St. Lawrence University looks to not only remain undefeated on the season but also unscored upon as the Saints open the Liberty League portion of the schedule against Rensselaer on the road at the ECAV Stadium in Troy. The Saints are 3-0 and have outscored opponents 118-0 so far in 2016.
The current shutout streak is 214 minutes 11 seconds dating back to the third quarter of the Mount Union game in the NCAA Tournament last season. The last time St. Lawrence had three consecutive shutouts was in 1971-72 as the team shut out Rochester (35-0) and Rensselaer (10-0) to end the 1971 season and started the 1972 season with a 16-0 win over SUNY Plattsburgh.
Last Year
After scoring four times in the first half (3 td, 1 fg), the Saints held on for a 24-21 win as Rensselaer scored three touchdowns in the second half to make it a game. The three touchdown drives for St. Lawrence were short in duration – a combined seven plays and 2:31 of elapsed time. Maurice Irby capped a two-play 46-second drive with a 59-yard TD run, Mitch Gallagher capped a 28-yard drive with a 17-yard reception and Vincenzo Ferraro finished off a 77-yard pass play for the third score. Andrew Carvalho kicked his season-best 29-yard field goal with 1:11 left in the half that turned out to be the difference in the game.
RPI quarterback Jeff Avery had 348 yards passing which was the most allowed all season by the St. Lawrence defense. Irby rushed for 106 while both Ferraro and Gallagher had over 90 yards receiving. Jayson Leigh had 10 tackles, two for loss and two breakups while Skyler Williamson had nine stops, two for loss and a breakup. Chyron Brown-Wallace finished with eight tackles and two sacks.
Last Week
The Saints remained unbeaten and unscored upon with a 38-0 win at Endicott College in the first road game of the season. Rodrick Payne gained more than 100 yards on the ground and the defense limited the Gulls to just 36 yards rushing and 153 yards of total offense. Sean Richardson remained steady with a 24-for-32 day for 312 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Vincenzo Ferraro was the top target with eight catches for 85 yards and a score. Defensively, St. Lawrence had a trio of players with eight tackles each as Alec Dietsch, Skyler Williamson and Chyron Brown-Wallace had eight tackles apiece. Jayson Leigh broke the school record for the longest interception return with a 92-yarder in the second quarter.
Rensselaer rebounded from its first loss of the season with a 31-10 win at MIT in Cambridge. MIT opened the scoring with a short field goal and then RPI scored the next 24 straight points and cruised to the victory. The Engineers did most of the damage on the ground as Mike Tivinis ran for 123 yards and the team racked up 243 rushing yards. Ed Trimpert was 7-for-12 for 83 yards passing while the defense forced five turnovers with four interceptions and a fumble.
The Series
The Saints lead in the overall series 33-26-2 after the St. Lawrence win last year. It was the third consecutive victory for the Saints over the Engineers in the series. The 2014 win in Troy stopped a 13-game losing streak at RPI. The Saints are 2-13 in the last 15 road games in the series with wins coming in 1896 and 2014.
Interception Streak
The Saints continued its impressive streak with at least one interception in each of the last 23 of the last 24 games. The only game in the last three years that the SLU defense did not record an interception was the 2015 season opener at Morrisville.
Gallagher Records Watch
Tight end Mitch Gallagher is close to one school record and could add his name to the record book in another within the next couple games. The senior has 132 career receptions and needs just three more to tie Mike O'Donnell's school record of 135 career catches from 2004-07. His 24 receiving yards in the Endicott win put him over the 1,500 yards for his career with his total currently at 1,513. The school record for touchdown receptions is also within reach for Gallagher. He currently sits at 21 TD catches and John Crandall (1975-78) holds the school mark at 26.
Leading the Nation
The St. Lawrence defense is all over the top of the national leaderboard in several different categories. The Saints are one of just two teams in the country (in any NCAA division) that have still not been scored upon. The Saints and University of Northwestern (MN) are the only two teams with current shutout streaks dating back to the start of the year. Northwestern is 3-0 with wins over Augsburg (14-0), Crown College (21-0) and Minnesota-Morris (17-0). The Eagles play Martin Luther College at 1 p.m. Saturday.
The shutout streak puts the Saints at the top of the national rankings in scoring defense. The team is also No. 1 in red zone defense and ranks second in total defense and passing efficiency defense. The Saints are 11th in passing defense, 15th in rushing defense, tied for 13th in turnover margin and sixth in the nation in kickoff return average.
National Unbeaten teams
At the start of last week, there were five teams tied with St. Lawrence with zero points allowed in 2016. Marshall was the lone FBS team with that distinction until a whopping 65-38 loss to Akron. The Zips scored in the first 1:13 of the game to stop Marshall's streak. The University of Tennessee Chattanooga was the lone FCS team with a shutout streak and although the Mocs remained unbeaten, they surrendered their first points of the year with a 21-14 win over Furman.
There were four NCAA Division III teams with streaks entering last weekend. The Saints were first to play and posting their 38-0 shutout win. Baldwin-Wallace was facing John Carroll and gave up its first points of the year on a 22-yard field goal in the third quarter. Wittenberg put its streak on the line against Ohio Wesleyan. The Battling Bishops had multiple chances to score during the first three quarters throwing a pair of interceptions deep in Wittenberg territory and hitting the upright on a field goal attempt but finally cracked the scoreboard with a touchdown drive to start the fourth quarter.
Scoring Average (compared to School Records)
The St. Lawrence defense has been dominant over the first three games of the season but the offense has been doing pretty well too. The Saints are averaging nearly 40 points per game (39.33 – 118 points). At the current pace, the Saints will eclipse the school record of 341 points (31.0 ppg – 11 games) set but the 10-1 NCAA Tournament qualifying team in 1982.
Longest Interception return in school history/Interception return yards (season)
Jayson Leigh had a 92-yard interception return for a touchdown against Endicott and as near as we can tell it is a school record. There are incomplete records, especially for individual interception returns prior to 1980 but what is known is that Mitch Brown had what was listed as a school-record 65 yard interception return for a touchdown in 1977.
Leigh now has two interception returns for touchdowns which tied a school record also set by Brown in 1977. Leigh is just 10 yards from the school record for interception return yards in a season. He currently has 128 yards on two returns. The school record holder is James Holley-Grisham with 138 return yards on six interceptions last season. Paul Fuzak had 129 yards on six interceptions in 1975 and Leigh sits in third with his 128 yards. Zachery LaMonde had 109 yards on seven interceptions in 1995, Isreal Squires had 105 yards on three interceptions last season and Brown had 103 with eight interceptions in 1977.