Lindenwood Game Notes

Northwest Missouri Game Notes

MIAA Weekly Notes

Storylines
- The Lindenwood football team returns home this week for its Homecoming game. Many schools choose an easier opponent for Homecoming, but the Lions went the opposite direction. Lindenwood will face the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II, the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats.
 
- Lindenwood is 1-4 on the season and in tenth place in the MIAA. Northwest Missouri is 5-0 on the year and in sole possession of first place in the conference standings.
 
- Last week, the Lions fell on the road to Emporia State by a 37-22 score. The game was a defensive battle until the Hornets broke through with touchdowns on four straight possessions in the second and third quarters. Northwest Missouri won its 20th straight game last weekend with a 49-7 win over Northeastern State. The Bearcats led 14-7 at halftime before putting away with 35 unanswered points in the second half.
 
- Lindenwood and Northwest Missouri will be meeting for the first time in program history. The Bearcats are the second of three teams that the Lions are playing for the first time in 2014.
 
- Lindenwood is 17-6 all-time in its Homecoming contests, including a 7-3 mark during the Patrick Ross era. This is the third straight year that the Lions have faced a nationally-ranked NCAA Division II program for Homecoming. The Lions lost the other two games to Washburn (19-16) and Emporia State (52-21).
 
- Lindenwood's Connor Harris is putting together a historic season from his middle linebacker position. If he continues his current pace, he will be just the ninth player to average 14.0 or more tackles a game for a season since the NCAA Division II record book began collecting defensive stats.
 
- The Lions' offense looks to cotinue to improve after setting a season-high in total offensive yards with 391 last weekend. The improvement coincided with true freshman Graham Lindman's first start at quarterback.
 
- Lindenwood is 1-6 all-time against nationally-ranked teams at the NCAA Division II level. The Lions are playing the No. 1 team for the first time, with the previous high being No. 6 Pittsburg State last season. Lindenwood is 0-3 against ranked teams in the top ten. The lone win over a ranked team was a 44-33 win over No. 18 Pittsburg State in 2012.
 
Lions Offense
- Lindenwood enters this week ranked tenth in the MIAA in scoring offense (17.8) and eighth in total offense (296.6).
 
- Graham Lindman became the third true freshman quarterback last week to start for Lindenwood under head coach Patrick Ross. He had the best numbers among those three in his inaugural start with 307 passing yards and three touchdowns.
 
- Wide receiver Jaron Alexander moved into Lindenwood's top-10 career receptions last week and is currently ninth with 86 catches. He needs 53 receiving yards to break into the top 10 in that category.
 
- Running back Anthony Cade had a team season-high with 48 rushing yards last week. He also had the team's longest rush of the season of 34 yards.
 
Lions Defense
- Lindenwood enters play this week ranked seventh in the MIAA in scoring defense (31.8) and eighth in total defense (387.5).
 
- Lindenwood's pass defense is ranked fifth in the MIAA by allowing just over 200 passing yards a game. It is third in the conference by allowing just 10.1 yards per completion.
 
- The Lions are fourth in the MIAA by allowing opponents to gain 5.0 yards per play.
 
- Connor Harris was named the MIAA Defensive Player of the Week this week. He is the third Lindenwood player to win that honor, joining Pierre Desir and Jaz Granderson.
 
- Connor Harris recorded 23 tackles last week against Emporia State. That total ties for the most in NCAA Division II this season, and is the third-most among all levels of NCAA football. The 23 tackles ties for the 18th-most for a single game in the NCAA  Division II record book.
 
- Roderick Ryles has recorded double-figure tackles in back-to-back games, including a career-high 14 last week.
 
Lions Special Teams
- Lindenwood is third in the MIAA in kickoff coverage, averaging a net of 39.5 yards on kickoffs. The Lions' kickers have averaged 63.4 yards per kick and have seven touchbacks. Marvin Byrd has a team-high three tackles on kickoff coverage.
 
- Tre' Roby is seventh in the MIAA in all-purpose yards per game with 97.6. He is second in punt return average (6.6) and fourth in kick return average (19.9).
 
Misc. Notes
- Lindenwood will be in action again on Oct. 18 with a 1 p.m. game in Kearney, Neb. against Nebraska-Kearney.
 
About Northwest Missouri
- Northwest Missouri ranks seventh in the nation in scoring defense and second in total defense. It is 27th natioanlly in scoring offense.
 
- Quarterback Brady Bolles is averaging 247.6 passing yards a game. He has thrown nine touchdown passes and ran for three more.
 
- Eric Reimer leads the team with 35 tackles and 7.0 tackles for loss. Matt Longacre has a team-high four sacks, and seven different players have one turnover on the year.
 
- The Bearcat defense has yet to allow over 200 yards of total offense in a game this year.