THE MATCH-UP
• Millersville and Pace meet in the season opener for the fourth consecutive season, bringing an end to two home-and-home series.
• Millersville has won just three season openers since 2006 and two of them have come against NE-10 opponents. One came against Pace (28-7) in 2016. Millersville is 5-7 all-time against NE-10 opponents with three wins coming against American International (1992-94), one against Assumption (2010) and one against Pace (2016).
• Millersville is 51-62-9 all-time in season openers. Since 2000, Millersville has opened on the road nine times, going 2-7 in those games. The Marauders went 1-2 in night games in 2018 and are 39-28 all-time. Millersville is 3-4 in night games over the last three seasons.
• Millersville has become accustomed to opening on Thursday nights. Last season, Millersville played three Thursday games, going 1-2 with a home win over East Stroudsburg. Millersville has now opened on a Thursday in five of the last six years, posting a 1-3 records in the last four.
• Millersville was ranked seventh out of eight teams in the PSAC East preseason poll, coming off of a 2-9 record. Pace was voted third out of 10 teams in the NE-10 preseason poll, coming off an historic 7-3 season. From 2009-16, Pace won a grand total of four games. But under Andy Rondeau, who is entering his fifth season, the team has improved each year. After going 0-11 in 2016, Pace went 3-7 in 2017 and 7-3 in 2018. Last season was Pace's first above .500 record since 1999.
• Millersville head coach
J.C. Morgan enters his second season with Millersville in 2019. Of the 17 coaches in Millersville's 123 years with at least two seasons coached, only Charles Cooper (1906-1909), Dennis Sharkey (1914-1916), George Katchmer (1954-1969), Gene Carpenter (1970-2000) and Greg Colby (2008-12) won more games in year two than in year one. Of that group, Cooper, Katchmer and Colby saw the biggest improvement in year two with two more wins each.
COACH MORGAN'S SCOUTING REPORT
• "There are a lot of new guys, a lot of young guys who will play for us. Over the last couple of weeks we are seeing how they will factor into our game plans and how we can use them. Two guys who have really emerged are
Brian Richardson at tight end and
Michael Bennett on the offensive line."
• "I like our skill guys. It starts with [Collin] Shank. He has a year under his belt and the light is starting to come on for him. It is exciting to see that. I like our running backs. We have three or four guys there who are hungry to play and perform well with the ball in their hands. We will use the first few weeks to see what each of them can do when the lights come on."
• "There is potential with our defensive line. We want to turn them loose and see what they can do. There are guys with talent but they haven't played much football together. The last couple of years we have had more continuity there. But we like our talent, and we are excited to see what they can do playing together."
• "Pace will have an aggressive package on defense. Andy [Rondeau] runs their defense. They know what they like to do and they are going to be aggressive doing that."
•
"It is good to have tape on [Pace] from last year. But the message to our guys is that it is really about us. It is about how we perform, how we play, how we prepare. The focus is on what we are doing."
•
"Between freshmen and redshirt freshmen there are over 20 guys who are traveling out of state and traveling to play college football for the first time--staying in a hotel, going to a walk through, going to meetings on the road for the first time. As a coach, that is exciting to see young men get a new experience. I'm excited for them to see how they handle it."
THE LAST TIME OUT
•
Pace (at Saint Anselm (W, 33-10)): With the season finale win, Pace set a program record for wins in a season at the Division II level. Pace outscored Saint Anselm 23-0 after a 10-10 halftime score. Antonio Giannico rushed for three of the team's four touchdowns and the team rushed for 218.
•
Millersville (at Mercyhurst (L, 14-35)): Millersville rallied from a 14-0 halftime deficit and pulled within one score twice in the second half. Mercyhurst out-gained the Marauders 381 to 257. The Marauders found running the ball tough sledding and instead attempted 51 passes.
Justis Jacobs started and went 7 for 13 for 118 yards.
Collin Shank came on in the second quarter and went 16 for 37 for 161 yards. Zach Button led the Marauders with seven tackles.
SERIES HISTORY
Series vs. Pace: 1-2
Series Streak: Pace, 2
First Meeting: 2016 (W, 28-7)
Last Meeting: 2018 (L, 10-23)
Largest Margin of Victory: 21 (2016)
Largest Margin of Defeat: 13 (2018)
Record at Pace: 0-1
Most Millersville Points: 28 (2016)
Most Points Allowed: 23 (2018)
• Since Millersville's 28-7 home win in 2016, Pace has won two in a row including one at home. However, only three players on Millersville's roster--
Collin Shank,
Cameron Boykin and
Tyler Reiman--played when the Marauders went to Pace in 2017.
• Shank has had some statistical success in two games against Pace, totaling 36-for-64 passing for 395 yards, a touchdown and interception. In 2017, he came off the bench, completed 12-of-27 passes for 145 yards while also rushing for 47 yards and a touchdown. He started the 2018 match-up and threw one TD pass.
• Boykin makes his fourth appearance against Pace on Thursday. He has at least one tackle for loss in his first three games against the Setters, totaling 16 stops, 5 TFL and one sack.
• Turnovers has played a key role in the result of all three previous match-ups. In Millersville's 2016 win, Pace committed three turnovers to Millersville's zero. In 2017, Pace did not commit a turnover while Millersville lost three fumbles and threw an interception. In 2018, Pace was plus-one in the turnover margin as Millersville committed two.
• Neither team has piled up offensive production in the first three match-ups. The most offensive yards produced in any of the three games was Millersville's 367 in 2016. Neither team topped 300 yards in 2017 and Pace held a 350-226 edge in 2018.
THE LAST MEETING (Pace 23, Millersville 10 - Aug. 30, 2018)
• Just over three minutes into the second quarter, Millersville had built a 10-7 lead. But from there, Pace out-scored the Marauders 16-0 and pulled away, 23-10.
Collin Shank completed 24-of-37 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown, but an interception by Harrison Moran-Fernandez with 9:35 left in the game went 55 yards the other way for a touchdown and was a backbreaker for the Marauders. Shank was sacked seven times and Millersville finished with -24 yards rushing because of 66 lost yards to sacks. Pace totaled 350 yards of offense, 160 through the air and 190 on the ground.
CAPTAINS
• Millersville's 2019 team captains were announced during the spring game. The group includes: junior quarterback
Collin Shank, redshirt junior left guard
Senesee Jalloh, senior wide receiver
Evan Morrill, junior defensive tackle
Lucas Bush, senior linebacker
Zac Button and senior linebacker
Cameron Boykin. The group represents six of the team's nine returning starters. All six are first time captains but half are juniors. Captain history at Millersville dates to 1965, and no team since then has had six captains.
A NEW LOOK
• Millersville's roster has seen significant turnover over the last two seasons. Of the 99 players on the roster at the close of camp, only 18 were members of the team two seasons ago. The Marauders have 66 new players on the roster in 2019, including 46 true freshmen.
A STEADY CLIMB
• Millersville alum and defensive coordinator
Matt Sutjak has helped his group climb steadily up the PSAC rankings since taking over in 2016. From 2008-2015, Millersville ranked no higher than 14th in the PSAC in scoring defense. Sutjak's defenses have finished no lower than 12th in his three seasons. In 2017, Millersville posted its best total defense ranking in 19 years and its best scoring defense ranking in nine years. In 2018, the Marauders led the PSAC in passing defense, allowing just 184.0 yards per game at a 52.4 completion percentage.
FIXTURE IN THE MIDDLE
• Inside linebacker
Cameron Boykin has made 30 consecutive starts for the Marauders. He made eight in a row to close his freshman season and has started all 11 games each of the last two years. He is tied for third in the PSAC in career starts. Only IUP Jeff Arnold (36) and Edinboro's Brandon Anderson (33) enter the season with more. Boykin, a 2017 All-PSAC East Second Team selection, enters his senior season with 192 career tackles.
ACTIVE UP FRONT
• Few defensive lineman in the PSAC matched the production of
Lucas Bush through the first seven games of 2018. Bush totaled 54 tackles before missing the final four games with an injury. Twice he recorded double-digit tackles with a career-high of 12 against Slippery Rock. Bush was the team's second leading tackler at the time of his injury.
EARNING #1
• In his two seasons as head coach, Morgan has held a preseason competition resulting in a player vote to determine which player will wear the no. 1 jersey. The jersey goes to the player who exemplifies Marauder Pride. For the second year in a row,
Zac Button will wear the jersey. Button's first year with the Marauders was an impactful one. He was named All-PSAC East Second Team, leading the team and ranking ninth in the PSAC in tackles with 88. His 13 tackles for loss were fifth among PSAC East players and the most by a Marauder since 2005. He recorded at least a half-tackle for loss in nine of 11 games.
FROM THE GRIDIRON TO THE MAT
•
Evan Morrill is a busy student-athlete. Now a senior, for the previous two seasons, he has finished football season in November and went straight to the wrestling room as a member of Millersville's wrestling team. Morrill had a breakout 2018, making 35 catches for 354 yards and a touchdown and then went 14-12 as Millersville's 184-pounder, finishing fourth at the NCAA Super Region 1 Championships--one place away from a NCAA Championships berth.
• Morrill has caught a pass in 18 consecutive games including a career-high nine for 77 yards in the 2018 season finale at Mercyhurst.
• Morrill has shown off his arm, too. Morrill is 3-for-5 as a passer with two touchdowns including a 51-yard pass in 2018.
• As the team's primary long snapper, Morrill made four special teams tackles in 2018.
FINE FIRST IMPRESSION
•
Chris Dolan's redshirt freshman season saw him make 45 catches for 498 yards, becoming the first freshman since 2014 and just the third in program history to lead the team in catches. He also set the program's all-time freshman record for receptions while ranking second among freshmen for yards.
• In weeks two and three, Dolan totaled 19 receptions against top PSAC West competition (Slippery Rock and IUP). At IUP, Dolan made 10 catches for 137, becoming the first Millersville freshman since 2014 with 100 yards receiving. That yardage total was the most by a Marauder since Kevin Wiggins totaled 144 yards on Oct. 8, 2016. Dolan also made his first career touchdown catch. Against The Rock, Dolan totaled nine catches for 97 yards, giving him the highest back-to-back reception total by a Marauder since Andy Neupauer's 21 catches against Bloomsburg (9) and Slippery Rock (12) in weeks six and seven of 2003.
