GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University football team returns home to Tom Adams Field where they will face Saginaw Valley State this Saturday at 1 p.m. in the annual Homecoming contest.  The Cardinals enter week eight with a 5-2 overall record, and a 2-1 mark in the GLIAC.

The Warriors will play their 87th Homecoming game and just the second vs. SVSU.  WSU has a 45-40-1 all-time mark in Homecoming contests after snapping a three-game losing streak in such games a year ago with a 23-21 triumph over Michigan Tech.  The first Homecoming game was a 9-6 setback to Hillsdale on October 19, 1935.

SCOUTING SAGINAW VALLEY STATE
The Cardinals (5-2) are ranked 38th in the nation this week by the AFCA.  SVSU is 2-1 in GLIAC play with a loss to No. 2-Grand Valley State and wins at Northern Michigan and Roosevelt.

Saginaw Valley State is led by fifth-year head coach Ryan Brad, who has compiled a 31-20 overall record.  With exception to his first year, where the Cardinals finished 5-6, Brady has posted a winning record in each season, 2021-24 (Excluding 2020 due to COVID-19).

Redshirt freshman Mason McKenzie, the Cardinals staring quarterback, has passed for 1,288 yards on 96-of-172 with  nine touchdowns.  McKenzie also adds a dual threat element, as he leads the team in rushing with 459 yards on 60 attempts.

Eric Craft has been the man pass catcher for the Cardinals.  The junior leads the team in both receptions (20) and receiving yards (325).  Craft is tied second in touchdown catches (2) with fellow wideout RJ Manning, and behind running back Terrence Brown Jr. (3).  Brown has contributed 330 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in a team-best 83 carries.

ALL-TIME SERIES
The Warriors trail 10-34-1 in the all-time series, which began in 1976.  WSU has a 3-2 record at Tom Adams Field in the last five home contests vs. the Cardinals.  

MILOVANSKI CONTINUES SUCCESS
Griffin Milovanski connected on both field goal attempts (46 and 37 yards) at Davenport last weekend to move into a second-place tie in school history with 38 made field goals.  He also had a touchback on five of his six kickoffs and went 2-for-2 on PATs to extend his successful PAT streak to 56.  Milovanski is sixth among active Division II kickers for field goals made with 38.  The senior's 193 career points ranks 16th among active Division II kickers and tied-for-28th among all players.  Six of his 13 career missed field goals have been at least 50 yards.

EDWARDS SETTING QUARTERBACK STANDARD FOR RUSHING
Champion Edwards is leading the way on the ground for the Warriors with a team-high 452 rushing yards and a 5.3 yards per attempt.  Edwards rushed for 146 yards and one touchdown on 13 carries against Findlay in week two.  In that game, he became the first WSU quarterback with a 100-yard rushing effort since Doug Griffin rushed for 112 yards at Michigan Tech on Nov. 16, 2013.  The previous 100-yard games by a signal caller were when Randy Hutchison gained 116 on the ground at Michigan Tech on Oct. 19, 2002, and 101 vs. Gannon on Aug. 30, 2003.  It is believed to be the most rushing yards in a game by a WSU quarterback since Ed Skowneski rushed for 203 yards on Oct. 4, 1975, against Valparaiso.  He gained 93 yards on 13 carries in less than a half at Davenport last Saturday.

RECOVERING FUMBLES
Through seven weeks, Wayne State has forced eight fumbles, and has recovered six.  Senior linebacker, Carl Ware is tied-for-third among active Division II players averaging 0.22 forced fumbles per game (four in 18 career Division II games). The Warriors are first the GLIAC and tied-for-21st nationally in fumble recoveries with six.

HARRIS CONTINUES TO BE VERSATILE
Junior wide receiver Manny Harris played on both kickoff coverage and punt coverage at Davenport.  In the first quarter with WSU leading 6-5, Harris recovered a fumbled punt.  He forced a fumble on the second half kickoff which went out of bounds.

After scoring his first two career touchdowns on the ground, Harris hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass from Champion Edwards late in the third quarter against Findlay.  It was Harris' first TD at home having scored rushing touchdowns at Grand Valley State (Nov. 5, 2022) and at Slippery Rock (Sept. 2, 2023).  He caught a 72-yard touchdown pass at DU last week.

Toughest Schedule
Heading into week eight, WSU has played the third toughest schedule in D2 with past opponents having a .690 winning percentage (29-13).  Future opponents have a .481 winning percentage (13-14), while the composite strength of schedule (42-27, .609) is fourth nationally.

McKATHERINE PUTTING SIX ON THE BOARD
Redshirt senior wide out Myles McKatherine caught his third touchdown pass of the season against Ferris State.  In week two, McKatherine hauled in an 18-yard touchdown pass against Findlay for his second touchdown in as many contests.  The last wide receiver to have a touchdown reception in back-to-back games was Trevonte Davis in 2021 (Sept. 18 at Missouri S&T [2] and Sept. 25 against Saginaw Valley State).  Tight end Nick Poterack had touchdown catches in consecutive games in 2022 - Sept. 3 at Slippery Rock and Sept. 10 at home vs. Shaw.  McKatherine had a team-best 72 receiving yards at Michigan Tech and leads the Warriors with 245 receiving yards on the season.

PLAYING OVER TWO DAYS
In a search of the Detroit Junior College/Colleges of the City of Detroit (CCD)/Wayne University/Wayne State University historical record book, it is believed the game last weekend was the first in program history to be suspended and completed the following day.  FSU led 10-0 near the mid-point of the second quarter when play was halted on Saturday evening due to lightning and the contest was resumed on Sunday at 11 a.m.

HART MAKES MOST OF FIRST CAREER START
Redshirt junior linebacker Justin Hart made his first collegiate start in the Findlay contest and responded with a game-best 11 tackles (4 solo, 7 assisted), plus a pass break-up.  He played on special teams and as a back-up linebacker in the first three games of 2023 before suffering a season-ending injury.  Hart was credited with eight assisted tackles against Indianapolis, along with a quarterback hurry.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
A low snap on a punt attempt forced Findlay kicker Owen Clevenger to throw the ball resulting in an intentional grounding penalty which statistically is a sack for WSU's Dahmir Farnum, who was the closest Warrior to Clevenger when the pass was thrown.

LETTERWINNERS RETURNING
Wayne State has 28 returning letterwinners from 2023 (including 2022 if missed all of last year due to injury).  As mentioned previously, place-kicker Griffin Milovanski is the lone three-year WSU letterwinner on the squad.  There are nine two-year letterwinners and 18 student-athletes with one letter for the Warriors.

BEND BUT DON'T BREAK DEFENSE
The 27 points scored by Ferris State last Saturday/Sunday at WSU was its lowest ouput since the 2024 season opener at Pittsburg State, and only the fourth time in the last 19 games the Bulldogs were held below 28 points (2023 vs. Grand Valley State and Montana).

WARRIOR DEBUTS
Through the first seven games of 2024, 75 players have been on the field for WSU, including 18 who have made their collegiate debut and 18 who made their Warrior debut.

Of the 69 players who traveled to Tiffin for the season-opener, 56 saw game action.  Ten (10) Warriors made their collegiate debut in the contest vs. the Dragons (Jobe Benschoter, Amarion Brownlee, Kejuan Houston, Jordan Hutchinson, Kristian Kilpatrick, Jayden Lewin, Roshuan McGee, Raymond Payne, Jasir Rahaman, and Richardo Wourman).  In addition, another 11 Warriors made their WSU debut (Jaylon Banks, Mekhi Battle, Kaleb Coleman, Champion Edwards, Will Fennema, Shamilyn Joppy, Jordan Lewis, Myles McKatherine, Lester McManaway, Jonathan Tillman, and Justyz Tuggle).

Four players made their collegiate debut in the Findlay contest (Max Edwards, Cane Mack, Will O'Brien and Da'Carion Taylor), while transfers Clifton Buchanan, Jr. and Jeremiah Drake made their WSU debuts against the Oilers.
Two student-athletes made their collegiate debut in the Indianapolis contest (Amauri Haller and Steven McCrary, Jr.), while another four student-athletes made their WSU debut (Avery Burch, Colin Gardner, Xzavier Goldsby-Rogers and JoShawn Lewis) vs. the Greyhounds.

Freshman M'Khi Guy made his collegiate debut at Truman State, while classmate Tanielu Ah-Loe made his collegiate debut at Davenport.  Rob Brazziel made his WSU debut vs. the Panthers.

VETERAN OFFENSIVE LINE CONTINGENT
Arguably the most experienced position group for the Warriors in 2024 is the offensive line with two returning starters in redshirt junior Aidan Tweedy (19 career starts, including the last 18 games at center) and redshirt senior Charles Wesley (21 career starts from three different spots).  Another five student-athletes who have started games also returned in redshirt sophomore Tomi Bisiriyu (three starts at left tackle); redshirt sophomore Will Edwards (seven starts at right guard); redshirt sophomore Ethan Gates (one start at right tackle); redshirt junior Owen Salingue (three career starts); and redshirt senior Tyler Schompert (19 career starts).

Tweedy was a Second Team All-GLIAC selection in 2023 and was very durable as he saw action on every offensive play in eight games a season ago.  Wesley was named WSU's Offensive Most Valuable Player last fall, while earning Honorable Mention All-GLIAC recognition.  He is WSU's nominee for the AFCA Good Works Team (based on community service) this fall.

The five additional offensive linemen that have started boosted the number of career starts for this group to 81.  Schompert is the most veteran of this group with action in 26 contests and starting at left tackle (15 times), left guard (three) and right tackle (once).  Salingue is in his fourth year in the program, while Bisiriyu, Edwards and Gates all are in their third year with the Warriors.  Freshman Richardo Wourman started twice at right tackle, while Jayden Lewin has started the last six contests at left guard.

A FAMILY AFFAIR
WSU currently has three sets of brothers:
Champion and Max Edwards
Devon and Donovan Isaac
Shamarr and Shamilyn Joppy

There are three younger brothers of former Warriors in Aaron Mass (older brother Jacob was also a defensive end), Gabe Mendoza (older brother Manny was a wide receiver), and Mekhi Battle (older brother Tiroca was also on the defensive line).

Jeremiah Sterling and Jordan Bell are cousins as Jordan's dad Joique and Jeremiah's mother Ambie are brother-sister.  Redshirt freshman wide receiver Tyler Swick is the younger brother of defensive graduate assistant coach Trey Swick.

WARRIORS BY THE NUMBERS 
Of the 106 players currently on the roster, 81 came directly from high school, 14 played at another four-year college, nine played at a junior college, and two attended another school (one four year and one two year) but did not see any playing time.

Football student-athletes represent 11 states with a majority (80) coming from Michigan.  The other states include Ohio (8), Illinois (5), Virginia (3), California (2), New York (2), and Pennsylvania (2), along with one each from Indiana, New Jersey, Washington, and Wisconsin.

With only 13 players in their final year (six graduate students, six redshirt seniors, and one senior), the Wayne State roster is loaded with inexperience.  There are 18 redshirt juniors, three juniors, 16 redshirt sophomores, four sophomores, 21 redshirt freshmen and 31 true freshmen on the squad.

GLIAC PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
1.  Ferris State (46 points, four first-place votes)
2.  Grand Valley State (44 points, three first-place vote)
3.  Davenport (38 points, one first-place vote)
4.  Saginaw Valley State (30 points)
5.  Michigan Tech (26 points)
6.  Wayne State (20 points)
7.  Northern Michigan (13 points)
8. Roosevelt (7 Points)

DON'T MISS ANY OF THE ACTION
For the 23rd season, every contest can be heard live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM) or online at PatriotDetroit.com.  Veteran Detroit broadcaster Sean Baligian is in his 16th season calling Warrior football.  Former Warrior defensive end Brady Beedon will serve as the color analyst for seven games and will handle play-by-play duties in three contests.  He will also conduct the weekly Locker Room Report and Senior Spotlight features for WDTK.  Warrior basketball broadcaster Kevin Brechmacher will serve as the color analyst for the road contests at Truman State, Davenport and Grand Valley State.  In addition, Tony Ortiz will serve as the Sideline Reporter for all six home games.
 
The radio pre-game show will start 15 minutes before a road contest and 30 minutes prior to a home game.  Beedon will also host the Weekly With Wheatley show every Wednesday prior to a home a game.  The next episode will take place on October 23rd at Woodbridge Pub starting at 5:30 p.m.

All six home games, plus the road GLIAC contests will be streamed on FloSports.  The home games will be via The PreP with the radio announcers broadcast being simulcast on FloSports.