CWU FOOTBALL GAME DAY

#13 Central Washington University Wildcats
at Dixie State College of Utah Red Storm
Date: Saturday, September 4, 2010
Time: 7 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time
Site: Hansen Stadium (Artificial Turf; 4,500 capacity), St. George, Utah
All-Time Series: Central Washington leads 4-0
Last Meeting: CWU 23, DSC 9 (Oct. 31, 2009 at St. George, Utah)
Buy Tickets: At the gate
Game Notes: Download
Television: None
Radio: KXLE-AM 1240 (Ellensburg)
Live Stats: Click here
Live Audio: Click here
Video Stream: Click here (Pay-Per-View)

GAME OVERVIEW: EXPANDED
• Central Washington has an all-time record of 4-0 against Dixie State, having swept the two-game season series between the two schools each of the past two seasons. The Wildcats opened the Blaine Bennett era with their first-ever meeting with the-then-Rebels (now the Red Storm) on Aug. 30, 2008, needing overtime to escape with a victory.

• The Wildcats' two previous trips to Hansen Stadium (artificial turf/4,500 capacity) have been closely-contested games on the field, with Central winning both contests. The first-ever trip to St. George was the aforementioned overtime affair to open the 2008 season—a game that the Wildcats won by a 44-38 score. Then, in last year's visit, CWU handed Dixie State its only home loss of the season with a 23-9 decision on Oct. 31, marking the largest margin of victory in two all-time trips to the Beehive State.

• This week's meeting marks the fifth time in as many all-time games between Central Washington and Dixie State that the Wildcats are nationally-ranked in the AFCA Division II poll. In fact, the number 13 ranking this week is the lowest national ranking that the team will have had when playing against Dixie State in the series' brief history.

• In an odd scheduling quirk within the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Wildcats and Red Storm will play each other again two weeks from Saturday (Sept. 18) in Ellensburg. As a result, Central's first two GNAC games of the 2010 season will both be against Dixie State.

• The road has been kind to Central Washington in recent years, especially during the 2009 season in which the Wildcats won all seven of their games away from home. Overall, CWU is 12-2 away from Tomlinson Stadium over the past two seasons, with its two losses coming at Montana (38-35) and at West Texas A&M (49-42) during the 2008 campaign.

• Central Washington has had a dominant record against current (or recent) members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The Wildcats have won 31 consecutive games against the combination of Dixie State, Humboldt State, Western Oregon, and Western Washington (which dropped football after the 2008 season). The last CWU loss to a team affiliated with the GNAC was a 28-21 loss to Western Washington at the Battle in Seattle in 2004.

• Playing under the lights has not been a problem for Central Washington in recent years, as the Wildcats have won their last 16 games played at night. The last nighttime loss also occurred on the same night that CWU last lost against a GNAC opponent—Sept. 25, 2004 against Western Washington at Qwest Field in Seattle. Central played four night games last season, and won them all but none were decided by 10 or more points. The Wildcats also have four night contests on the schedule this season.

• Central Washington opens Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with Dixie State as its opposition for the third consecutive season. The Wildcats opened its overall and conference schedule at Dixie State in 2008, and then made its 2009 GNAC debut against the Red Storm at Tomlinson Stadium last Oct. 3. That trend should change in 2011, however, as the Wildcats' tentative conference opener is scheduled to be against Humboldt State.

• Both Central Washington and Dixie State come into this week's conference opener on the heels of lopsided opening-week losses last Saturday. The Wildcats lost to a fellow nationally-ranked team, Minnesota Duluth, by a 35-10 score at Ellensburg's Tomlinson Stadium, while the Red Storm lost 34-14 on the road against Adams State in Alamosa, CO. The other three teams in the GNAC will make their 2010 debuts this weekend, with two of those—Western Oregon and Simon Fraser—squaring off in Burnaby, BC, on Saturday afternoon. Humboldt State opens against a Division I-Football Championship Subdivision opponent in Cal Poly.

• This week's trip to St. George opens the first of two two-game road trips of the 2010 season for the Wildcats. Following this week's visit to Dixie State, Central will travel a bit closer to home for a Sept. 11 date with Division I-FCS rival Eastern Washington at Qwest Field in Seattle in a game donned the “Showdown on the Sound”. After the Sept. 18 home game against Dixie State, the Wildcats will then be back on the road for two more games, venturing to Simon Fraser (Sept. 25) and Humboldt State (Oct. 2). Following their trip to northern California in early October, CWU will have four home games and will not leave the state of Washington for a game the rest of the regular season.

• In Central's last visit to Hansen Stadium, the Wildcats secured their 32nd all-time football conference championship by defeating Dixie State, 23-9.

• The last overtime game in Central Washington football history was the game played in 2008 at Hansen Stadium. The Wildcats won that game by a 44-38 count, thanks to an interception on their defensive series and then a 25-yard touchdown run by J.R. Hasty on the first offensive play from scrimmage in Central's possession in the overtime period.

• This week's game will mark the highest elevation for a Central Washington football game this season. With an elevation of 2,860 feet, St. George, UT, is more than 1,300 feet higher in elevation than Ellensburg (1,542 feet). The next highest elevation for an away venue for the Wildcats this season is at nearly 1,200 feet in Burnaby, BC, where Simon Fraser is located.

• This week's match-up between Central Washington and Dixie State will feature seven student-athletes who will be playing opposite a school in their home state. Central has one Utahan on its roster—senior QB Alex Cate—who hails from Salt Lake City and graduated from Cottonwood High School. Cate has not played a football game in his home state since his final prep game with the Colts in 2005. Dixie State has six Washingtonians on its roster, including three who transferred to the school from Western Washington after the Vikings dropped their football program after the 2008 season.

• Central Washington will debut its new white away jerseys and pants for this week's game. The uniforms, featuring a black Nike “Swoosh” logo on the upper left chest, closely resemble their home crimson uniforms, which they began using prior to the 2009 home opener against West Texas A&M. The new away uniforms are white with crimson piping with crimson numbers outlined in black, and feature “WILDCATS” written in black across the lower neck of the jersey.

• Wildcat head coach Blaine Bennett hopes that the third time will be the charm in his search for career win number 50. Now in his ninth season as a collegiate head coach, he enters this week's game with a 49-36 career record but has been stuck on 49 career wins since defeating Tarleton State in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs last fall. In his third season leading Central Washington, he has a 22-4 record, which at 84.6 percent, is the top winning percentage in school history through 26 games. Bennett previously spent six seasons (1995-2000) guiding the program at GNAC rival Western Oregon, where he posted a 27-32 record.

• In the history of Central Washington football, which dates back to 1901, the Wildcats have never played a game on Sept. 4. CWU had never played a game in the month of August until it made its August debut in 2001 against North Dakota, and only once before 2001 had Central played a game earlier than Sept. 8 (Sept. 2, 2000 at North Dakota).

CENTRAL NOTES

• TWO-GAME SKID A RARITY: Dating back to the end of last season, Central Washington has lost consecutive games, which in and of itself, is a rarity. The last time the Wildcats dropped back-to-back games was the final two games of the 2006 season when they fell to Minnesota State (33-17) and Nebraska-Omaha (48-14) in the final two games of head coach John Zamberlin's CWU coaching career. The last three-game losing streak for the Crimson and Black occurred during the 2004 season, when Central was outscored by a combined 101-29 in losses to North Dakota (34-0), Eastern Washington (39-8), and Western Washington (28-21). The Wildcats proceeded to reel off six consecutive wins following that losing skid in '04 and finished with a 7-4 record that season.

• NATIONAL RANKING SUCCESS: This week's game will mark the 48th time in Central's 12 years as a member of the NCAA Division II that the Wildcats will take the field ranked among the top 25. They have had quite a successful run in the national polls, with a 38-9 all-time mark (80.9 percent) when earning a top-25 ranking, including a 1-0 record when ranked 13th nationally. Of Central's games played when ranked in the Division II poll, 26 of them have been played away from Tomlinson Stadium, with a 22-4 mark in such contests.

• TEAM CAPTAINS: Three seniors and a junior were selected as team captains for the 2010 season. Taking on the captaincy role for the Wildcats this season are seniors LB Adam Bighill (Montesano, WA/Montesano HS), RB Bryson Kelly (Mukilteo, WA/Kamiak HS), and WR Jamal Weems (Seattle, WA/Cleveland HS), as well as junior DE Tyrell Nielsen (Woodland, WA/Woodland HS). All four were voted as team leaders for the first time in their respective careers.

• NEW STARTERS A-PLENTY: Last week's season opener against Minnesota Duluth marked the starting debut for 12 of Central Washington's 22 starters, including seven first-time starters on the offensive side of the football. Of those 12 to make their first Wildcat start, nine of them were playing in their first game as a member of the Crimson and Black.

• AN EVEN 600 FOR KELLY: Senior RB Bryson Kelly had a strong start to the 2010 season and reached the 600-yard rushing plateau for his career in the process. With 52 yards on 13 carries against Minnesota Duluth, Kelly, who made his third start in 14 career games at running back, now has an even 600 rushing yards for his career. Putting things into perspective, only 25 players since 1960 have totaled 1,000 or more career rushing yards.

• HELWEGE OVER 500: Junior WR Justin Helwege (Sammamish, WA/Eastlake HS) had five receptions for 47 yards against UMD last week, enabling him to become the 54th player in school history to surpass the 500-yard receiving plateau for his Wildcat career. Helwege was the intended receiver on at least 10 of Central's 48 pass attempts versus the Bulldogs. Next on the receiving yards list is senior WR Jamal Weems, whose 428 career yards are tied for 59th all-time.

• OFFENSE IS BEST ON FIRST DOWN: The Central Washington offense performed the best on first down in the season opener last week, averaging 5.9 yards per play on its 30 first-down plays in the game. The Wildcats' gains on third down were nearly as good, with an average of 5.7 yards per play on 17 third-down plays. However, Central was successful on just 37.5 percent of its third-down conversions.

• RED ZONE EFFICIENCY NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: The Wildcats have been accustomed to scoring points once they reach the opponents' 20-yard line, so scoring just three points in two trips into the red zone against Minnesota Duluth was a bit of a change. In 2009, Central scored a touchdown or field goal on 83 percent of its 53 trips into the red zone, scoring 246 points on 29 touchdowns and 15 field goals.

• SMITH HAS IMPRESSIVE FIRST START: Senior WR Chris Smith (San Diego, CA/Helix HS) had an impressive first start in a Wildcat uniform, compiling 156 all-purpose yards in the 2010 opener. He had a team-leading 86 receiving yards—24 more than he accumulated for the entire 2009 season—and also had six receptions. He scored the Wildcats' lone touchdown of the game on a 39-yard pass from sophomore QB Ryan Robertson (Sammamish, WA/Eastlake HS) in the third quarter. In addition to his receiving exploits, Smith finished with 70 yards on four kickoff returns.

• BIGHILL CLIMBS TACKLE LEADERBOARD: Senior LB Adam Bighill climbed three spots in the school's career tackles list with his 10-tackle outing against Minnesota Duluth. Bighill, who recorded his second straight double-digit tackle game—and the seventh of his four-year career while making his team-leading 31st career start, is now ranked 12th in CWU history with 228 career tackles. Next on the all-time leaderboard is the late Shane Wyrsch, whose 233 tackles are 11th all-time, and Bighill needs 18 tackles to join the all-time top 10 for tackles. (Note that tackle statistics were not kept prior to 1980).