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Loretto, Pa. – The Saint Francis football team heads to Smithfield, R.I. on Saturday to take on Bryant in its conference opener.

Scouting Bryant

The Bulldogs enter conference play 0-4 after its most recent loss last Saturday to Brown, 35-30. The Bulldogs inability to stop the run has been its Achilles heel. Bryant's defense ranks last in the conference in scoring defense (36.0 ppg) and total defense (459.2 ypg) mostly because teams are averaging 290.0 rush yards per game against Bryant's front seven. SFU's run game will look to breakout after eclipsing 100 rushing yards in just one of its first four games.

Offensively, Bryant features a pass-heavy offense which ranks second in the NEC at 218.5 yards per game. Kory Curtis and Chris Hindle have shared playing time at the quarterback position, with Curtis connecting on over 60% of his passes for 178.7 ypg. He played the entire game on Saturday and had a big outing going 35-for-55 with 394 yards and two scores. Daniel Adeboboye tops the Bulldogs at 77.0 yards per game with two touchdowns.

Series History

Bryant leads the series 6-5, but Saint Francis has won three straight dating back to 2016, including a 27-14 victory last season in Loretto.

Ball Hawks

Saint Francis has a pair of ball hawks on the back end of its defense that have been critical in SFU's +3 turnover margin. Redshirt sophomore defensive back Gio Vonne Sanders (Jeannette, PA/Jeannette) has three interceptions over the last two ball games to lead the conference while junior Martin Foray Jr. leads the NEC in forced fumbles with three.

Give Me Five

Redshirt sophomore wide receiver E.J. Jenkins has caught a touchdown pass in each of SFU's first four games. The last receiver to accomplish that feat was Cyrus Holder (Uniondale, N.Y./Milford Academy) who scored a total of five touchdowns in a four-game stretch last season from Sept. 22 – Oct. 27. Jenkins is looking to become the first SFU player to find the end zone in five straight games since Khairi Dickson in 2014.

Watkins the Destroyer

Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman James Watkins (Oxon Hill, Md./Oxon Hill) continues to wreak havoc in opposing backfields after recording two more tackles for a loss vs. Columbia on Saturday. Watkins is tied-for-sixth in the NEC with 4.5 TFLs, registering four in two games combined vs. Lehigh and Columbia.

Getting off to a Quick Start

SFU is 3-1 in its last four conference openers but saw a three-game winning streak snapped last season on a last minute Wagner touchdown in a 23-22 loss. These two teams met in Smithfield in SFU's 2017 conference opener, a 30-14 win for the Red Flash.