GAME INFORMATION
Saturday, Oct. 28 • 1 pm CT
Busey Bank Field at Joliet Memorial Stadium
Joliet, Illinois

Series History
Overall: St. Francis leads 20-10
First: at St. Francis 37, Olivet Nazarene 16 (10/18/86)
Last: St. Francis 35, at Olivet Nazarene 21 (10/29/22)
Streak: St. Francis has a two-game winning streak.
 
The Two Coaches
USF: Joe Curry
Alma Mater: USF 2001
Career: 63-59 (12th year)
at USF: 63-59 (12th year)

ONU: Mike Conway
Alma Mater: Olivet Nazarene University 1984
Career: 49-63 (11th year)
At ONU: 35-17 (5th year)


TOP STORYLINES
• St. Francis and Olivet Nazarene will be meeting for the 31st time in school history on Saturday, which is the most for any St. Francis opponent.  They have played each other consecutively since 1999, as well.

• St. Francis quarterback Carl Bew is working on a two-game streak of being named the Mid-States Football Association Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week.  He is also a perfect 3-0 as the Saints' starting quarterback.

• Olivet Nazarene runningback/returner Evan Leake has already scored three touchdowns on returns this season and ranks third in the nation in kickoff return average (34.0).  

• USF wide receiver Joey Tumilty has posted back-to-back three touchdown games and extended the St. Francis Tumilty touchdown streak to 27 games last week.


GAME NOTES

THE HEAD COACH: Joe Curry is in his 12th season as the Saints' head coach, which makes him the longest serving coach in school history.  He has surpassed program founder Gordie Gillespie, who served as the head coach for eight seasons, and his own coach, Mike Slovick.  Slovick served the program from 1994 through 2004.  Curry is also the winningest coach in the program with 63 victories and second in winning percentage (.516).  Gillespie maintains the top spot in winning percentage at .593.

ABOUT OLIVET NAZARENE: The Tigers (4-3, 1-1 MSFA) are a near mirror image to the Saints offensively, but have given up 11.5 points and 77.7 yards per game more on the defensive side of the ball.  When ONU gives up three or less touchdowns per game, it is 4-0, while anything more than 20 points has resulted in losses.  The Tigers average 392.6 yards per game to USF's 379.0 with both teams netting 162 yards per game on the ground and Olivet Nazarene one point better per contest (35.3-34.3).  The Tigers rank 19th in the nation in scoring.  Defensively, ONU gives up 339.3 yards per game to St. Francis' 261.6.  The Tigers also allow 25.0 ppg to USF's 13.5.  Redshirt freshman Brandon Odam and senior Cameron Crouch share time at the quarterback spot with the former being the more serious passing threat having accounted for 1,047 of the Tigers' 1,613 passing yards and 11 of their 18 touchdown passes.  He has also completed nearly 65 percent of his pass attempts (70-of-108), while throwing just three interceptions.  Crouch is 30-for-66 for 405 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions.  ONU ranks 15th in the nation in passing yards per attempt (8.1), 16th in passing yards per completion (14.1) and 18th in passing touchdowns with 18.  The Tigers also have three runningbacks that average better than five yards per carry, but none of them average better than 47.1 yards per game.  As a group, ONU averages 4.8 yards per carry (21st in the nation).  Aaron Bennett has 50 carries for 330 yards with one touchdown, Arthur Walker boasts 59 carries for 307 yards with four scores and Evan Leake has turned his 41 carries into 263 yards and three touchdowns.  More on Leake later.  ONU's two main receiving threats are Brian Jenkins (26-398, 5 TDs) and Blake Lamb (17-360, 7 TDs).  On special teams is where Olivet Nazarene is one of the most dangerous teams in the nation courtesy of Leake.  The junior has already turned two kickoffs (85 and 94 yards) and one punt (75 yards) for touchdowns and ranks third in the nation in kickoff return average (34.0), while averaging 26.3 yards per punt return.  Those numbers help the Tigers have the 12th-best kick return average (22.8) and the 9th-best punt return average (16.1) in the NAIA   The rest of the special teams units have Gavin Lentz punting (36.6 avg.) and Graham Johnson handling placekicking responsibilities.  He has connected on 5-of-8 field goals including a long of 48, while being 25-of-27 on PATs.  The Tigers have a strong defensive back corps with 14 interceptions to rank ninth in the NAIA.  Lucas Eckles and Nolan Johnson each have three picks.  ONU also has three defensive touchdowns.  Sophomore linebacker John Harman tops most charts including tackles (63), sacks (five) and tackles for loss (5.5).  Zac Stauffer has another 4.5 sacks.

THE LONGEST RUNNING SERIES: Saturday's contest will mark the 31st meeting between the two schools, which represents the longest-running series among St. Francis opponents.  The two teams met every year from 1986-91 before a seven-year pause from 1992-98 when the Saints played at the NCAA II level.  The rivalry was renewed in 1999 and the two teams have played every year since with USF holding a 20-10 all-time series lead.                      

PERFECT THROUGH THREE: St. Francis true freshman Carl Bew is a perfect 3-0 in starts as the Saints' quarterback.  He has been the winning signal-caller in each of his last two games as well as the Lawrence Tech contest in Week 3.  In those three starts, Bew has completed 27-of-44 passes (61. 3 pct.) for 568 yards with six touchdowns opposite one interception for a 210.2 passer efficiency rating.  He is also the Saints' second-leading rusher with 342 yards on 58 attempts (5.9 avg.) with three touchdowns. 

MATCHING UP: With his big day offensively last week, Bew is now averaging 303 yards of total offense per game, the exact same number as Sam Tumilty before he was lost for the season due to injury.  

GOING FOR THE TRIFECTA: Bew has also been named the Mid-States Football Association Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week each of the past two weeks, including last Saturday when he threw for a season-high 311 yards on 13-of-21 accuracy with five touchdown strikes leading to a 264.9 passer efficiency rating.  The TD passes went for 29, 68, 35, 14 and 34 yards.  He also led the team in rushing with 57 yards on 20 carries.   

BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: For the second time in as many weeks, true freshman wide receiver Joey Tumilty authored three touchdowns in the 55-0 win over St. Ambrose University.  Tumilty is the Saints' leading scorer with 12 touchdowns and 72 total points with his 9.0 points per game average ranking 21st in the nation.  He needed just the first score on Saturday to extend the streak of Tumilty brothers scoring a touchdown to 27 St. Francis games in a row.

MORE RANKINGS FOR TUMILTY: The scoring column is not the only area where Tumilty is making headlines across the nation.  His nine receiving touchdowns are the fourth-most in the nation, while his 86.8 yards receiving per contest are 11th and his 22.1 yards per catch average, 13th.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Tumilty and Dezzion Jordan both hit the century mark on Saturday in reception yardage.  Jordan needed just three catches for his 104 yards and the second 100-yard day of his career.  Tumilty gained his third of the season courtesy of four receptions for 101 yards.  All but 85 of USF's 396 yards last Saturday came through the air.

NOT QUITE THERE: Jordan's 25.4 yards per catch average would rank second in the nation if he met the minimum criteria of three catches per game.  The junior wide receiver is currently at 2.25 with his 18 in 8 games.  With his season-high 68-yard catch and another that went for 34 yards last week, he now has ten catches covering at least 20 yards and 13 of his 18 going for no less than 10 yards.  Jordan's 18 receptions have totaled 458 yards this fall.  Those numbers are a good reason why the Saints rank ninth in passing yards per attempt (9.5) and seventh in passing yards per completion (15.7).     

A CAREER DAY: Brian Maday turned in a career-best performance for the senior placekicker on Saturday when he totaled 13 points with his two field goals and seven PATs.  Maday has now made all 37 of his PATs this year and 40 in a row dating back to last year.  He is one of only 19 placekickers in the nation to have made all of his PATs this year with a minimum of 11 attempts.  Maday's two field goals marked the fifth time in his career that he has hit multiple three-pointers in the same contest.

FOUR SHORT OF 400: USF's offense came up just four yards short of eclipsing the 400-yard mark for the third straight game and the fourth time on the season.

HERE A POINT, THERE A POINT: The Saints scored in all four quarters last week for the second time in a row and the third time this season.  The contest also marked the second straight game in which USF totaled at least 55 points and the third time this season that they reached that threshold.  Only the 2011 team had more games reach that scoring level with four.

NARY A POINT: USF's shutout on Saturday was its second of the season and the fourth time in program history that it has produced multiple clean sheets in the same year.  The most in one season is three, set by the 1987 squad.

I CAN DO ANYTHING YOU CAN DO: USF recorded two pick sixes on Saturday with Nick Franciskovich recording the first one from 30 yards and Matthew Perry the second one from 47 yards.  It gives the defensive unit three touchdowns on the year just like Olivet Nazarene to rank eighth in the NAIA.  If you include linebacker Karsen Hansen's touchdown on a punt recovery in the end zone, USF's defense has authored four touchdowns.

HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE: That is what linebacker Kemon Reese was on Saturday.  The grad student linebacker authored a Saint-high 18 tackles (10 solo) last week to earn MSFA Midwest League Defensive Player of the Week accord.  Reese keyed a unit that allowed a season-low 149 yards of total offense and posted the shutout.  St. Ambrose nearly had more penalty yards (137) than total yards of offense.  Reese leads the team with 57 tackles to go along with two blocked punts.

SACK ATTACK: With his 2.5 sacks against St. Ambrose, Pat Strocchia now has a team-high 5.5 quarterback setbacks on the year.

COOP SCOOP: Jalen Cooper maintained his one pick lead on the team with his fourth interception last week.  That is one more than Perry.

PUT IT ALTOGTHER …: And the St. Francis defense is one of the best in the nation, allowing just 13.5 points per game to rate fifth-best in the country.  It is also ninth in total defense (261.2 ypg) and passing defense (147.4).

THE YELLOW FLAG IS OUR FRIEND: The Saints gained three more first downs on penalties this year against St. Ambrose to bring their season total to 22 first downs via that route, which ranks third in the nation.

SAINTS IN THE RANK AND FILES: Among USF's other highly-regarded numbers in the NAIA are its red-zone scores (28 in 34 chances, 13th), red-zone touchdowns (16th, 24), red-zone touchdown percentage (18th, 71 pct.), rushing attempts (14th, 315) and rusing touchdowns (15th, 18).

DID YOU KNOW?: The Saints and Olivet Nazarene have both fumbled 15 times this season with St. Francis losing possession six times and ONU nine … St. Francis has outscored its opponents 149-48 in the first half and 194-55 over the first three quarters.  Opposing teams have managed just seven points in the third quarter this year … USF's defense is allowing opposing offense's to convert at less than a 25 percent rate in 2023.

HONORING THE SENIORS: The St. Francis program will take time out to recognize 19 members of the athletic training, dance and football teams on Saturday.  Those being recognized are Rebecca Giese (athletic training), Marissa Moser, Claire Wills, Kylie Severson, Alexandra Whittenhall and Stephanie Behland from the dance squad and football team members Michael R. Johnson, Josh Golden, McKai Vann, Sergio Garcia, Cameron Holman, Brian Maday, Keenan Hailey, Jalen Cooper, Tavion Wells, Christian Owens, Peyton Boji, Daniel Goetsch and Logan Miller.  

FOR THE RECORD: The Saints are 171-227 all time, 142-168 in day games and 89-101 at home.