Concord Takes Number Two Regional Ranking on the Road to UVa.-Wise

Concord Stats - UVa.-Wise Stats - Live Stats - Regional Rankings - D2football.com Poll - AFCA Poll - Complete Game Notes

ATHENS, W.Va. - The accolades continue to roll in for the Concord Universtiy football team, and this week the Mountain Lions are ranked second in the initial Division II Super Region One rankings that were released Monday afternoon. This week Concord will play at UVa.-Wise.

LIVE COVERAGE
The UVa.-Wise Sports Information Department will offer live in-game statistics for Saturday's contest. To access the live stats, follow the link at the top of page or click here.

MOUNTAIN LION NOTES
• CU is ranked number two in the region after a 24-20 win over the University of Charleston in week number eight of the season.

• Bloomsburg out of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) is ranked number in the region, sporting an 8-0 mark like the Mountain Lions.
California (Pa.), West Chester, Winston-Salem State, American International, Shepherd, Virginia State, Slippery Rock and West Liberty rounded out the regional rankings.

• The top six teams in each of the four super regions will earn a spot in the NCAA Division II playoffs with the top two teams in each region earning a bye into the second round. However, a conference champion from an automatic bid league that is ranked inside of the top eight, but not inside the top six, can bump the lowest ranked at-large team from the playoffs. The Mountain East Conference champion will not have an automatic bid into the NCAA playoffs until next season.

• In addition to its regional ranking, CU moved up four spots in the AFCA Coaches' Poll this week to number 15 and is just one of seven teams to begin the season 8-0 in the nation.

• Furthermore, the Mountain Lions are 16th in the latest D2football.com poll.

• Against Charleston, junior running back Calvinaugh Jones rushed for a season-high 171 yards while still averaging 7.4 yards per carry.

• Perhaps, the biggest differences in the game came from freshman wide receiver T.J. Smith who caught three passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns and redshirt freshman defensive back and reigning Mountain East Conference Defensive Player of the Week Jeremiah Johnson  intercepted his third pass of the season.

• After Charleston had cut into the CU lead of 10-3 with a field goal, sophomore quarterback Brian Novak found Smith for a 72-yard touchdown strike with less than a minute to go before halftime to give the Mountain Lions a 17-6 lead at intermission.

• Heading into play against UVa.-Wise, Smith is CU's leading receiver with 30 receptions for 553 yards and seven touchdowns.

• Smith's seven scoring receptions is third in the MEC and his 553 yards are fourth in the league.

• As for Johnson, he snared his interception with less than a minute in regulation as Charleston was driving inside Concord territory, sealing the game for CU.

• The Baltimore, Maryland native's pick was preceded by the go-ahead touchdown score from Novak to sophomore wide receiver Davon McGill with 1:51 left in the game.

• The victory over the UC was the first time Concord had trailed in a game  in the fourth quarter this season.

• Before last Saturday's contest, the last time the Mountain Lions came from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat a team was last season on the road when they beat Charleston 9-3 after entering the fourth quarter down 3-0.

• With his performance against Charleston, Jones surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight season and now has 1,004 yards this season, which ranks second in the MEC and 13th nationally.

• In fact, Jones is just three yards shy of matching the entire UVa.-Wise squad in rushing.

• After tossing three touchdowns against the Golden Eagles, Novak sits ninth nationally in touchdown passes (23).

• Novak and the rest of the CU offense is second nationally in scoring averaging 48.4 points per game.

• By throwing for 279 or more yards against UVa.-Wise, Novak would become the seventh signal caller in CU history to pass for 4,000 or more yards in his career.

• Concord enters play Saturday with the best turnover margin in the MEC (+11) which also places nationally (ninth).

• Not only has the CU offense committed the second fewest turnovers in the league (11), but the Mountain Lion defense has been relentless as they have intercepted a league-best 16 passes.

• The 16 picks also rank third in Division II.

• Along the front-seven of the defense, Concord has totaled 23 sacks, second best in the MEC with senior defensive end Anthony Pyle leading the way with five.

• Concord has more than doubled its total in sacks from last season through eight games.

• The Mountain Lions had just 11 sacks after eight contests in 2013.

• CU talled 15 sacks all season, but this season with Pyle leading the team, four other Concord players have at least three sacks including junior linebacker Nick Ortiz (four), senior defensive lineman Keith Ferguson (three), junior defensive lineman Ervin Moore (three) and junior linebacker Cade Rogers (three).

• Last season in a 44-6 win over UVa.-Wise, Novak had his best game of the 2013 season with 271 passing yards and three touchdowns. Junior wide receiver Tiko Henderon hauled in 109 yards and a score.

• Concord leads the brief five-game series over UVa.-Wise 3-2.

• The Cavaliers will return to Carl Smith Stadium coming off its first win of the season, a 16-13 win at West Virginia State.

• UVa.-Wise possesses the fourth-leading tackler in the league in Zack Blair who has 70 tackles this season.

• The Cavaliers are the third in the MEC in time of possession as they average over 32 minutes of possession per game.

A CONCORD WIN WOULD...
• A Concord win would give CU its ninth win of the season, a feat the Mountain Lions haven't accomplished since the 1987 season.

• A Concord win would make CU 8-2 in its last 10 road games vs. DII teams.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
73.9- Percent of Novak's touchdowns that have gone to either Smith or junior wide receiver Ryan Stewart.

216-  Yards needed by Calvinaugh Jones to surpass 3,000 rushing yards for his career.

4- Number of wide receivers that have caught at least 15 passes from Novak, last season CU only had two.

UP NEXT
Concord will return to Callaghan Stadium for its regular season home finale against Notre Dame College Nov. 8 at 12:00 p.m.