ELON, N.C. – Playing consecutive road games for the first time all season, the Elon football team will travel to Williamsburg, Va., to take on the 24th-ranked Tribe of William & Mary in a 3:30 p.m. game on Saturday.
The game will be televised by Comcast SportsNet with Brent Harris handling play-by-play duties and Andy Gresh serving as the analyst. Those who do not receive a Comcast SportsNet station will be able to watch the game through CAA.TV’s simulcast.
Fans unable to attend the game can also listen to the game on WPCM 95.1 FM and 920 AM or at elonphoenix.com. The radio broadcast will start at 2:30 p.m. Fans can also listen to all Elon football games via the TuneIn Radio app. This app is free to download to your smartphone.
CONNECTIONS:
• Elon DB Bo Hartman and W&M RB Kendell Anderson both graduated from Centreville, Va.’s Westfield High.
• Elon DB Julius Moore was a teammate of W&M DB Blake Cooksey at Cosby High.
• Elon RB Kelly Brooks-Muse and W&M OL Chris Durant both attended Oakton High.
• William & Mary’s roster has three North Carolinians – Garrett Best (Laurinburg), Braxton Hicks (Charlotte) and Nathan McConnell (Jacksonville).
• Elon’s roster has seven players who hail from Virginia – Bo Hartman (Centreville), Julius Moore (Chesterfield), Demetrius Oliver (Portsmouth), Matt McClary (Smithfield), Zach Duprey(Stanardsville), Kelly Brooks-Muse (Vienna) and Justin Snavely (Wytheville).
A NEW HOME:
After spending the past 11 seasons as a member of the Southern Conference, Elon has joined the Colonial Athletic Association and CAA Football. The Phoenix officially transitioned to CAA Football on July 1, 2014.
The CAA geographic footprint provides an attractive match with Elon’s student and alumni populations. Elon draws a large proportion of its enrollment from mid-Atlantic and New England states where many CAA teams are located. About 1,850 current students came to Elon from areas close to CAA member schools. Alumni populations in CAA cities are equally strong, with about 5,300 Elon alumni living within 50 miles of CAA member schools.
ELON VS. WILLIAM & MARY:
• This will be the first football meeting between Elon and William & Mary.
FLAGS ARE FEW
When it comes to penalties, Elon has done an outstanding job of avoiding flags. The Phoenix leads the CAA in fewest penalties per game (4.33), fewest penalty yards (299) and fewest penalty yards per game (33.22). The only team in the CAA that has committed fewer total penalties than Elon (39) is Maine (36).
In fact, the maroon and gold’s 33.22 penalty yards per game are the fewest in the nation. The next CAA team in those rankings is William & Mary. The Tribe’s 35.67 penalty yards per game rates third nationally.
HIGHLY RANKED
Elon played back-to-back games against top-five opponents for the first time in its NCAA Division I history. The Phoenix dropped games to #3 Coastal Carolina and #4 New Hampshire.
This week’s game with William & Mary will mark Elon’s fourth against a top-25 opponent. The Phoenix has faced three or more top-25 teams in five consecutive seasons, but this will be the first time since 2011 that four top-25 foes have appeared on the slate.
FOURTH DOWN SUCCESS
When choosing to go for it on fourth down this year, Elon has had a lot of success. In fact, the Phoenix is converting fourth downs at a 57.9 percent clip, 35th nationally and fourth in the league. Elon has converted 11 of 19 fourth down tries.