• Coming off two-consecutive home losses, the UWF football team heads to North Greenville looking to right the ship and get back on track in the hunt for an NCAA Playoff berth.

TOP STORYLINES
• Saturday's game marks the first-ever meeting between the teams in football.
• After a record 3-0 start in Gulf South Conference, the Argos are 3-2 for the third-consecutive season in program history.
• UWF is 11-10 all-time in GSC regular-season games, with a 5-6 record at home and 6-4 on the road.
• UWF is unranked for the first time this season, ending a streak of nine-consecutive weeks in the top-25 after ending the 2017 season ranked No. 2.

THE COACHES
• UWF coach Pete Shinnick was hired as the first coach in program history on Feb. 6, 2014. He has a 124-59 career record in his 16th season as a head coach, which includes a 50-24 mark at UNC Pembroke from 2007-13 and 53-22 at Azusa Pacific from 1999-05. He was named the AFCA and D2Football.com National Coach of the Year last season.
• North Greenville coach Jeff Farrington is in his sixth season and has led the Crusaders to a 46-28 record. His 2016 team went 9-5 and advanced to the regional final where they lost to eventual national runner-up North Alabama. He has spent the majority of his career on the defensive side of the ball, including holding defensive coordinator positions at Furman, East Tennessee State, West Georgia College, Lenoir-Rhyne and Presbyterian.

ABOUT UWF
    UWF is 5-3 on the season and unranked in both polls for the first time this season. The Argonauts have lost two straight after a 4-game winning streak.
    The Argonauts are averaging 260.4 passing yards and 150.0 rushing yards on the season. Their 410.4 yards per game are fourth in the GSC and 51st nationally.
    Graduate QB Sam Vaughn has completed 55 percent of his attempts for 1,971 yards (246.4 ypg) and 17 TD.
    The running back group of Chris Schwarz, Anthony Johnson, Jr., Jervon Newton and Quaide Weimerskirch have combined for 1,000 yards (153.8 ypg) on 192 carries.
    Senior Ishmel Morrow has 32 receptions for 482 yards and three touchdowns. Junior Tate Lehtio has 424 yards and 31 receptions, along with a touchdown. Ezra Saffold & Morrow are tied for fourth in the GSC with four TD receptions.
    The defense allows 389.5 yards per game and has forced 19 total turnovers - good for seventh in the country. UWF is one of four teams that lead Division 2 with 11 fumble recoveries.
    Graduate LB Gavin Burford ranks third in the GSC in tackles (66) and second in tackles per game (8.3).

ABOUT NORTH GREENVILLE
    North Greenville is 4-3 on the season and 2-2 in Gulf South Conference play.  The Crusaders' three losses are the West Georgia, Valdosta State and Lenoir-Rhyne - teams with a combined 23-1 record. NGU is in it's first season of GSC membership following more than 20 years as a D2 Independent.
    NGU averages 22.7 points per game and 344.6 yards per contest, while allowing 24.6 ppg and  365.6 ypg.
    NGU has blocked two punts this season and four total kicks overall - both of which lead the GSC.
    Senior quarterback Will Hunter ranks among the top 50 passers in the majority of the NCAA rankings. He is averaging 241.6 passing yards per game and has 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
    Demajiay Rooks has caught 36 passes for 450 yards and 4 TDs, while Lucas Catalfomo has 31 receptions for 477 yards and 3 TD. Four other players have at least 10 catches on the year but none have more than 15.
    True freshman running back EJ Humphrey has carried the ball 100 time out of 246 for the team. He has 249 yards for a 35.6 yards per game average. He has one game of over 100 yards of all-purpose yards and no others above 47 yards.
    Sophomore Aaron Watson has four interceptions and six kickoff returns.

SERIES HISTORY
    This is the first-ever meeting between the schools.
    Current UWF head men's basketball coach was the head coach at North Greenville from 1989-91, back when the school was a junior college. In his first job as a head coach, he led the program to consecutive 29-5 seasons, reaching the JUCO National Tournament each year.
    Drew Tranum, UWF's football graduate assistant for equipment, was a defensive student assistant and equipment manager for NGU during his time as an undergraduate before earning a bachelor's degree in history.

WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
    Despite losing its last two games, UWF is 5-3 overall and 3-2 in GSC play for the second-consecutive season. A year ago, the Argonauts were not in the first NCAA Super Region 2 rankings and collected wins over North Alabama and at West Georgia to springboard into the postseason for the first time in program history.

NCAA SUPER REGION 2 RANKINGS
Rk.    School    SR 2 Rec.    D2 Rec.
1     West Georgia     8-0    8-0
2     Valdosta State     8-0     8-0
3     Lenoir-Rhyne     7-1     7-1
4     Florida Tech     6-2     6-2
5     Bowie State     5-1     6-1
6     Carson-Newman     5-2     5-2
7     Morehouse     6-1     6-1
8     Virginia Union     5-2     5-2
9     Tuskegee     5-1     5-2
10     Albany State     5-3     5-3

    Last year, none of the bottom four teams in the initial rankings made the playoffs.

UWF AFTER A LOSS
    UWF is 1-1 this season following a loss. The Argonauts are 6-4 in the same season after a loss and are 4-1 in their last five.
    If you could season-openers after a loss form the previous year, the Argos are 8-4 and have won six of their last seven.

VAUGHN AMONG TOP 20 DIVISION 2 QUARTERBACKS
    Graduate QB Sam Vaughn made his first career start at Midwestern State in week two in place of week-one starter Mike Beaudry, who suffered an injury against Carson-Newman. 
    Vaughn had a solid game, throwing for 251 yards on 19-of-37 passing with two touchdowns and  two interceptions.
    The Fort Pierce, Fla. native has continued to improve each week since. Against Shorter in week three he threw for a career-high 369 yards on 25-of-34 passing with three touchdowns. His 72.5 percent completion rate was the second-highest in program history, while his 193.8 passing efficiency is third.
    In week one, he came on in relief of Beaudry, completing 17-for-29 for 218 yards with a TD and an interception. It was the first time in program history that the Argos had to make an in-game switch at quarterback due to injury.
    Vaughn spent the past four years as a scout team/preferred walk-on at Georgia and did not appear in a game. Prior to the opener, the last time he played in a live game was as a senior at Fort Pierce (Fla.) Central HS in the fall of 2013.

RUSHING ATTACK CONTINUES TO MAKE PROGRESS
    Dating back to the 2015 season when UWF fielded a team of redshirts with five intrasquad scrimmages, head coach Pete Shinnick has continued to praise the improvement of the offensive line.
    That improvement was on display in week three against Shorter with 195 yards rushing on 41 attempts and again two weeks ago with a school-record 268 rushing yards on 36 touches at Delta State.
    Junior RB Chris Schwarz has posted two of his three 100-yard games this season, and with his 107 yards on 14 carries two weeks ago at North Alabama, he is the first player in program history with consecutive 100-yard games.
    He ranks 16th in the country with 6.57 yards per carry.

WHICH RECEIVER IS IT GOING TO BE THIS WEEK?
    UWF has one of the deepest receiving groups in the country. The Argos regularly dress around 10 and have 8-10 catch at least one ball each game.
    A total of seven different players have at least 10 receptions and nine have caught a TD pass.
    Last season, a total of eight players had 10 or more receptions and 11 reached the end zone.

BIG PASS PLAYS HAPPEN AGAINST FLORIDA TECH
    UWF's Sam Vaughn completed a 72-yard TD pass to Ishmel Morrow in the  first quarter of last week's Coastal Classic game. That went down as the third-longest  pass play in program history.
    The other big pass plays also came against the Panthers in each of the first two meetings - in 2017, Mike Beaudry connected with Ka'Ron Ashley from 76 yards for the longest scoring play in UWF history; in 2016, Kaleb Nobles found Caleb Robinson on a 74-yarder in what proved to be the game-winning catch in the 42-39 Argo victory.

ARGOS HAVE FORCED TURNOVERS IN 31 OF 34 GAMES
    The UWF defense forced a school-record five turnovers earlier this season at Mississippi College and four more at Delta State.
    UWF has 11 fumble recoveries to lead the country and eight interceptions - including a pick 6 by David Richardson last week against FIT, extending it's streak of games with at least one turnover to 10 games.
    Further inspection shows the Argonauts have gotten at least one turnover in 31 of their 34 all-time games. UWF is 20-10 when getting a turnover and 1-3 when unable to force a sudden change.

GRIFFIN FINALLY BREAKS ONE, GETS FIRST PUNT RETURN TD
    For all of the 'firsts' that have occured in UWF history over three seasons of football, the team had not returned a punt of kickoff for a score... until last week.
    Antoine Griffin weaved his way through the FIT punt coverage unit for a 61-yard TD return early in the second quarter. It raised his season average to 17.3 yards per return, ranking him seventh in the country.
    For the record, the Argonauts do have two scores on punt returns but both came on blocked punts.

AUSTIN WILLIAMS BREAKS INTO GSC ALL-TIME FG TOP 10
    UWF PK Austin Williams made three field goals against Delta State and was named the Gulf South Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for the third time in 2018 and sixth time in his two years in Pensacola.
    He went 1-for-3 a week later at UNA, seeing his consecutive field goals made streak end at eight.
    His 1.5 FG per game rank fourth nationally. He is 37th in total points scored (60) and 53rd in points per game (7.5).
    The junior from Phelan, Calif. made a GSC-record 27 field goals in 2017 and now has 39 career field goals, moving into a tie for eighth place on the Gulf South Conference career list.
    He has also kicked off 44 times this year with 23 touchbacks.

PUNT UNIT PROVING TO BE VERY STINGY
    UWF freshman punter Dawson Hamlin enters the North Greeville game with a 38.2 yards per punt average over 33 kicks.
    While his gross yardage ranks seventh in the GSC, the UWF coverage unit has limited teams to attempt a return six times for a total of nine return yards - that's a 1.5 yards per return avg! That is leads the GSC.

    RECORD CROWD SHOWS UP FOR WEST GEORGIA GAME
    A UWF & Blue Wahoos Stadium record crowd of 6,838 were in attendance for the 27-7 loss to West Georgia two weeks ago, marking the largest crowd for a GSC home game this season.
     Following the FIT game, UWF ranks 15th nationally and first in the GSC with an average of 5,795 through four home dates.

UWF ON THE ROAD
    UWF made its magical run through the postseason with some of the best road play in the country. The Argonauts went 8-1 last year with five-consecutive victories heading into the neutral-site National Championship Game.
    The Argonauts are now 13-6 all-time away from Pensacola, 3-2 in regular-season non-conference road games and 2-1 in road openers.

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