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THE GAME: Returning home this Saturday, IUP continues its PSAC West schedule as the Crimson Hawks welcome Mercyhurst into George P. Miller Stadium for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff. Winners of 3 straight, IUP is  coming off of another dominant defensive performance in its 26-10 win over Edinboro last week. Mercyhurst has also impressed as the Lakers have won 6 consecutive games and are coming off of a 38-29 win over cross-town rival Gannon last week.

ON THE AIR: The game will air live on WQMU-FM 92.5 with Jack Benedict serving as the play-by-play announcer and John Flickinger at his side as the color analyst. The two will be joined by sideline reporter Greg Drahuschak. The pregame show begins at 1:30 p.m. IUP-TV will again be back to webstream the game live on NMTVSports.com. WIUP-FM 90.1 will also have the call with Kyle Pillar on the play-by-play along with Vincent Paparella and Tim Quigley adding the color.

HEAD COACH CURT CIGNETTI: Curt Cignetti (West Virginia, '82) begins his second season at the helm after leading the Crimson Hawks to a 7-3 overall record (5-2 PSAC West) in 2011. This is Cignetti's 30th year of coaching, with previous stops at Alabama (07-10), NC State (00-06), Pittsburgh (83-84, 93-99) Temple (89-92), Rice (86-88) and Davidson (85). Two of his most notable pupils have been WR Julio Jones at Alabama and QB Philip Rivers at NC State.

THE SERIES: The short all-time series between these two schools is tied at 2-2, with IUP taking last year's game 35-28 in overtime. The Crimson Hawks also won the first meeting back in 2008, 42-10 at home.

IN THE TOP 25: IUP has bounced around the AFCA top 25 coaches poll since entering at No. 23 in Week 2. The Crimson Hawks have reached as high as 14 and are currently No. 20. They're also ranked No. 20 in the D2Football.com media poll.

NEXT GAME: The Crimson Hawks are back at home next weekend as they welcome Clarion on Saturday. IUP owns a 56-23-3 all-time record in the series, including a 38-7 win in 2011. Prior to that, Clarion had won 2 in a row after an 8-year winning streak by IUP.

HAWK TALK

GROUND AND POUND... With one of the best running games in Division II, the Crimson Hawks are on pace to break the school record for rushing yards in a season of 3,211 (1993). Currently with 2,217, IUP averages 303.9 yds/game (6th in DII) and is on pace for 3,343 yards in the regular season.

TUCK'S TRUCKIN'... Easily one of the best backs in the nation, Sr. RB Harvie Tuck (Akron, OH/St. Vincent-St. Mary) is 2nd in Division II with 167.6 rushing yds/game. He's averaging 6.7 yds/carry and has gone over 200 yards 3 times this year. His 12 rushing TDs are 1st in the PSAC and t-4th in the nation.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS... Tuck's big effort last week moved him into 3rd place in IUP history with 3,676 career rushing yards, passing Aamir Dew. He's now just 141 yards shy of Chris Morgan, who ran for 3,817 yards from 2003-06.

THE ROCKET... Sr. RB De'Antwan Williams (Woodbridge, VA/Woodbridge) teams with Tuck to form a dynamic duo, as together they average 242 yds/game with 16 TDs. Williams has run for 83 yards in a game 4 times, including a career-high 158 yards and 2 TDs against Slippery Rock. For the season he has 521 yards and averages 6.7 yds/carry.

CONTROLLING THE CLOCK... Led by an experienced offensive line and one of the top running games in the nation, IUP leads the NCAA with an impressive 35:11 time of possession/game. IUP has won the T.O.P. battle in all but 1 game, including  a margin of 41:14-18:46 against Slippery Rock.

LINE EXPERIENCE... That experienced offensive line is led by Sr. C Anthony DiPasquale (Pittsburgh/Pine-Richland), who anchors a unit that has a combined 134 career IUP starts and 144 career games. Using the same lineup for all 7 games this year, the Crimson Hawks are 1st in the PSAC and t-5th in Division II by allowing just 4 sacks. 

BEST DEFENSE IN THE NATION?... IUP boasts arguably the top defense in the nation so far this year, ranking near the top of Division II in several categories including scoring defense (1st - 9.29 ppg); total defense (1st - 218.14); rushing defense (3rd - 52.57 ypg); and passing defense (11th - 165.57 ypg).

IUP is also 1st in the nation in first downs allowed (11.57/game), 10th in third down efficiency (26/91; 28.57%), and 25th in pass efficiency (104.30 rating).

SUFFOCATING... That IUP run defense has been practically suffocating this season, allowing an average of 52.57 rushing yards per game. Opponents have run for over 50 yards in a game just twice, and are averaging just 1.8 per carry. They've allowed former All-PSAC RBs to rush for a combined 90 yards on 36 carries.

A THORN IN YOUR SIDE... Sr. DT Carl Thornton (Beaver Falls/Beaver Falls) is one of the main reasons why the IUP defense is one of the nation's best, totaling 27 tackles and 8.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, adding a team-leading 5.5 sacks. Over the last 2 games he has 13 tackles, 4.5 TFL and 4 sacks.

TACKLE MACHINE... Jr. LB Alexander Berdahl (Ashburn, Va./Bishop O'Connell) had a big day last week against Edinboro, helping limit one of the PSACs hot offenses to just 231 total yards and 10 points. Berdahl finished with 15 total tackles, a sack and an interception. He leads IUP with 44 tackles (23 solo) and has 5.0 TFL and 3 sacks.

LEADER OF THE DEFENSE... Sr. S Johnny Franco (Altoona/Tyrone) continues to play all over the field with 30 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and a team-leading 3 interceptions. 2 of those picks came against rival Slippery Rock, including 1 on a hail mary at the end of the 1st half and another to help seal the win in the 4th quarter.

WINNING THE BATTLE... One reason for IUP's success is winning the turnover battle, as the Crimson Hawks are t-3rd in the nation with a turnover margin of +11. The defense has forced 19 in 7 games, recovering 10 fumbles, while the offense has given it up just 8 times.

THE 500 WIN CLUB... IUP became just the 17th school in NCAA Division II history with 500 all-time wins when it defeated Lock Haven 56-6 on Nov. 5 last year. The Crimson Hawks have a record of 507-253-23 (.662) in 83-plus seasons.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS

OFFENSE... The Mercyhurst offense is one of the best in the PSAC, scoring 36 or more points 5 times this year. Like the Crimson Hawks, the Lakers rely on the run as they're 3rd in the PSAC with 236 yards per game. RB Brandon Brown-Dukes leads the attack with 128.4 yds/game while RB Allen Jones II adds another 81.3 yds/game on the ground. Together they've scored 15 TDs. QB Anthony Vendemia will mostly target WRs Devyn Woods and Paris Bruner, who have 60 pct of his completions and 70 pct of his yards. 

DEFENSE... The Lakers defense is statistically one of the best in the PSAC, giving up 21.4 pts/game (2nd), 166.6 passing yds/game (3rd) 335.7 total yds/game (3rd). That pass defense is led by FS Keith Polson, who is tops on the team with 44 tackles, 24 solo. NG Serge Augustin provides the pass rush with 9.0 TFL and 5.5 sacks while L.J. Stevens out of th “Laker” position has 34 tackles, a pick and a FF. Although they've given up just 92 rushing yards in the last 2 weeks, opponents were averaging 218 yards with 8 TDs in the first 5 games of the season.

SPECIAL TEAMS... The Lakers have a couple of big play threats in the return game, with Bruner and Stevens both bringing back kickoffs for TDs this year. Each averaging over 28 yds/return, Bruner has an 86-yard TD and Stevens an 83-yard runback. K Steven Wakefield has been nearly perfect so far, converting 6-6 FGs although he's missed 3 of his 29 XP attempts. He also handles punting chores, averaging 42.7 yds/punt with 7 of his 24 falling inside the 20.