THE MATCH-UP
• Millersville faces a stiff challenge in week two, traveling to No. 4-ranked IUP for a Thursday night game. The Marauders are coming off a 23-10 home loss to Pace while IUP went on the road and beat No. 15 Ashland, 21-17.
• IUP was picked as the PSAC West favorite in the preseason and is coming off a 13-1 season in which it won the PSAC Championship and reached the NCAA Semifinals. Just 13 starters return, but among them is four-year starter Lenny Williams Jr., who is 31-4 as the starting QB and has 16 school records. IUP has embarrassment of riches in the running game. Four offensive line starters return including guard Colin McAllister, who was named D2football preseason All-America Second Team. Both Samir Bullock and Justice Evans rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2017, and the team also returns Chris Temple from injury. Temple missed all of 2017 but totaled over 2,200 yards in 2015 and 2016. On defense, cornerback J.R. Stevens and linebacker Damon Lloyd were both named All-Americans in 2017.
• History is not on the Marauders' side with the trip to the PSAC West. The Marauders have dropped 16 of 17 road games against the PSAC West with the last win coming in the 2005 season opener when the Marauders knocked off Indiana (Pa.), 28-9. Millersville's one win in that stretch came against Seton Hill in week two of the 2017 season. The Marauders have won just four week two games since 2005.
• Millersville is 25-64-1 all-time against current PSAC West teams. Millersville has won just three games against the current PSAC West roster since 2007.
• In week one, IUP was led by Williams' three passing touchdowns. All three went to Ricky Rogers. Rogers was named the PSAC West Offensive Athlete of the Week. Williams also led the team with 63 rushing yards on nine carries. Ashland managed to rush for 216 yards but threw only 21 times for 115 yards.
• Millersville can build upon a solid performance from the passing game in week one.
Collin Shank completed 24 of 37 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown. Seven different receivers caught at least two passes. Millersville must shore up pass protection against IUP, however. The Marauders allowed seven sacks in week one, and IUP sacked Ashland's QB five times.
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Jhet Janis had a productive week one in the return game. He averaged 22.8 yards on four kick returns with a long of 33. He enters week two ranked seventh in the PSAC in kick return average average.
• Against Pace, Millersville's defense was led by the efforts of safety
Trejon Dinkins. Dinkins totaled a career-high 12 tackles, 1 tackles for loss and recovered a fumble. Dinkins' 12 tackles were the second most of any player in the PSAC in week one. Newcomer
Zac Button had played two seasons at Lock Haven before coming to Millersville, but his nine tackles in week one against Pace were a career high. He also had a tackle for loss.
SERIES HISTORY
Series vs. IUP: 5-13
Series Streak: IUP, 5
First Meeting: 1988 (W, 27-24)
Last Meeting: 2013 (L, 3-62)
Largest Margin of Victory: 19 (2005)
Largest Margin of Defeat: 60 (2008)
Record at IUP: 2-8
Most Millersville Points: 30 (2001)
Most IUP Points: 63 (2013)
• Meetings between Millersville and IUP are few. The series did not begin until 1988, and the programs have not met since 2013. IUP has won five in a row and has held Millersville to seven points or fewer in all five games while scoring 41 or more in four of the five. Millersville's last win at George P. Miller Stadium came in 2005 by a 28-9 score. The first meeting in 1988 came in the opening round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs with Millersville winning 27-24. The teams also clashed in the second round of the 1999 playoffs with IUP winning 26-21.
THE LAST MEETING (#7 IUP 62, Millersville 3, Oct. 5, 2013)
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Ian Sadon rumbled for 124 yards against No. 7-ranked Indiana's (Pa.) vaunted defense, but Millersville couldn't keep pace in a 62-3 loss. IUP (5-0) entered the game as the No. 1 defense in Division II, but Sadon tallied the most yards rushing by any player this season versus the Crimson Hawks, and Millersville's (0-5) 3.8 yards per carry average was also the top number. Mike Box, who completed an efficient 10-of-12 passes for three touchdowns, led his team to 21 first quarter points and a 35-3 halftime lead. IUP finished with 303 yards rushing on 46 carries.
NEW LEADERSHIP
• Millersville's staff is almost entirely brand new.
J.C. Morgan was named Millersville's head coach on April 30. Morgan hired eight new assistant coaches, with only Millersville alum and defensive coordinator
Matt Sutjak returning from last year's staff. Morgan is the 22nd head coach in the 123-year history of Millersville football. Of that long list, only John Pucillo (1925-29, 33-36), George Katchmer (1954-69) and Dr. Gene Carpenter (1970-2000) coached for more than five seasons. The last time a Millersville first-year head coach posted a winning record in his first season was John Pucillo in 1933, going 4-2.
• Unlike Millersville's previous three head coaches, Morgan is coming to Millersville from another Division II program, and a PSAC program at that. Morgan started at Shippensburg in 2005 and spent the last three as offensive coordinator. Morgan's staff is loaded with PSAC experience. Both coordinators--Sutjak and
Jeff Tomasetti--played and coached in the league. Special teams coordinator
Dan Beard and tight ends coach
Ron Kerr also coached at Shippensburg.
Tim Tobin was the defensive line coach for a PSAC Championship at Kutztown. Running backs coach
Chris Palubinsky was the starting quarterback at Bloomsburg just last season.
CAPTAINS
• Millersville's players voted seniors
Brett Harris and
Trejon Dinkins and junior
Tommy Halloway as the team's captains for 2018. Dinkins in his second season with the Marauders. Harris is the team's second-most experienced offensive player with 21 starts. Halloway is just the 11th junior since 1956 to earn a captaincy.
UNDER CENTER
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Collin Shank's 2017 was cut short because of an injury, but the redshirt sophomore QB has piled up yards in his two career starts in which he has played a full game. Last season against Seton Hill and in the 2018 opener against Pace, Shank combined to average 337 yards passing. In his 12 quarters of football played, Shank has accounted for nine touchdowns and thrown for 931 yards. His 250 yards against Pace were the most passing yards in a season opener since Bill Shirks' 310 vs. Assumption in 2010.
ALL-STAR DEFENDERS
• For the first time since 2007, Millersville had an underclassman named All-PSAC East. Both defensive end
Tommy Halloway and linebacker
Cameron Boykin earned that distinction. Halloway gives Millersville a returning All-PSAC East defensive end for the first time since 2008. In 2017, Halloway totaled six sacks--a total that matched the most by a Marauder since 2001. Boykin ranked second on the team in tackles with 72.
GOING FOR 44
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Morgan Faughnan has been the model of consistency for the Marauders. He has started 34 consecutive games--every game the Marauders have played over the last three-plus years. Faughnan entered the season No. 2 in the PSAC in consecutive starts, trailing only Alec Petrillo of Shippensburg, who started the season with 34. Only three players in the entire league had consecutive start streaks of 30 games or more. In 2017, he set career highs with 48 tackles, 3 1/2 sacks and 4 1/2 tackles for loss.
TWO-WAY PLAYER
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Joey Farley has hit six five consecutive field goals including four longer than 40 yards. He is also a perfect 31 for 31 in PAT attempts in his career. Farley, however, is not just a kicker. Farley led the team with six catches and 62 yards receiving in week one. Farley was named PSAC East Special Teams Athlete of the Week once in 2017.
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