• After six weeks of the 2021 season and 701 days since going 5-0 at home in 2019, the top-ranked UWF football program returns to Blue Wahoos Stadium where it will play host to #12 West Georgia Saturday evening.

ABOUT UWF
• UWF continues its 2-game homestand this week, looking to bounce back from last week's 30-26 loss to #12 West Georgia. UWF is 8-5 after a loss all-time. 
• The Argos average 42.8 points per game (7th nationally) on 458.0 yards of total offense, led by 326.5 yards through the air. 
• Shomari Mason now holds two more running back receiving records at UWF after he caught six passes against West Georgia last week. He enters this week with 15 receptions for 143 yards on the year.

ABOUT SHORTER
• Shorter come into today's game with a  2-5 overall record and a 0-4 mark in GSC play. The Hawks' two victories came over Brevard College in the season opener and against Clark Atlanta in week three.
• The Hawks have been outscored 169-27 in their four GSC contests. They have played the toughest GSC slate thus far, facing #14 West Georgia, #4 Valdosta State, #10 West Alabama and Mississippi College to open league play.

THE COACHES
• Pete Shinnick was hired as the first head coach in program history on Feb. 2, 2014. The 1988 Colorado graduate is 40-18 in four seasons at UWF. He is 143-64 in his 19th season as a head coach, with previous stops at UNC Pembroke (50-24 from 2007-13) and Azusa Pacific (53-22 from 1999-2005). Shinnick was named the 2019 D2Football.com Division 2 National Coach of the Year and the 2017 AFCA & D2Football.com D2 National Coach of the Year. He was also the AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year in 2017.
• Zach Morrison is in his third season at Shorter where he is 5-28 overall. Two of those wins came last Spring when the Hawks went 2-2 in February and March. 

SERIES HISTORY 
• UWF has had a good amount of success against Shorter, winning all four previous meetings. The average score of those contests has been 42.8-12.5.
• In 2016, UWF held SU to 99 yards of total offense in a 31-0 win and in 2017, the Argonauts completed a school-record 75.8 pct. of their passes. In 2018 - the last game in Pensacola, UWF gained 568 yards of total offense on 6.8 yards per play in a 51-7 triumph. A year later, the Argos used 7.9 ypp and a 190.4 passer rating (4th all-time at UWF) for a 42-14 victory in Rome. The Hawks have averaged just over 12 first downs per game against the Argos. 

BAMBI'S BIG DAY
• UWF WR Ka'Ron Ashley had a career game last week against #2 West Georgia. The graduate student from Jacksonville, Fla. hauled in 12 catches for 169 yards and three touchdowns. All three were the most by a receiver in the GSC this season and among the top 5 in UWF history.
• Ashley joined former Argo standouts Quentin Randolph and Anas Hasic as the only players to catch three TD passes in a single game.

BIG PLAY OFFENSE
• UWF has had 40 plays of 20 yards or more, including a season-high 13 at Delta State. A total of 28 have been through the air, three on the ground, five kick returns, one punt return and three interceptions.
• David Durden leads the team with 10 big plays. Ra'veion Hargrove and Rodney Coates each have six.
• The Argos average 25.5 first downs per game, with a season-high 30 against SW Baptist, one shy of tying the school record.

UWF AMONG THE BEST AT GETTING TO THE QUARTERBACK
• UWF's defense is currently ranked 10th nationally in quarterback sacks, averaging 3.8 per game. They have dropped the QB at least four times in a game four times in 2021. The Argos' season high is seven at Delta State.
• Individually, Stephon Williams (pictured, right) leads the team and ranks third in the GSC with 3.5 sacks. Trent Archie has three.

115 PLAYERS IN CAMP, 11 W/ BACHELOR'S DEGREE
• UWF currently has 115 student-athletes on its roster entering the opening week of play. Since the program started filling out the roster in the Spring of 2015, the maturation levels have continued to rise throughout the program.

    SENIORS/
    GRADUATES    JUNIORS
2016    5    14
2017    16    15
2018    27    40
2019    30    30
2021    26    24

• UWF has 11 football student-athletes who have received their bachelor's degree, making them one of 15 D2 programs with double-digit graduates. That continues a trend for the Argo- naut program, as they have averaged just over 10 graduates on the fall roster in their 5-year history. They led D2 with 11 playing graduates in 2018.

FRESH FACES WITH COLLEGE EXPERIENCE
• Since the end of the 2019 national championship season, UWF added 34 transfers – 14 from FBS schools, 9 from FCS level, 3 from other Division 2 programs & 8 from junior colleges. 18 of those are among the 2-deep this week with seven each on offense and defense, and four among the specialists.

THE ORIGINAL ARGOS
• Due to a variety of factors, UWF has two student-athletes that have been with the program since the practice season of 2015 - Trent Archie and Rodney Coates.
• Two additional Argos have been around since the inaugural season of 2016 - Ka'Ron Ashley and Marcus Clayton.

UWF PICKED FIRST IN GSC PRESEASON POLL, RECORD 10 ARGOS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-CONF. 
• UWF was picked first in a vote of Gulf South Conference coaches in the 2021 GSC Preseason Football Poll that was announced in August.
• UWF earned five of the seven possible first place votes and totaled 47 polling points. Valdosta State had the remaining three first place votes and was picked second with 45 points. Delta State, West Alabama, West Georgia and Mississippi College were bunched together in third through sixth, respectively. North Greenville and Shorter were at the bottom of the poll.
• UWF had a league-high nine student-athletes selected to 10 positions on the preseason all-conference team.
• On offense, five Argonauts were chosen, led by quarterback Austin Reed, wide receiver Rodney Coates, tight end Jacure' Jackson, and offensive linemen Jacob Bruce and Mike Dilla. The defensive representatives are Matthew Gotel on the line, Trent Archie at nickel back, and defensive backs D'Anthony Bell and Marcus Clayton. Jackson was also voted on special teams to the blocking team position.

2021 GSC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Pl. School – Points
1. WEST FLORIDA (5) 47
2. Valdosta State (3) 45
3. Delta State 33
4. West Alabama 30
5. West Georgia 26
6. Mississippi College 22
7. North Greenville 14
8. Shorter 7
* First place votes in parenthesis