17th Meeting

Colby Mules (0-0)

Vs.

Williams College Ephs (0-0)

1:00 PMSaturday, September 20, 2008

Weston Field

Williamstown, MA

SERIES: Began in 1956. Williams leads the series 13-3-0 (.813). The Ephs lost their last match-up with the Mules by a score of 39-5 at Colby in the home-opener in 2005.  The Ephs went on to lose at Trinity before rattling off six wins in a row to finish the 2005 season 6-2.

The last Mule win at Weston Field came in 2000 (27-24).

COACHES: The Ephs' Mike Whalen (24-6) is in his fifth year as the Williams head coach, during which time his teams have never finished worse than 6-2. Whalen was previously the Ephs' head wrestling coach from 1996 to 2003, and the offensive line coach for the same span, including the last three years as offensive coordinator. Whalen is 1-1 vs. Colby.

In 2007 Whalen guided the Ephs to a 6-2 record after the Ephs dropped two heartbreakers to open the season.  He also led the 2006 Ephs to the sixth perfect season in Williams history, extending the Eph win streak at the time to 14 and earning NESCAC Coach of the Year honors. He was also the only New England coach to finish in the top 25 in Liberty Mutual's Coach of the Year program among coaches in all divisions of college football.

Whalen, a 1983 graduate of Wesleyan University, captained both the football and wrestling teams while earning All-New England and All-American honors three times. Whalen's football coaching resume also includes stops at Springfield, Penn, Lafayette, and Colgate

Ed Mestieri is in his 20th year of coaching at Colby and his fifth as head coach of the Mules heading into the 2008 season. During Mestieri's association with the Colby program, the Mules have amassed a 86-73-1 record and have won or shared 14 CBB titles, with 12 of those won outright.  Mestieri is 1-1 vs. Williams.

CEREMONIAL COIN TOSS:  Theodore Noehren '39, 90 years young, and a former Eph football player will participate in the coin toss before the game.

RADIO - INTERNET:  The Williams College student station, WCFM (91.9 FM) will air each game live. To hear the game on the Internet on WCFM go to Shoutcast.com  and type in WCFM. Choose one of the streams based on the quality you want (56kbps for a dial up modem, 128kbps recommended overall for stability/fidelity), which will be opened in a music player like Winamp (recommended) or iTunes.
 
TEAMLINE:  TEAMLINE is a pay-to-listen service. You can listen over your telephone or over the Internet to the game by contacting TEAMLINE.
 
Internet: go to the Eph football page on TEAMLINE.
 
The Eph access code is: 0126.
 
Telephone: dial 1-800-846-4700 and follow the prompts. The Eph access code is 0126.

LIVE STATS: You can view Live Stats of this game on Saturday by clicking here.

STREAKS: The Ephs finished last season with six straight wins and have won their last four home-openers. Colby has finished 2-6 each of the past two seasons after registering one of the best years in the program's history in 2005 with a 7-1 record and second-place finish to undefeated Trinity.  Colby has not won a season opener since defeating Williams in Waterville in 2005.

AWARDS: 6 returning Eph seniors earned All-NESCAC honors last year:

1^st Team: RB Brian Morrissey, OL John Szawlowski, WR Ryan Powell,  LB Trevor Powers 

2^nd Team: OL Henry Szawlowski, DB Tim Batty

BY THE NUMBERS ...

991 - games played by Williams in football

603 - All-time wins by Williams (603-341-47, .639), 5th best all time in Div. III

436.1/237.6 - 2007 Total Offense per game Ephs/Mules

304.8/325.1 - 2007 Total Defense per game Ephs/Mules

212.4/210.2 - 2007 Passing yards allowed per game Mules/Ephs

117.4/22.1 - 2007 Rushing yards per game for Ephs Brian Morrissey/Mules' Dan Prunier

72/65 - 2007 Tackles by Ephs Trevor Powers/Mules' Tom Daley

19.6/22.6 - Scoring Defense per game Ephs/Mules

74.9 - 2007 All-Purpose Yards Mules' Dan Prunier

6.75 - 2007 Receptions per game Ephs' Ryan Powell

0 - Total number of games started by Eph quarterbacks

Starting Lineups