Nov. 5, 2007

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FERRIS STATE GAME STORYLINES

Wayne State will try to finish the 2007 campaign on a bright note as the Warriors entertain Ferris State in the season finale on Saturday at Adams Field.

After being picked fifth in the GLIAC Coaches Pre-season poll, the Warriors have suffered numerous injuries to starters, let fourth quarter leads slip away and enter the FSU contest with a 3-7 overall mark.

Wayne State can take solace in the fact that Ashland was highly-ranked heading into 2006 and finished 4-6. This year the Eagles are on the verge of qualifying for the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Fourteen seniors will make their final appearance in the Green and Gold this Saturday including all three tight ends in John Rehberg, Kenny Schmidt and Dale Knuth.

Other seniors on offense include right tackle Muhammad Abdullah, centers Frank Lietke and Merrick Steele, fullback Luis Gomez, wide receiver Chris Alsina and back-up quarterback Nolan Martin.

The four seniors on defense are linebacker Alan Guy, defensive end James Cook, and defensive tackles Josh McLean and Guye Goodlow. Place-kicker David Chudzinski is also a senior.

Joique Bell had four rushing touchdowns last Saturday at Ashland, the fourth time he has equaled the school mark this season. Bell has tied David Kircus' GLIAC record with 156 points in a season and his 288 career points in 19 league contests ranks fourth all-time (tied with Ferris State's Tyree Dye - 1990-94).

Also in the Ashland game, WSU had a school-record 103 offensive plays which is two shy of the all-time GLIAC mark of 105 set by Ferris State vs. Grand Valley on Nov. 14, 1998.

WSU's 70 rushing attempts is the second-highest mark in school history (81 vs. Illinois-Benedictine on Sept. 28, 1974), while its 756 all-purpose yards was just 26 shy of the school record of 782 set at Northern Michigan on Oct. 6, 2001.

The Warriors had 535 yards of total offense which is the eighth-best mark in school history.

Rehberg had a career-high five receptions at Ashland to lead Wayne State.

IN THE POLLS

Wayne State was selected for fifth in the 2007 GLIAC pre-season coaches' poll, while Ferris State was tabbed for fourth.

ON THE HEADSET

Wayne State's Paul Winters has a 13-28 mark in his fourth year with the Warriors. WSU is 12-14 in its last 26 games.

The Warriors are 7-12 at home under Winters and won three home games in both 2005 and 2006.

Ferris State's Jeff Pierce has compiled an 82-60 record in his 13th year with the Bulldogs.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Ferris State leads the all-time series 23-20 which began in 1920. WSU is 12-12 at home against the Bulldogs with the last meeting in Detroit resulting in a 29-16 FSU win in 2003.

SCOUTING FERRIS STATE

The Bulldogs are 5-5 this year with a two-game win streak and two two-game losing skeins.

Senior quarterback C.J. Van Wieren leads the team in rushing yards (885), rushing touchdowns (11), while completing 54.1 percent (118-218) of his passes for 1,715 yards and 13 touchdowns with 10 interceptions.

Kevin Noe has a team-best 103 tackles and two interceptions.

STRICTLY BY THE NUMBERS

Bell needs 110 rushing yards in the season finale to have another top-10 all-time GLIAC mark (Ashland's Jason Schwalm is 10th at 1,396).

His career total of 3,241 GLIAC rushing yards is eighth all-time and is 251 behind Ferris State's Derek Fudge (2000-03) for seventh place.

Bell's 1,634 all-purpose yards for league games in a season is exactly 100 yards behind the 10th best total in GLIAC history (1,734 by Dye in 1994).

Bell's career total of 3,986 GLIAC all-purpose yards currently ranks eighth. He needs 32 yards to tie Joe Gough (Wayne State 1991-94) for seventh place on the GLIAC charts.

Guy is slated to make his 40th career start in Saturday's game against Ferris State.

Wayne State has set single-season school records for points (322, old mark was 292 in 2000), rushing touchdowns (32, old mark was 30 in 1975), touchdowns scored (44, old mark was 42 in 2000), and kickoff return yards (1,312, old mark was 1,143 in 1998).