Clarion Golden Eagles (0-4, 0-1 PSAC West) at #7 Slippery Rock (4-0, 1-0 PSAC West)
Saturday, Oct. 2 // 6 p.m. // Slippery Rock, Pa. // Mihalik-Thompson Stadium

MEDIA COVERAGE

Radio: Mike Kalinowski (PXP) and Joe Lodanosky (color) will have the radio call for the game on 96.3 FM Mix96 an hour before kickoff.  Live audio streaming will be available via the Mix96 website.

Streaming Video: All PSAC member institutions stream football games free of charge on the PSAC Sports Digital Network. Games are available on the web, and fans can download the PSAC Sports Digital Network App on the following: 
- Mobile: App Store (iOS), Google Play (Android), Amazon Fire
- Streaming: Amazon Fire, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku

Live Stats: Fans can follow along with live stats from all Golden Eagle football contests through SIDEARM Live Stats.

The Kickoff    

• Clarion goes on the road for their toughest test of the young season on Saturday, when they take on seventh-ranked Slippery Rock at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium on Oct. 2. Kickoff will take place under the lights at 6 p.m.

Series History

• This will be the 79th meeting between the two teams, with Slippery Rock owning a 50-25-3 advantage in the all-time series with Clarion. The matchup dates back to the 1928 season, when the Rock won by a 2-0 score.
• The teams will battle this Saturday for the hallowed Milk Jug Trophy - though in truth the prize is clearly a milk can. The Rock have won each of the last three battles for the Milk Jug/Can dating back to the 2017 season. The Golden Eagles' last trophy win came in 2016 at Memorial Stadium.
• The Golden Eagles have not won a game in Slippery Rock in better than a decade. The most recent Clarion road win came on Oct. 8, 2009, a 27-10 decision over The Rock. Alfonso Hoggard went off for 205 rushing yards on 30 carries as Clarion scored the final 20 points of the contest.
• The last meeting between the teams was Oct. 26, 2019, a 41-6 win by the Rock at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium. Clarion briefly held the lead on Slippery Rock and trailed just 17-6 at the halftime break, but the Rock scored 24 unanswered points in the third quarter for the win.

About the Opponent

• Slippery Rock was tabbed as the preseason favorite in the PSAC West division, and the Rock are currently ranked seventh in the nation according to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll with a 4-0 record.
• After escaping their season opener with a 24-21 win over Wayne State, and a relatively close 22-7 win over East Stroudsburg, the Rock have steamrolled their last two opponents, defeating Lock Haven 57-7 and Seton HIll 41-17 in consecutive weeks.
• Slippery Rock leads the PSAC West in scoring offense at 36.0 points per game, and second in the West with an allowance of just 13.0 points per game. They are averaging 338.8 yards per game through the air while holding opponents to under 100 passing yards per game.
• Quarterback Andrew Koester is the reigning PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 338 yards and five touchdowns against Seton HIll. Defensively, Chad Kuhn is tied for second in the PSAC with four sacks this year.

Last Time Out

• The Golden Eagle football team opened PSAC West play on the road on Sept. 25, but a string of first half miscues spelled trouble as Clarion fell by a 56-21 score to Gannon at McConnell Family Stadium.
• Quinn Zinobile recorded his fifth touchdown reception of the season, giving him at least one score in all four games so far this year, and running backs Mylique McGriff and Khalil Owens each reached the end zone for the second time this season.
• McGriff became the fourth running back in Clarion history to top 2,500 career rushing yards and scored his second touchdown in as many weeks, a three-yard plunge in the second quarter. Owens' score came in the third quarter on a six-yard reception, his first touchdown through the air of the season.
• However, Gannon capitalized on Clarion miscues in the first half, scoring 28 unanswered points and reaching the end zone on each of their first five possessions.

PSAC Announces Preseason Coaches Poll

• The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) announced the results of their preseason coaches poll on August 4. The Golden Eagles were predicted to finish eighth in the PSAC West division in 2021.

PSAC West Division (First Place Votes)

1. Slippery Rock (4)
2. IUP (3)
3. Cal U (1)
4. Mercyhurst
5. Edinboro
6. Seton Hill
7. Gannon
8. Clarion

PSAC East Division (First Place Votes)

1. Shepherd (6)
2. West Chester (1)
3. Kutztown (1)
4. Bloomsburg
5. Shippensburg
6. East Stroudsburg
7. Millersville
8. Lock Haven

Zinobile Named PSAC West Offensive POTW

• Quinn Zinobile posted one of the best days of his young career against Shippensburg on Sept. 18, earning himself PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week honors for Sept. 20.
• Zinobile caught five passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Both scores came on huge plays in the first quarter, starting with a 73-yard touchdown reception to put the Golden Eagles on the scoreboard. That was the longest reception of Zinobile's career. He followed it up with a 53-yard touchdown on the very next possession.
• With his 202 receiving yards, Zinobile became the first Golden Eagle receiver to top 200 yards in a game since Jon Reid did it against LIU Post in the 2012 season. Of those 202 yards, 80 of them were recorded as yards after the catch.
• That 202 receiving yards also put Zinobile over 1,000 career receiving yards.

History is in Sight

• Senior running back Mylique McGriff was a 2019 First Team All-PSAC West running back after leading the conference with an average of 104.5 rushing yards per game. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry in 2019, the fourth-highest average in the PSAC among backs with 150 carries.
• McGriff entered the season needing 743 yards to break the program rushing record. He now needs 541 yards in the final seven games to top Elton Brown's record.

Clarion's Career Rushing Leaders

1. Elton Brown - 3,069
2. Steve Witte - 2,850
3. Gary Frantz - 2,778
4. Mylique McGriff - 2,529
5. Eddie Emmanuel - 2,371
6. Alfonso Hoggard - 2,350

More History for Mylique

• With his touchdown plunge against Gannon on Sept. 25, Mylique McGriff continued his climb up another statistical category in program history - rushing touchdowns.
• McGriff now has 19 career scores on the ground, tying him with Bill Wise (1966-68) and Ron DeJidas (1993-97) for fifth on the program's rushing touchdowns list.
• While it seems unlikely McGriff will get the 23 rushing touchdowns necessary to wrestle the program record of 41 away from Steve Witte -– though anything is possible, right? –  he needs just five more touchdowns the rest of the way to move into sole possession of fourth place, above Elton Brown.

Fine, Here's A Rundown of Where Mylique McGriff Ranks on Clarion's Career Rushing Records Lists

• Rushing Yards - 4th - 2,529
• Rush Attempts - 6th - 510
• Rushing Touchdowns - T-5th - 19
• Average Rush Yards/Game - 1st - 84.3

The Mighty Quinn

• Receiver Quinn Zinobile continues to rack up the stats in 2021, and is among the conference's leaders in most statistical categories.
• Zinobile is tied for the overall lead in the PSAC with five touchdown catches on the season, keeping him even with Slippery Rock's Henry Litwin and Shepherd's Greg Leonard. That also ranks as the 12th-best total in NCAA Division II.
• Zinobile has scored at least one touchdown in every game so far this season.
• The sophomore receiver ranks sixth in the conference and third in the West division with an average of 93.3 receiving yards per game, and his 5.3 receptions per game average ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, in the conference and West division.

Double-Dip

• The receiving duo of Quinn Zinobile and Kahliq Muhammad did something against Shippensburg on Sept. 18 that no Golden Eagle pairing had done in the previous five years.
• Zinobile recorded 202 yards receiving and two touchdowns against the Red Raiders, while Muhammad finished with 102 yards and two touchdowns.
• It was the first time two Golden Eagle receivers went over the 100-yard receiving mark in the same game since Kevin Genevro and Matt Lehman did it against Mercyhurst during the 2016 season, a span of 42 games.
• More recently was the last instance of two Golden Eagles catching two or more touchdowns in the same game: that would be Terrell Ford and Zinobile, who did so against Lock Haven last season.

The Crime Dog Hits 100

• Mylique McGriff hit 100 yards rushing right on the nose against Shippensburg on Sept. 18, finishing with exactly that total.
• It was the first time the senior running back crossed the century mark since the midway point of the 2019 season. 
• McGriff had not topped 100 yards in a game since Oct. 5, 2019 against Seton Hill.

Three Bills for Eggers

• Making his second career start in the game against Shippensburg on Sept. 18, quarterback Taylor Eggers showed skill in moving the Golden Eagle offense up and down the field.
• Eggers completed 16-of-25 passes for 329 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions against the Red Raiders. That made him the first Clarion quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards since Connor Simmons did it against Gannon in the 2016 season. 
• Eggers' 329 yards are the fifth-most in a single game in the PSAC through three weeks and the second-most for a PSAC West quarterback.
• Simmons was also the last Golden Eagle quarterback to throw for more than 300 yards, four touchdowns and no picks in a game. He did it against Lock Haven in the 2016 season opener, a span of 45 games.

Going Ham

• Kareem Hamdan has gotten off to a good start in 2021, showing that he has a nose for making stops all over the field.
• The sophomore linebacker leads the team with 33 total tackles in the first four games. He ranks sixth in the PSAC with an average of 8.3 tackles per game through Week 4.

Exclusive Club for Jalen Smith

• With his 55-yard punt return against Lake Erie on Sept. 4, Jalen Smith became just the fifth Clarion player to return a punt for a touchdown in the last two decades.
• The last time a Golden Eagle took a punt back for a score was on Oct. 11, 2014, when Matt Lehman took a kick 27 yards to the house against Edinboro.
• Clarion players returned four punts for touchdowns from 2002-05, but have only returned two since then.
• Smith's punt return for a touchdown is currently the second-longest punt return in the conference this season, behind Cal U's Jermal Martin (62 yards), and is one of only four punt returns for a touchdown in the conference so far this year.

Clarion Punt Returns for TDs - Since 2000
2021 - Jalen Smith vs. Lake Erie
2014 - Matt Lehman vs. Edinboro
2005 - Matt Morris
2003 - Bo Busch, Myron Hargon
2002 - Brandon Whitman

Nothing Runs Like a Ford

• Against Lake Erie on Sept. 4, Terrell Ford scored his second career kickoff return touchdown, taking it to the house from 70 yards out.
• In a record search dating back to 1986 (and continuing), no other Golden Eagle player has returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in their careers.
• Ford's return against the Storm is currently one of only two kickoff return touchdowns in the conference through four weeks.

One More Note on the Return Game...

• When Jalen Smith and Terrell Ford returned a punt and a kickoff for touchdowns, respectively, they became the first Clarion duo to return kicks for touchdowns in the same game in 21 years. 
• Cori Johnson and Myron Hargon both returned kickoffs for touchdowns on Sept. 2, 2000 against East Stroudsburg.

He's Not Lach-ing

• Defensive lineman Robert Lachmann earned himself a spot on the first team defense against Millersville, and since then has carved out several effective games at defensive end.
• A transfer from Division I FCS Albany, Lachmann has sacks in back-to-back games, and forced a fumble with a strip-sack of Shippensburg's Brycen Mussina on Sept. 18.
• In an interesting "Did you know?" situation, Lachmann, a native of Germany, worked in national parks in Africa in his teenage years.

Prowling the Sidelines

• In addition to the fresh faces in uniform, the Golden Eagle coaching staff has undergone a makeover since the end of the 2019 season.
• Mike Tesch will start his first season as the Golden Eagles' receivers coach in 2021. He spent his previous two seasons at Illinois College. In 2019, he helped the Blue Boys rank second in the Midwest Conference with an average of 32.0 points per game, and seventh in the nation in red zone scoring percentage.
• Vinnie Rizzo enters his second year as the offensive line coach for Clarion, but will see his first game action in the Blue & Gold in 2021. Rizzo came to Clarion from JUCO powerhouse ASA Brooklyn, where he helped coach one of the top offensive units in the nation.
• Austin Guptel will work with the Golden Eagle defensive backs, as well as the special teams units, in 2021. Last year he was the defensive backs coach at Saint Vincent, and before that he spent a year at Division I Central Connecticut State.

PSAC Announces Partnership with BlueFrame Technology for PSAC Sports Digital Network

• The PSAC announced in July that it reached a five-year partnership with BlueFrame technology to create an end-to-end digital network for all 18 member institutions.
• The PSAC Sports Digital Network will be available on the web along with streaming applications for television and mobile devices for Android TV, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku (TV), iOS, Android (mobile) and Amazon Fire Tablet. The app will be able to be found and installed by searching for the PSAC Sports Digital Network.

Next Week

• The Golden Eagles will return to Memorial Stadium for a Homecoming clash with the IUP Crimson Hawks on Saturday, Oct. 9. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
• Clarion will be looking for their first win against the Crimson Hawks since the 2010 season.