SETTING THE SCENE
The No. 3 Valdosta State football team continues on the road this week as it returns to the State of South Carolina for the third time this season, battling North Greenville Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Tigerville, S.C.  The Blazers enter with a 5-0 record and 1-0 in Gulf South Conference play, while North Greenville is 2-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.  
 
AGAINST THE PALMETTO STATE
The Blazers will earn their frequent flier miles to South Carolina this season as they visit the Palmetto State three times winning 27-14 at Newberry (Sept. 7), winning 73-0 at Erskine (Sept. 21) and now at North Greenville (Oct. 12).  The Blazers are 1-0 against Erskine, while VSU is 4-1 all-time against Newberry and 5-0 all-time against North Greenville.  Overall, the Blazers are 11-1 all-time against teams from South Carolina.
 
CALLING THE GAME
TALK 92.1 FM will broadcast the Blazer games all season long, both home and away, with Wade Beale and Scott James having the call.  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
All VSU home and GSC road football games, along with the game Saturday at Newberry, will be broadcast on FloSports once again this season.  For fans eager to watch fall sports, subscribe to pay $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year ($8.33/month). Additionally, those who use a .edu email from a GSC member institution will be able to sign up at a discounted subscription price of $9.99 per month or $69.99 for the year ($5.83/month). The negotiated promotional pricing for GSC fans will be available on the landing page. Fans choosing to sign up via other links or pages may not receive the full benefit of promotional pricing. As part of their subscription, fans receive access to all FloSports verticals. Subscriptions can be canceled at any time.
 
BLAZERS EVERYWHERE
Saturday's game features the Valdosta State Blazers and the North Greenville Trailblazers.  NGU switched its team name from Crusaders this season so the words Blazers and Trailblazers will be used a lot on Saturday afternoon.  
 
ABOUT NORTH GREENVILLE
The Trailblazers are coming off a 38-21 win at Benedict College this past Saturday and have won two-straight games after starting the season 0-2.  NGU scored the first 21 points of the game Saturday in the first two quarters and held a 21-7 lead at halftime en route to the victory.  NGU quarterback Dylan Ramirez passed for 377 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while the team garnered 427 yards of offense in the game.  Termaine Epps had six tackles for the Trailblazers and 1.5 tackles for loss, while James Wells finished with 1.5 sacks to lead the team and had a forced fumble.  NGU is 29th nationally in passing yards allowed per game at 161.0 yards per game for fourth in the GSC.  The Trailblazers are second to VSU in the GSC in 3rd down conversion percentage at a .453 clip for 26th nationally, while they are second to VSU in 4th down conversion defense at a .333 clip.  NGU leads the GSC in passing yards per completion at 15.78 for tenth nationally, while the team is third in passing efficiency in the GSC at a 150.51 clip for 35th nationally.  Ramirez is third in the GSC in passing efficiency at 153.9, for 27th nationally, while he is 28th nationally and second in the league to Edwards at 244.3 yards passing per game.  Ramirez is fourth nationally in passing yards per completion at 16.84. Ramirez is second in the league to Edwards in total offense at 275.3 yards per game for 17th nationally.  Ahmari Coats is 14th nationally and leads the GSC in receiving yards per game at a 95.5 clip, while he has 382 receiving yards for 45th nationally and tops in the league.  Head coach Jeff Farrington is 54-59 in his 12th season at NGU and is 0-5 against Valdosta State.
 
THIS WEEK IN THE GSC
In looking at Week Six in the GSC, Shorter travels to Chowan, while No. 13 West Alabama visits Mississippi College and No. 25 Delta State plays at West Florida in a key league game.  According to GSC writer Cory Guinn for D2Football.com, he predicts Shorter, VSU, West Alabama and Delta State to be victorious this week.    
 
LOOKING AT THE POLLS
The Blazers remained No. 3 in both the AFCA Top 25 and the D2Football.com Top 25 this week as Harding and Grand Valley State held steady at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in both polls.  West Alabama is 11th this week in the AFCA Top 25, while it is 13th in D2Football.  Delta State is 19th in AFCA and 25th in D2Football.    
 
WITH THE SHUTOUT X2
VSU registered its first shutout since Oct. 9, 2021, with a 34-0 victory over Fayetteville State (Sept. 14) as the Blazers' last shutout was a 55-0 victory over Delta State.  It marked the 27th shutout in school history.  The very next week, VSU blanked Erskine 73-0 marking the first time in program history with back-to-back shutouts and 28 shutouts in program history.  The 73 points by the Blazers marked the most points in a game in program history.  
 
NO TOUCHDOWNS ALLOWED IN LAST 12 QUARTERS
VSU has not allowed a touchdown in the last 12 quarters dating back to the 27-14 victory at Newberry (Sept. 7).  VSU blanked both Fayetteville State and Erskine, while allowing just two field goals at Shorter this past weekend.  VSU enters this week second nationally in points per game allowed at a 6.0 clip.  
 
OVER 500 FOR THREE-STRAIGHT GAMES
The Blazers have had over 500 yards of offense in each of the last three games, including a season-high 577 at Erskine (Sept. 21) and 557 last weekend at Shorter.  The Blazers are sixth nationally and tops in the GSC in total offense at 487.0 yards per game.  VSU is fourth nationally in scoring offense at 47.0 points per game to lead the league.  
 
TAKING CARE OF THE PIGSKIN
VSU leads the nation in fewest turnovers with just one lost turnover this season, while the team is one of five teams in D2 to not have thrown an interception this season.  VSU is eighth nationally in turnover margin at 1.40 per contest, while the team has eight turnovers forced this season for third in the GSC.  
 
EFFICIENT EDWARDS
Quarterback Sammy Edwards is third nationally in passing efficiency at a 193.0 clip for tops in the GSC, while he is seventh nationally in completion percentage (.690), 13th in passing touchdowns (13), 16th in passing yards (1,348) and 12th in passing yards per game (269.6).  He is tenth nationally and second to Ramirez of NGU in passing yards per completion at 15.49.  Edwards is 13th nationally in total offense (283.0), while he is second nationally in yards per pass attempt at 10.7.  Edwards was named GSC Player of the Week following his efforts this past week in the 59-6 win at Shorter.  It marked the second time this season he has earned GSC weekly honors.  
 
THE BLACK SWARM DEFENSE
Not only has the offense been outstanding this season, so has the defense as it is third nationally in total defense holding teams to just 203.8 yards per game, while the Blazers are allowing just 123.2 yards passing for third nationally and just 80.6 yards per game on the ground for 15th nationally and tops in the league.  VSU is holding teams to just a .271 clip on third down for 16th nationally and third in the league, while VSU is fifth nationally in fourth down percentage at .167.  VSU had surrendered just 59 first downs this season for fourth nationally and tops in the league.  Neither Erskine or Shorter were in double-digit first downs in each of the last two games.  
 
NO SHUTOUTS
The Blazers lead all of NCAA Division II with 383 consecutive games without being shutout dating back to a 12-0 loss to Central Florida on Sept. 14, 1991.  VSU only has been shut out five times in program history.  Grand Valley is just behind the Blazers at over 370 games without being shutout.
 
A VICTORY OVER NORTH GREENVILLE WOULD . . .

 
UP NEXT
The Blazers return home to host Mississippi College on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. for Homecoming 2024.  Following that game, VSU will have its bye week on Oct. 26, before hosting Chowan at 3 p.m. on Nov. 2 to begin the final month of the regular season.