HICKORY, NC - In what has been a chaotic week, Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum will finally get to face off today at 3 p.m., just not between the bricks. The game will take place at Shuford Stadium in Salisbury, North Carolina, the home of Catawba College. The two teams featured met last season in the SAC Championship game, with the Bears taking that one by a final score of 41-7. The No. 6 Bears come into this matchup with a record of 3-0 (1-0 SAC), while Tusclum sits at 0-2 (0-1 SAC).

Notes:

Game Information: Shuford Stadium is located on 2295 Yost Street, Salisbury, NC. Gates will at 2 p.m., one hour prior to kickoff. Parking is free and tailgating is allowed. Please be courteous and take trash bags with you as to minimize the impact of trash on Catawba's campus. All previously purchased tickets to this event will be accepted. If you would like to attend the game and have not purchased a ticket, they will be available at any of Catawba's three entrance gates of the football field. Online ticketing for this game has been shut down and will not work. In this now neutral site contest, Lenoir-Rhyne will still be considered the home team, and all Lenoir-Rhyne fans are encouraged to sit on the home side of the stadium. One concession stand will be open for the event. Live stats and FloSports live stream will still be available, but there will be no radio. 

Matchup History: Saturday's game will be the 28th meeting all-time between the Bears and Pioneers. Lenoir-Rhyne leads the all-time series 16-11 and are currently on a three game winning streak. The last meeting between these two squads was in the 2023 SAC Championship game, where the Bears won 48-7 and claimed their 26th conference championship in school history. Lenoir-Rhyne has won 11 of the last 12 matchups and are looking for their ninth win all-time at Moretz Stadium against the Pioneers. 

Opponent Profile: Tusculum began their 2024 season with back-to-back non-conference losses to West Alabama and Newberry. Pioneers traveled to Livingston, AL in week one, falling 45-9 and giving up 456 yards of offense to the Tigers. West Alabama converted on all four of its red-zone trips and scored 10 points off of Pioneer turnovers. In week two, Tusculum opened conference play with a 50-20 loss at home to Newberry. Tusculum finished the game with 251 yards of offense, including 180 rushing yards. 12 different pioneers recorded a rushing attempt in the game. The Pioneers are coming off a 6-5 (6-2 SAC) record where they finished runner-up in the 2023 SAC Championship game last season. They won four of their last six regular season games, averaging 347.2 YPG and 24.5 PPG on offense. Last season, Matthew Palazzo led the Pioneers in passing, throwing for over 2,000 yards and 19 touchdowns. Jalen Hunt led the Pioneers on the ground, rushing for 419 yards and one score.

Mars Hill Recap: Lenoir-Rhyne faced adversity last Saturday at Mars Hill, seeing themselves go down 21-10 early in the third quarter. LR went on a 19-0 run in the second half to come home with a 29-21 victory to begin conference play. Offensively, Jalen Ferguson set a career-high in passing yards, going 25-for-39 for 304 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Zayvion Turner-Knox continued his strong season on the ground with 87 yards rushing and a touchdown. Songa Yates and Adonis McDaniel combined for 176 yards receiving and one score. Defensively, Jaelin Willis led the team with eight tackles, 3.0 TFL and two sacks. Andre Jefferson added to his career sack total, finishing with two sacks for 24 yards. Lenoir-Rhyne now sits as the only undefeated team in the SAC Mountain Division.

SAC Statistic Leaders: Zayvion Turner-Knox leads the conference with four rushing touchdowns after scoring a six-yard rushing touchdown against Mars Hill. He also is third in the conference in rushing yards per game averaging 118.7. Jalen Ferguson is currently in the top five in the conference in both passing yards per game (240.7) and passing touchdowns thrown (5) through the first three weeks of the season. Songa Yates is second in the conference in receiving yards per game with 89.7. Defensively, the Bears have relied on Andre Jefferson and Na'Shawn Biggs to provide pressure on the quarterback this season as both defenders are in the top five in the conference in sacks.

Rankings Update: Lenoir-Rhyne remained sixth in the latest AFCA Division ll coaches poll after their comeback victory against Mars Hill on Saturday. The top six teams kept their same rankings from the prevous week while Minnesota State jumped ahead of Kutztown at #7 in the rankings. West Alabama made the biggest jump in the coaches poll, climbing up six spots after defeating #12 West Florida 35-33 in Pensacola, FL, while the Argonauts dropped to #21. Virginia Union (21) and Wingate (T24) dropped out of the Top-25 while Johnson C. Smith (NC) received the most votes outside (17) the Top-25. SAC conference rival Carson-Newman received votes (8) after their 31-28 victory against #24 Wingate.