ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon football team concludes a brutal stretch of four road games in a five-week span Saturday, October 6 at rival Edinboro. The Fighting Scots' homecoming game is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Gannon enters Saturday's contest with a 1-4 overall record and 0-2 mark within the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division. The Golden Knights have dropped four straight games since a season-opening 36-33 victory against Lake Erie.
Head coach
Brad Rzyczycki's club hopes to get its first road win since a 30-27 victory at rival Mercyhurst October 1, 2011. The Golden Knights are 0-3 away from Gannon University Field this season and have dropped seven straight road affairs dating back to last season.
Gannon features the eighth-best pass defense in NCAA Division II, allowing 141.40 passing yards per game. The Golden Knights remain in the nation's top 50 in net punting (23rd, 36.70), passing efficiency defense (30th, 106.95), passing offense (33rd, 276.20) and punt return average (43rd, 12.75).
Khayree Connors-McChristian made a huge leap on Gannon's all-time tackling chart last week with a career-high 15 stops at 10th-ranked Bloomsburg. The redshirt senior leapfrogged seven players and moved into 13th place all-time with 217 career tackles. He needs 15 tackles to move into Gannon's all-time top 10.
Edinboro enters the weekend showdown with a 2-2 overall record and 1-1 PSAC Western Division slate. The Fighting Scots are coming off a 31-24 overtime victory at LIU Post. After opening the season with consecutive losses to Bloomsburg (30-14) and California (Pa.) (24-14), Edinboro has rebounded with back-to-back wins against Lock Haven (35-19) and LIU Post.
Cody Harris was named PSAC Western Division Co-Offensive Player of the Week after completing 27-of-34 attempts for 381 yards and four total touchdowns (three passing/one rushing) at LIU Post. Trailing 24-17 with 28 seconds remaining, Harris drove the Fighting Scots 47 yards in four plays to tie the game and force overtime. The key play of the final drive of regulation was Harris' 41-yard pass to Devin Ghafoor on third down that advanced the Fighting Scots to the Post 12-yard line with just seven seconds left to play. That set up an overtime-forcing 12-yard touchdown strike to Marcus Johnson. In the extra period, Harris connected with Johnson again for a 20-yard touchdown pass which ultimately was the game-winning play.
Edinboro ranks 25th among all NCAA Division II programs in passing offense (285.00) and 27th in passing efficiency (152.49). Individually, Harris is 20th nationally in total offense per game (300.25) and 21st in passing efficiency (153.58). Defensively, Kenny Pettis leads the country in tackles per game (14.25).
Gannon has never defeated Edinboro in six all-time meetings. The Fighting Scots produced non-conference victories in 2001 (37-21) and 2002 (17-7) when the Golden Knights were members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC). Edinboro is 4-0 in the series since Gannon moved into the PSAC in 2008.
