ODU GAME NOTES

AU GAME NOTES

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A four-week stretch of road games for the Ohio Dominican football team concludes on Saturday, Oct. 9, with a trip to Great Midwest newcomer, Ashland.

Once Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLAIC) rivals, ODU and Ashland renew their rivalry with the first meeting as G-MAC foes at 7 p.m., Saturday, at Jack Miller Stadium.

OPENING KICKOFF

• The Panthers (4-1, 1-0 G-MAC) close out a stretch of four consecutive road games on Saturday. ODU is 3-0 away from home this fall. 
• ODU will play its second night game of the season, with the first coming Week One against No. 15 Shepherd, the Panthers' only loss this season.
• Last time out, for the second straight week, ODU earned a road win on the final play of the game.
• ODU blocked two Ky. Wesleyan kicks over the final 22 seconds to survive the upset-minded Purple Panthers.
• Chance Canady (Columbus, Ohio) blocked a 42-yard field goal attempt by KWC on the final play of the game, which earned him G-MAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
• Evan Ernst (Mason, Ohio) accounted for all four Panther touchdowns against KWC and has 11 total scores this fall.
• Dauson Dales (Defiance, Ohio) is the new tackle king at ODU, breaking the all-time record at KWC and will enter Saturday with 302 career stops. 

DID YOU KNOW?

• Dales is not only the ODU career tackle record holder, but the senior linebacker also entered the 2021 fall season as the G-MAC all-time tackle leader.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 0: In the previous five years of G-MAC football, the end-of-season champion had zero losses in conference play.
• 8: Eight of ODU's last nine games have been decided by 10 points or less. ODU's average final seperation is 4.6 points per game.
• 9: ODU has won nine straight road games, which is the third longest active streak in Division II.
• 10: ODU and Ashland will meet for the 10th time on Saturday and the first time since the Panthers won a national top 20 showdown at home in 2018, 24-17.

ASHLAND AT-A-GLANCE

• After dropping its first two games of the season, Ashland has won back-to-back outings to enter the weekend 2-2 overall.
• The Eagles defeated Walsh last Thursday, Sept. 30, 35-10, in the program's first official G-MAC game.
• Ashland has scored a combined 98 points the past two weeks, its most in consecutive games since scoring 133 in October 2016.
• Over the past five years, AU is 19-5 at home, but is just 4-3 at Miller Stadium since the start of the 2019 campaign. 
• Ashland, a program that did not compete during the 2020-21 academic year, has exploded out of the gates this fall with  the conference's best total offense average, 516.5 points per game, which is also third-best in Division II.
• The Eagle offense is posting 38.0 points per game, which also leads the G-MAC an ranks top 20 nationally. 
• Leading to AU's offensive success is its third-down conversion rate, 57.7 percent, which is the highest mark in Division II. 
• Defensively, Ashland is conceding over 350 yards and 30 points per game, with the latter ranking in the bottom three of the G-MAC. 

UP NEXT

• Ohio Dominican is set to return home for the first time since Week Two when the team welcomes Findlay to the friendly confines of Panther Stadium.
• The Panthesr and Oilers will kick off at noon, Saturday, Oct. 16.

Contact: Tyler Jester

jestert@ohiodominican.edu