Game Notes in PDF Format

VALDOSTA, Ga. – Saturday is for all the marbles!  The No. 5 Valdosta State football team hosts No. 3 West Georgia Saturday evening at 7:04 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium as the winner will claim the 2018 Gulf South Conference Championship. The game is the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week and will be broadcast on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN App.   
 
OPENING DRIVE NOTES

• VSU scored the final 31 points and outscored West Florida 24-0 in the fourth quarter for the win last week to remain unbeaten.  Redshirt sophomore quarterback Rogan Wells had over 100 yards rushing and two rushing scores for the second time this season and threw for 166 and a score.
• The Blazers are looking for their seventh conference title in program history and the first since tying for the title in 2010.  West Georgia is looking for its fifth title and first since tying for it in 2015.  
• UWG head coach David Dean returns to Valdosta for the first time since 2015 when he concluded his run as the Blazers' head coach.  Dean spent the 2016 season as Co-Offensive Coordinator at Georgia Southern.
• The Blazers lead the nation in scoring offense at 52.8 points per game and have the second-highest scoring offense among the four levels of NCAA football (FBS, FCS, DII, DIII) and are the only team in the NCAA to score over 44 points in each game this season.
• VSU has three former coaches who now are head coaches at top ten schools in the newest College Football Playoff rankings.  They include; Kirby Smart (Georgia), Dana Holgorsen (West Virginia) and Mike Leach (Washington State).
• Saturday marks the second time in as many weeks VSU has been part of the GSC Game of the Week.  This also marks the third time VSU has been featured on ESPN3 this season as the Blazers downed Fort Valley State (Sept. 8) in the Okefenokee Classic as the Division II Showcase Game.  Don Russell and Rick Rhoades, who covered the game last week at West Florida, will handle the play-by-play and color duties this week. 
• VSU is facing its second ranked team of the season as the Blazers won at then-No. 8 West Alabama 58-24 on Sept. 15 in Livingston, Ala. The Blazers are 58-59-2 all-time against the Top 25 and 26-51-2 against GSC top 25 teams.
• VSU is 19-14 all-time in the GSC Game of the Week dating back to 2005.  The VSU/West Georgia game last season also was part of the GSC Game of the Week as the Wolves won 42-13 in Carrollton, on Oct. 7.
• West Georgia enters with a 10-0 record and a 7-0 mark in GSC play as the Wolves are second nationally in completion percentage (.671), second in kick returns (29.59) and fourth in passes had intercepted (3).  Individually, the Wolves' kick returner LaPerion Perry is fourth nationally in kick return TD's with two, while he ranks second in kickoff returns at 40.7 per return.  Quarterback Willie Candler is second nationally in completion percentage at a .679 clip.
• Following Saturday's game, check back with vstateblazers.com for information on Sunday for the NCAA Selection Show, which is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET Sunday evening on NCAA.com. 
• VSU and Indiana (Pa.) are the only Division II schools to have their football team and men's and women's basketball teams all ranked in the top 25 at this point.

 
INSIDE THE SERIES

• VSU leads the all-time series 24-13, but the Wolves have won four of the past five in the series, including 42-13 last season in Carrollton.
• The Blazers won in Canyon in 2016 with a 38-27 win, snapping a three-game skid. 
• VSU is 12-4 all-time against UWG at home, but lost 31-17 in 2014 in Valdosta for the first home loss since 2005. 
• The Blazers are 10-9 all-time in Carrollton and 2-0 in neutral site games.
• The teams have split the last ten meetings, while VSU has won 14 of 20.

 
MEET THE COACHES

• VSU head coach Kerwin Bellis in his third season at the helm of the Blazers.  Bell is 22-7 at VSU and is 88-42 overall in 12 seasons of coaching, including nine seasons at the University of Jacksonville, where he went 66-35.  
• West Georgia head coach David Dean is 98-31 overall in 11 seasons of coaching and 19-4 at UWG.  He is no stranger to VSU as Dean was the head coach for the Blazers from 2007 to 2015, where he won two national championships in 2007 and 2012.  Dean went 79-27 at VSU and leads the school record book with the 79 victories, one more than his predecessor Chris Hatcher.  
• Bell took over for Dean at VSU when Dean went to Georgia Southern in 2016 as Co-Offensive Coordinator.

 
A WIN OVER WEST GEORGIA WOULD . . . 

• Give VSU a 10-0 record for the regular season for the first undefeated regular season since 2002marking the best overall start since 2002 when the team began 14-0.
• Be the third undefeated regular season in program history (2001 and 2002).
• Give VSU an 8-0 record in Gulf South Conference play, marking the first undefeated season in league play since 2004 when the Blazers won their first National Championship and the fourth time in program history going undefeated in conference play (2001, 2002, 2004).
• Be the 290th win in program history, the 192nd GSC victory. 
• Give Coach Kerwin Bell his 23rd win at VSU (22-7) and 89th overall (88-42).
• Give VSU a 3-0 record this season in games on ESPN3.
• Give VSU a 62-40-3 record in the month of November.
• Give VSU a 2-2 record on Nov. 10 and be the second-straight win on this date after a 31-6 home win over West Georgia in 2001.

 
GAMEDAY NOTES

• The Blazers moved to fifth this week in the AFCA Coaches Top 25 for the highest ranking since 2013 when the Blazers began the season No. 1 after the program's third national championship in 2012.  This marks the 94h week VSU has been ranked in the top five in program history.  The Blazers moved up one spot in the D2Football.com poll to sixth this week.
• VSU took over the top spot in the NCAA Division II Super Region Two Rankings this week following the win at West Florida.  West Georgia, who had been the top ranked team the first two weeks, sits second, followed by Lenoir-Rhyne, Bowie State, West Alabama, Florida Tech and Albany State to round out the top seven.
• For the second time this season, VSU had two runners over 100 yards at West Florida as Wells had 104 yards and freshman running back Jamar Thompkins had a career-high 13 carries for 114 yards.
• The Blazers put up 391 yards rushing on 47 carries for an 8.3 average per carry at West Florida last week, marking the most in a game under Bell at VSU.  The 391 yards tied for second all-time in school history in a game with 391 against Arkansas Tech on Sept. 25, 1999.  The school-record is 395 against North Alabama on Nov. 22, 2014.
• Wells' career-high 81-yard scamper for the first score on Saturday was the third-longest rush in program history for the Blazers.  Dominique Ross had a rush of 93 yards against West Alabama on Oct. 1, 1994 and Cedric O'Neal had a 91-yarder against Shorter on Oct. 22, 2015.
• The Blazers, who average 531 yards of total offense for the season for fourth nationally, have had six game of 500 or more yards of total offense.  Last week's 557 was the first over 500 since 547 against Delta State on Oct. 6.
• VSU has gotten off to quick starts this season and Saturday was no exception as the Blazers scored just 1:11 into the contest with the Wells' run.  The Blazers have scored a touchdown on their first possession each of the last four games and are outscoring the opposition 44-21 on the first possession this season, while VSU has scored on its first opportunity in all but two games this season.  In the second half, VSU owns a 24-0 lead in first drives.  The Blazers have forced the opposition into four-straight punts out of halftime and have stopped on downs three times, along with a blocked field goal and missed field goal.  VSU has been held scoreless on its first possession of the second half in its last three games.
• The Blazers have received the ball first in each game this season, while going 3-6 in winning the coin toss.
• West Georgia has one of the most dynamic running backs in the country as Devontae Jackson is 29th nationally and first in the league in yards per carry (6.4), 26th nationally and leads the league in rushing touchdowns (11), 10th in rushing yards (1,160) and 13th in rushing yards per game (116.0), with both leading the league.  Jackson is 28th nationally in all-purpose yards to lead the conference at 136.6 per game.
• Candler has had an impressive season just like Wells as he is 10th in passing efficiency to lead the league at 165.2, while ranking third in the conference in passing yards per completion at 12.89 and third in the league in passing yards per game at 229.5. 
• As a team, the Wolves are holding teams to .284 on third down to lead the league and 18th nationally, while ranking third in the conference on fourth down defense.  UWG leads the league and is 25th nationally in first down offense with 222, while holding teams to 151 passing yards for ninth nationally.  Teams are scoring just 16.3 points on the Wolves for tenth nationally.  Overall, teams are averaging just 275.5 yards against the Wolves for 14th nationally. 
• UWG takes care of the ball with just 10 turnovers lost on the season for 13th nationally, while ranking third in the GSC in turnover margin at 0.40.  UWG is second in the league in rushing offense at 207.0.
• VSU leads the nation in scoring offense at 54.7 points per game and have scored over 50 points each of the last six games.  The Blazers also lead the nation in defensive touchdowns with four as one of four teams tied for the lead nationally.  Sophomore quarterback Rogan Wells leads the nation in points responsible for (180) and points responsible for per game (25.7).