Sept. 17, 2004

Allendale, Mich. - The Game: Grand Valley State, the two-time NCAA Division II Football National Champions and the number one ranked team in Division II, will host Ashland University tonight (Sept. 18). This will be the first meeting between GVSU and Ashland since the 2001 season. Grand Valley State enters the Ashland game with an 11-game winning streak.

The Series: Grand Valley State leads the all-time series with Ashland by a 10-2 margin. The Lakers have an eight game winning streak in the series dating back to 1994 The teams have not met since 2001 season. GVSU claimed a 63-19 victory in the last meeting.

The Coaches: Grand Valley State•Chuck Martin (Milliken, 1990)•3-0 (1st year) Ashland•Lee Owens (Bluffton, 1977)•2-1/ (1st year)

• Chuck Martin is just the fifth head coach in GVSU Laker football history. Most recently, GVSU was led by Tom Beck (1985-1990), a 2004 National Football Foundation Hall of Fame inductee and Brian Kelly (1991-2003), who led GVSU to the 2002 & 2003 NCAA DII Football National Championships.

• Grand Valley State is ranked number one in the AFCA Coaches poll for the fifth straight week. The Lakers opened the 2004 season ranked number one in the AFCA Division II Coaches Poll for the third straight year. GVSU has been ranked number one in 27-out-of-the-last 32 polls released since the opening game of the 2002 season. The Lakers are 23-1 when being ranked number one. Since 8/30/01. GVSU is 44-2 when ranked in the AFCA top 25. GVSU has been ranked in the AFCA top 25 in 50 straight polls and ranked in the top 7 in 44 straight polls.

Lakers In NCAA Stats Team Total Off. 33rd 419.0 Passing Off. 22nd 259.0 Scoring Off. 31st 35.7 Scoring Def. 14th 10.7 Turnover Margin 3rd 2.0

Individual Cullen Finnerty Total Offense 23rd 257.7 Pass Efficiency 12th 169.2

Demonte Collins Receptions Per/G 11th 7.3 Receiving Yds P/G 19th 104.0 Scoring 18th 10.0

Mark Catlin Punt Ret. Ave. 33rd 11.1

Brandon Langston KO Return Avg. 1st 38.6

Scott Greene FG P/G 24th 1.0

Lucius Hawkins INT. P/G 4th 1.0 Passes Defended 33rd 1.7

• QB Cullen Finnerty has completed 55-of-83 passes (66.3 percent) for 727 yards and eight TDs this season. Finnerty completed 16-of-25 passes for 172 yards and two TDs vs. Indianapolis, but also tossed his first interception in 128 attempts...Finnerty has thrown just two interceptions in his last 211 attempts and just seven in his career (17 games/446 att.)..Cullen completed 22-of-35 passes for 391 yards and a career-high five TDs at Gannon (9/4). Finnerty's 391 passing yards was the second-best total in his career. He passed for 399 yards vs. Michigan Tech in 2003...Finnerty was 16-for-24 for 301 yards and five TDs in the first half at GU...Cullen completed 17-of-23 passes for 164 yards and one TD at Ferris State...Finnerty is eighth in all-time passing yards (3,491) and total offense (4,359) at GVSU...Cullen enters the Ashland game with 868 career rushing yards.

• Michael Tennessee is third on the Laker all-time rushing list with 3,063 yards. Michael is 5th in all-time, all-purpose yards with 3,666...Tennessee also moved into the 13th spot in all-time receptions with 80...Tennessee ran for 96 yards on 20 carries versus Indianapolis.

• Freshman WR Demonte Colliins has hauled in 22 passes for 312 yards and five TDs in three games...Collins has caught a TD pass in all three games played this season...It took all of two games for freshman WR Demonte Collins to make his mark in Grand Valley State football history. Collins hauled in 13 catches for 217 yards and three TDs at Gannon (9/4/04). His 13 catches set a GVSU single-game record, breaking the old mark of 11 that was held by David Kircus, Terrance Banks, Frank Miotke and Bill Lucksted. Collins actually broke the record in the first half when he hauled in 12 catches for 201 yards and three TDs. In two games Demonte has caught 19 passes for 293 yards and four TDs...Collins made the most of his first career reception for the Lakers when he hauled in a 33-yard TD catch on fourth down for the first catch of his career at Ferris State (8/28/04) in the first quarter.

• Grand Valley State turned the ball over an uncharacteristically three times last Saturday (Sept. 11) versus Indianpolis. GVSU is a +6 in turnover margin after three games.

• Junior WR Brandon Langston is averaging a team-best 20.5 yards per catch. Langston has 11 receptions for 225 yards and two TDs. In addition, Langston leads the nation in kickoff return average (38.6 ypr).

• Grand Valley State limited Indy to just 79 yards rushing...Gannon is the only team in the last seven games to rush for more than 100 yards. In addition, GVSU has held 11 of its last 17 opponents to under 100 yards rushing.

• The starting secondary for GVSU has 25 career interceptions. Senior All-American Lucius Hawkins moved into a tie for ninth in career interceptions with his third of the season at Gannon. Hawkins picked off a pair of passes at Ferris State in the season opener. Fellow senior DB DeJuane Boone picked off the seventh pass of his career at Ferris State.

• Senior All-American DT Keyonta Marshall continued to be a stat sheet stuffer versus Indianapolis. Marshall recorded three tackles, a blocked PAT, a pass deflection and a 1/2 QB sack. Keyonta, who has two fumble recoveries and one forced fumble on the year, has 20.5 QB sacks and 46.5 tackles for loss in his career.

• Grand Valley State, which held a 16 minute time of possession advantage at Ferris State, has been on the short end of the category the last two games.

• Grand Valley State ranked fourth in NCAA DII attendance in 2003. The Lakers averaged 10,446 and were one of only four teams in the country to average over 10,000.

• Grand Valley State holds the all-time college football record for highest average gain per attempted pass (11.5). BYU is second at 10.9. In addition, the Lakers hold the record for the highest pass efficiency rating at 222.5. Eureka (III) is second (211.3), while Tulane tops DI school's (184.4).

• Grand Valley State enters the Ashland game with an overall mark of 243-111-3 (.686). GVSU has the best winning percentage in DII since 2000 (51-6/.889) and their 56 wins the last five years top the DII ranks...The Lakers' are second all-time in DII winning percentage (.686) behind Texas A&M-Kingsville (.691)...GVSU has the second best winning percentage of football playing schools in the State of Michigan, behind Michigan's 834-272-36 (.747) mark...Grand Valley State is 50-2 in its last 52 games with back-to-back National Championships (2003-2004). In addition, the Lakers are 36-1 in their last 37 GLIAC games...The GVSU senior class enters the Indianpolis contest 44-2 overall and 30-1 in GLIAC action.