October 30, 2025
Football Returns Home To Host LIU
The Blue Devils are the lone unbeaten NEC team entering the month of November
The Central Connecticut State football team returns from a bye week for the first of three home games in November on Saturday, hosting LIU. The Blue Devils are 5-3 overal land 3-0 in league play, while the Sharks enter the game at 3-5 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
CCSU and LIU are meeting for the sixth time, with the Sharks winning four of the first five meetings. The Blue Devils win was a 28-0 victory at home in 2019, the largest margin of victory in the series, while the last three games of the series have been decided by a total of 13 points.
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QUICK HITS
• CCSU plays three of its final four games at home, where the Blue Devils are 8-1 the past two seasons and 3-1 this fall. Adam Lechtenberg is 10-4 in games coached at Arute as the head coach.
• Elijah Howard has scored nine touchdowns, six on the ground, and ranks second in the NEC and 16th nationally. His 80.7 rush yards per game is tops in the NEC and 26th nationally. He has rushed for over 100 yards in two games this season, with a season-best 131 at RMU and has four games over 100 APY, for a league-best 109 APY per game.
• Jack Hennessey was named to the Stats Perform Jerry Rice Award Watch List. The Jerry Rice Award is presented annually to the top rookie in FCS. Hennessey leads the NEC in both field goal percentage (75%) and field goals per game, 1.13, a category he ranks 24th in nationally.
• CCSU held Wagner to 48 rush yards, the fourth team this season they have held under 100 yards. It is the lowest total for a team this season against CCSU. The Blue Devils are giving up just 58 rush yards a game in league play, with RMU at the top of that chart with 75 rushing yards.
• Zach Bonini was named the league's Rookie of the Week following the win over Wagner, thanks in part to a career-long 65-yard punt and 41.4 yard/punt average
• The Blue Devils have played overtime in two of the last three weeks, winning both games. CCSU has won six straight overtime games and are 6-1 all-time when playing OT.
• CCSU averages 5.13 penalties a game, 41 total, both of which are the lowest number in the league. The per game average is 24th nationally, while the total is 27th.
• CCSU is averaging 7.1 TFL per game, 11th in the nation through the end of October. Twenty players have recorded at least 0.5 TFL, seven have 4.0 or more and Jack Stoll leads the way with 8.0 TFL this season. Gavin Taylor had 2.5 TFL versus Sacred Heart, a season-best for the team, and has 4.5 TFL the past three games.
• Chris Jean is the FCS' active career-leader in interceptions per game, with 0.36 over he career. He has eight interceptions in 22 career games. Jean is tied for 11th in total passes defended, with 26 - the most of any player that isn't a senior. His 1.11 passes defended per game is the most of any NCAA football player, at any level of the sport.
• The Blue Devils have a league-best 161 first downs this season, 90 in the air, 46 on the ground and 24 by opponents penalty.
• Jack Stoll leads the Blue Devils in total tackles, 54, and TFL, 8.0. The TFL numbers is the most in a single-season in his career at CCSU. Stoll posted a career-high 12 stops, five solo, win the Dartmouth game and had a season-high seven solo stops versus Merrimack. He is averaging 6.7 tackles per game in NEC action, with 2.0 TFL. Stoll has two QBH and a PBU as well this season. He is fifth in the NEC with 6.8 tackles per game and leads the league at 1.0 TFL per game.
• CCSU is first in the NEC, 14th nationally, allowing 16.77 yards per kickoff return. CCSU returns the ball 20 yards per kickoff return as a team, fourth in the league, led by Jadon Turner's 28 yards per return, which ranks 9th nationally and first in the league.
• Over the past four games Brady Olson has completed 60 percent of his pass attempts (97-162), thrown for 984 yards and nine touchdowns. For the year Olson has gone 150-257 passing, for a league-leading 1,716 yards and is 22nd in FCS with 13 touchdown strikes. He ranks first in the league in total offense at 230.9 yards per game.
• The CCSU defense is allowing just 12 points per game in NEC action this season. NEC opponents have not scored against CCSU in the second quarter of a game this season and have just three third quarter points. The Blue Devils win those two quarters, 38-3, while the other two regular time quarters is a 34-33 edge for the Blue Devils.
• Malachi Wright's 15 tackles versus RMU is the most in a single-game by an NEC player this season. He is second on the team with 50 tackles and his 7.4 tackles per game is third in the NEC. Wright has 5.0 TFL, and 2.0 sacks this fall.
• CCSU has stopped opponents on 6-10 of their fourth down conversion attempts and rank 23rd in FCS and 1st in the NEC.
• The win at Wagner was the first time this season the Blue Devils have had multiple turnovers (3) and won the game. CCSU lost to Merrimack and Dartmouth, turning the ball over five times in those two games combined. Four times this season the Blue Devils have not committed a turnover. CCSU is +4 on the year in turnover margin, 22nd in the country. The 13 takeaways leads the league and is 21st nationally.
• David Pardo has a career-high 22 catches this season, resulting in a team-best (and career-high 310 receiving yards). He has two touchdown catches, the first of his career, this season. He made a career-high six catches versus Dartmouth and has 14 grabs the past four games.
• Gavin Taylor has a team-best 4.5 sacks, with 3.5 coming in the last three games. The Blue Devils have 10 sacks in the last three games, bringing their season total to 18. CCSU has eight different players with at least 0.5 sacks this year, and average 2.25 as a team - tops in the NEC and 29th in the nation.
• CCSU has 28 QBH this season, led by seven apiece from Reggie Darkah and Gavin Taylor. Eleven players have at least one QBH.
• Michael Trovarelli and Elijah Howard have both caught three touchdown passes for the Blue Devils this season. Brady Olson has completed a pass to 14 different players and six of them have caught a pass for a score. David Pardo, Paul Marsh, Jr. and Donovan Marcus all have two TD catches this season.
• The Blue Devils projected starters on the offensive line this week have played 63 career-games; with 33 of those appearances coming in 2025. The Blue Devils started a pair of true freshmen on the OL at Wagner, with La-Quann Gaddy and Zach Rezaoui, who have both appeared in eight games this season. The most experienced of the group is Karl Khuns, with 22 career appearances - eight this fall.
• The Blue Devils held Wagner to 48 rush yards in its last outing. It marks the fourth opponent this season and the 12th (IN 32 games) under head coach Adam Lechtenberg that hasn't reached the century mark. The 48 yards accumulated by Wagner is the least of a team this season. During the 12 games, CCSU held Mercyhurst to 17 yards on the ground, 0.8 yards per carry. Last season, the Blue Devils had five opponents under 100 yards, including Duquesne in the season finale. Wagner has 135 yards rushing combined in three games against Lechtenberg coached teams the past three seasons.
• Jack Hennessey is 25-25 on his PAT chances this season and is 9-12 on field goals. He is second on the team with 52 points. Hennessey has a career-long field goal of 35 yards.
• Chris Jean has eight career interceptions, with two multi-interception games to his credit. He tied a school-record with three interceptions in the 2024 home win over Duquesne and had two picks in the 2025 game at Merrimack.
• Elijah Howard moved into fourth-place all-time on the Blue Devils career rushing list at RMU and has 2,496 yards on 506 carries in 29 games at CCSU, with 11 games of 100 or more yards rushing.
• CCSU is +22 scoring on the year, 210-188 and have a scoring advantage in every period except the second. CCSU has scored twice in overtime this year, while not allowing a point to an opponent.
