By: By: Bill Morgal, Sports Information Director
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. -- The No. 7-ranked Shippensburg University football team will honor 14 senior players Saturday as it hopes to extend its Division II-best winning streak to 14 games when it hosts PSAC Eastern Division opponent Cheyney from SU Student Association Field at Seth Grove Stadium.
SU's active streak of 13 straight wins is the second-longest run in school history. Shippensburg holds the PSAC record for consecutive wins (20), set from 1951-54.
LIVE COVERAGE: Live video coverage of the game will be provided by Shippensburg University's student television station (SUTV) and can be accessed
here. The game will also be shown on terrestrial television on Comcast community access channel 21 and campus channel 82. A student radio broadcast of the game will be available on 88.7 FM in Shippensburg and can be accessed online
here.
TWITTER: Be sure to follow
Shippensburg's Twitter account for in-game updates. D2Football.com also encourages fans to use the hashtag #d2fb in their tweets regarding games.
GAME PREVIEW:
The Red Raiders were picked to finish fifth in the PSAC Eastern Division Preseason Coaches' Poll, after going 7-4 last season, but have already clinched the division title and a berth in the State Game to be held Nov. 10 at the Western Division champion.
Cheyney was voted to finish last in the PSAC Eastern Division Football Coaches Preseason Poll. The Wolves return 15 starters from a season ago, including All-PSAC running back Marcus Jones. However, 2011 PSAC Eastern Division Defensive Player of the Year Tim Hume has completed his eligibility. Cheyney won its season opener at Lincoln but has lost eight straight games by a combined 373-81 margin.
Last weekend, in front of close to 8,000 spectators, senior wide receiver
Bryan Barley caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback
Zach Zulli with 4.8 seconds remaining that gave No. 10 Shippensburg a 49-42 victory over No. 4 Bloomsburg.
With 654 yards of total offense in Saturday's game, Shippensburg established a new school record for total offensive yards in a season (5,179).
Zulli, who quarterbacked SU for four third down conversions on the game-winning drive, finished the game completing 35-of-60 for 496 yards – matching the second-most in a single game in school history. He also tossed seven touchdowns in addition to a pair of interceptions.
Through nine games this season, Zulli has completed 255-of-385 passes for 3,561 yards and 45 touchdowns, with just five interceptions. His school-record streak of consecutive attempts without an interception ended Saturday at an even 200 passes. Zulli also broke his own single-season school record for completions (255).
Sophomore wide receiver
Trevor Harman had seven receptions for 172 yards and three touchdowns, breaking the single-season school record for receiving touchdowns (17, surpassing Jamie Ware's 15 in 1998) and tying Ware's school record for career receiving touchdowns (26).
Shippensburg enters Saturday's game with the nation's No. 1 total offense and No. 1 passing offense in addition to the No. 37 total defense. The Red Raiders are averaging 575.4 yards per game on offense while yielding 341 yards per game on defense. SU is also averaging 51.7 points per game, which ranks second in the nation behind Henderson State (54.4 ppg).
Cheyney lost to West Chester last week, 59-14. Quarterback Blaze Wasserleben completed 6-of-13 passes for 113 yards and also ran for a touchdown.
Series History: Red Raiders vs. Wolves
• Shippensburg holds a 13-0 lead in the all-time series with Cheyney. Since moving into the PSAC Eastern Division in 2008, SU has won all four meetings by a combined 202-37 margin.
• Until last season, the Red Raiders had not allowed more than 13 points to Cheyney in history. The most lopsided margin of victory was a 68-0 victory in 1954 under legendary coach Vinton Rambo. SU has shut out the Wolves three times - with 2010's 50-0 victory being the last time Shippensburg has recorded a shutout.
• SU is 7-0 against Cheyney in home games, including a 62-7 victory in 2008.