GAME STORYLINES
Wayne State hosts Michigan Tech on Saturday afternoon at Tom Adams Field.  The Warriors have won six of their last seven games and are currently tied-for-second in the GLIAC standings with next week's opponent Grand Valley State.  The six wins is the most since the 2016 squad went 7-4.  WSU will honor its 17 seniors prior to kickoff. 
 

SCOUTING MICHIGAN TECH
Michigan Tech enters the second-to-final week of the season at 4-4 overall with a 2-4 mark in GLIAC games.  Head coach Steve Olson is in his third season with the program.
 

Junior quarterback Will Ark has completed 56.5 percent of his passes for 1,314 yards and eight touchdowns, while throwing seven interceptions.  However, freshman signal caller Steele Fortress has played the last two games throwing for 221 yards on 51 attempts.  Sophomore running back Jared Smith leads the team in rushing with 466 yards and three touchdowns.  Freshman tailback Emmett Boehler has totaled 245 yards on the ground with one TD.  The Huskies boast a strong one-two punch at wide receiver in seniors Ben Hartley and Jacob Wenzlick.  Hartley has 33 catches for 457 yards and five scores, while Wenzlick has 429 receiving yards on 28 receptions with three TDs.
 

Senior cornerback Travis Tidwell leads the team with 60 tackles, while junior nose tackle Nate LaJoie has posted 11.5 tackles for loss, including 7.5 sacks.  Senior safety Michael Betz has picked off a team-best three passes.  Senior place kicker Evan Gornick has made five of his seven field goal attempts with a long of 41 and is 13-of-18 on extra points.  Ark serves as the team's primary punter and is averaging 41.7 yards per boot, while Gornick is at 41.6 on his five attempts.  As a team, MTU is scoring 17.8 points per game and allowing 23.4 points per contest.
 

ALL-TIME SERIES
Wayne State leads 18-11 in the all-time series against Michigan Tech, including a 9-4 mark at home.  The Huskies have taken five of the last six meetings with WSU's win coming in 2017 in Houghton (20-14).  Head coach Paul Winters is 4-8 versus MTU, including a 2-3 mark in Detroit.  The teams began playing in 1967 and Wayne State won the first 10 matchups, with the first two coming as non-conference contests.
 

PICK SIX
The Warrior defense recorded its third interception return for a touchdown in the Davenport game.  Only once has Wayne State had three "pick" six's" in the same season - 1959 when Don Fears, Barry Sarver and Angelo Nicholas each returned an interception for a touchdown.  This year Leon Eggleston has two (10 yards vs. Saginaw Valley State and 35 yards vs. Ashland), while Brady Beedon had a 10-yard interception return for his first collegiate score at Davenport.
 

ROAD SUCCESS
WSU notched its fourth road win of the season last Saturday at Davenport.  The Warriors also have road wins at Quincy, Northern Michigan and Northwood this year.  Wayne State has not won four road games in a season since the 2011 team went 8-1 on the road.
 

SHUTOUT
The shutout at Davenport was the first for the Warriors since a 31-0 blanking of Walsh on August 30, 2018, and the first GLIAC whitewash since a 55-0 triumph over Tiffin on Sept. 10, 2011.  The last GLIAC road shutout by WSU was a 19-0 victory at Ferris State on Oct. 18, 2008.
 

FIRST HALF DIFFERENCE
During the six wins this season, WSU has outscored its opponents 132-37 during the first 30 minutes.  Conversely, in the three losses, the Warriors were outscored 111-14 in the first half.
 

NEXT MAN UP
Redshirt freshman linebacker Julius Wilkerson, who was making his first collegiate start in the Ashland contest for the injured Ryan Smith, recorded 23 tackles, becoming the first Warrior with at least 20 tackles in a game since Nick Thomas amassed 24 tackles (9-15) on Oct. 3, 2009, against Ashland.  Since that game he made seven stops (3-4) at Northwood and a game-high 13 tackles (4-9) at Davenport.  Wilkerson has at least one tackle for loss in each of the past three contests.

SUPER REGION THREE
Wayne State is currently ranked 17th in Super Region 3 according to the Massey Ratings.  The second set of regional rankings were released on Monday (11/4/19) with Ferris State (#1) and Grand Valley State (#6) representing the GLIAC in the top 10.  WSU's Super Region features 20 of the top 34 teams in the country, according to the Massey Ratings.
 

SENIOR CLASS
Wayne State will recognize 17 senior members of its football squad this Saturday. 
 

Deiontae Nicholas is the lone graduate student, while the fifth-year seniors include Marcus Bailey, Tiroca Battle, Brady Beedon, Stephen Charron, Leon Eggleston, James Hill, Luke Ketterman, Christian Klink, Dakota Kupp, Adam McJunkin, Lamar Namou, Ryan Smith, Kyle Toth and Charlie Younger.  Myron Riley-Brown joined the Warriors as a junior college transfer in 2017.  Darece Roberson, Jr. rounds out the class as a fourth-year senior.
 

Other seniors, but who are slated to return in 2020, include Andy Bielecki, Kenneth Cephus, Jalen Lewis, Kyle Lewis and Terry Sanders as each have used only three playing seasons with a freshman redshirt and a medical redshirt.  In addition, Greg McDade had medical redshirts in both 2015 and 2017, while DeOntay Moffett is receiving a medical hardship for 2019 and will return in 2020 as a sixth-year senior.
 

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
In terms of who Wayne State has played and will play, the Warriors' schedule is tied for the toughest in Division II with those teams posting a .621 winning percentage (54-33).  WSU's past opponents have tallied a .600 winning percentage (42-28), which is seventh nationally.  The remaining schedule for WSU ranks 30th nationally (.706) out of 168 schools.

TOM ADAMS HOME COOKING
Tom Adams Field is not an easy place to play for visiting programs. The Warriors have defended their home turf well in the past 11-plus seasons (2008-19) to a 44-24 tune.  WSU had a winning record at Adams Field for nine straight seasons, until a 2-4 record in 2017.  In the Coach Winters' era, the Warriors are 51-37 (.570) in home games.
 
WSU is 35-21 at Tom Adams Field this decade and carries a 219-222-19 all-time record at home in the first 101-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).
 

WSU IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Warriors rank in the top 50 nationally in several statistical categories.  Wayne State ranks sixth in Division II in both time of possession (33:31) and blocked kicks (6), eighth in blocked punts (3), 16th in defensive touchdowns (3), 17th in red zone defense (.647), 27th in both passing yards per completion (14.73) and rushing offense (219.6), 29th in kickoff return defense (17.25), 36th in third down defense (31.9%), 37th in fewest sacks allowed (1.33), 39th in both punt return defense (5.00) and fewest turnovers lost (12), 41st in fewest fumbles lost, 44th in winning percentage (.667), 48th in fewest interceptions thrown (7) and 50th in third down conversion percentage (41.5).
 

Darece Roberson, Jr. ranks eighth nationally in yards per reception (22.56), and 48th in receiving touchdowns (6).  Leon Eggleston is 15th in fumbles recovered (2) and 29th in interceptions per game (0.4).  James Hill is 17th in rushing touchdowns (11), 34th in total touchdowns (11) and 50th in scoring (66 points).  Dakota Kupp is 34th in yards per completion (14.15).

WELCOME BACK DEIONATE
Graduate student Deiontae Nicholas is in his sixth year of eligibility after missing much of the 2017 and 2018 seasons.  He is WSU's third three-time captain in program history (102 years).  He surpassed the 3,000 career all-purpose yards plateau by accumulating 225 all-purpose yards in the win over Ashland.  It was his most all-purpose yards since he garnered 235 vs. Saginaw Valley State on Sept. 16, 2017.  He was named the Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Week following the Ashland contest and is a nominee for the Comeback Player of the Year Award.
 

BLOCK THAT KICK!
WSU has officially blocked six kicks this year, however a seventh blocked kick (PAT at Truman) landed behind the line of scrimmage which allowed a Bulldog to pick up the ball and rumble into the end zone for two points.  Both the 2003 and 2006 teams had seven blocked kicks.  Alan Clay had three blocks in 2006, while Gary Ruttan has the single-season school record of four set in 1995.  Six different Warriors have blocked kicks this season, after Charles Ellington batted down an Ashland PAT in overtime to open the door for a WSU victory.
 

WINNING QUARTERBACKS
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
    D.J. Zezula (2015-18), 15-14-0, .517
5. Mark Friday (1991-93), 13-13-0, .500
6. Dakota Kupp (2016-SA), 9-3, .750
7. A.J. Vaughn (1965-67), 8-5-0, .615
 Trent Pohl (2006-07), 8-10-0, .444
     Richard Popp (1983-86), 8-15-1, .354
10. 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
 

RECORD CROWD
The announced attendance of 7,092 on Homecoming versus Ferris State was the largest to ever to watch a game at Tom Adams Field.  The only larger home crowd was when WSU played Temple in 1968 at U of Detroit Stadium.  The FSU contest was the first game with over 5,000 attendees since 5,277 watched WSU vs. Grand Valley State in 2015.  The previous Adams Field attendance record was 5,511 when Wayne State hosted Hofstra in 1971.

GREAT DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCES
Wayne State has won its last four road games allowing just 173.5 yards per game.  In three of the four contests, the Warriors surrendered less than 200 yards (115 at Quincy, 183 at Northern Michigan and 134 at Davenport), while Northwood accumulated 262 yards.  The Panthers had just 82 yards of offense until their final drive of the game.
 

WINNING WHEN EXECUTING
Wayne State has won 27 of its last 34 games when rushing for over 200 yards, including the win over Northwood when WSU ran for 237 yards.  During the last eight-plus seasons (2011-19), Wayne State is 37-11 when rushing for 200 yards, including a 16-8 mark on the road.  Under Coach Winters, the Green & Gold are 56-20 under those parameters, including a 34-6 mark at home.
 

WARRIOR PODCASTS
There are two new podcasts from the WSU Athletic Department - "What I've Heard" with Director of Athletics Rob Fournier and "The Warrior Football Podcast" with Paul Winters.  Both can be found on the podcasts page at WSUAthletics.com.
 

DON'T MISS ANY OF THE ACTION
There are several ways you can watch or listen to Wayne State Football this season.  Every contest can be heard live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM) or online at PatriotDetroit.com.  Every home game can be seen live on Comcast CN900 in the state of Michigan.  In addition, every home clash will be streamed via pay-per-view on WSU All-Access at WSUAthletics.com.  Check your local listings for replay times for the Michigan Tech game.