December 11th, 2024 9:00am
Courtesy of Slippery Rock sports information
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The 11th-ranked and third-seeded Slippery Rock University football team will travel to second-seeded No. 2 Ferris State Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff in the semifinal round of the NCAA Division II Playoffs.
THE GAME
No. 11 Slippery Rock heads north to No. 2 Ferris State for a first-ever meeting with the powerhouse Bulldogs with a spot in the national championship game on the line.
SRU AGAINST THE GLIAC
This will mark the first-ever meeting between Slippery Rock and Ferris State in the sport of football. The Rock have met two other teams from the current GLIAC, but have never played Ferris. SRU is 6-2 all-time against the current teams from the GLIAC with the most recent games being four straight wins against Wayne State from 2019-23. SRU is 1-0 against the GLIAC in the NCAA Playoffs, but has not played a GLIAC school in the playoffs since 1998 when The Rock defeated Brian Kelly's Grand Valley State squad, 37-14, in the quarterfinals. SRU is 1-0 against GVSU and 5-2 against Wayne State and has won its last five games against GLIAC opponents.
COACHING MATCHUP
Slippery Rock head coach Shawn Lutz is in his 29th overall year at The Rock and his ninth year (eighth season) as head coach, where he owns an 82-20 record with five PSAC West titles and six trips to the NCAA playoffs. Lutz was the PSAC West Coach of the Year in 2018, 2019 and 2023 and was the Don Hansen Football Gazette Division II National Coach of the Year in 2019. The 82 wins are the most among all PSAC head coaches since the 2016 season. Lutz was an assistant at SRU for 20 years before taking over the program in 2016. He has been a member of the coaching staff for 13 of SRU's 20 PSAC West titles. Lutz played tight end at West Virginia University, graduating in 1996, and earned a master's degree in sport management from SRU in 2003.
Tony Annese is in his 12th season as the head coach at Ferris State, where he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national titles in 2021 and 2022. Annese owns a record of 135-21 during his tenure at Ferris and is the program's all-time wins leader. He has led the program to 10 straight NCAA Playoff berths for the longest active streak in the country. That includes six trips to the national semifinals in the last eight seasons and six straight trips to the quarterfinals from 2016-22.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
Slippery Rock closed the regular season ranked No. 11 in the AFCA Division II national rankings and No. 12 in the D2football.com media poll. Ferris State was No. 2 in the final AFCA poll and No. 1 in the D2football.com poll. Both national polls are available on page nine.
FERRIS STATE QUICK HITS
• Ferris State is 12-1 and is making its sixth trip to the national semifinals in the last eight seasons. The Bulldogs are on a 12-game winning streak after losing their opener to Pittsburg State back in August.
• The Bulldogs took down defending national champion Harding 41-7 in the quarterfinals last week to win Super Region Three.
• Ferris has scored 119 points in two playoff games this year and averages 44.5 points per game to rank second in Division II. FSU ranks third in the nation in total offense averaging 491.5 yards per game with 262.6 rushing yards and 228.8 passing yards per game.
• Opponents score just 11.2 points per game as FSU ranks third in the nation in scoring defense. They allow 245.9 total yards of offense per game with 143.2 passing yards and 102.7 rushing yards allowed per game.
• QB Trinidad Chambliss is one of the eight finalists for the Harlon Hill Trophy and may be the most dynamic playmaker in the country. He has thrown for 2,551 yards with 22 TD and five INT while also rushing for 817 yards and a team-high 20 touchdowns.
• RB Kannon Katzer leads the ground game with 866 yards and 10 TD on just 101 carries, averaging 8.6 yards per carry.
• FSU spreads the ball out on offense with six players having at least 20 catches. Emari O'Brien leads the team with 40 catches for 565 yards and four TD. Seven different players have at least two TD catches.
• The FSU defense is led by Iosefa Saipaia with 73 tackles and Jalen Jones with 50 tackles and a team-high 8.0 TFL. Former IUP defensive end Tyrone Fowler has 7.5 TFL and 3.0 sacks for the Bulldogs this year.
• Kicker Mitchell Middleton is 7-of-8 on FG attempts with a long of 45 yards and is 73-of-80 on PAT kicks this year. Ferris has punted only 32 times all year and averages 43.5 yards per punt.
BACK IN THE SEMIFINALS
Slippery Rock returns to the national semifinals for the fourth time in program history and the first time since 2019. The Rock also played in the Division III semifinals in 1974 and have now won three regional titles – 1998, 2019 and 2024. SRU has never advanced past the national semifinals, losing to Ithaca in 1974 (27-14), Carson-Newman in 1998 (47-27) and Minnesota State in 2019 (58-15).
REVENGE TOUR
Slippery Rock's run through the playoffs this year included road wins in the last two rounds over the only two teams that have beaten SRU in the last two years. The Rock lost twice to Kutztown in 2023 – once in the PSAC title game and again in the NCAA Quarterfinals – and lost their only regular season game since 2022 earlier this fall against California (28-7). SRU went on the road to a heavily-favored Kutztown team and knocked off the No.1 seeded Golden Bears in round two and then dismantled No. 3 seed California (Pa.) 31-13 last week.
ONLY SEEDED WIN IN QUARTERFINALS
Slippery Rock is the only team in the semifinals to win their quarterfinal last week against a seeded team. All of the other super region finals included at least one unseeded team.
UPSETTING THE TOP SEED AGAIN
Slippery Rock has upset the undefeated No. 1 seed in the second round of the playoffs in each of the last two years. Last fall, The Rock went to 11-0 Tiffin in the second round and came away with a win. This year, SRU followed that up by going on the road to 11-0 Kutztown and upsetting the Golden Bears.
WHO'S LEFT?
The top two overall seeds are still alive and enter this weekend as heavy favorites to reach the national title game with the Super Region Two No. 1 seed Valdosta State earning the No. 1 overall seed. The Blazers will host unseeded Minnesota State, which claimed the Super Region Four title with three dramatic wins. The other top seed, and perhaps the best the team in the country this year, is Super Region Three champion Ferris State, which drew the No. 2 seed in the semifinals because of a loss in week one back in August. Super Region One champion Slippery Rock, which was the No. 4 seed in the region, drew the No. 3 seed in the semis.
TOUGHEST TEST IN SRU HISTORY
Ferris State is likely to be the most heavily-favored team Slippery Rock will face in program history. The Bulldogs are on an historic run that includes national titles in 2021 and 2022 and they haven't just been beating teams this year, they've been blowing the doors off teams. In two playoff games, Ferris has scored 78 points and 41 points to win the toughest region in the country. Last week, they dismantled the defending national champions from Harding by a 41-7 score, a margin unheard of for the Harding program in recent years.
TEAMS WITH ONE OR FEWER LOSSES
Slippery Rock and Ferris State enter this week tied for the second-best record in all of Division II trailing only Valdosta State (12-0). The Rock are one of five teams with one loss or fewer with Valdosta State and Ferris State being the only other teams in that grouping to still be in the playoffs. Kutztown and Charleston both lost their first playoff game following an 11-0 regular season to finish with 11-1 records.
12-WIN SEASON
The Rock have won at least 12 games for the second year in a row and the fifth time in program history. The 12-1 record is tied for the second-most wins in a season in program history, trailing only the 2019 team (13-1) for the most wins in season. All five of SRU's 12-win seasons have come since 1998 with four of the five coming since 2015. 1998 (12-2), 2015 (12-2), 2019 (13-1), 2023 (12-2), 2024 (12-1).
LUTZ FASTEST TO 80 WINS IN SRU HISTORY
SRU head coach Shawn Lutz enters this week with 82 wins in 102 career games, moving him into sole possession of No. 3 all-time at SRU and No. 14 all-time in PSAC history. Lutz is the fastest coach in program history to 80 wins and has more wins than any other coach in the PSAC since he took over the program in 2016. Only two men have more wins in SRU football history and those two men have their names on the stadium – George Mihalik (197) and N. Kerr Thompson (126).
BACK IN THE PLAYOFFS
Slippery Rock is making its 12th overall appearance in the Division II Playoffs, its sixth straight appearance and its ninth trip to the national playoffs in the last 11 seasons. The Rock reached the NCAA quarterfinals last year as the No. 4 seed after defeating East Stroudsburg in the opening round and winning on the road at No. 1 seed Tiffin in the second round before falling to Kutztown in the quarterfinals.
PLAYOFF STREAK
Slippery Rock's six straight trips to the playoffs rank as the second longest active streak among all Division II teams, trailing only the 10 straight appearances by Ferris State.
SRU IN ROAD PLAYOFF GAMES
This marks the fourth straight year SRU will play at least one NCAA Playoff game on the road. The Rock are 4-2 on the road in the playoffs over the last four seasons, which includes road wins at the No. 1 seed in each of the last two years. SRU is 6-8 all-time on the road in the NCAA Division II Playoffs with all six of those wins coming during The Rock's current streak of six consecutive playoff appearances. SRU is 3-0 on the road in the playoffs over the last two seasons.
SRU IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
SRU has been ranked in every national poll since the final poll of the 2018 season was released. This week's game will be the 67th straight game SRU plays as a ranked team. The Rock have appeared in the top 10 in the national rankings for at least one week in each of the last five seasons and have earned a top 10 ranking in seven of the last eight complete seasons.
WINNING WITH LOWER SCORES
The Rock have yet to reach 40 points in a game this fall. SRU had 10 games with at least 40 points in 2023 and have at least one 40-point game in each of the last 19 seasons. The last season SRU failed to score 40 points in a single game was 2003 during a 4-7 campaign.
SENIOR CLASS SUCCESS
The four-year members of the SRU senior class enter this week with a career record of 43-9 with three PSAC West titles and four trips to the NCAA Playoffs. The five-year members of this senior class own a career record of 56-10 with four PSAC West titles and five trips to the NCAA Playoffs. The senior class will depart SRU having played in the NCAA Playoffs in every year of their career. They are the only senior class in program history to be able to make that claim.
LAST WEEK FOR SLIPPERY ROCK
Slippery Rock scored touchdowns on its first two possessions and never looked back on the way to a convincing 31-13 win at California (Pa.) to claim the regional title. The Rock ran for a season-high 245 yards and did not turn the ball over once on the way to putting up 399 total yards of offense. SRU also limited Cal's potent offense and PSAC West Offensive Player of the Year Davis Black to just 90 passing yards. SRU sacked Black three times with one of those from Todd Hill resulting in a lost fumble. Brayden Long was 17-of-21 for 154 yards with three TD, no INT and no sacks. Logan Ramper (2 TD) and Mike Solomon (1 TD) each had 73 receiving yards and Idris Lawrence had the best rushing game by an SRU player in more than four years with 162 yards on the ground. Hill finished wth two sacks and Andrew Vince added 10 tackles and a sack to pace the defense.
GROUND AND POUND
Slippery Rock ran for just 10 yards on 12 carries in a loss at California (Pa.) Oct. 19. The Rock then ran for less than 100 yards in each of the first two rounds of the NCAA Playoffs. SRU flipped the script last week and ran for a season-high 245 yards for an average of 6.1 yards per carry. Idris Lawrence did the bulk of that work with 162 yards on 23 carries for 7.0 yards per carry. It marked the first 150+ yard rushing game for an SRU RB since Charles Snorweah ran for 163 yards against Shepherd Nov. 30, 2019. Chris D'Or also ran for 42 yards and one TD.
GIVE THE BIG GUYS SOME LOVE
SRU lost four starting offensive linemen to graduation last year, bringing back only tackle Joe Cooper. That unit was the biggest question entering this season and they've stepped up all year, despite only Cooper earning any postseason recognition with a first team All-PSAC and first team All-Region nod. Nathan Waltman, Luke Pugliese, Cade Cameron and Marshall Futrell have joined Cooper in starting every game this year with none of them missing more than a handful of snaps. They rank seventh nationally in fewest tackles for loss allowed per game and 14th nationally in fewest sacks per game allowed. QB Brayden Long was not sacked last week against Cal, marking the eighth game this season in which he has not been sacked. That unit also paved the way for the best rushing performance of the season with 245 yards last week.
BUSY WEEK FOR BRAYDEN LONG
QB Brayden Long had to miss practice Monday and Tuesday this week, but for good reason. He had to fly to Las Vegas to attend the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Awards dinner Tuesday night. Long is one of 16 national finalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy, the top scholar-athlete prize in college football. He is the only Division II finalist for the award this year and will join major names in the game on stage Tuesday in Vegas, including Oregon QB Dillon Gabriel, Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart and Alabama QB Jalen Milroe, who are all finalists for same award. Long will attend film sessions and team meetings Monday virtually, will miss practice Tuesday, and will be back in Slippery Rock for practice Wednesday.
FINALIST FOR THE HARLON HILL TROPHY
QB Brayden Long is one of the eight national finalists for the Harlon Hill Trophy that goes to the Division II Player of the Year. Long is the first two-time finalist in SRU history after also being a finalist in 2023, when he finished fifth in the final voting. He is the only player in the country to be a finalist for both the Harlon Hill and the Campbell Trophy.