MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The Shippensburg University football team concludes a three-game PSAC Eastern Division road trip at 1:30 p.m. Saturday from the Biemesderfer with a matchup against the Marauders of Millersville. SU has won the last seven meetings between the two teams.
Live radio coverage of the game will be provided by Shippensburg University radio and can be accessed through the link above.
Shippensburg has scored 287 points through the first eight games of the season — which is the second-most in history through that span. The 1953 team finished its eight-game schedule with 299 points. This year's group of Red Raiders is one of just 12 teams in school history to amass 200 or more points in the first seven games of a season.
The Red Raiders set a school record in its Week 3 win over Clarion with 33 first downs – 15 by rushing, 13 by passing and five by penalty. Shippensburg ran the ball on 34 of its 44 first-down plays and totaled an incredible 272 yards on first-down runs.
Shippensburg nearly matched its new record two weeks ago against West Chester with 32 first downs. Just last week, the Red Raiders had 31 first downs in a lopsided victory at Cheyney.
Through eight games, Shippensburg leads all of NCAA Division II in first downs per game (26.5) and ranks second in the nation with 212 total first downs. SU is one of just five teams in the country to amass at least 200 first downs this season. The Red Raiders are also just 35 first downs short of the single-season school record (247) that was set in 1999.
SU is running a ton of plays: 660 through the first eight games. That total ranks fourth in all of Division II. The Red Raiders ran an incredible 101 plays in the Week 6 loss to West Chester — the second-most in a game in school history — and also ran 91 plays in the Week 2 victory over Gannon and the Week 5 victory over No. 12 Kutztown.
Shippensburg enters Saturday's game in pursuit of several school records. With 10 pass completions, SU will surpass the 1983 team that established the single-season school record of 197.
SU has thrown for 26 touchdown passes this season. With three touchdown passes, the Red Raiders can set a new single-season school record. The 1998, 1998 and 2009 teams threw 28 touchdown passes in one season. Quarterback
Zach Zulli is five touchdown passes short of the school record (27) set by Chad DiFebbo in 2009 and 560 yards short of the single-season passing yards record of 2,832 set by Chris Gicking in 1999.
After being held without a sack in the season opener at Shepherd, Shippensburg has totaled 25 sacks in the last seven games to rank second in the PSAC behind C.W. Post (31). The Red Raiders had seven sacks in its Week 3 win over Clarion – its most in one contest since recording eight against Lock Haven on Sept. 30, 2000.
Millersville entered last week's game at East Stroudsburg (on ESU's Homecoming) with the worst-ranked offense in Division II but ended up scoring 31 points in a come-from-behind victory over the Warriors. The Marauders, who were picked seventh in the PSAC preseason poll, are 2-3 in the conference.
SERIES HISTORY
The Red Raiders lead the overall series 38-23-2. SU has won the last seven meetings in the series but lost the previous five before the current streak began in 2001. The regional rivals have faced each other 16 times over the past 23 seasons but the first divisional entry in the series came in 2008.
The two teams first met in 1916 with Shippensburg earning a 15-0 home victory. SU has out-scored Millersville 166-93 over the last six meetings between the two squads.
