The Central Connecticut State football team opens Northeast Conference play on Saturday as it travels to Loretto, PA for a matchup with Saint Francis U. Game time is set for 12:00 pm and the game will be streamed live on NEC Front Row. Both squads enter the game having earned Week Two victories and with matching 1-1 records. Saturday's contest is the first NEC Football conference game of 2024.
CCSU Game Notes | Watch on NEC Front Row | Livestats
CCSU leads the all-time series with Saint Francis 23-7, however the Red Flash have won the last two meetings between the two teams. The last road win for CCSU in the series came in 2018, a 30-14 triumph. SFU was the Blue Devils season finale a year ago. The two teams first met in 1993.
The Blue Devils are coming off of a 33-3 win over Fordham that marked the 10th time since elevating to Division I that the Blue Devils have held a Division I opponents to no touchdowns in a game. The Blue Devils have done it twice now in the past two seasons. Saint Francis was the first team that the Blue Devils held to no touchdowns, in 1998, a 12-0 win. The Blue Devils also shut out the Red Flash, 36-0, in 2008.
NOTES
• The CCSU defense recorded 9.0 sacks in the win over Fordham, the most in a single-game since at least the 2000 season for the Blue Devils
• Malachai Wright was named the NEC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, after recording 3.5 TFL, seven tackles, and a QBH in the win over Fordham
• The Blue Devils 13 TFL and 9 sacks are both tops in FCS football this season, through games of Sept., 7
The win over Fordham on September 7th was the Blue Devils 350th all-time victory. CCSU football began in 1935 and the game versus Fordham was the 775th all-time.
• CCSU is allowing 80 rushing yards a game, second in the NEC to SFU, which is allowing 59 rushing yards a game.
• CCSU 4.5 sacks per game is tops in FCS through Week 2.
• The game with Fordham featured 19 total fumbles. The Rams committed 12, and lost five, while the Blue Devils had seven fumbles, and lost two. As the game kicked-off torrential rain swept over Arute Field, after warm-ups were completely dry, and lasted for a majority of the first-half.
• The CCSU defense held Fordham to 188 total yards of offense, and just 47 yards on the ground. It is the fewest rushing yards by an opponent since holding Wagner to 63 in 2023. It is the fourth opponent that CCSU has held under 100 yards rushing in the past two seasons.
• SFU was tabbed second, with a first place vote, in the NEC Preseason Coaches poll, while the Blue Devils were tabbed seventh of the eligible teams (Mercyhurst is a member but games are not counted in the NEC standings in 2024)
• Malachai Wright is averaging 1.8 TFL per game after his effort against Fordham, which is second in the NEC and 13th in FCS football. Wright is second on the team with 11 total tackles, seven of them solo stops.
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Kimal Clark equaled a career-high with 13 tackles in the win over Fordham, six of them solo stops. It is his fifth double-digit tackle game of his career, after recording four of them last season. He ranks second in the NEC at 11 tackles per game and is 13th in the NCAA. Last season he averaged 8.9 tackles per game, to finish 32nd in the FCS. Clark was named to the Buchanan Award Preseason Watch List presented annually to the top defensive player in FCS this summer.
• Chris Jean and Vince Thomas both recovered two fumbles in the win over Fordham. That has them tied with four others atop the FCS standings. SFU's Eddie Bierals has also recovered two fumbles this season.
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Eli Daniels had his first career touchdown catch, a 32-yard reception, versus Fordham.
