By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES (PDF) | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE AUDIO | LIVE STATS
MOREHEAD, Ky. — For the second time in three weeks, Morehead State football will take to the skies for a road game, this time heading to the west coast to take on PFL foe San Diego Saturday. Kick-off is set for 4 p.m. ET.
Both teams are still in the hnt for a conference title with just one loss, both to Davidson. The Eagles are 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the PFL while the Toreros have won five straight now and are 5-4 overall and 5-1 in the league. MSU is still on the search for its first-ever win over San Diego.
The game will air live on the West Coast Conference network. It 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-110.9 FM/1370 AM and WMST-106.9 FM/1150 AM.
THE SERIES
Record vs. San Diego: 0-12First Meeting: 2005 (L, 47-40 at USD)Last Meeting: 2018 (L, 52-28 at USD)Record in Morehead: 0-5Record in San Diego: 0-7
GAME NOTES• Senior wide receiver BJ Byrd is nearing the Morehead State single-season record for yards, held by Donte Sawyer with 1,024 in 2012. Byrd, who ranks third among all FCS players in total yards (891) and yards per game (111.4), needs just 134 more yards (with three games to go) to break Sawyer’s mark. With 110 more yards, he becomes just the third Eagle ever to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a single season, joining Sawyer and Chris Berry (1,016 in 1997).
• Byrd has the most 100-yard games in program history in a single-season. He has six games with 100 or more receiving yards this season, bettering Sawyer’s mark of four from 2012.
• Defensive end Vaughn Taylor, Jr., has risen back to the top of the FCS leaderboard in tackles for loss. The Washington, D.C. native and Kansas transfer has 19 stops behind the line of scrimmage in 2021 and has had a part in at least one TFL in 10 consecutive games. Taylor is the MSU career record holder for TFLs with 56 and is chasing the single-season program record of 27 set by linebacker Fred Johnson in 1992. The PFL single-season record is also 27, held by Mario Kurn of San Diego in 2010.
• Vaughn Taylor, Jr,’s 56 career tackles for loss is ranked fifth on the Pioneer League’s career chart.
• Graduate student QB Mark Pappas is the primary reason why the Eagles are ranked sixth in the FCS in passing yards this fall. Pappas ranks seventh nationally with 2,422 total yards and is eighth in yards per game at 302.8. His 21 TD connections also ranks second in the PFL and sixth nationally. Pappas is a two-time PFL Offensive Player of the Week this fall.
• Against Butler, running backs Earl Stoudemire (career high 148 yards) and Issiah Aguero (107) became the first two backs since Logan Holbrook and Roberto London in 2017 to both achieve 100-yard rushing totals in the same game.
• The Morehead State defense ranks ninth in the FCS in tackles for loss per game. The Eagle D is averaging 7.7 TFLs every week.
• Linebacker Vincent Winey and defensive back Khiyree Keith nearly became the first teammates to both have 20+ tackles in a game last weekend versus Davidson. Winey came within one of his own school record with 22 stops against the Wildcats, while Keith made a career-high 19 tackles. Winey ranked second in the PFL in tackles in the spring and has upped his total to a team-high 69 this fall, helped by 34 just in the last two games.
• Vincent Winey has 199 career tackles, needing just one more to break the milestone 200-tackle plateau for his three-year career as an Eagle.
• Morehead State has generated 194 first downs this fall, which ranks as the eighth best total among all FCS teams.