Football Preview: Seton Hill at Urbana

URBANA, Ohio (September 8, 2012) - On Saturday, the Urbana University football team meets Seton Hill Univeristy for the 6th time in the past 8 seasons. Urbana is undefeated in 5 previous games against the Griffins.  Every win has been a blowout except for a 28-27 squeaker played at Urbana High School in the teams' first meeting in 2005. Since that game, Urbana has put up an average of 36.8 points against the Griffins while SHU has averaged just 13.8 points against UU over that same time frame.

Urbana’s 5 wins over Seton Hill are tied for the 2nd most against any program in school history. The only team Urbana has more wins against is Taylor University in Indiana (9).

In Week 10 of last season, the Blue Knights scored 40 unanswered points in a 40-21 rout of the Griffins at Offutt Field. Quarterback D.J. Mendenhall connected on 2 scores with WR Joe Webb. Mendenhall also rushed for 2 TDs and caught another. It was the 1st time in UU history that a player recorded at least 1 passing, rushing and receiving TD in a single game.  He finished with 313 yards passing, 69 yards rushing and 11 yards receiving in the rout.  Webb's 3 catches totaled 110 yards, and Drew Underwood led the Blue Knights defensively with 10 tackles and a forced fumble.

In the 2 contests the Blue Knights have played since their Week 10 win over SHU, the offense has racked up an incredible 122 points and 1,296 yards. Each of UU’s top 2 single game performances for points scored and total yards occurred in those wins over Lincoln and Tusculum. In fact, 3 of the highest single game point totals at UU have occurred in the past 5 games. 

Urbana's offense is already hitting on all cylinders, and the D-II football world is starting to notice.  Urbana received its first vote in the AFCA Top 25 Coaches' Poll this week.  It's Urbana's first appearance in any national Top 25 poll since the 2007 season.  Also, Mendenhall earned National Offensive Player of the Week honors from Beyond Sports Network for his record-breaking performance against Tusculum.

Meanwhile, Seton Hill (0-1) enters Saturday's contest a little banged up after falling 52-6 at Slippery Rock University last Thursday night.  The Griffins just 191 yards of total offense against The Rock, including -16 rushing yards.  If the Griffins are going to end their winless streak against the Blue Knights, they'll have to find a way to advance the ball against reigning GLVC Defensive Player of the Week Perry Jenkins and a stout Blue Knight defense that held Tusculum to just 19 first half rushing yards in Week 1.

Saturday's kickoff is slated for 12:00 p.m.  Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for children and senior citizens.  For the first time this season, Urbana will broadcast the game live on its UStream Channel.  Athletic Director Doug Young will provide the play-by-play.  Live Stats are also available here, and for in-game updates to your cell phone, be sure to follow @UUSports on Twitter.  And if you live in Logan or Champaign counties and have Time Warner Cable or CT Communications, look for game replays all month long on Channel 5 (Time Warner) and Channel 13 (CT).