GAME INFORMATION
Saturday, Oct. 26 • 1 pm CT
Busey Bank Field at Joliet Memorial Stadium
Joliet, Ill.

Series History
Overall: St. Francis leads 4-0.
First: at St. Francis 34, Judson 0 (10/16/2021)
Last: St. Francis 37, at Judson 0 (11/11/23)
Streak: St. Francis has a four-game winning streak.

The Two Coaches
USF: Joe Curry
Alma Mater: USF 2001
Career: 69-61 (13th year)
at USF: 69-61 (13th year)

JU: Quintin Demps
Alma Mater: University of Texas El Paso
Career: 1-14 (2nd year)
At JU: 1-14 (2nd year)


TOP STORYLINES
• With its upset of No. 18 Saint Xavier, St. Francis returned to the NAIA Coaches' Poll in the No. 23 position, its highest ranking this year.

• Saturday's game represents the fifth meeting between the two teams with St. Francis having won all four previous dates and scoring no less than 34 points in said contests.
 
• Having started out the season at 5-1, only two other St. Francis teams have won six of their first seven contests, the 2011 team (7-1) and the 1987 team (8-1).  

• Sam Tumilty, who claimed his third MSFA Midwest League Offensive Player of the Game award this season following last week's upset of Saint Xavier, has jumped from No. 14 to No. 4 in the NAIA in passing efficiency.  He now calculates out to a 164.2.
 
• The Saints have scored no less than 31 points in each of their five victories this season.


GAME NOTES

THE HEAD COACH: Joe Curry is in his 13th 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 directed the program from 1994 through 2004.  Curry is also the winningest coach in the program with 69 victories and second in winning percentage (.531).  Gillespie maintains the top spot in winning percentage at .593.

ABOUT JUDSON: After opening the season with a victory, the Eagles have dropped each of their last five contests, yielding no less than 38 points in those affairs.  Judson predominantly relies on its passing game, which ranks 18th in the nation with its 278.5 yards-per-game average.  The Eagles are even better on passing yards per completion at 16.4 yards, which places them sixth in the NAIA.  JU counts heavily on its sophomore quarterback Jake Parker, who also leads the team in rushing.  Through the air, he has completed just over 50 percent of his attempts (99-for-195) for 1,641 yards.  His problem has been that he has matched his 14 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.  He is the only Eagle rusher over 100 yards at 114 on 37 attempts.  As a team, Judson averages just 76.0 yards per game on the ground and has managed just three rushing touchdowns.  From a points perspective, the Eagles are averaging 20.2 points per game, while giving up 48.0.  Grant Alexander and Avant Rowe are the two main receiving threats with Alexander ranking among the nation's elite.  He sits third in touchdowns receiving with nine, fourth in yards per completion (23.7) and fifth in yards per game (118.3).  Overall, he has 30 receptions for 710 yards with a 94-yard reception for a touchdown included.  Alexander has also accounted for nine of the team's 18 touchdowns.  Rowe adds 22 catches for 337 yards with a pair of scores.  On special teams, Judson has averaged just over 30 yards per punt with Jalen Webb-Starkey handling those duties.  Tanner Tipton has made all seven of his PATs kicking, but has gone 0-for-3 on field goals.  Of Judson's 18 touchdowns, the Eagles have gone for two points on the PAT 11 times.  JU has also averaged just 14.4 yards per kickoff return with Rowe (4-41) and Marshon Smith (4-80) being the top two returners.  Rowe has also returned the only three punts for Judson, totaling 28 yards.  Defensively, the Eagles have given up a lot of yardage, to the tune of 445.8 yards per game, broken down into 250.2 yards per game on the ground and 195.7 through the air.  Nick Curry, Jaylin Ware and Rehoboth Odunyemi lead the defense with 4.5 tackles per game each.  Judson has tallied just five sacks on the season, while giving up 15.0.  The Eagles are also a minus-nine in the takeaway category.  Judson is coached by former Chicago Bear and 10-year NFL veteran Quintin Demps, who is in his second season directing the fortunes of the Eagles.                    

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Saints have never fallen to Judson in four previous contests, outscoring the Eagles by an average margin of 43.0-10.5.  Of the four meetings, the Saints have held JU scoreless in two of the affairs, including the second of two games one season ago.  In the first meeting last fall, a 56-26 win, freshmen scored all eight of USF's touchdowns.  In the season finale, the Saints had eight takeaways, including five interceptions.

BACK IN IT: St. Francis is back in the NAIA Coaches' Poll, checking in at No. 23 after upsetting No. 18 Saint Xavier University last week. 

HOME SWEET HOME: After being away from Joliet Memorial Stadium each of the past three weeks, the Saints return home on Saturday, where they will close out the regular season with three of their final four games being played on the turf of Busey Bank Field.

FAST STARTS: The 2024 season marks the fifth time in school history that USF has started 5-1 on the campaign.  The last time was 2015, while the other three seasons were 2011, 2008 and 1987.

LET'S PLAY MORE: Prior to last Saturday's overtime win against Saint Xavier, St. Francis' last extra-session victory came against Missouri Baptist University 34-31 in double overtime on March 27, 2021.

NO PUNTS, JUST PASS AND KICK: For the first time this season, the Saints did not punt against Saint Xavier.  In each of their previous five contests, the minimum number of punts in a game was three.

DRIVING TO OUR DESTINATION: Not including the 25-yard touchdown drive in overtime, head coach Joe Curry's team really worked hard for its four other touchdowns.  All four covered better than half the field with the shortest being 52 yards.  Each of the other three were 60, 65 and 72 yards.

GOOD & PLENTY: With their 36-point output last week, the Saints have scored no less than 31 points in each of their five victories this season and an average of 38.3 points per game (22nd in the NAIA).  They are also 20-1 over their last 21 games when they score four times in a contest.

FIRST AND 15: Dezzion Jordan's two-touchdown performance was the first one in his four-year career, while Sam Tumilty notched his 15th game of at least two rushing touchdowns.  Tumilty now has a team-high 10 touchdowns on the campaign. 

SOME MORE JORDAN: Aided by his 59-yard touchdown reception and five catches for 90 yards, Jordan made his way onto the NAIA Top 10 receiving charts, placing ninth with his 21.7 yards-per-catch average.

HE AIN'T THE ONLY ONE: Joey Tumilty also rates as one of the top receivers in the NAIA in 2024.  He currently ranks tied for seventh in receptions per game (7.0) and is 14th in receiving yards per contest (97.6).

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: USF's recovery from a pair of 22-point deficits last week marked one of the top comeback victories in the history of the program.  The largest rally came in the 2011 season when the Saints battled back from a 27-point deficit to knock off William Penn University 36-35.

SECOND-HALF SHUTOUTS: For the third time this season, USF's defense shut out the opposition on the scoreboard in the second half.  Defensive coordinator Thomas Miller's unit performed the same feat against both Lawrence Technological University and Concordia University (Mich.).

BACK ME UP: That is what the St. Francis defense did last Saturday when it recorded 11 tackles for loss, five of which were sacks.  Eight different Saints registered at least one-half tackle for loss topped by Allan Richards (two sacks) and Karsen Hansen with two each.  Pat Strocchia was right behind at 1.5.  Saint Xavier lost a total of 45 yards on the 11 plays.  Two of SXU's final four plays of the contest went for loss, while the final one accounted for Nick Mabutas' first interception of the season.

THREE-PEAT: For the third week in a row, Matthew Perry led the Saints in tackles with ten, including one-half sack.  His 51 stops on the season also lead the squad by a 14-tackle margin.

A TRIPLE TREAT: That is what Scott Tumilty was against Saint Xavier with his performances on offense, defense and special teams.  Playing for just the third time this season on offense, the graduate student led the team in rushing with 15 carries for 62 yards, scored the game-winning touchdown and had a pair of receptions for 19 yards.  Defensively, he recorded three tackles, had a pass breakup and positioned himself perfectly to deny Saint Xavier on a fourth-down play late in the game.  If that was not enough, he also returned four kicks for 49 yards and another two punts for 21 yards.  Tumilty ranks second in the nation with his 20.8 yards per punt return this season.

ON TARGET: Sam Tumilty ranks 12th in the NAIA in completion percentage at 67.1 percent after going 21-for-30 (70 percent) last week.  That also increased his passing efficiency to 164.2, good enough for the No. 4 spot in the nation.

THREE-MENDOUS: Besides Sam Tumilty's 242-yard passing day and two rushing touchdowns, the graduate student also registered 59 yards on the ground in 14 attempts to earn his third MSFA Midwest League Offensive Player of the Week award this season.

BACK ON THE RUN: After being limited to just 41 yards rushing on 42 plays each of the previous two games, the Saints broke out for 145 yards against Saint Xavier.  At the same time, USF's defense held the Cougars to only 38 yards on 30 attempts. 

OTHER NAIA RANKINGS: The Saints sit fourth in yards per punt return (21.5), fifth in punt return total yards (258), 10th in rushing touchdowns (18), 17th in yards per punt (40.2) and 19th in passing yards per attempt (8.9).

FOR THE RECORD: St. Francis is 177-229 all time, 148-170 in day games and 91-102 at home.