

DETROIT -- Wayne State will aim to bring momentum from a 31-0 season-opening win over Walsh at Tom Adams Field on the road when the Warriors face 22nd-ranked Indianapolis on Saturday night. Dating back to 2004, Wayne State is 34-44 on the road (including neutral site contests). However, the Warriors finished with a winning record on the road a year ago for the first time since 2014 (3-2), and for the sixth time under Winters.

SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS
After coming off its best season in program history, going 11-1 and falling in the first round of the NCAA DII playoffs, UIndy began the 2018 season with a marquee matchup at 10th-ranked Grand Valley State on Aug. 30. The Lakers controlled from start to finish, winning 30-7. Head coach Bob Bartolomeo is in his eighth season as the head man for the Hounds. Redshirt senior quarterback Jake Purichia went 11-of-20 for 93 yards, while throwing an interception and running for 53 yards during his season debut after completing 68 percent of his passes for 2,738 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2017. Sophomore running back Al McKeller gained 58 yards and found the end zone. McKeller also led the team with 37 receiving yards, including a 38-yard catch. Redshirt junior tight end Danny Annee, freshman running back Toriano Clinton and senior wide receiver Malik Higgins each caught two passes.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State trails 10-12 in the all-time series against Indianapolis, but the Warriors have won five of the last six meetings. UIndy won last year's contest 31-28 with a field goal as time expired at Tom Adams Field. WSU has won five straight contests at UIndy, including head coach Paul Winters' first victory in the Green & Gold (2004) and a game where Joique Bell chased down a Greyhound nearly 100 yards and tackled the ball carrier on a failed two-point conversion in 2009. WSU is 7-4 all-time at Key Stadium.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State pitched its first shutout in nearly seven years (79 games / Sept. 10, 2011 vs. Tiffin , 55-0) and the Warrior offense scored 21 fourth quarter points en route to a 31-0 season opening triumph over visiting Walsh on Aug. 30 at Tom Adams Field.

The first nine drives of the game resulted in just three points, a 30-yard field goal by WSU newcomer Shane Hynes (Clarkston, Mich.). The Warriors scored 21 fourth quarter points, including two rushing touchdowns by DeOntay Moffett and another score on the ground from James Hill.

Wayne State held a 237 to 77 edge in rushing yards, and a 106 to 78 advantage in passing yards for a 343 to 155 margin in total offense.

In addition, it was WSU's first ever win on a Thursday under Coach Winters.

MAKING THEIR DEBUTS
Of the 58 players who saw action for the Warriors vs. Walsh, 15 were making their collegiate debut (Sean Banaszak, Samari Dean, Damani Green, Avery Hall, Tieler Houston, Nick Isley, Cameron Judge, Cooper Kukal, Jacob Mass, Donte McClure, Ryan Motala, Nick Poterack, Spencer Stephenson, Reid Thompson and Brandon Tuck-Hayden). Dean, Houston and Mass are true freshmen. Two others made their WSU debut (Kenneth Cephus and Shane Hynes). Plus Ali Scheib who played four years of soccer at Michigan State made his collegiate football debut.

SEASON OPENERS
Since Paul Winters took over prior to the 2004 season, Wayne State is 8-7 in season openers. The win over Walsh was the first time since 2014 that WSU has started the season at home. The Warriors are now 5-3 in season openers at home under Winters and 9-6 in home openers in the last 15 seasons, but 9-2 over the last 11 years.

EARLY SEASON SUCCESS
Since the start of the 2008 season, WSU has a 31-13 record for games played in August and September. The Warriors are 24-21 in October during that same time period, 12-11 in November and 2-1 in December.

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 33 career starts, the 2018 offensive line now has 81 career starts.

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 11 seasons (2008-18) to a 41-18 tune. WSU had a winning record at home for nine straight seasons, until a 2-4 record in 2017. In the Coach Winters' era, the Warriors are 48-31 (.607) at home. WSU is 32-15 at home this decade and carries a 216-216-19 all-time record at home in the first 101 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).

CONSISTENT LEADER
Paul Winters will 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 surpasses Hall of Fame coach Joseph Gembis, who held the post for 14 seasons (1932-45). Winters enters the UIndy contest tied-for-30th among all active DII football head coaches with 82 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.

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 69-46 mark over the last 115 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.

HILL'S BIG NIGHT
James Hill rushed for a career-high (and game-high) 88 yards and one touchdown in the win over Walsh. In his previous two seasons combined, he had 39 career rushing yards. Hill had nine straight carries totaling 59 yards on a WSU scoring drive which turned a 10-0 lead into a 17-0 advantage. On WSU's next possession, Hill scored his first collegiate touchdown to make it 24-0. Five of his carries went for first downs.

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.

Keeping with the baseball theme, D.J. Zezula earned a "save" in the win over Walsh.

1.   Mickey Mohner (2009-12), 30-15-0, .667
2.   Ed Skowneski (1972-75), 20-12-0, .625
3.   D.J. Zezula (2015-SA), 15-13-0, .535
   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
---
   Dakota Kupp (2017-SA), 4-1, .800

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 22 of its last 25 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the 2018 season-opener over Walsh, where the Warriors totaled 237 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 previous seven seasons (2011-18), Wayne State is 32-7 when rushing for 200 yards, including a 13-5 mark on the road. Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 51-16 under those parameters, including a 32-5 mark at home.

WINNINGEST MICHIGAN FOOTBALL PROGRAMS
Over the last decade, Wayne State ranks sixth among all Michigan football programs in winning percentage (both regular season and playoffs). Meanwhile, the 69 wins rank fifth (Michigan has 74 victories).

   1. Grand Valley State, 102-26 / .797
   2. Michigan State, 94-39 / .707
   3. Ferris State, 78-40 / .661
   4. Adrian, 66-37 / .641
   5. Hillsdale, 68-45 / .602
   6. Wayne State, 69-46 / .600

GOING STREAKING
Wayne State has won three in a row dating back to last season, and a victory at Indianapolis this Saturday would equal the eighth longest winning streak in school history (four games, accomplished 13 times). The school record is a 10-game winning streak from Oct. 23, 2010, through Oct. 8, 2011.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Demetrius Stinson became the 12th running back in school history to surpass the 2,000-yard rushing total with his 81 yards vs. Walsh to bring his career number to 2,039. He now has his sights set on 11th place (2,171) and 10th place (2,404).

TAI'S IMPACT
Samson Tai had two kickoff coverage tackles to lead the WSU Special Teams. In addition, he also recorded Wayne State's first interception of the season. He played on both the kickoff coverage and punt coverage special teams units.

LEON WILL SEE YOU IN THE BACKFIELD NOW
Leon Eggleston had a team-high eight tackles, including four for loss (-11 yards) as the Warrior defense limited the Cavaliers to 155 yards of total offense. His first TFL came with WSU leading 3-0 on a third-and-one at the Walsh 44 (-2 yards); he had a two-yard TFL on the next series on the play following Walsh's deepest penetration of the game (WSU 39); he combined with Derrick Coleman on a six-yard sack on third-and-nine on the drive after WSU took a 10-0 lead; on Walsh's first drive of the second half, Eggleston combined with Kyle Toth for a three-yard TFL on second-and-10.

16-GAME SEASON
In the 45-year history of NCAA Division II football, the 2011 Warrior squad is the only team to play a 16-game schedule.

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