82nd Meeting

Williams College Ephs (2-1)

vs.

Middlebury College Panthers (1-2)

1:30 pm Saturday, October 17th

Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium

Middlebury, VT

SERIES: Began in 1906. Williams leads the series over Middlebury 63-17-1. The Ephs have defeated the Panthers in their last 8 meetings, and in 15 of the last 16 contests since 1993. Last year’s matchup was one of the most unforgettable games played in the history of the series, as the two squads combined for unthinkable offensive numbers: 95 points, 13 touchdowns, and 1,184 yards of total offense.

Williams held a commanding 44-17 lead with less than thirty minutes to play, but the Panthers staged a near-miraculous second-half comeback, falling just one score short of the win as they lost 50-45.

The 2007 season marked the last time these two squared off at Youngman Field, a game that the Ephs won in comeback fashion. Down 14-13 at the half, Williams cranked out 17 unanswered points to claim a 30-22 victory over the Panthers, a loss that would turn out to be Middlebury’s only blemish on an otherwise perfect NESCAC-championship year.

Middlebury’s last series win came in 2000, when they shutout the Ephs at Weston Field by a score of 7-0. It was the first time Williams was shutout at home since 1992, when the Panthers also blanked them 3-0, which also happened to be the last time Middlebury beat Williams prior to the 2000 win. One must go all the way back to 1982 for the most recent Eph loss at Middlebury, a narrow 24-23 defeat.

COACHES: Mike Whalen (34-9) is in his sixth year as Eph head coach this season. During his stint, Williams has never finished worse than 6-2. Whalen was the head coach of the Williams wrestling program from 1996 to 2003, during which time he also served as the Ephs offensive line coach. He held the title of offensive coordinator in his last three years as an assistant coach.

Whalen 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.

Whalen graduated from Little Three rival Wesleyan in 1983, where he was captain of both the football and wrestling squads. He earned All-New England and All-American honors three times in his athletic career, and has coached football at Springfield, Penn, Lafayette, and Colgate.

Whalen has led Williams to four consecutive Little Three titles. He is 5-0 in his head coaching career against Middlebury.

Middlebury's Bob Ritter (38-29) is in his ninth year as head coach of the Panther football program. His teams saw their best run in the ’06-’07 seasons, as they went 13-3 in that span. Ritter was honored as both the NESCAC Coach of the Year and the Region I AFCA Coach of the Year in ’07 after Middlebury’s 7-1, NESCAC Championship season.

Ritter graduated from Middlebury 1982 and began his coaching career the very next semester as the defensive coordinator. After six years in Vermont, Ritter moved on to Tufts University, where he served as head lacrosse coach and both offensive and defensive coordinator of the football program. Eventually, he landed back in Middlebury in ’96 as assistant coach to both the lacrosse and football teams, until being named the head coach of the program in December of 2000.

Ritter is winless in 8 games against the Ephs in his career as a head coach.

RADIO - INTERNET: The Williams College student station, WCFM (91.9 FM) will air the game live locally and on the Internet. To hear the game on the Internet on WCFM go to wcfm.williams.edu and click on the Listen Live link.

LISTEN on TEAMLINE: TEAMLINE is a pay-to-view and a pay-to-listen service for this contest. You can access TEAMLINE on the Internet by clicking here.

TELEPHONE: Dial TEAMLINE at 1-800-846-4700 and follow the prompts. The Eph access code is 0126.

W-A-T-C-H Middelbury webcast by clicking here.

STREAKS: The Ephs enter after their strongest performance of the early season, defeating Bates 31-7 in their home-opener last Saturday at Weston Field. It was an important bounce-back victory for the program, as they had a four-game win streak come to a bitter end two weeks ago at Trinity.

Middlebury was defeated at Amherst last week 20-10, in what was by far their lowest scoring effort of the year, having lost at Bowdoin two weeks ago 50-35 in their season-opener and dominating Colby 45-0 in their home-opener last week. They are looking to end the Ephs’ 8-game series win streak and to claim victory against Williams in Vermont for the first time in over 27 years.

BY THE NUMBERS…

25.0/30.0… Points per game Ephs/Panthers

17.3/23.3… Points allowed per game Ephs/Panthers

211.7/433.0… Passing yards per game Ephs/Panthers

186.7/267.7… Passing yards allowed per game Ephs/Panthers

148.7/75.3… Rushing yards per game Ephs/Panthers

73.3/110.7… Rushing yards allowed per game Ephs/Panthers

90.4/132.9… Ephs’ pass defense efficiency/Panthers’ pass offense efficiency (both 2nd in NESCAC)

98.3… Rushing yards per game for Ephs’ Ryan Lupo (leads NESCAC)

407.3… Passing yards per game for Panthers’ Donald McKillop (leads NESCAC)

131.7/115.0… All-Purpose yards per game for Ephs’ Bryce Bennett/Ryan Lupo (3rd and 5th in NESCAC)

8.67/8.33… Receptions per game for Panther’s Erik Rostad/James Millard (2nd and 3rd in NESCAC)

4/2… Touchdowns thrown in last year’s matchup by Ephs’ Pat Moffitt/Panthers’ Donald McKillop

95… The number of combined points scored in last year’s matchup at Weston Field

260.0… Total yards per game allowed by Ephs’ defense (leads NESCAC)

508.3… Total yards per game netted by Panther’s offense (leads NESCAC)

462/381... Passing yards in last year's contest for Panthers' Donald McKillop/Ephs' Patrick Moffitt

73-47-5-2... Passes/completions/interceptions/TD passes by McKillop last year in Williamstown

30/20/1/4... Passes/completions/interceptions/TD passes by Moffitt last year in Williamstown



STARTING LINEUPS


Williams College Ephs


Offense

TE -- Jon Carroll -- #86

T -- Graham McCulloch -- #72

G -- Simon Kloeckner -- #65

C -- Tim Bishop -- #54

G -- Kevin Rose -- #73

T -- Mike McGuire -- #54

RB -- Ryan Lupo -- #23

QB -- Patrick Moffitt -- #5

WR -- J.C. Stickney -- #11

WR -- Tommy Tysse -- #1

WR -- Todd Schnuck -- #81



Defense

DE -- E. J. Toppin -- #29

DT -- Colin Curzi -- #97

DT -- Nichola Mirkovic -- #56

DE -- Dan Vaczy -- #52

LB -- Chris Cameron -- #42

LB -- Dylan Schultz -- #55

LB -- Eric Anderson -- #43

DB -- Ben Oliva -- #12

DB -- Dan O'Mara -- #21

DB -- Will Cronin -- #9

DB -- Matt Zanedis -- #27


K -- Chris Cleary -- #14

P -- Will Cronin -- #9


Middlebury College Panthers


Offense

TE -- David Reed -- #44

LT -- Ken LeStrange -- #74

LG -- Chris Wood -- #75

C -- Paul Bennett -- #71

RG -- Stuart Lindberg -- #68

RT -- John Poulson -- #70

WR -- Tim Monaghan -- #88

WR -- James Millard -- #2

WR -- Matt Rayner -- #6

RB -- Erik Rostad -- #7

QB -- Donald McKillop -- #16

PK -- Anthony Kuchan -- #1


Defense

DL -- Taylor Robinson -- #99

NT -- Keegan Ashley -- #49

DL -- Carl Culicchia -- #96

OLB -- Chris Dola -- #50

ILB -- Andrew Poulin -- #37

ILB -- Eric Kamback -- #38

OLB -- Andrew Durfee -- #53

CB -- Connor Green -- #35

CB -- Matt Wassel -- #12

S -- Dan Haluska -- #23

S -- Cam Taylor -- #11

P -- Anthony Kuchan -- #12