September 17, 2025
Football Travels To Merrimack For Saturday Evening Non-Conference Game
CCSU enters the week with a two-game win streak
The Central Connecticut State football team, winners of back-to-back games, head to North Andover, MA on Saturday to take on former NEC foe Merrimack College. Game time at Duane Stadium is set for 6:00 pm.
CCSU Game Notes | WATCH ESPN+ | LiveStats
The Blue Devils and Warriors are meeting for the sixth time, with CCSU holding a 3-2 advantage in the series. Central wn the first three mettings, including the inaugural contest in 2007, 45-7, on Arute Field. Merrimack has won the two most recent meetings, in 2022 and 2023.
QUICK HITS
• CCSU held SFU to minus-9 yards of total offense in the second-half, scoring 24 unanswered points to defeat the Red Flash 31-7. It marked the best defensive half for the program since at least 2015. The previous best half came in the first-half of the 2017 meeting with SFU, where the defense allowed 43 yards of total offense. When CCSU played Merrimack in 2021, they held the Warriors to -37 rush yards in the first-half and -38 rush yards for the game.
• The Blue Devils are +5 in turnovers for the season, after forcing five (2 INT, 3 fumble) in the win over SFU. That puts the Blue Devils second in the nation in turnovers lost (1) and fifth in the nation in turnover margin at +1.67.
• Chris Jean (defense) and Brayden Hall (special teams) were named NEC Football Weekly Award winners. Elijah Howard was a Prime Performer.
• Donovan Marcus leads the NEC, and is 19th in FCS, with three rushing touchdowns
• Elijah Howard had two touchdown catches and Donovan Marcus two rushing scores in the Blue Devils 9/13/25 victory over SFU. It marks the first time in 2,156 days that the Blue Devils have accomplished that feat. Aaron Winchester (2 rushing) and Kyren Pettaway (2 receiving) are the last Blue Devil duo to accomplish that, in a win over Bryant on 10/19/19.
• CCSU is one of 16 teams in the nation, and three in the NEC, that has not thrown an interception
• The Blue Devils have stopped opponents on 3-4 of their fourth down attempts, and rank 10th in FCS at .250 in 4th down conversion percentage defense
• Elijah Howard ran for 29 yards in the win over SFU to become the seventh player in program history to eclipse 2,000 career yards. He enters the game at Merrimack with 2,012 career yards on 421 carries. Hoard is averaging 70 APY a game, tops on the team with 88 rush yards and 52 receiving yards. He has three touchdowns this fall.
• The CCSU defense has now held six opponents to seven or fewer points since 2022, after giving up just one score to SFU. The Blue Devils allowed 7 to Wagner at home in 2022, and AIC this season, The Blue Devils shut out AIC in 2023, and giving up just a field goal to Wagner (2023) and Fordham (2024).
• Special teams have been kind to CCSU this season thus far. They are top-50 in FCS in punt returns (18th), kickoff return defense (22nd), kickoff returns (27th), and punt return defense (50th).
• The Blue Devils defense is 10th in the nation with 7.7 TFL per game as a unit, with 13 different players recording at least a half TFL. Tymaine Smith (vs AIC) and Gavin Taylor (vs SFU) have the single-game highwater mark with 2.0 TFL this season. In the AIC win, 10 different players recorded at least one TFL.
• Brady Olson continues to spread the ball around, completing passes to eight players in the win over SFU. Ten different players made at least one catch in the win over AIC. In the two victories CCSU has 440 yards of receiving, with 213 coming after the catch. Dave Pardo leads the team with seven receptions and 108 yards.
• CCSU is 13-15 in the red zone this season, scoring eight touchdowns and converting 6-7 field goal attempts. The 86.7% success rate is 41st in FCS and second in the league. The defense has turned away opponents 3-11 times (72.7%) of the time in the red zone, which is 24th in FCS and tops in the NEC.
• CCSU is 14th in the NCAA with 2.67 sacks per game, tops in the NEC. The Blue Devils have six players who have recorded at least one sack, led by the 2.5 of Reggie Darkah.
• Jack Hennessey is tied for the team lead with 24 points scored. The redshirt-freshman is 5-6 on field goal attempts, going 5-5 inside 40 yards, and is 9-9 on PAT attempts. He was good from 35-yards, a season-long, in the win over SFU. He ranks He was named the NEC/Atlantic Tomorrow Rookie of the Week as a result on 9/1.
• For the second consecutive game the Blue Devils held an opponent shy of 100 yards on the ground, giving up 51 rush yards to SFU. The week prior, CCSU held AIC to 79 yards. That gives the Blue Devils seven games in their last 16 where an opponent has failed to reach 100 rush yards. The 51 yards allowed is the fewest since holding Duquesne to 58 a season ago. CCSU held three teams under 50 yards on the ground during the 2024 season, with a season-best rush defense effort against Mercyhurst, allowing only 17 yards.
• Chris Jean is 16th in the nation, first in the NEC with 1.33 passes defended per game. He is also, along with Jared Massay, Navon Mitchell and Shin Tanaka, 10th nationally in fumble recoveries.
