23 UIndy Greyhounds (1-0) at Marian Knights (1-0)
Saturday, Sept. 12, 6 p.m. ET, Indianapolis
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ON TAP
Crosstown foes UIndy and Marian face off in the first-ever "Monumental Matchup" Saturday night. Kickoff time from St. Vincent Field is set for at 6 p.m.

HOT TICKET
Tickets and parking spots are still available for the the game Saturday. Visit uindysports.universitytickets.com for more information.

HOUNDS ON THE AIR
Produced by MTC Sports, the Monumental Matchup will be televised locally on 6.2 HTSN. UIndy alum Greg Rakestraw (@gregrakestraw) will handle play-by-play.

Additionally, the Greyhounds can be heard on the radio at UIndy's own WICR 88.7 FM. You can also catch an audio stream on the Internet at WICRonline.com/listen-online.

ABOUT MARIAN
Tied for No. 1 in the NAIA preseason poll, Marian is coming off a stellar 11-3 season in 2014, one capped by an appearance in the national championship game. In just his second season at the helm, Head Coach Mark Henninger led the Knights to the NAIA playoffs, guiding his team to three postseason wins before falling, 55-31, to Southern Oregon in the national final. Henninger was named the American Football Coaches' Association (AFCA) NAIA National Coach of the Year.

Marian opened its 2015 campaign with a convincing 45-13 victory at fourth-ranked Saint Xavier Aug. 30. The Knights generated 622 yards of total offense and six touchdowns in the victory. Senior quarterback Hayden Northern threw for 385 yards and three TDs, while junior running back Robert Gibson amassed 154 yards on the ground while twice finding the end zone.

Though Marian's football program is entering just its ninth season of existence, the Knights have won three MSFA Mideast League titles while making the NAIA playoffs four times, including winning the 2012 national championship.

HOUNDS vs. KNIGHTS
Separated by just 12 miles, Indianapolis' two small-school powerhouses have never met on the gridiron.  The two school have faced off multiple times in sports such as baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball; but Saturday marks the inaugural football meeting. The two are scheduled to play at UIndy next season.

LAST TIME OUT
UIndy grinded out a 27-17 comeback win versus in-region Saginaw Valley last Thursday, overcoming a 10-6 halftime deficit with three second-half touchdowns. The Greyhounds rode a career day from the reigning GLVC Offensive Player of the Year, as senior receiver Reece Horn racked up 13 catches for 241 yards and a TD.

TOOTING OUR OWN HORN
Horn's performance netted the Cathedral High School product the year's first GLVC Offensive Player of the Week nod. The highest receiving yard total attained by any D-II receiver in week 1, his 241-yard output easily set a new GLVC single-game record, besting the previous mark of 219 set by Southwest Baptist's Nathan Mourik last season.

In addition, Horn's effort nearly set a pair of UIndy records, falling just short of eclipsing the 14 catches and 246 yards set by Cesare Manning in an overtime contest versus Michigan Tech in 2003. Horn's former teammate, Mar'Quone Edmonds, twice caught 14 passes during in the 2012 season to match Manning's reception mark.

INDY 300
Getting Horn the ball is no new thing for senior quarterback Connor Barthel. A teammate of Horn's since their days at Cathedral, Barthel used the assistance from his favorite target to notch his fourth career 300-yard game last week. The veteran signal caller finished the night 23-of-31 passing for 304 yards and a touchdown.

Barthel also threw zero interceptions in week one, continuing a trend he has set over the course of his career. The third-year starter has throw just 11 INTs in 557 career attempts, good for the sixth-lowest interception percentage (1.97%) among all active Division II QBs.

ONCE A GREYHOUND, ALWAYS A GREYHOUND
UIndy's first touchdown of the season did not come from Horn, nor did it come from established running backs Andrew Walker or Tuwan Payton. UIndy's first TD was scored by true freshman and Carmel, Ind., native Sharik Paschall.

Trailing midway through the third quarter, the Greyhounds faced a 1st & Goal situation but failed to punch it in on back-to-back rushes from the one-yard line. That's when UIndy went to their 5'10, 230-pound  freshman. Paschall delivered, busting through the line of scrimmage to tally six points on his very first touch as a collegian.

Technically, that's two TDs in as many carries for Paschall, who also scored a touchdown late in the 2014 IHSAA Class 6A state final, a game his Carmel Greyhounds lost, 42-24, versus local Ben Davis.

DIRTY DOZEN
A pair of UIndy linebackers racked up a game-high 12 tackles versus Saginaw Valley. Making his first career start at middle linebacker, junior Derrick Bryant tied his career high with 12 total stops – eight of which were solo efforts. Meanwhile, junior Rob Dury matched that total from the weak-side spot.

Bryant was named the GLVC Freshman of the Year back in 2013, while Dury was an all-conference first teamer and an all-region second teamer last season.

POLL POSITION
After appearing in the preseason poll as the top vote getter among non-ranked teams, UIndy used its week-one win to vault into the latest AFCA Division II Top 25, coming in a No. 23 this week. The Hounds topped out at No. 15 last season before snapping a school-record string of 18 consecutive weeks in the rankings. See below for a breakdown of UIndy's AFCA poll appearances since first cracking the national rankings late in 2012.
 

	PRE	W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6	W7	W8	W9	W10	W11	FINAL
2012	RV	-	-	-	-	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	19	18	15
2013	19	14	12	22	21	T21	21	20	18	13	12	10	18
2014	18	15	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	25	23	RV	RV
2015	RV	23

THE BART ERA
With five winning seasons in as many years as the head man at UIndy, veteran football coach Bob Bartolomeo has won nearly three times as many games as he has lost in his time UIndy, compiling a 43-16 (.729) record at the school and a 57-23-1 (.710) mark overall. The coach's 42 wins through 2014 represent the most in any five-year span in program history, with a distant second of 34 victories coming in 1983-87.

Before landing the head job at UIndy in 2010 and spending the six years prior as the Greyhound defensive coordinator, Coach Bart spent two seasons as the head coach at cross-town Butler in 1990 and '91, winning Coach of the Year honors from the Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference in the latter season. He was recently named the GLVC Coach of the Year in both 2012 and 2013.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
UIndy once again enters the season as the defending Great Lakes Valley Conference champions. The Greyhounds took each of the first three GLVC football crowns, compiling a stellar 22-1 (.957) record in league play since the conference began sponsoring the sport in 2012.

With a conference mark of 7-1 last year, the Greyhounds won the league by two full games, topping a quartet of contenders at 5-3. It marked the first time UIndy won three straight conference championships since the school – then named Indiana Central College – took the Hoosier College Conference crown in 1953, '54 and '55.

UIndy was tabbed to repeat by the GLVC coaches, earning the maximum eight first-place votes in this year's GLVC Preseason Coaches Poll (see page 5).

DRAWING A LINE
For the second straight season, the Greyhounds welcome back all five starting offensive linemen. Led by two-time All-GLVC First Team performers Hayden Janney and Chris Massaro, UIndy's returning o-linemen combined to start 54 of a possible 55 games last season, part of a grand total of 107 career starts heading into week 2 this year.

Joining Janney and Massaro are fellow all-conference honorees Jordan Bedan (second team, 2013-14) and Austin Vogt (first team, 2012), as well as 6'4, 309-pound sophomore Ruben Holcomb.

UIndy also returns all four defensive line starters, including another two-time All-GLVC first teamer in senior and captain Lee Campbell. Senior O'rion Elder, juniors Tommy Taylor (all-conference honorable mention) and Sam Daggy as well as sophomore Dillon Dallas all started at least three games last season, with Campbell, Taylor and Daggy starting all 11.

In addition, junior Russell Collins and sophomore Darion Howard, who were both in the d-line rotation in 2014, also return.