Concord Stats -
Shepherd Stats -
Live Audio -
Live Stats -
Live Video -
Complete Game Notes
ATHENS, W.Va. - The Concord University football team welcomes the third-ranked Division II team in the nation 12:00 p.m. Saturday when Shepherd visits Callaghan Stadium for a Mountain East Conference game.
LIVE COVERAGE
Audio: Jason Reed and
Steve Cox will provide live play-by-play radio coverage of the contest beginning with the 11:30 a.m. pregame show on 94.5 "Willie" FM and online at www.mywillie.com
Stats: The Concord University Sports Information Department will provide live statistics for the game.
Video: The Concord University Sports Information Department will also have live streaming video of the contest versus Shepherd.
To access the live coverage, follow the links above or by clicking
here.
RECORDS
CU is 1-3 on the season.
The Rams, who have been ranked in the top five all season, enter the game with a 3-0 mark in 2017.
PUNCH THAT BALL OUT EVERY CHANCE YOU GET
Despite a 44-13 loss at Notre Dame, the Mountain Lions forced two more turnovers while not committing a turnover.
Concord elevated its MEC lead in turnover margin to +9.
The next closest team in the league to Concord is Fairmont State (+4). CU is third in Division II in turnover margin.
The two turnovers at NDC were products of fumbles forced by junior linebacker
Zach Malone and senior defensive back
Dominic Wilson.
Wilson produced the first forced fumble of his career while Malone's third-quarter strip was the fourth of his time in the Maroon and Gray.
Malone is tied with teammate and senior defensive back
Jeremiah Johnson as well Mike Bell and Thomas Hearons for fifth in all-time fumbles forced at CU.
The last time two CU teammates had four career forced fumbles at the same time was during the 2010 season when Hearons and Ethan Perry played together.
Concord has already forced more fumbles this year, 10, than it did all of last year when it forced eight.
Two years ago, Concord forced 15 fumbles and recovered six of them.
The Mountain Lions are tied for sixth nationally in fumbles recovered this season with seven.
The last time CU recovered 10 or more fumbles in a season was 2014 when they snatched exactly 10.
GETTING THE CALL
Freshman quarterback
Adam Fulton started his first career game against Notre Dame.
In his debut, Fulton completed 14-of-31 passes for 174 yards and connected on a 21-yard touchdown to sophomore wide receiver
Camari Murray.
The 31 attempts by Fulton were the most by a CU signal caller since
Brian Novak dropped back 39 times at West Virginia State last season.
For the fourth straight game, Concord didn't throw an interception.
Dating back to 2012, CU has never gone four straight games without throwing a pick.
The longest streak over that time is two consecutive games on four occasions.
PERFECTING A CRAFT
Against Notre Dame, senior punter
Garrett Lee got off a 67-yard punt in the contest.
Lee's 67-yard boot came just one week after launching a 65-yard punt versus UVa.-Wise.
Lee is just one of two players in Division II to have two punts of at least 65 yards this season, joining Walsh's Cole Krumpak.
Lee's 67-yard punt is the third longest in Super Region One this season behind West Liberty's Christian Morris who punted 73 yards against UVa.-Wise and Krumpak's 70-yard kick this past week.
Lee is sixth in the nation in net punting (44.8).
BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE
In last week's game, Murray set career-highs in receptions (four), yards (60) and longest reception (28) while also catching his first career touchdown from Fulton in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, sophomore defensive lineman
Keionte Gainey also had a stellar game by setting a new career-best with 12 tackles in the contest.
Over his last two games, Gainey has 20 tackles.
The last CU defensive lineman to have 20 or more tackles in a two-game span was
Darryl Johnson in the UVa.-Wise and Charleston games last season.
PARTY OF ONE
Concord has traditionally had some great battles with Shepherd.
The Rams enter Saturday's game on a 23-game MEC winning streak with CU being the last team to beat SU at the end of the 2014 season.
Although losing to the perennial national championship contender, Concord has only lost to the Rams by an averge of 12.5 points in the last two seasons.
In 2015, Shepherd beat its opponents by an average of 29.1 points and in 2016, 22.5 points per contest.
CU is the only team to play Shepherd within two touchdowns in both 2015 and 2016.
In the current decade, Concord has defeated Shepherd twice, 2011 and 2014.
No other MEC team has defeated the Rams twice in the 2010s.
The only other teams to pull off the feat once is Notre Dame (2014), West Liberty (2012), West Virginia Wesleyan (2011) and Glenville State (2010).
REVISITING THE PAST
In 2016, Concord lost a 21-7 decision at Shepherd as the Rams scored 14 unanswered points after CU tied the game 7-7 in the second quarter.
Junior defensive lineman
Colton Neal had two of his 9.5 career sacks on the road last season while Johnson forced one of his four career fumble in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle.
Two years ago, SU scored a late touchdown to edge past the Mountain Lions.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4- Sophomore wide receiver
Brandon Plyler has caught at least three passes in each game this season and is ranked eight in the MEC in receptions.
14- Number of combined penalties for CU in the last three games after committing the same number in game one.
11/15- Date in 2014 that Shepherd lost its last MEC game, a home contest versus CU.
SHEPHERD AT A GLANCE
First-year starting quarterback Connor Jessop, a Virginia Tech transfer, leads the conference in total offense per game (404).
Although starting for the first time in 2017, the senior signal caller has been thrust into some big spots for the Rams over the last two seasons in their run to the NCAA Division II semifinals each year.
Jessop is throwing for 372 yards and rushing for 32 yards per game in 2017.
Earlier this season, Jessop accounted for 526 yards against NDC, most in a Division II game this season.
His top target, Ryan Feiss, is the only receiver in the conference averaging over 100 yards per game (181.7).
Running back Jabre Lolly is the top rusher in the MEC with 143.7 yards per game.
A normally stout Shepherd defense is last in the conference in scoring defense and ninth in the league against the pass.
Â
