SETTING THE SCENE
The Valdosta State football team (2-4) returns home for Homecoming 2025 following its second bye week of the 2025 season.  The Trailblazers of North Greenville enter with a 4-3 record following an upset win over then-No. 19 UNC Pembroke last week, 20-7.   
 
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 on the radio. Home games will be broadcast on FloCollege with Dave Garner and Taylor Biddle having the call.  Fans can access links to the radio broadcast and video broadcast at vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page.
 
HOW TO PURCHASE TICKETS
Visit vstateblazers.com on the football schedule page for a link to purchase tickets for the game.  Stay up to date on all Blazer news by following @VState_Blazers on Instagram and X and by liking the "Valdosta State Blazers" Facebook page. The Blazer Athletics Mobile App is available on iTunes and Android featuring exclusive content, the latest news and updates, schedules, rosters, gameday notifications, and more.
 
HOMECOMING 2025
Saturday marks Homecoming 2025 and the Blazers are 36-6 all-time on Homecoming.  VSU has gone 4-1 in the last five Homecoming games and has won its last two.  Saturday marks the third time against North Greenville on Homecoming as the Blazers are 2-0 in those games in 2018 and 2021.  
 
NEW BLAZER MOBILE APP
Valdosta State Athletics in partnership with Renasant Bank is thrilled to announce the official launch of the Blazer Athletics Mobile App, available for free on iOS and Android devices via the App Store and Google Play Store.  The new Valdosta State Blazers Athletic App integrates news, team information, gameday notifications gameday notifications for all Blazer athletic events both home and away and schedules, as well as ways to purchase VSU tickets and apparel.  The Valdosta State App offers a user-friendly interface with easy access to many services and features.  Check vstateblazers.com for more information on the new Mobile App.

SEEING CAROLINA
Saturday marks the sixth-straight game against a team from either North or South Carolina.  VSU played four games in a row against teams from North Carolinaand this marks the second-straight game against teams from South Carolina.  The Blazers are 12-2 all-time against teams from South Carolina and are 5-1 in home games and 7-1 in road games.  VSU is 6-0 against North Greenville, while going 4-1 against Newberry and 1-0 against both Limestone and Erskine and 0-1 against The Citadel.
 
OUT IN THE SUN
This season, the Blazers play all day games through the regular season with no game starting later than 4 p.m. local time.  Traditionally, the Blazers have had a mix of day and evening/night games, but this is the first season in program history with no night games planned for the regular season.
 
COACH GRAHAM CRAIG SHOW
Following each game this season, The Coach Graham Craig Show will feature the head coach along with select players as they dissect the game both home and away.  Check back with vstateblazers.com and on the Blazer social media channels each Sunday evening for the newest edition of The Coach Graham Craig Show.  
 
THE NEWLY CREATED CONFERENCE CAROLINAS FOOTBALL LEAGUE
This season marks the inaugural year of Conference Carolinas sponsoring football as it has a definite GSC flavor to some of the teams with Chowan, Erskine Shorter and North Greenville who all were former football members of the GSC now are with Conference Carolinas.  Along with the four teams mentioned above, UNC Pembroke, Ferrum and Barton comprise the seven-member football league in 2025.  VSU is 24-3 all-time against current teams in Conference Carolinas in football and are 1-1 this season with a 56-3 win at Chowan and a loss to UNC Pembroke. 
 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH NORTH GREENVILLE
The Blazers lead the all-time series with North Greenville, 6-0 and have outscored the Trailblazers 213-121.  However, a majority of the games have not been easy with three games being decided by ten points or less and another VSU roared back in the second half for a 58-37 win in 2022 in a game that was much closer than the score indicated.  VSU won last season's meeting in Tigerville, S.C., after NGU raced out to a 14-2 lead in the first quarter.  VSU outscored NGU 30-10 the rest of the way and held the Trailblazers scoreless in the second half (16-0).  NGU held a 24-16 lead at halftime.  VSU posted a 28-3 win in the last meeting in Valdosta in 2023.  
 
MINIMAL LAUNDRY ON THE FIELD
The Blazers are second nationally in fewest penalties for the season with just 28 flags, while the team is 14th nationally in fewest penalties per game (4.67), 11th in penalty yards (276) and 22nd in fewest penalty yards per game at a 46.0 clip as all lead the GSC.  
 
HOLDING THE CHAINS
The Blazers are fourth nationally in first down defense allowing just 93 first downs through six games for the season.  
 
BIG BOOT WALTER
Blazer junior punter Devin Walter is 10th nationally in punting at a 42.6 clip as he had a career-long 67-yarder at The Citadel on Oct. 11.  Walter has three touchbacks, four fair catches, ten punts inside the 20 and four over 50 yards for the season.
 
BATTLE OF FIRST YEAR HEAD COACHES
The Blazers and the Trailblazers each have new coaches this year as VSU's head man is Graham Craig (2-4) who served as offensive coordinator last season for the national runner-up Blazers, while NGU's head coach Nate Garner (4-3) was at Limestone since 2022 as the offensive coordinator.  Blazer fans will remember when Limestone came to VSU in 2023 for the first round of the playoffs with VSU winning 62-41. 
 
PASCHALL NAMED GSC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK 
Following the game at The Citadel two weeks ago, Blazer freshman running back Shawn Paschall was named GSC Freshman of the Week as he scored two touchdowns on ten carries and 62 yards as he averaged 6.2 yards per carry.  Paschall became the second Blazer to earn GSC Freshman of the Week honors as Ostin Perkins, also a running back, earned the honor the week before and freshman kicker Matt Rolader earned the honor on Sept. 1, following the season-opening victory over Clark Atlanta.
 
ABOUT NORTH GREENVILLE
The Trailblazers enter with a 4-3 record and are coming off a 20-7 upset win over then-No. 19 UNC Pembroke last weekend.  NGU rides a three-game winning streak into Saturday's matchup, but is 0-3 this season versus the Gulf South Conference with losses to Delta State, West Florida and West Alabama.  The Trailblazers are 4-0 in Conference Carolinas action.  NGU enters the week second nationally in fumbles lost with just one miscue through seven games.  NGU is 23rd nationally in fumbles recovered (7), while it is fourth nationally in turnover margin (1.57), 19th in turnovers gained (15) and seventh in turnovers lost (4). Quarterback Dylan Ramirez is 20th nationally in passing yards with 1,756 for the season and is 18th nationally in passing touchdowns with 15.  Wide receiver Eric Rasheed leads the team with five touchdown receptions this season, while Ramirez is 38th nationally in total offense at 252.0 yards per game.  Defensively, the Trailblazers are led by Ty Cade who has 37 tackles on the year, while Ashton Howard leads the team with four tackles for loss for 21 yards and 3.5 sacks for 20 yards.  
 
COMING UP NEXT
The Blazers open Gulf South Conference play with West Alabama on Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium and then versus Delta State on Nov. 8 at 4 p.m., also at Bazemore-Hyder Stadium for Senior Day.  VSU concludes the regular season Nov. 16 at 3 p.m. ET at West Florida.  VSU was picked tied for second with West Alabama in the preseason GSC Coaches Poll at the beginning of the season.
 
A WIN OVER NORTH GREENVILLE WOULD . . . 

• Give VSU a 3-4 record this season in its final non-conference game of the season
• Give VSU a 37-6 record all-time on Homecoming and a 3-0 record against NGU on Homecoming
• Be the 349th win in program history for VSU (348-142-4)
• Give VSU a 7-0 record all-time against NGU
• Be the 13th win against a team from the Palmetto State in program history (12-2)
• Snap a three-game skid for VSU this season as the Blazers lost four-straight in 2022 and that skid ironically also was stopped with a win at NGU
• Give VSU a 4-2 record all-time on Oct. 25 and a 2-0 record at home on this date
• Give VSU a 2-0 record on Homecoming on Oct. 25 as the Blazers won 37-6 against Shorter on this date in 2014
• Give VSU its first home win of the season (0-2) and the 192nd home victory all-time (191-61-1)
• Be the 128th non-conference victory all-time in program history (127-48-1)