SETTING THE SCENE
The Valdosta State Blazers return to the road for two of its final three regular season games beginning Saturday at 5 p.m. ET at No. 8/18 West Florida in a game with huge conference and postseason implications.  The Blazers, ranked No. 24 this week in both the AFCA Top 25 and the D2Football.com Top 25, stand at 6-1 overall and 4-1 in Gulf South Conference play, while West Florida who is 18th in the AFCA Top 25 and eighth in the D2Football.com Top 25 enters with a 5-2 record overall and a 4-1 mark in the GSC.  Both teams are coming off victories last week as VSU won 42-14 over Shorter on Homecoming, while West Florida upset No. 6-ranked Delta State 24-21 in Cleveland, Miss.
 
CALLING THE GAME
TALK 92.1 FM will broadcast the Blazer games all season long with Mike McDowd having the call an Herb Reinhard providing color commentary.  The game also will be streamed live on FloSports.  Fans can access links to the radio broadcast and video broadcast at vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page.
 
WATCH ON FLOSPORTS
The Gulf South Conference enters its second year of a four-year agreement with FloSports to broadcast all GSC football games this fall.  ALL VSU football home regular season and road conference livestream broadcasts will be available exclusively through FloSports.  Check back with vstateblazers.com on how to sign up and watch on FloSports.
 
GO WEST YOUNG MAN
As the Michael W. Smith sung about going west young man" the Blazers will be seeing a lot of "directional West" the next three weeks traveling to West Florida this weekend, followed by a trip to West Alabama (Nov. 4) and then hosting West Georgia for the regular season finale on Nov. 11.
 
RECAPPING HOMECOMING
The Blazers improved to 35-6 all-time on Homecoming and stretched their streak to 21 of the past 23 Homecoming games since 2000.  The upset-minded Hawks scored a touchdown on the first possession of the game, but the Blazers responded quickly with a touchdown, marking the seventh-straight game VSU has scored a touchdown on its opening possession.  From a 7-0 deficit after the first possession of the game, VSU outscored Shorter 42-7 the rest of the way and 35-7 over the final three stanzas.  VSU was led on the ground by junior Travis Tisdale with 61 yards, while he caught a touchdown pass.  Junior quarterback Sammy Edwards was a season-high 30 of 45 passing for 279 yards and three touchdowns, while he rushed for 60 yards on six carries and a rushing score.  Graduate student B.K. Smith had six catches for 89 yards and two touchdowns.  Defensively the Blazers shut the Hawks down after the opening drive and held SU to 341 yards of offense and 3 of 9 on third down.  
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH WEST FLORIDA
Valdosta State leads the all-time series with West Florida, 4-3, however, UWF has won the last three in the series, including two heartbreakers. UWF won 32-31 last season in overtime in Valdosta and also won 61-42 in Pensacola in 2021.  VSU won 26-21 in 2019 in the regular season in Valdosta for a 4-0 record in the series, but UWF scored a touchdown on fourth down with six ticks left in the second round of the NCAA postseason in 2019, 38-35.  In that game, UWF held the lead for much of the contest, before VSU roared back in the fourth quarter to take a 35-31 lead with just over two minutes remaining.      
 
IN THE POLLS
Valdosta State returns to the polls this week checking in at No. 24 in both the AFCA Top 25 and the D2Football.com Top 25.  This is the first time the Blazers have been ranked in both polls since Oct. 2, 2023, when VSU was 19th in the AFCA poll and 25th in the D2Football.com poll.  West Florida is 18th in the AFCA Poll this week, following its win over previously unbeaten and No. 6-ranked Delta State, while the Argos are eighth in the D2Football.com Top 25.  Also announced this week was the first NCAA South Region poll which was done alphabetically with teams under consideration.  VSU, West Florida, Delta State and West Georgia all are under consideration this week.  Next Monday's poll will be in numerical order and the second of three publicly released polls prior to the announcement of the NCAA Division II Football Championship selections on Sunday, Nov. 12 in the evening.
 
NATIONAL COMPARISON SNAPSHOT

 
PROLIFIC QUARTERBACKS
This game features two of the top quarterbacks in the league and among the national statistic leaders as VSU signal caller Sammy Edwards is tops in the GSC in Passing Yards Per Game at a 292.5 clip for sixth nationally, while Peewee Jarrett is second in the league and 15th nationally at 253.8 yards per game.  Edwards also leads the league in total offense for sixth nationally at 322.4 yards per game, while Jarrett is second in the league and 16th nationally at 275.5 per contest.  
 
STRONG AT WIDE OUT
Not only are the quarterbacks highly touted, but so are UWF's John Jiles and Blazer graduate student B.K. Smith at wide receiver.  Jiles, who played last season at Virginia Union, is second nationally and tops in the GSC in receiving touchdowns with 11, while Smith is second in the league and 45th nationally with five.  Jiles also leads the league in receiving yards with 925 for second nationally, while Smith is second in the league with 508 for 59th nationally.  Jiles leads the GSC in receptions per game at 5.5 for 28th nationally, while Smith is second in the league at 5.0 per contest for 41st nationally.  Jiles also leads the league in yards per reception at 21.02 for 17th nationally, while VSU junior Xavier Williams is second at 19.58 yards per reception for 23rd nationally. 
 
SCORING FAST
This season, the Blazers have scored touchdowns on their opening drive of the game seven times this season in eight games.  VSU could've started with touchdowns on each opening drive of the season, but was picked off at the goal line in the opener versus Point (9/2).  VSU has outscored the opposition 49-28 on opening drives this season.
 
ON THIS DATE
The Blazers are 2-3 all-time on Oct. 28 and last played on this date in 2017 with a 42-14 home victory over Florida Tech.  The Blazers are 1-3 on the road on this date and 1-0 at home.  VSU has scored 123 points on this date and allowed 124.  
 
NO SHUTOUTS
The Blazers lead the nation in the longest streak of not being shutout with 371 games without a shutout dating back to a 12-0 loss at Central Florida to open the 1991 season on Sept. 14.  VSU's last shutout of the opposition came on Oct. 9, 2021, in Valdosta with a 55-0 victory over Delta State for the 26th shutout in program history.
 
WHAT THE NATIONAL PUNDITS SAY
This week Cory Guinn, who is the columnist for the Gulf South Conference for D2Football.com, picks the Blazers versus Shorter.  Guinn has picked VSU five times this season and picked against VSU twice when the Blazers won (North Greenville and Mississippi College) and once when the Blazers lost (Delta State).  Guinn predicts this week that West Florida will win.  He said in his preview the game comes down to which West Florida team is seen this week.  The one which has allowed just 11.3 points per game over the last three weeks.  He also stated the Argo offense will need to return to form and avoid laying an egg as they did two weeks ago against West Alabama (L, 10-6).  VSU, on the other hand, cannot be stopped, but they can be slowed down if the passing game isn't on point.  The Blazer offense is clicking on all cylinders this season, averaging 37.5 points and 458.5 points per game as quarterback Sammy Edwards leads the charge with 2,340 yards and 18 touchdowns. Four different receivers have over 300 yards and 11 different Blazers have caught a touchdown pass, showing that Edwards has full command of the offense and has time to let a play develop thanks to an offensive line that has allowed just 12 sacks in eight games.
 
IN RANKED GAMES
This marks the second ranked vs. ranked game of the season for the Blazers.  Then-No. 8 Delta State handed then No. 19 Valdosta State at 49-25 loss on Oct. 7 in Valdosta.  VSU is 69-65-2 all-time versus ranked opponents and is 25-34-1 on the road against ranked programs.  VSU has dropped its last five games to ranked opponents and has not won a game against a ranked team since defeating Colorado School of Mines, 34-31 on Dec. 11, 2021, in the national semifinals. The Blazers are 1-2 versus West Florida when both teams are ranked and 1-3 when UWF is ranked.  VSU's lone win when both teams were ranked came on Nov. 9, 2019, as the Blazers were No. 1 nationally, defeating the No. 20 Argos 26-21. 
 
THIS WEEK IN THE GSC 
This week has a rare Thursday night game as West Georgia travels to Shorter, while Saturday's action features West Alabama at Chowan, Mississippi College at North Greenville and VSU at West Florida.  Delta State has a bye week.  Heading down the final stretch for VSU, West Florida, Delta State and West Georgia, every game in crucial as one could look at it as the playoffs already and a loss would really damage postseason chances.  Next week, VSU travels to West Alabama, West Florida heads to Mississippi College and Delta State visits West Georgia.  The final weekend, Chowan travels to UWF, Mississippi College heads North to Delta State and VSU entertains West Georgia.  All of these games will have a significant impact in postseason bids.
 
SEEING BLUE
Saturday's matchup at West Florida is the seventh game this season against a team with blue as a color.  Next week the Blazers travel to West Alabama (red) f and then ends the regular season on Nov. 11 against West Georgia for the eighth game against a "Blue" team this season.  VSU is 6-0 currently against teams with blue as a color.
 
IN DAY GAMES
The Blazers began a stretch of six-straight games at Chowan (9/30) of games beginning before 6 p.m. local time.  VSU is 4-1 this season in day games (63-10 vs. Point, 51-36 win at Chowan), lost 49-25 at home to Delta State on Oct. 7, won at Mississippi College (21-10) on Oct. 14 and won last week 42-14 over Shorter.  The Blazers play at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday at West Florida and then on Nov. 4 at 2 p.m. ET at West Alabama.  VSU will not have another night game until Nov. 11 versus West Georgia at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium.  Since 2018, VSU is 21-5 in day games.  
 
MAKING THE COMPLETION
The Blazers are second nationally in completion percentage at a .703 clip, while quarterback Sammy Edwards is third nationally at a .701 clip, on 176 of 251 passing with 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions for 2,340yards.  Edwards and the Blazers are sixth nationally in passing offense at 306.5 yards per game, while he is tenth nationally in completions per game (22.00) to lead the GSC.  Edwards is 12th nationally in passing efficiency (166.5) for second in the league, while leading the GSC in passing yards (2,340) for sixth nationally and passing yards per game at a 292.5 clip also good for sixth nationally.  
 
GETTING THE BOOT 
VSU is fifth nationally in net punting at a 39.39 clip, while freshman punter Noah Botsford has punted 23 times for a 39.6 average and a long of 51 with eight inside the 20, eight fair catches and no touchbacks.  
 
BK HAVE IT YOUR WAY
VSU graduate student B.K. Smith is second in the GSC in receiving touchdowns (5), while he is second in the league in receiving yards (508).  He is third in the league in receptions per game at 4.4 per contest.  
 
WILLIAMS WITH THE RETURN
Junior Xavier Williams is third in the GSC in kick returns at a 25.3 clip for 23rd nationally, while Williams is second in the GSC in yards per reception at 19.58 for 23rd nationally.  He has 13 kick returns for 329 yards this season, while he has 19 catches for 372 yards and two touchdowns.  
 
GOOD ON THIRD
The Blazers are ninth nationally in 3rd down conversions at a .518 clip for second in the GSC, while the defense is 53rd nationally and third in the GSC on fourth down conversion defense, holding teams to a .385 clip on 5 of 13. 
 
THIELE MOVES UP TO SEVENTH IN SCORING
VSU junior kicker Estin Thiele is 26 points from sixth all-time (Seth McGill, 2018-22) with 276 points.  Thiele has 250 points for his VSU career and is seventh all-time in scoring at VSU.
 
SPREADING THE WEALTH
Junior quarterback Sammy Edwards has been great this season at distributing the ball to different receivers.  At Mississippi College, he found seven receivers for catches, while the week prior it was ten receivers against Delta State (Oct. 7) and at Chowan (Sept. 30), he connected with nine different receivers.  He found seven versus North Greenville (9/23), nine versus Keiser (9/16), seven at Albany State (9/9) and a season-high 11 in the season-opener versus Point (9/2).  Last week versus Shorter, he hit 11 receivers to tie for the most in a game this season.
 
WITH THE BLOCK
The Blazers have blocked two kicks this season for 62nd nationally and tied for first in the GSC.  Redshirt freshman defensive back Theron Stroops had a blocked kick against Keiser, while junior defensive lineman J'Quan Hicks had a blocked kick against Chowan on Sept. 30.
 
A VICTORY OVER WEST FLORIDA WOULD . . .