GAME NOTES IN PDF FORMAT

VALDOSTA, Ga. – The 2019 Valdosta State football season gets underway Saturday at 7 p.m. at Albany State at the ASU Coliseum.  Fans can access links to live stats, streaming information, radio broadcast and more at vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page.
 
FIRST AND TEN

• The 2019 season and the Gary Goff era get underway Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. at Albany State in Albany, Ga. Goff was hired as the tenth coach in the history of Valdosta State football on Jan. 25, 2019, and was introduced at a press conference Jan. 29, 2019. 
• VSU had nine players named to the GSC Preseason All-Conference Team, including junior signal caller Rogan Wells, sophomore running backs Seth Rogan and Jamar Thompkins, junior wide receivers Kenny Benjamin and Lio'undre Gallimore and senior offensive lineman Adonis Sealey for a league-high six offensive selections.  On defense, senior defensive lineman Joe Mozone and sophomore linebacker Jameon Gaskin earned spots, along with junior long snapper Pippen Davis for special teams.
• The Blazers were the top pick in the AFCA Preseason Top 25, D2Football.com Top 25 and the preseason magaizines from Lindy's and Street & Smith's.  In those magazines, three Blazers also were named to preseason All-America Teams as Wells, Sealey and Mozone all were named.  
• Albany State enters receiving votes in the preseason AFCA Top 25 and was picked first in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Eastern Division.  The Golden Rams had six players named to the Preseason All-SIAC Teams in first team defensive lineman Deonte Jackson, along with first team kicker/punter Gabriel Ballinas, second team offensive lineman Raekwon Bethea, second team running back McKinley Habersham, second team running back Tracy Scott, and second team defensive back Tyler Scott.
• This marks the sixth-straight season VSU and Albany State have opened the season against each other. VSU won last season 45-14 in Valdosta and have won four of the last five meetings to open the season.  The Golden Rams won 29-12 in Albany in 2017 as the Blazers are 25-12 all-time in season-openers, but just 8-8 in road season-openers.   VSU is 12-2 all-time against Albany State in season-openers and is 5-2 in Albany.
• VSU enters the 2019 season as the top-ranked team for the fourth time in program history.  The Blazers entered the season in 2005, 2008 and 2013 as the top-ranked team after winning national championships the season before. In the seasons following national titles, VSU has gone 24-10 with a 16-7 record in Gulf South Conference play, while reaching the postseason in two of those three years.
• In the year following a coaching change, VSU has gone 56-23-1 overall and 39-15-1 in Gulf South Conference play with one national title, two conference titles and three NCAA postseason appearances.
• The Blazers return eight starters on offense from last season as the Blazers were the highest scoring team in Division II in 2018 and averaged 523.9 yards of offense last season per game for fourth nationally.  VSU returns both all-conference and all-region running backs in Thompkins and McGill, Harlon Hill Award runner-up quarterback in Wells, Gallimore, Sealey, along with second team all-conference honoree junior wide out Brian Saunds.
• VSU has won 15-straight games dating back to the final game of 2017, marking the longest streak in school history and the longest in NCAA Division II.  North Dakota State (FCS) leads the way with 21-straight wins in all divisions, while VSU, Clemson and Mary Hardin-Baylor (Division III) all head into 2019 with 15-straight wins. 
• The Blazers are one of just two schools at the FCS, Division II or Division III levels to win three or more national championships with three different coaches.  VSU has national championships in 2004 (Chris Hatcher), 2007 (David Dean), 2012 (David Dean) and 2018 (Kerwin Bell).  North Dakota State is the other.

 
BLAZER HISTORY
The Blazers are 294-126-4 all-time for a .698 winning percentage.  Heading into the 38th season of football, the Blazers have 29 winning seasons and went a school-record 14-0 last season, marking the program's first undefeated season, along with the program's fourth national title.  The Blazers' .698 winning percentage all-time ranks second nationally in Division II behind Grand Valley's .738 average.  GVSU is 398-140-3 in 48 years of football.  
 
NATIONAL NOTORIETY 
VSU has five football games to be either streamed by the ESPN family of networks or on TV this season, including three home games.  The first game is the D2 Football Showcase game for the 2019 home-opener against Ohio Dominican on Sept. 14 at 6:05 p.m. on ESPN3.  The following week, VSU will host West Alabama for the first of two games scheduled to be broadcast in over 20 million homes regionally for the "College Football Down South" package.  It also includes the West Florida game on Nov. 9.  VSU also has two games part of the Gulf South Conference Game of the Week package this season as the Blazers will be at Shorter on ESPN+ on Sept. 28 and at West Georgia Nov. 16 on ESPN3.  
 
AS NATIONAL NUMBER ONE 
VSU enters the 2019 season as the number one team in Division II.  The Blazers last played as the number one team in the land on Oct. 10, 2013, in Livingston, Ala., as the Tigers handed VSU its first loss of the season that year.  VSU is 19-6 all-time as the number one team and 5-3 in road games as the top-ranked team. Despite the loss at UWA, VSU has won four of its last five games as the top-ranked team.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH ALBANY STATE 
VSU leads the all-time series with Albany State 18-2, and is 8-2 in games played in Albany.  ASU won just its second game in the series in 2017 in Albany, as the Golden Rams downed VSU 29-12 to open the season.  Last year, VSU posted a 45-14 win over ASU to open the season. VSU has outscored ASU 563-255 in the previous 20 meetings.  Prior to the loss at Albany State in 2017, VSU had won four-straight road games against the Golden Rams.
 
WELLS MOVING UP THE CHARTS
Junior quarterback Rogan Wells is fifth in school history in career passing touchdowns with 50, while ranking seventh in rushing touchdowns with 19, seventh in total offense (5,710), eighth in passing yards (4,480) and ninth in completions as he is 330 of 581 for his career.  Wells earned All-America honors last season as a sophomore, leading one of the most prolific offensive teams in program history.  
 
TOUGH SCHEDULE
The Blazers face six teams who are either ranked or receiving votes in the preseason AFCA Top 25 this season. VSU's first three games all are against either teams receiving votes or ranked.  Albany State and Ohio Dominican are receiving votes, while West Alabama is ranked 24th.  West Florida and Florida Tech both are receiving votes, whie West Georgia is 15th in the poll.
 
NO SHUTOUT
VSU leads all of NCAA Division II in the most games without being shutout at 328 games.  The Blazers last were blanked on Sept. 14 1991, in a 12-0 loss at Central Florida.  VSU has been shutout just five times in the history of the program in 424 games.
 
THE GARY GOFF RADIO SHOW
This season, head coach Gary Goff will have The Gary Goff Radio Show at The Salty Snapper Restaurant in Valdosta each Monday evening from 7-8 p.m.  Matt Malone will be the host of the show as it will be broadcast on Newstalk 105.9 FM.  Come out to The Salty Snapper for prizes and a 15% discount during the show for all The Gary Goff Radio Show guests.  Listen to Goff talk about the 2019 Blazer football season.
 
NEW FACE IN THE BOOTH
Blazer fans will hear a new voice in the radio booth for the football team this season as long time football coach Wade Beale replaces VSU color analyst Scott James this season. Spencer Van Horn will handle play-by-play duties for the Blazers for the second year in a row, and now will partner with Beale for home and away games on 92.1 WDDQ FM.  Check back with vstateblazers.com for links to broadcasts all season long.
 
THE GARY GOFF SHOW
In addition to The Gary Goff Radio Show, the Blazers will continue the tradition of The Gary Goff Show following each game this season.  The Gary Goff Show will be hosted by Spencer Van Horn following each game and selected players also will appear on the show.  Fans can access The Gary Goff Show each Sunday at vstateblazers.com on the football page.  There also will be links via social media for it each Sunday. Jamie Abbot of Crash & Annie Productions produces The Gary Goff Show following each game.
 
GETTING IN THE END ZONE
Wells has thrown 50 touchdown passes in his career and has played in 23 games.  He threw at least one touchdown pass in all 14 games last season and has a string of 19-straight games with a touchdown pass.   Of his 23 games played, he has only not rushed or passed for a touchdown in one game.  Wells is 18-2 as a starting quarterback for the Blazers.  Wells had his first touchdown reception in the national championship game against Ferris State last December. 
 
WELLS AND KEMP NAMED D2FOOTBALL.COM PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA
Junior quarterback Rogan Wells and senior offensive lineman Brandon Kemp were named to the D2Football.com Preseason All-America Team, announced Monday.  The Blazers were also picked as the top team in the D2Football.com Preseason Top 25.  West Georgia was 14th in the poll and West Alabama was 25th.