Football | 11/7/2014 8:10:00 AM

Game Notes | Live Audio (WRPI) | Live Stats | Live Video

THE KICKOFF
Rensselaer comes off a bye week and travels to Springfield, Mass., to take on the Pride for a Liberty League contest at 12pm. The game is the final road contest for the Engineers, who have lost three straight. Springfield, which was also idle last week, had won four in a row before dropping two of its last three games.

THE SERIES
The Engineers have played the Pride eight times in school history and have a 2-6-0 record. RPI won the first meeting (9-6 in 1924 in Troy) and sixth matchup (40-34 in Springfield in 2003) with the Pride. Five of the eight games have been played in Western Massachusetts.

TOUGH LOSSES
Two of RPI's losses were games that came down to plays late in each contest. In a 34-31 loss to Alfred in the home opener, the Engineers moved to the visitor's one yard line before a penalty moved them back 15 yards. A game-winning touchdown pass into the end zone was broken up and the subsequent potential game-tying field goal attempt was missed. At Rochester, a 34-20 loss, RPI had the ball at the U of R two-yard line but a fumble on a sack led to a Yellowjackets defensive score with six seconds remaining for the final 14-point margin.

RECORD SETTER
Rensselaer senior kicker Andrew Franks has established school records for field goal yardage and career field goals. He made a 54 yard field goal in RPI's last game, breaking his previous record of 51 yards. In fact he owns the top four field goal distances in school history (54, 51, 50, 50). His 54 yarder is the longest in Division III this season and his 51 yarder is third. Franks has 34 career field goals, breaking the mark of 31 set by Matt Verenini from 2001-03. An All-America from Carmel, Calif., Franks has 13 field goals (13 of 18) this season, which is second in school history (Verenini had 18 in 2003). He is third in career point-after-touchdowns with 105. Eric Byrne '01 holds the school record of 135.