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THE GAME: The Crimson Hawks kickoff the home stretch of the regular season as they host Clarion at George P. Miller Stadium on Saturday. IUP has won 4 straight games, including a 31-13 victory over Mercyhurst at home last week while the Golden Eagles halted a 2-game skid with a last second 30-28 win at Lock Haven this past weekend.

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 12:30 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: IUP leads the all-time series 56-23-3, including last year's 38-7 victory at Clarion. IUP enters the game with wins in 9 of the last 11 matchups and 14 of the last 18. The Crimson Hawks have outscored the Golden Eagles 214-105 in the last 5 meetings, including a 66-16 win in 2008.

RANKINGS: IUP shows up at No. 16 in both the AFCA Coaches and D2Football Media polls this week. The 1st regional rankings of the year also come out on Monday, see page 7 for more details.

NEXT GAME: The Crimson Hawks hit the road next weekend as they travel to Erie to face Gannon on Saturday. The short all-time series between the two schools is tied at 2-2, with IUP winning the 1st meeting in 2008 (35-10)  and the last meeting in 2011 (35-7). 

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 2,417, IUP averages 302.1 yds/game (6th in DII) and is on pace for 3,323 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) leads Division II with 175.5 rushing yds/game. Averaging an impressive 6.8 yds/carry, he's surpassed 200 yards in a game 4 times and is averaging 214 yds/game in IUP's last 3 contests. Also, his 14 TDs are tied for 3rd in nation.

4,000 REASONS... Already 2nd on the IUP all-time rushing list, Tuck went over 4,000 career yards last week with his 231-yard performance against Mercyhurst. Now with 4,085 yards, he sits 720 yards behind leader Michael Mann (1990-93) with 3 games left in the regular season.  

TUCK AGAINST CLARION... The Golden Eagles have had Tuck's number in his 3 career games against them, rushing 46 times for 178 yards and 2 TDs. His averages of 59.3 yds/game and 3.9 yds/carry against Clarion is below his career averages of 116.7 yds/game and 5.4 yds/carry.

CONTROLLING THE CLOCK... Led by an experienced offensive line and one of the top running games in the nation, IUP leads the PSAC with an impressive 34:15 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 139 career IUP starts and 150 career games. Using the same lineup for all 8 games this year, the Crimson Hawks are 1st in the PSAC and 2nd 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 - 9.75 ppg); total defense (1st - 224.38); rushing defense (4th - 63.88 ypg); and passing defense (t-7th - 160.50 ypg).

IUP is also 1st in the nation in first downs allowed (11.75/game), t-6th in third down efficiency (30/105; 28.57%), and 15th in pass efficiency (101.17 rating).

SUFFOCATING... That IUP run defense has been practically suffocating this season, allowing an average of 63.88 rushing yards per game. The Crimson Hawks have allowed over 100 yards just twice and have given up just 5 TDs on the ground this year. Opponents are averaging a paltry 2.1 yds/carry so far this season. 

GETTING TO THE QB... The Crimson Hawks are tied for 3rd in the PSAC and 24th in the nation in sacks, getting to the quarterback 24 times this season. Sr. DT Carl Thornton (Beaver Falls/Beaver Falls) leads the way with 6.0 sacks while So. DE Shane Meisner (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield ) has 4.5. The team has been on a bit of a hot streak with 16.0 sacks over the last 4 games.

NOT PASSING FRIENDLY... Outside of the California game, the IUP defense has been solid against the pass this year as opponents have completed just 48 pct of their passes for an average of 121 yds/game and 2 TDs. Twice IUP has held opposing QBs under 100 yards and have a total of 10 interceptions on the year. 

TACKLE MACHINE... Jr. LB Alexander Berdahl (Ashburn, Va./Bishop O'Connell) is IUP's leading tackler this year with 56 total, including 29 solo stops. He had a big day against Edinboro with 15 tackles, a sack and an interception and followed that up with 12 more tackles against Mercyhurst. He's added 5.5 TFL, 3.0 sacks and a fumble recovery this year.

WINNING THE BATTLE... One reason for IUP's success is winning the turnover battle, as the Crimson Hawks are t-4th in the nation with a turnover margin of +12. The defense has forced 20 in 8 games, with 10 picks and 10 fumble recoveries, while the offense has given the ball 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 508-253-23 (.663) in 83-plus seasons.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES

OFFENSE... The key to the Clarion offense has been QB Ben Fiscus, last week's PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week. Leading the Golden Eagles in both passing and rushing, he accounts for over 300 yards of total offense per game and is responsible for 17 of Clarion's 23 TDs. He's thrown for 280+ yards 4 times and has gone for over 100 yards on the ground once, with season highs of 410 (vs. Cal) and 167 (vs. ESU), respectively. His main targets through the air have been WRs Jon Reid and Aaron Barlow, who've accounted for 48 pct of the team's catches.

DEFENSE... The Golden Eagles boast the 3rd best total yardage defense in the PSAC, allowing 344 yards per game. The main reason behind this is their strong pass rush as Clarion leads the PSAC and is 8th in Division II with 27 sacks on the season. The leader of the group is DE Julian Howsare who's 3rd in the nation with 1.36 sacks/game (9.5 total). In addition, Howsare has made 41 tackles with 3 forced fumbles and 2 batted down passes.

SPECIAL TEAMS... Clarion has had issues in the kicking game this year as Nathan Conway has converted just 2-6 FGs (2 were blocked) and 13-17 XPs. Conway also handles the team's punting chores as he averages 37.0 yards on 29 punts, with 3 more of those kicks getting blocked. Cory McNamara has returned 11 kickoffs for a 17.2 yard average while Andrew Paronish should get most of the punt return chances for the Golden Eagles.