Concord Looks to Improve 6-0 Record at West Virginia Wesleyan

Concord Stats - West Virginia Wesleyan Stats - Live Audio - Live Stats - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - After disposing of Urbana, 50-20, on homecoming, the Concord University football team will take to the road for the third time this season when they travel to West Virginia Wesleyan Saturday afternoon for a Mountain East Conference tilt at 1:00 p.m.

LIVE COVERAGE
The West Virginia Wesleyan Sports Information Department will provide live stats as well as a live radio broadcast of the game. Complete coverage of the game can be found at top of the page or by clicking here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• The Mountain Lions jumped up two spots to 21st in the latest American Football Coaches Association Division Top 25 poll after the 20-point win over the Blue Knights.

• Additionally, CU moved up one place in the D2football.com poll to 20th. It is the third straight week Concord has been ranked by D2football and second consecutive week it has been in the AFCA poll.

• Against Urbana, sophomore quarterback Brian Novak threw for 300 yards and four touchdowns. It was the third time Novak has tossed for at least 300 yards this season.

• Junior running back Calvinaugh Jones surpassed the 100-yard barrier by carrying for 108 yards and his sixth touchdown of the season. Jones has rushed for at least 100 yards in each of the Mountain Lions' games this season.

• Defense and special teams played a large role for Concord as junior kicker Andy Ellington tied his own school record with a 52-yard field goal in the second half. Ellington was perfect on the day as he connected from 40 and 47 yards as well.

• The rush defense for the Mountain Lions was more than stellar as CU held Urbana to negative six yards on the ground, just the 13th time this season a team has held an opponent to less than zero yards rushing in Division II.

• Junior linebacker Brandon Martinez scored Concord's first defensive touchdown of the season with a 41-yard fumble return forced by senior defensive lineman Keith Ferguson.

• The fumble caused by Ferguson was the first of two on the day for the Bluefield, West Virginia native and his first two career forced fumbles.

• Also setting a new career mark was freshman wide receiver T.J. Smith who caught two touchdowns from Novak, his first career multi-touchdown game.

• Junior athlete Jermeil Douse continued to have his impact on games in by scoring on a 66-yard pass from Novak.

• The touchdown reception was the second-longest play from scrimmage this season and the longest pass play for the Mountain Lions since last season when junior wide receiver Tiko Henderson scored on an 86-yard touchdown score from Novak.

• Entering play this week, Concord has intercepted 13 passes which is tied for first in the nation.

• Senior defensive back Mike Carey leads the way with four and his ninth career interception against Urbana moved him into tie for eighth place with Joe Carroll on the Concord career list.

• Speaking of national leaders, Novak continues to be one of the most efficient passers in the nation as he is second with a passer rating of 182.4.

• Novak and the CU offense is fifth nationally in scoring offense (50.4).

• In addition to his receiving threat, Douse is fifth in Division II in punt returning average (19.4).

• The Mountain Lions are tied for eighth among all Division II programs with a turnover margin of 1.83.

• To compare just how potent the Concord offense has been this season, as a team CU has already surpassed last season's total passing yards mark as they have 1,838 compared to 1,762 yards in 11 games last season.

• Concord also surpassed last seasn's total points as they finished with 293 points in 2013. So far this season, the Mountain Lions have put up 302 points through six games.

• Defensively, the Mountain Lions have already surpassed last season's sack total.

• Last year Concord had 16 sacks for the season, the Mountain Lions already have 18 sacks this season with senior defensive end Anthony Pyle leading the team with five while junior defensive end Ervin Moore and junior linebacker Nick Ortiz each have three.

• After his 300-yard performance versus Urbana, Novak finds himself  ninth on the single-season passing yards list with 1,758.

• With another sack, Pyle will enter the single season sacks list with five.

• Furthermore, Carey needs one more interception to rank on the single-season picks list.

• With six tackles agaisnt Urbana, junior linebacker Austin Dotson joined junior Moore as active Mountain Lions with at least 100 career tackles.

•  As for the matchup with West Virginia Wesleyan, it will be a meeting of two former teammates at West Virginia University as Concord head coach Garin Justice and West Virginia Wesleyan head coach George Shehl played together from 2002-2005 at WVU.

• The Mountain Lions enter Saturday having won three straight over the Bobcats including a 49-21 win at Callaghan Stadium last season.

• Concord ran for a 2013 season-high 403 yards as Jones (106) and senior running back Ben Nester (159) both went over 100 yards against West Virginia Wesleyan.

• The 28-point margin of victory last season was the second largest for the Mountain Lions.

• Justice has never lost to West Virginia Wesleyan in three previous games.

• The Bobcats will enter Saturday's contest with a record of 3-3 overall and 3-3 in the MEC.

• West Virginia boosts the league's fifth-best passing offense as they average 266.5 yards per contest.

• The Bobcats have the league's third-best turnover margin (+3) behind Concord and Shepherd who are tied at +11.

• The Bobcats are led offensively by quarterback Jeremy Musselman who has 1,109 yards throwing to go along with 11 touchdowns.

A CONCORD WIN WOULD...
• A Concord win give Justice his 30th career win at Concord, making him the sixth coach in school history with 30 wins.

• A Concord win would keep Justice a perfect 4-0 against the Bobcats.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
74-  Concord has outscored its opponents by 74 points in the first quarter of games (88-14).

81.8- Ellington's field goal percentage (9-for-11), the highest among all MEC kickers.

50- Concord has scored touchdowns on 50 percent of its drives this season. CU has found the endzone 40 times.

UP NEXT
Concord will welcome in the University of Charleston for a 1:00 p.m. home kickoff October 25.