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PENSACOLA, Fla. - UWF continues its road trips into the Peach State for the second-consecutive week. This Saturday, the Argonauts will pay a visit to Rome and take on the Shorter Hawks. Kickoff at Historic Barron Stadium is at Noon ET/11 a.m. CT.

FOUR DOWNS WITH UWF

* UWF has one of the top offenses in the country, averaging 43.8 points per game (5th) on 480.0 yards of total offense (9th) with 240.8 rushing (10th) & 239.2 passing (44th). The offensive line has allowed 2 sacks in 306 plays.

* UWF has had at least one passing TD in 50-consecutive games & 65 out of 68 all-time. The Argos have had at least two passing scores in their last 19 games, and at least 2 passing & 2 rushing TDs in all five games this season.

* UWF is 2-0 all-time at Barron Stadium and 7-2 in games played in the state of Georgia.

* UWF has won 12-consecutive road games & 5-straight GSC road contests. The Argos are 29-9 (.763) all-time on the road & 27-5 (.844) since 2017.

HERE ARE SOME MORE QUICK HITTERS ON THE ARGOS

• UWF is third in the country with 7.84 yards per play.

• Junior QB Peewee Jarrett is ninth in the country in passing efficiency (160.0), 13th in passing touchdowns (14), sixth in passing yards per completion (16.7) and 10th in points responsible for per game (18.0).

• Shomari Mason and Ra'veion Hargrove lead the UWF rushing attack, which is ranked 10th in the country and second in the GSC with 240.6 ypg. The Argos are No. 2 in D2 with 7.12 yards per rush & Shorter is No. 157 as they allow 6.15 ypr. Mason is 11th nationally with 117.0 ypg and sixth with 8.1 yards per rush. Hargrove averages 9.1 yards per rush with 320 yards on 35 carries.

• UWF averaged 45.7 points per game and 485.3 yards of total offense in 2021. The squad churned-out 170.0 rushing yards per game while passing for 315.3 ypg - all school records.

• The Argonauts were the Gulf South Conference Co-Champions and qualified for the NCAA Playoffs for the third time in the last four championship seasons.

• UWF was picked to finish second in the GSC Preseason Coaches Poll and received two of eight possible first-place votes.

SHINNICK REACHES 150 CAREER VICTORIES

• Pete Shinnick was hired as the first head coach in program history on Feb. 2, 2014 and has done a marvelous job since day one building the program from the ground up.

• 2022 has the potential to be a very memorable one for UWF head coach Pete Shinnick. He is in his sixth season at UWF (eighth year overall) and 20th as a college head coach, and enters the Shorter game at 151-66 (.694) overall and 48-20 (.701) at UWF. He currently ranks eighth among active D2 head coaches in career victories.

• 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 13-9 all-time in the postseason - 9-4 in the Division II Playoffs and 4-5 in the NAIA Playoffs while at Azusa Pacific from 1999-2005.

ABOUT SHORTER

• Shorter is 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in GSC play. The Hawks have lost their last four games and allowed at least 34 points in each one. They had allowed 27 combined in the two wins.

• The Hawks' offense has gotten better each year since UWF started football in 2016. They are averaging 410.8 yards of total offense which ranks fifth in the GSC and 37th nationally. 

• Veteran QB Aeneas Dennis averages 151 passing ypg and has 3,509 in his four seasons as a Hawk. He had 31 passing TD and a career-high 14 this season.

• The Hawks have just three turnovers and rank third in the country and first in the GSC with a fumble and two interceptions. The Shorter defense had gotten an INT in each of the first five games with six total before not getting one last week against Mississippi College.

SERIES HISTORY

• UWF has won all five previous meetings, including the two games in Rome in 2017 & 2019.

• UWF has never trailed in any of the games and the only tie scores besides 0-0, were 7-7 and 14-14 in 2019.

• This is the second times the Argos have come to Rome on Homecoming (2017).

TOP PERFORMANCES AGAINST THE HAWKS

• UWF has averaged 43.2 points and 504.8 yards of total offense in the five previous contests with Shorter.

• Some of the top individual performances include:

2016: Kaleb Nobles was 30-for-50 with 327 yards and 3 TD; John Williamson had seven tackles, 3.5 TFL and 2 sacks.

2017: Mike Beaudry threw for 322 yards and 4 TD on 25-for-33. He also rushed for 52 yards and a TD. 11 different players caught a pass. Marvin Conley had a 26-yard pick-6 on Shorter's first play from scrimmage.

2018: Sam Vaughn was 25-for-34 for 369 yards and 3 TD. Again, 11 different players caught a pass. Chris Schwarz rushed 13 times for 98 yards as UWF went for 195 on 41 total carries.

2019: Austin Reed was strong in his first game against the Hawks, completing 24-for-25 for 364 and 4 TD. Quentin Randolph caught four passes for 117 yards and 2 TD.

2021: Reed threw for 314 yards and 4 TD on 18-of-30. Shomari Mason and Anthony Johnson, Jr. ran for 85 and 43 yards, respectively as UWF totaled 174 yards on the ground for 10.2 per carry.

ARGOS GETTING THEIR EIGHT HOURS OF SLEEP

• Saturday's Noon ET/11 am CT kickoff will be the fourth Noon local time kickoff for UWF in its history. The Argos previously kicked off at Noon in wins over West Alabama and IUP in the 2017 NCAA Playoffs and last year at McNeese in the season opener. UWF won all three games.

ROAD WIN STREAK AT 12, 2ND LONGEST IN D2

• UWF controlled the second half in last week's road victory over West Georgia to extend its road win streak to 12 games. That ranks second in Division 2 behind Ferris State's 23.

• The Argos have won their last five on the road by an average of 34 points.

• UWF is 29-9 (.763) all-time on the road and 27-5 (.844) since 2017.

• 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, 6-0 and 2-0.

2022 TEAM IS UWF'S MOST BALANCED TEAM EVER

• Pete Shinnick's teams have usually been a pass-first look, with the run game serving as a complimentary component. Things have shifted this season with the steady emergence of the Argo rushing attack.

• UWF is averaging 7.12 yards per rush and  240.6 yards per game - both of which are school records.

• Here is a look at the yearly breakdown of UWF's offensive production:

    Rushing    Passing    Rush/Pass
Year    YPG    YPG    Pct. Ratio
2016    99.2    308.4    24 / 76
2017    115.9    228.1    34 / 66
2018    132.3    228.8    36 / 64
2019    131.1    281.2    32 / 68
2021    162.4    313.3    34 / 66
2022    240.6    238.6    51 / 49

MASON GRABBING SOME RUSHING RECORDS, TIED FOR TOTAL TD MARK

• Junior RB Shomari Mason busted out for a career-high 214 yards on 29 carries against DSU two weeks ago, establishing UWF single-game records for both categories (tied Chris Schwarz's 29 carries at IUP in 2017). Last week he was equally impressive, powering through NGU for 153 yards on 11 carries for 13.9 yards per rush.

• He saw his  school-record 3-consecutive 100-yard rushing games end last week at UWG but did have 64 yards on nine carries with TD runs of 22 and 21 in the second half.

• As a result, it pushed Mason's 3-year career totals to 2,016 yards on 246 rushes.

UWF CAREER RUSHING LEADERS
RUSHING YARDS
1. Shomari Mason (2019, 21-pr.)    2,016
2. Chris Schwarz (2016-18)    1,992
3. Anthony Johnson, Jr. (2017-19, 21)    1,668

YARDS PER CARRY
1. Shomari Mason (2019, 21-pr.)    8.3
2. Chris Schwarz (2016-18)    4.8
3. Anthony Johnson, Jr. (2017-19, 21)    4.5

RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS
1. Shomari Mason (2019, 21-pr.)    21
2. Anthony Johnson, Jr. (2017-19, 21)    20
3. Chris Schwarz (2016-18)    11

TOTAL TOUCHDOWNS
Listed as Rushing-Receiving-Total
1. Ka'Ron Ashley (2017-19, 21)     0-23-23
   Shomari Mason (2019, 21-pr.)     21-2-23
2. Anthony Johnson, Jr. (2017-19, 21)    20-0-20
3. Quentin Randolph (2016-19)    0-16-16
4. David Durden (2021-pr.)    1-14-15
5. Rodney Coates (2016-19)    0-14-14
    Kevin Grant (2016-19)    0-14-14
    Tate Lehtio (2016-19)    0-14-14

IS SHOMARI MASON THE MOST EFFICIENT RUNNER IN THE NCAA? WE THINK SO

• A year ago, Shomari Mason led D2 with 8.5 yards per rush, finishing with 1,015 yards on 120 carries. This year has seen him continue to bulldoze his way into opposing secondaries, totalling 585 yards on 72 carries for 8.1 yards per rush (sixth nationally).

• Those numbers, along with his 416 yards on 54 rushes (7.7 ypr) in 2019 have placed his career yards per rush at 8.2, a figure that is first among all active rushers in all NCAA Divisions.

NCAA ACTIVE CAREER 
RUSHING LEADERS (All Divisions)
YARDS PER CARRY
1. Shomari Mason, UWF    8.2
4. Toriano Clinton, UIndy    8.0
2. Ivory Durham, Valdosta State    8.0
3. Jamar Thompkins, Valdosta State    7.9
5. Ethan Greenfield, North Central    7.3
6. Dewayne McBride, UAB    7.3

DURDEN SET UWF RECORD WITH SIXTH 100-YARD  RECEIVING GAME

• Senior WR David Durden caught eight passes for 142 yards last week at West Georgia. That pushed him to the top of the UWF record book with his sixth 100-yard receiving game in two seasons.

• He passed Ishmel Morrow (2016-17), Antoine Griffin (2016-17), Tate Lehtio (2016-19) and Quentin Randolph (2016-19) who all had five 100-yard receiving games in their careers.

• In 2021, he set the UWF record for consecutive games with a TD reception, crossing the goal line in the first five games of the season, passing Randolph, Hasic and Morrow - who each had a catch in three straight at one time in their careers.

DURDEN HAS WHEELS

• Senior WR David Durden is one of the fastest players on the team... and probably in the GSC. He sat out the opener against Warner and now leads the team with 390 receiving yards on 20 catches for 19.5 per catch. Further exploration shows he has 170 yards after the catch, for an average of 8.5 YAC. 

ARGO DEFENSE HAS FORCED A TURNOVER IN 60 OF 68 GAMES

• The UWF defense has always been a ball-hawking, aggressive unit that has forced at least one turnover in 60 of their 68 all-time games. UWF is 44-16 (.729) when getting a turnover and 4-4 (.500) when unable to force a sudden change.

• The Argos have forced 137 turnovers  in 68 games for an average of 2.01 per game.

• The UWF defense forced a school-record six turnovers twice in 2019 - at West Georgia and at Ferris State. Those big plays were part of the UWF record 15-consecutive games with a turnover.

• 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 3-inch 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.

UWF, STEVE DAWSON AMONG PUNTING ELITE

• UWF is fourth in the country in net punting, putting up 41.67 yards per punt. The Argos are allowing 7.33 yards per return.

• A large part of that goes to punter Steve Dawson, who averages 43.5 yards per punt on 12 kicks this season. That would rank fifth in the country and first in the GSC, except he doesn't have enough attempts to meet the NCAA minimum of 3.6 punts per team game to qualify for the rankings. He has four of his 12 punts of at least 40 yards, including three of his last four. Additionally, six of his 12 have been inside the 20 and five have been fair caught, including both last week.

HARRIS PROVIDING BOOST TO THE RETURN GAME

• Redshirt senior Isaiah Harris is 32nd in the country with 25.2 yards per kickoff return. As a team, the Argos are 14th nationally with 25.57 yards per return

45 FIRST HALF POINTS A SCHOOL RECORD

• In the opener versus Warner, UWF scored on all seven of its first-half possessions, using six touchdowns and a field goal to rack up a school-record 45 points in the first half.

ARGOS LOVING THAT PUMPKIN SPICE FOOTBALL

• UWF is 16-7 (.696) all-time in the month of October. The Argos have gone 10-1 in their last 11 during the Pumpkin month.