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THE KICKOFF
Following three non-league games, the Engineers begin their Liberty League slate with a rivalry game against WPI ... The winner claims the Transit Trophy ... Rensselaer is 2-1, having defeated Norwich in week 1, 29-9, losing to Alfred, 34-31, in the home opener in week 2 and winning at Castleton, 41-13, last weekend.
 
WPI is off to a 1-2 start, all in non-league games ... The Engineers began the season with a 29-7 win at Curry before suffering losses to Worcester State, 30-7, and at Norwich, 10-7, last weekend.
 
THE SERIES
Saturday's game against the Engineers is the 108th meeting between the two schools, dating back to November 3, 1894 ... Rensselaer fell to WPI 4-0 in that first game ... The all-time series is led by RPI, which owns a 56-46-5 advantage ... RPI is 33-18-3 (.639) all-time against the Engineers at home ... Since moving its home field to the ECAV Stadium, RPI is 1-1 against WPI in Troy ... This year is the 11th that RPI and WPI have been league competitors ... Rensselaer is 7-3 in conference games.
 
STREAK SNAPPED
RPI had won 13 straight games against WPI, including the previous six in Troy, going into the 2010 meeting … WPI snapped that streak with a 24-10 win at Rensselaer's East Campus Stadium ... WPI won back-to-back games against RPI in 2010 and 2011 – the first time that happened since 1995 and 1996 ... The Engineers from Massachusetts have now won three of the last four meetings.
 
IN THE RECORD BOOK
Rensselaer's 107 all-time meetings with WPI are the second most against any one opponent, trailing only Union (111) ... RPI's 56 wins over the Engineers rank first against a single foe ... Rensselaer's 46 losses is second (79 to Union).
 
TRANSIT TROPHY
After the 1979 contest it was decided by the athletic directors of both schools to create a trophy for this long-standing rivalry ... A transit was chosen because both schools have engineering curriculums ... The Engineers from Troy lead the Transit Trophy series, 22-11-1.
 
AT NIGHT
Saturday is the third home game the Engineers have ever played at night with the other two coming against Union in 2010, a 21-7 victory, and Castleton in 2011, a 51-21 win ... Those began at 6pm.
 
RECENT LEAGUE OPENERS
RPI is 4-6 in its last 10 league openers, including 3-3 against WPI over the past six years ... RPI is 2-3 at home in that span.
 
IN THE RECORD BOOK: Rensselaer's 107 all-time meetings with WPI are the second most against any one opponent, trailing only Union (111) ... RPI's 56 wins over the Engineers rank first against a single foe ... Rensselaer's 46 losses is second (79 to Union).
 
STREAK SNAPPED: RPI had won 13 straight games against WPI, including the previous six in Troy, going into the 2010 meeting … WPI snapped that streak with a 24-10 win at Rensselaer's East Campus Stadium ... The Engineers from Massachusetts have now won three of the last four meetings.
 
TWO STRAIGHT: WPI won back-to-back games against RPI in 2010 and 2011 – the first time that happened since 1995 and 1996.
 
IN 2012: Senior quarterback Mike Hermann threw two touchdowns and rushed for three others and RPI scored five times over the course of the second and third quarters to regain possession of the Transit Trophy, 39-17 ... Hermann completed 25 of 36 passes for 239 yards and scoring strikes of 29 and 28 yards ... He had scoring runs of three, one and one yard and finished with 42 yards on the ground ... The favorite target was senior Steven Burpoe, who had a game-high nine catches for 100 yards ... Rensselaer gained control by scoring three times in the second quarter ... Hermann had runs of three and one yard for a 19-10 lead with under five minutes to go ... With under a minute left in the first half, RPI blocked a punt to set the Engineers up at the 14-yard line ... Following two penalties, Hermann found Burpoe down the middle for a 29-yard touchdown on a third-and-25 play with 33 seconds left in the half ... Rensselaer then scored 14 points in the third quarter for a 39-10 lead.
 
RPI LAST WEEK: Rensselaer held Castleton off the scoreboard in the first half while building a 27-0 advantage and finished with a 41-13 victory ... The Engineers churned out 297 yards on the ground, averaging 5.0 yards per rush while also passing the ball for 297 yards to finish with 575 total yards of offense as they improved to 2-1 with the victory ... Castleton, meanwhile, finished the game with 269 yards of total offense, including just 68 on the ground ... Junior quarterback Jeff Avery did a bit of everything for the Engineers offense, going 17-of-27 with one interception for 297 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns ... He also added 17 rushing yards and a score ... Logan Gadder was the primary target, catching four passes for 124 yards and a touchdown ... On the ground, three different runners had over 40 yards, led by Mike Tivinis with 84 yards and one touchdown on six attempts ... Defensively, Brandon Cook had a team-best seven tackles for the Engineers, who intercepted four passes.
 
HONORED: After leading the Engineers to a 41-13 victory over Castleton on Saturday, junior quarterback Jeff Avery and senior kicker Andrew Franks were named the Liberty League Offensive Performer and Special Teams Performer of the week, respectively ... Franks was also named the ECAC Division III Northwest Special Teams Player of the Week ... It is Avery's first, and Franks' second weekly award this season ... Avery completed 17-of-27 pass attempts for 297 yards and two touchdowns ... The quarterback also ran the ball seven times, including a touchdown ... Franks converted five extra-point attempts, went 2-for-2 on field goal attempts, and averaged 40.0 yards per punt and 64.0 yards per kickoff ... Four of his seven kickoff attempts resulted in touchbacks and he had a long of 41 yards on a punt ... Franks also hit two field goals in the second quarter, from 34 and 31 yards.
 
WPI LAST WEEK: Norwich  sophomore kicker Wes Medeiros made a 22-yard field goal with five seconds left in the game to clinch a 10-7 victory over WPI in Vermont. Medeiros capped off an impressive 15-play, 70-yard drive that ate up 6:57 of clock.

Norwich started the eventual game-winning drive at its own 25-yard line after the NU defense forced WPI's offense into a three and out, and junior Sam Chaves returned a Vinny Tavernelli punt eight yards. Senior quarterback Keyen Foley went to work from there, opening up the drive with a nine-yard completion. Senior running back Al Georgio picked up the first down on the next play with a six-yard rush. Norwich converted three big plays on third down to keep the drive rolling, starting with Foley hooking up with Pierre Noel for a 16 yard pass on third and seven at the NU 43. After losing six yards on its first play from the WPI 12, Georgio ran for three and seven yards to setup Medeiros' game-winning heroics.

Norwich kicked off with five seconds left but WPI's Sean Murphy was stripped on the return.

WPI opened the scoring with 14:55 left in the second quarter whenDan Eckler found Joe Igoe for an 18-yard touchdown pass.

Norwich answered right back, scoring on its ensuing possession when Foley found Georgio on a screen pass that he took all the way to the end zone for 75 yards.

Neither side was able to muster much on offense the rest of the way. WPI had a chance to take the lead five minutes into the fourth quarter when the Engineers marched 68 yards on 11 plays in a little less than six minutes to set up a 22-yard field goal attempt for Brian Bursey, who pulled the kick just wide left.

WPI's Eckler went 15-for-25 for 152 yards passing with a touchdown. Trey Pierce had 19 carries for 43 yards to lead the Engineers' rushing attack.

Eric Lacroix led WPI with eight tackles, while Brian Murtagh had seven tackles with an interception and one tackle for loss. The Engineers also sacked Foley five times with Robert Harasimowicz notching two.