TCNJ GAMEDAY

WHO: The College of New Jersey (0-3, 0-0 NJAC) at William Paterson (2-1, 0-0 NJAC) WHEN: Saturday at 1 p.m. at Wightman Stadium

COACHES: TCNJ’s Casey Goff (3nd season, 7-15 TCNJ, 12-20 overall) and Dustin Johnson (2nd season, 2-11)

SERIES: TCNJ leads 38-8-1, including the last four meetings.

LAST WEEK: TCNJ had a bye, William Paterson defeated Maritime College, 35-0 SIGNIFICANCE: Conference opener for both teams

TCNJ SCOUTING REPORT: The Lions have done a lot of things good on both sides of the ball the problem has been they are not doing it consistently. The last two games TCNJ has been outscored 49-0 after playing things very close in the first half. Andrew Donoghue has thrown for 759 yards in the three games and connected on five touchdowns, but there has been eight interceptions. Mark Pacini does the bulk of the ball carrying and has 3.5 yards a carry and freshman Joe Ciempola came up with 4.6 yards a carry in the St. John Fisher game. Trenton High’s Bryant Sanchez leads in tackles with 18 and Luke Young has 16 while Jared Lyles had 2.5 sacks. If the Lions can stay consistent for 60 minutes they could get that elusive 2019 win.

WILLIAM PATERSON SCOUTING REPORT: When you snap a 27 games losing streak and you are sitting at 2-1 for the first time since 2011 you become a very confident football team. Throw in its homecoming and rest assured the Pioneers will be ready to play. Paterson is the NJAC’s top rated defensive team allowing just 11.7 points a game. Terrique Riddick is the conference’s top rusher averaging 90.3 yards a game and Marcel Mason is 6th averaging 65.3 yards a game. The rushing game will challenge the Lions front defensive line. The Pioneers defense has been solid and could frustrate TCNJ.

KEY MATCHUP: TCNJ defensive front against the WPU offensive line.

EXTRA POINTS: The last time Paterson beat the Lions was 2014 by a 21-0 score. … Riddick, who is a freshman, is third in allpurpose yards. …TCNJ’s Vinny Guckin and Jack Clevenger are two of the top receivers in the NJAC averaging 7.7 and 6.0 catches a game. …Other NJAC games this week have Rowan (0-3, 0-0) at No. 12 Wesley (3-0, 0-0), Montclair State (1-2, 0-0) at No. 15 Salisbury (3-0, 0-0) and Christopher Newport (0-3, 0-0) at Kean (1-2, 0-0). PREDICTION: TCNJ 28, Paterson 17