• Top-ranked UWF (2-0) goes on the road for the second time this season, taking on 13th-ranked Texas A&M Commerce (1-1) at Memorial Stadium Saturday night. It will be a rematch of the 2017 NCAA Division II National Championship game, which was won by the Lions 37-27.
• UWF has won a school-record eight-consecutive games dating back to the 2019 season.
• UWF has won its last five road games, tying the mark set in 2017.
• UWF is 22-9 (.710) all-time on the road, 14-9 (.609) in regular-season road games, and 12-5 (.706) in their last 17.
• The Argos are 9-3 (.750) in regular-season non-conference contests.
FOUR DOWNS WITH UWF
• UWF's offense ranks in the top 10 nationally in scoring offense, passing offense, first downs and third-down conversion.
• UWF is looking for the first 3-0 start in program history. The Argonauts started 2-0 in 2016 and 2017 before road losses at Chowan and Valdosta State, respectively.
• The Argos are 12-8 all-time against ranked teams and have won their last five, tying the school record set in 2017. UWF is 9-4 on the road against ranked teams.
• UWF will be playing in the state of Texas for the third time. They are 1-1 with a loss to MSU Texas in 2018 and a win over Minnesota State in the 2019 national championship.
ABOUT UWF
• The Argos return 46 letterwinners and 13 starters from 2019. They also have 36 players with 4-year college experience prior to coming to UWF, 14 players with FBS experience and 13 with FCS stops.
• UWF averages 52.5 points per game and 488.5 yards of total offense through two weeks. The squad has averaged 138.0 rushing yards per game, while passing for 350.5 ypg.
• UWF was picked to finish first in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll and received five of seven possible first-place votes.
SHINNICK BITES
• Pete Shinnick was hired as the first head coach in program history on Feb. 2, 2014. The Colorado (1988) graduate is 37-17 in four seasons at UWF.
• He is 140-63 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.
• He is 13-8 all-time in the postseason - 9-3 in the Division II Playoffs and 4-5 in the NAIA Playoffs while at Azusa Pacific from 1999-2005.
SERIES HISTORY
• Texas A&M Commerce won the only previous meeting, 37-27, at the 2017 national title game at Children's Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kan.
• This is UWF's second game against a Lone Star Conference team. They dropped a 38-17 decision at #10 MSU Texas in 2018.
REMATCH OF 2017 TITLE
• The two teams are meeting for the first time since the 2017 National Championship game. In recent memory, regular season rematches have been a rarity, however three of the seven rematches from the last decade have occurred last Saturday and today.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP REGULAR-SEASON REMATCHES SINCE 2010
CHAMP. REMATCH
CHAMP. RUNNER-UP YEAR DATE
TAMUC UWF 2017 9/18/21
NDSU Towson 2013 9/18/21
Ohio St. Oregon 2014 9/11/21
Auburn Oregon 2010 8/31/19
NDSU Ill. State 2014 10/01/16
Valdosta WSSU 2012 9/13/14
Alabama LSU 2011 11/03/12
SIX CURRENT ARGOS PLAYED IN 2017 GAME
• With the UWF-A&M Commerce title game being played four seasons ago, there aren't many players still playing who saw time in that game in Kansas City.
• The following six Argos all played in the 2017 game - Trent Archie, Ka'Ron Ashley, Marcus Clayton, Rodney Coates, Mike Dilla and Anthony Johnson, Jr.
BACK IN THE LONE STAR STATE
• Saturday's game will be UWF's second game in its last four played in North Texas. UWF defeated Minnesota State, 48-40, on Dec. 19, 2017 - four games ago - in McKinney ISD Stadium for the national championship.
• The only other time the Argos played in Texas was in 2018 against MSU Texas in Wichita Falls.
BIG PLAY OFFENSE LEADS TO BIG AVERAGES
• UWF has had 13 plays of 20 yards or more, including eight in week one against McNeese State. A total of 12 have been through the air and one on the ground.
• UWF currently ranks 18th in the country with 488.5 yards of total offense per game and fifth with 54 first downs. The Argos had 30 last week against SW Baptist, one shy of tying the school record.
• The 105 points are the most in back-to-back games in school history. The 52.5 points per game second in the country.
REED-ICULOUS START
• Sophomore Austin Reed took over as the starTing quarterback in the second game of 2019 and led UWF to it's first national title, throwing for 4,000 yards and 40 TDs while amassing a 13-1 record as a starter. Those numbers earned the St. Augustine, Florida native National and Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year.
• But the awards only tell part of the story. To say he got better as the season went along would be a huge understatement. In UWF's first nine games, he threw for 2,001 yards and 19 TD, before exploding for identical numbers of 2,088 yards and 21 TD in the final six games.
• In the national championship, he shattered both the UWF and NCAA Championship single-game records with 523 passing yards and tied both organization marks with six passing TD. He was 33-of-54 on the day with his completions tying the finals mark and his attempts setting a new top effort. He had 399 yards by halftime to break the previous yardage mark of 361 which had stood since 2002.
• Through two games in 2021, he ranks 12th nationally with 318.5 passing yards per game and eighth with 16.3 yards per completion. His eight passing TDs are one behind Shepherd's Tyson Bagent for the top spot in the country.
• In last week's win over SW Baptist, he set a UWF record with a 210.72 passer rating, completing 20-of-26 passes for 257 yards while playing into the first drive of the third quarter.
• As a senior at St. Augustine HS in 2017, Reed was the Florida Class 6A Player of the Year after throwing for 2,925 yards and 34 TD.
REED'S LAST 8 GAMES
OPPONENT YARDS TD QBR
West Alabama 443 5 209.52
at Wingate 165 3 122.15
at Valdosta State 298 1 138.74
at Lenoir-Rhyne 360 3 164.28
at Ferris State 299 3 115.95
vs. Minn. State 523 6 175.95
at McNeese State 380 4 172.56
SW Baptist 257 4 210.72
8-Game Totals/Avg. 2,725 29 ---
340.6 3.7
JOHNSON SETS TD MARK
• Senior RB Anthony Johnson, Jr. had three rushing touchdowns on five carries (8 yards) against SW Baptist on Saturday, tying his own single-game record set at Valdosta State in the 2019 NCAA Playoffs. The final score against the Bearcats pushed his career TD number to 16, moving him past Quentin Randolph (2016-19) into first place all-time at UWF.
• He ranks second in UWF rushing history with 327 carries and 1,374 yards. Chris Schwarz compiled 413 rushes for 1,992 yards from 2016-18.
DURDEN'S DEBUT
• Junior WR David Durden had one of the most impressive debut performances in UWF history in the opener at McNeese, catching six passes for 172 yards and one TD, while running once for a 6-yard TD. He returned two kicks for 14 yards apiece. Last week, he added four receptions for 66 yards and two TD.
DURDEN IN THE NCAA RANKINGS
CATEGORY RK. STAT
All Purpose Yards/Gm 19 154.0
Receiving Yards 7 238
Rec. Yards/Gm 11 119.0
Points Scored 10 24
Scoring/Gm 12 12.0
• The Midville, Ga. native transferred to UWF prior to the 2020 academic year from Mercer, where he had 1,054 receiving yards and 971 return yards on 37 returns (26.2 ypr) in two seasons. He earned FCS Freshman All-America honors in 2018.
• Durden was a 20th Round draft pick by the Red Sox in the 2017 MLB Draft and played in 30 games for the GCL Red Sox.
COATES' CAREER DAY LEADS TO GSC POW
• Senior WR Rodney Coates had a career day on Saturday against Southwest Baptists, totaling 126 yards on nine catches with two touchdowns. His scoring catches went for seven and six yards, and he averaged 14.0 yards per catch. His scores tied the game at 7-7 and put UWF up 21-7 as part of the 63 unanswered points. The senior from Grove Hill, Alabama ran his season totals to 194 yards on 13 receptions and three touchdowns. He was named the GSC Offensive Co-Player of the Week.
ARGOS HAVE FORCED TURNOVERS IN 49 OF 54 GAMES
• The UWF defense forced a school-record six turnovers twice last season at West Georgia and at Ferris State. Those big plays were part of the 15-consecutive games with a turnover. Sadly, the streak ended in week one when they failed to get a turnover at McNeese State... But never fear because a new streak started last week with a special teams turnover against SW Baptist.
• Further inspection shows the Argonauts have gotten at least one turnover in 49 of their 54 all-time games. UWF is 35-12 when getting a turnover and 2-5 when unable to force a sudden change.
• The turnover prize for UWF is a navy blue Turnover Shield and was created by Defensive Coordinator Darian Dulin prior to the 2018 campaign. The round wooden disk has a large UWF logo on a navy blue background. The shield, which is a replica of what Jason and the Argonauts may have used in mythological times, is then signed in silver marker by the player(s) who had a hand in creating the turnover. New for 2021 is a metal trash can that is struck with a wooden sword in celebration.
UWF AMONG THE BEST AT FORCING TURNOVERS
• UWF is one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers. In fact, the Argonauts are one of just three teams nationally to rank in the top 20 each of the last three seasons in turnovers gained, joining CSU Pueblo and Winona State.
• Since 2017, UWF has 93 turnovers gained in 43 contests, averaging 2.2 per game.
TURNOVERS GAINED SINCE 2017
4-YR
School '21 '19 '18 '17 TOTAL
CSU Pueblo 3 39 45 30 117
Winona St. 2 29 28 37 96
UWF 1 37 25 30 93
Bowie St. 4 35 23 28 90
Len.-Rhyne 4 31 38 16 89
Edinboro 0 22 31 30 83
ARGOS' ROAD SUCCESS CONTINUES YEAR AFTER YEAR
• UWF went 7-2 on the road in 2019. The seven wins tied for the highest total in Division 2 with Minnesota State's 7-0 mark.
• Following the McNeese State win, The Argonauts are now 22-9 all-time on the road in their fifth season of play, including an 8-1 mark in 2017 when they tied Harding for the most road victories in the country.
• After a 2-4 road mark in the 2016 inaugural season, UWF has had a winning record away from home each year - 8-1, 4-2, 7-2 and 1-0.
UWF VS. RANKED TEAMS
• While Saturday's game will be the first against a ranked opponent this season, that doesn't mean the Argos haven't faced their share of top competition through 54 all-time games.
• By week 2 of their third season (2018), #10 Midwestern State was the eighth-consecutive contest against a ranked opponent for UWF. It was also the tenth in a stretch of 12 games for the Argonauts.
• Additionally, UWF had played 12 games (out of 28 up to that point) against teams ranked in the top 25 - meaning that 43 percent of the program's games in its history had been against ranked opponents.
• Including Saturday's game against Commerce, UWF will have played 21 of 55 games against ranked foes - that's 38.2 percent of its history.
• After the win over No. 4 Minnesota State in 2019, the Argonauts improved to 12-8 all-time against ranked teams and have a five game winning streak for the second time in their history.
UWF ALL-TIME vs. NATIONALLY RANKED PROGRAMS
2016
16 Florida Tech W, 42-39
3 at North Alabama L, 3-51
2017
21/20 Delta State L, 25-28
25/23 at West Alabama L, 18-35
24/18 at West Georgia W, 34-29
16/18 at Wingate (NCAA) W, 31-0
24/25 at West Georgia (NCAA) W, 17-14
17/17 at West Ala. (NCAA) W, 28-21
3/1 at Indiana (Pa.) (NCAA) W, 27-17
8/8 vs. A&M-Commerce (NCAA) L, 27-37
2018
22/rv Carson-Newman W, 19-9
10/7 at Midwestern State L, 17-38
4/4 West Georgia L, 7-27
7/7 Valdosta State L, 21-48
2019
1/1 at Valdosta State L, 21-26
16/17 at WIngate (NCAA) W, 38-17
1/1 at Valdosta State (NCAA) W, 38-35
6/6 at Lenoir-Rhyne (NCAA) W, 43-38
2/2 at Ferris State (NCAA) W, 28-14
4/3 vs. Minn. State (NCAA) W, 48-40
2021
21/13 at Texas A&M Commerce
* Rankings are AFCA/D2FB
Overall: 12-8 Postseason: 9-1
Home: 2-3 Road: 9-4 Neutral: 1-1
GSC READY SINCE DAY ONE
• Even before they played a game in 2016, coaches, administrators and fans across the Gulf South Conference footprint had a feeling UWF could be a major player in the league and region really quick. In their four seasons of football, the Argonauts have won 19 GSC contests, ranking them fourth in the league.
UWF'S PRESEASON COACHES POLL VS. ACTUAL FINISH
YEAR PREDICTION ACTUAL
2016 8TH T-6TH
2017 7TH T-2ND
2018 2ND 5TH
2019 4TH 2ND
RECORD IN GSC REGULAR-SEASON
TEAM 2016 2017 2018 2019 TOTAL
VSU 6-2 5-3 8-0 8-0 27-5
UWA 6-2 7-1 5-3 3-5 21-11
UWG 4-4 5-3 7-1 4-4 20-12
UWF 3-5 5-3 4-4 7-1 19-13
FIT* 5-2 3-5 5-3 3-5 16-15
DSU 3-5 5-3 2-6 5-3 15-17
NGU --- --- 3-4 2-6 5-10
MC 1-7 1-7 1-6 4-4 7-24
Shorter 0-8 0-8 0-8 0-8 0-32
* Fla. Tech dropped football in Spring 2020.
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 bot- tom 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
