Oct. 15, 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 hit the road for a key GLIAC tilt at Saginaw Valley State. The Lakers enter the game with a 14-game winning streak overall and a 23-game road winning streak. GVSU's last loss was a 34-20 decision at Lubbers Stadium to the Cardinals. The SVSU loss snapped GVSU winning streaks that included 20 straight wins overall, 32 straight regular season wins, 29 straight GLIAC wins and 25 straight victories at Lubbers Stadium. However, GVSU avenged the loss with a 10-3 win in the playoffs at Saginaw Valley State en route to a second straight National Championship.

The Series: Grand Valley State leads the all-time series by a 22-9 margin. The Lakers split a pair of meetings a year ago versus the Cardinals. GVSU dropped a 34-20 regular season decision , but claimed a 10-3 win the playoffs. The home team is 11-5 in the last 16 games, with four of the five road victories coming from the Lakers (1993, 1998, 2002 and 2003). 10 of the last 15 meetings have been decided by seven points or less.

The Coaches: Grand Valley State•Chuck Martin (Milliken, 1990)•6-0 (1st year). Saginaw Valley State•Randy Awrey (Northern Michigan, 1978)•97-58-1/ (14th year)

• Grand Valley State is ranked number one in the AFCA Coaches poll for the ninth straight week. The Lakers opened the 2004 season ranked number one in the AFCA Division II Coaches Poll, the third straight year the Lakers opened the year ranked #1. GVSU has been ranked number one in 31-out-of-the-last 36 polls released since the opening game of the 2002 season. The Lakers are 26-1 when being ranked number one, with the lone defeat coming against SVSU last season. Since 8/30/01, GVSU is 47-2 when ranked in the AFCA top 25. GVSU has been ranked in the AFCA top 25 in 54 straight polls and ranked in the top 7 in 48 straight polls.

QB Cullen Finnerty has completed 113-of-177 passes (63.8 percent) for 1,326 yards and 15 TDs this season...Cullen completed 24-of-34 passes for 245 yards and three TDs against Hillsdale...Finnerty completed 16-of-25 passes for 172 yards and two TDs vs. Indianapolis (9/11), but also tossed his first interception in 128 attempts...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 is eighth in all-time passing yards (4,090) and total offense (5,022) at GVSU...Cullen enters the SVSU game with 932 career rushing yards...Finnerty has thrown just two interceptions in his last 305 attempts and just seven in his career (20 games/540 att.)...Finnerty's interception-to-attempt ratio is 1.0-77.1.

• Michael Tennessee saw limited action versus Hillsdale. Michael has rushed for 302 yards and one TD on 73 carries this season..Michael rushed for 154 yards on 39 carries vs. Ferris State, his 10th 100-yard rushing game of his career...He toted the ball 20 times for 96 yards and a TD vs. Indianapolis...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.

• Freshman WR Demonte Collins continued his stellar play with a 12-catch, 158-yard outing versus Hillsdale. Collins leads the team with 45 receptions for 630 yards and eight TDs...Demonte extended his string of consecutive games with a TD reception to six...Collins broke the 100-yard receiving mark for the third time in his six career games...Demonte caught 12 passes for 158 yards and a TD versus Hillsdale (10/9)...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...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) in the first quarter.

• Brandon Langston continues to make the most of his touches with the football...Langston ranks second on the team in receiving with 27 catches for 364 yards and six TDs. Brandon also has one TD run and one kickoff return for a TD...Langston is averaging 16.7 yards per every touch of the football..His kickoff return average of 38.6 would lead the contry if he had enough returns...In addition, Langston has five tackles on special teams and one fumble recovery.

• Grand Valley State leads the nation in points per game allowed, yielding just 7.7 per contest.

• Five Laker opponents have scored a total of 46 points, including five that have failed to reach double digits with one shutout.

• The Laker defense has limited its last three opponents to 47 yards rushing and 396 yards of total offense.

• The starting defense has not yielded a point since the 6:18 mark of the third quarter of the third game versus Indianapolis. In addition, the Laker D has scored two TDs of its own in that same span.

• Grand Valley State is a +11 in turnover margin after six games, a total that ranks second in the country. The Lakers have picked off 10 passes and recovered six fumbles on the year.

• Grand Valley State limited Hillsdale to -7 yards rushing and Wayne State managed just 13 yards rushing...The Laker defense has limited five of six opponents this season to less than 80 yards rushing...Gannon is the only team in the last nine games to rush for more than 100 yards. In addition, GVSU has held 14 of its last 20 opponents to under 100 yards rushing.

• The starting secondary for GVSU has 29 career interceptions entering today's game. Senior All-American Lucius Hawkins moved into eighth place in career interceptions with his fourth of the season vs. Hillsdale. Hawkins picked off a pair of passes at Ferris State in the season opener and one at Gannon. Fellow senior DB DeJuane Boone picked off the eighth pass of his career at Wayne State, while Marvis Bryant picked off the seventh pass of his career at WSU. Derrick Phillips enters today's game with five career INTs, including one this season.

• Senior All-American DT Keyonta Marshall is coming off a four tackle performance vs. Hillsdale in which he tallied three tackles for loss (-15) and two QB sacks (-10)....Marshall recorded three tackles, a blocked PAT, a pass deflection and a 1/2 QB sack versus Indianapolis. Keyont has 21 total tackles, including a team-high eight tackles for loss (-30) and two QB sacks (-10)...Marshall has 20 QB sacks and 52.5 tackles for loss (-187 yds) in his career.

• Grand Valley State has limited its six opponents to a 11 yards on seven punt returns this season. Conversly, GVSU's Mark Catlin is averaging 9.6 yards on 25 punt returns (240 yards).

• Grand Valley State has used a team defense this season that has 10 players with 20 or more tackles. DeJuane Boone leads the way with 38 tackles, while freshman LB Matt Beaty is second with 37 stops. Beaty is coming off a career-best nine tackle outing with a QB sack vs. Hillsdale.

• GVSU has 50 TFL (-203) on the year and 15 Lakers have tallied a TFL. 11 different defenders have notched a QB sack as GVSU has 18 as a team (-106).

• Freshman WR Preston Garris, who played the first four games at WR, has been playing running back the the last two games. Garris rushed for 102 yards and a TD on 17 carries vs. Hillsdale. Garris rushed for 59 yards on 11 carries at Wayne State. Preston is averaging 5.8 yards per carry.

• GVSU held Wayne State to a GLIAC record three first downs Saturday (Oct. 2). The previous record was four held by Ashland which accomplished the feat three times in 1992. Wayne State picked up its first first down with 13:41 remaining in the fourth quarter and was held to 69 yards of total offense, including 21 yards on 24 plays in the first half...GVSU also held a time of possession advantage of 39:33-20:27 versus Wayne State...GVSU set single-game defensive records for fewest first downs allowed (3), fewest yards of total offense allowed (69), fewest yards of total offense allowed in first half (21), fewest yards of total offense allowed in second half (48), fewest rushing first downs allowed (2), fewest passing first downs allowed (1), fewest yards per play by an opponent (1.4), and fewest plays by an opponent (48).

• Grand Valley State is averaging 10,618 fans in three home dates this season. Grand Valley State ranked fourth in NCAA DII attendance in 2003, averaging 10,446 fans per game. The Lakers 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 Saginaw Valley State game with an overall mark of 246-111-3 (.687). GVSU has the best winning percentage in DII since 2000 (53-6/.898) and their 59 wins the last five years top the DII ranks...The Lakers' are second all-time in DII winning percentage (.687) behind Texas A&M-Kingsville (.693)...GVSU has the second best winning percentage of football playing schools in the State of Michigan, behind Michigan's 837-273-36 (.747) mark...Grand Valley State is 53-2 in its last 55 games with back-to-back National Championships (2003-2004). In addition, the Lakers are 39-1 in their last 40 GLIAC games...The GVSU senior class enters the SVSU contest 47-2 overall and 33-1 in GLIAC action.

• Chuck Martin is the sixth head coach in GVSU Laker football history, but the first to begin his career 6-0. Most recently, GVSU was led by Brian Kelly (1991-2003), who led the Lakers to the 2002 & 2003 NCAA DII Football National Championships, and Tom Beck (1985-1990), a 2004 National Football Foundation Hall of Fame inductee.