GAME NOTES (PDF) | SCHEDULE PAGE (LIVE STATS, LIVE VIDEO, AUDIO) |
MOREHEAD, Ky. -- After a bye week, Morehead State wraps up the 2025 football season at Drake Saturday. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. ET at Drake Stadium.
The Eagles' 2024 trip to Drake was a memorable one as MSU defeated the Bulldogs 29-20 to end Drake's nation-leading 17-game conference winning streak. It also marked the program's first-ever win at Drake Stadium. Last year, the Eagles spoiled Drake's chances of winning the PFL title outright with that win (although it ended up winning anyhow later), and this year it ironically comes down to the same scenario.
Drake is 7-3 and 6-1 in the conference. The Eagles will be looking for the program's second straight 7-5 finish with a win.
The game can be heard on the Eagle Sports Radio Network with WIVY-96.3 FM serving as flagship station. Chuck Mraz and Jason Blanton provide the radio call. Fans can also hear it on MSUEagles.com, WGOH-100.9 FM/1370 AM and WMST-106.9 FM/1150 AM. The game will stream live on ESPN+.
THE SERIES
Record vs. Drake: 4-11
First Meeting: 9/27/03 MSU won 34-17 at MSU
Last Meeting: 11/16/24 MSU won 29-20 at Drake
Eagles' Record in Morehead: 3-4
Eagles' Record in Des Moines, Iowa: 1-7
Neutral Record: 0-0
Streak: MSU, W1
GAME NOTES
• Morehead State has won four straight games under head coach
Jason Woodman, marking just the program's second four-game winning streak since 2005.
• The Eagles' four-game winning streak has featured victories by a total margin of 11 points (and all one-possession margins). Morehead State is now 8-2 under head coach
Jason Woodman in games decided by 8 points or less, or one possession.
• Morehead State has guaranteed itself the first back-to-back .500 or better seasons since the 2007 and 2008 campaigns.
• Head coach
Jason Woodman's 13 wins are the most by any MSU head coach in his first two seasons coaching the program.
•
Ryan Upp ranks second in the nation in receiving yards with 1,017 and is just the fourth Eagle ever with 1,000+ yards in a season (No. 1 BJ Byrd [2021] - 1313; No. 2 Donte Sawyer [2012] - 1024; No. 3 Upp; No. 4 Chris Berry [1997] - 1016). Through the Eagles' bye week last week, he was the ONLY FCS receiver with 1,000 yards this season (there are now three).
•
Ryan Upp ranks fourth nationally with 92.5 yards per game and fifth in the FCS with 6.4 catches per game. In the last four games, he has averaged 127.5 yards per game with three 100+ yard efforts.
•
Ryan Upp leads the PFL in ALL the 4 major receiving categories - receptions (71), yards (1,017), receptions per game (6.4) and average yards per game (92.5).
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Ryan Upp now has 170 career catches, placing him third place all-time in MSU history. All but 11 of his total 2,434 career yards have come in the last three seasons. He needs 122 yards to move to 2nd.
• Quarterback
Carter Cravens has become the ninth QB in program history to reach 5,000 career passing yards. He now ranks seventh in program history with 5,703 yards, passing two of the all-time greats in MSU history in David Dinkins (5,572 from 1997-00) and 1987 Super Bowl MVP (and now the name of MSU's stadium) Phil Simms (5,545 from 1974-78). Only five Super Bowl MVPs in history attended what is now an FCS level school.
• Running back
Isaac Stopke put together back-to-back 100-yard games. He had 118 at Valparaiso Oct. 25 and 115 versus Davidson Nov. 1. He is the first Eagle runner with two straight 100+-yard efforts since
James Louis in 2022.
• Morehead State ranks 12th in the nation in kickoff returns, thanks a majority in part to
Sidney Webb's 663 yards. Webb ranks seventh in FCS in combined kick returns.
• Freshman kicker
Jordan Price is a perfect 29-of-29 on PAT kicks in his first college season. The last Eagle kicker to be perfect on PAT attempts all season was Nathan Hazlett (24-of-24) in 2022. The 29 made is the most since Andrew Foster nailed 40 in 2021.
• The Eagles' offensive line starters -
Jacob Ziegler,
Adrian Lopez,
Gabe Kays,
Drue Duncan and
Kelton Sparks - have started all 11 games together as the same unit.
•
Mateo Reyes leads the team with 80 tackles.
• After trailing mightily in the turnover margin category all season, the Eagles have turned it around in the past three games. MSU owns a +4 margin, forcing multiple mistakes in back to back games against Davidson and Butler.
• The Eagles' average yards per play in the past four games is 6.1, and MSU has held its four opponents to less than 5.0 per play in each of those games.
