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KICKOFF: The Engineers (7-2; 3-1 Liberty League) conclude the regular season with the Dutchman Shoes Trophy Game at Union College (7-2; 3-1 Liberty League) on Saturday at noon on Frank Bailey Field ... RPI goes in on a four-game winning streak.

REGULAR SEASON FINALE: The 2017 season is the sixth straight that Rensselaer and Union play in the last week of the regular season ... They played in the middle of the year between 2008 and 2012.

AT STAKE: Should Rensselaer defeat the Dutchmen, it will earn the Liberty League's automatic berth into the NCAA Playoffs ... RPI would share the regular season title with Ithaca College, but get the bid based on a win in the head-to-head matchup.

POST-SEASON STREAK: The Engineers have played in the post-season in each of the past three years, going 2-1 in ECAC Bowls, including a 38-6 win over Maritime in 2016.

TEN YEARS: The Engineers last played in the NCAA Playoffs in 2007, losing to The College of New Jersey, 17-14, in Troy ... RPI has played in the NCAAs four times (1999, 2001, 2003 & 2007).

SEVEN PLUS: Saturday's game is the first since 2012 that both teams have had winning records going into the Dutchman Shoes Trophy Game (RPI was 5-3 and Union 5-4) ... The last time these two teams met with both having at least seven wins was 2005 when RPI was 7-1 and Union was 9-0 ... That game, the regular season finale which Union won, 49-42 in Schenectady, secured an automatic bid into the NCAA Playoffs ... The Dutchmen finished 11-1, while RPI went on to beat St. John Fisher in an ECAC Bowl to finish 8-2.

NEW YORK STATE'S OLDEST RIVARLY: Rensselaer and Union have been playing each other in football since 1886, which makes it the oldest college football rivalry in New York State at any level ... The Dutchmen lead the all-time series, 80-30-4 ... The last series break between Rensselaer and Union came in 1945, when the Dutchmen did not field a team due to World War II.

IN DISPUTE: RPI claims a 30-80-4 all-time record with Union, but the Dutchmen list their record as 81-29-4 against the Engineers ... Rensselaer claims an 11-4 win in 1886, while Union has a 4-0 score in their favor ... Rensselaer's books show a 5-4 RPI win in 1888 while Union has no record of that game ... Union's archives show the Dutchmen won two games in 1901 but Rensselaer's records have only one game played that season, an 18-0 Union win.

SHOES TROPHY: Since 1950, RPI and Union have played for the Dutchman Shoes Trophy with the Engineers trailing in the series, which has pitted the two teams every season since, 20-47-0 ... The trophy features a wooden base, with two clogs mounted on a small pedestal, with one painted red with a white letter "R" and the other garnet with a white letter "U".

IN THE LEAGUE: RPI is 12-10 all-time against Union as members of the Liberty League ... The Dutchmen held a 5-0 record against the Engineers while both schools competed in the ICAC.

SCHOOL RECORDS: The 114 meetings with Union are the most against any one opponent for Rensselaer ... RPI's 30 wins is tied for the second most against any one school, while its 80 losses is first.

RECENTLY: In the past 22 meetings with the Dutchmen, dating back to 1995, the Engineers are 12-10 with the score differential being only 28 points, 494-463 in Rensselaer's favor.

TRY FOR FIVE: RPI has won four straight games against Union, the most consecutive victories for the Engineers in the 130-year history of the rivalry. 

LAST 10: In the last 10 years, Rensselaer is 7-3 with a 3-2 mark in Schenectady ... It took the Engineers 40 games to win their first seven games against the Dutchmen (7-29-4).

LAST SEASON: Mike Tivinis rushed for 117 yards and two touchdowns to lead Rensselaer to a 21-12 victory over Union ... The Engineers had 373 rushing yards, led by Tivinis, who had a three-yard touchdown run with five minutes remaining in the second quarter to cap an 11-play, 81-yard drive that put RPI ahead ... He added a 14-yard score in the third quarter for a 14-0 lead ... John Costello added 76 yards on the ground ... Delano Munoz Whatts returned the second half kickoff 52 yards to the Union 35 to set up RPI's second TD ... Rensselaer's Alexander Greenidge had a team-best 14 tackles.

Score by Quarter 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - Total
Union 0 - 0 - 6 - 6 - 12
Rensselaer 0 - 7 - 14 - 0 - 21

AWAY GAMES: Rensselaer is 11-45-2 at Union, including 3-7 in the last 10 at Frank Bailey Field ... The Engineers won the two most recent games in Schenectady, 31-28 on November 16, 2013 and 23-10 on November 14, 2015.

VETERAN'S DAY: RPI and Union have played only once on Veteran's Day with Rensselaer earning a 24-19 win in Troy in 2006. 

COMMON OPPONENTS: RPI and Union have four common opponents in Hobart, Ithaca, Rochester and St. Lawrence ... Rensselaer defeated all but Hobart, while Union beat every one except Ithaca.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Saturday is the last of six road games for Rensselaer, which will have traveled nearly 1000 miles this season ... The longest was to Buffalo (292 miles) with Alfred (271) the second longest ... Both Geneva (197), where Hobart is located, and Canton (195), home to St. Lawrence, are nearly 200 miles ... The trip to Schenectady is by far the shortest (14).

ROAD RECORD: RPI is 3-2 on the road with wins at WPI, Alfred and St. Lawrence and losses at Buffalo State and Hobart. 

ENGINEERS LAST WEEK: RPI scored 21 points in each of the first two quarters to build a 42-0 halftime lead and the Engineers went on to a 63-14 victory over Rochester ... RPI got on the scoreboard on its first play from scrimmage when freshman quarterback George Marinopoulos found junior slot receiver Connor Davies in the right flat and watched Davies run down the right sideline, breaking several tackles, for an 87-yard touchdown ... Turnovers on Rochester's next four possessions helped the Engineers build its commanding lead.

ALL-PURPOSE: Conor Davies accounted for 171 total yards, including 32 rushing and 87 receiving, against Rochester ... After scoring on an 87-yard reception, he later ran the offense from the quarterback position, picking up 32 rushing yards on six attempts while leading the Engineers to a touchdown ... He also had 25 kick return yards and 27 punt return yards.

ON OFFENSE: RPI finished with 470 yards of total offense against Rochester, including 210 on the ground ... Senior Ethan Wells had 99 yards on just six carries, including a 52-yard long, while Mike Tivinis finished with 62 yards (8 att.) and two scores ... George Marinopoulos was 9 for 11 for 198 yards with four touchdowns and senior Luke Moran was 2 for 3 for 62 yards ... Nick Cella scored on a pair of third quarter touchdowns.

ON DEFENSE: RPI saw 35 different players make at least one tackle against Rochester ... Senior Brandt Beck had eight stops, including two sacks for 19 yards, and a pass breakup.

SCHOOL RECORD: An 87-yard completion between George Marinopoulos and Connor Davies last week against Rochester is the longest in school history ... RPI's previous mark of 85 yards was done twice previously, most recently in 1992.

MARK TIED: Senior Christian Kapp kicked nine point-after-touchdowns against the Yellowjackets, tying the school record ... Eric Byrne set the standard in 1998.

HONORED: Quarterback George Marinopoulos, linebacker Brandt Beck and kicker Christian Kapp were all honored by the Liberty League for their performances against Rochester on Saturday ... Marinopoulos was named Rookie of the Week, while the other two were selected to the Weekly Honor Roll.

NINE TDS: The last time Rensselaer scored nine touchdowns was November 7, 1998, a 63-23 win over St. Lawrence.

60 POINTS: Saturday's game was the first time the Engineers scored at least 60 points in a game since the 2001 team beat Hartwick, 62-47.

MILESTONE PAT: Kicker Christian Kapp reached the 100 point-after-touchdown milestone in Saturday's win against Rochester ... With his nine PATs against the 'Jackets, he now has 108 in 110 attempts, a 98.2% success rate ... He is 35 of 35 this season after going 32 of 32 as a junior ... He missed one attempt in each of his first two seasons (4 of 5 and 37 of 38) ... Kapp is third in school history, trailing Eric Byrne '01 (135) and Andrew Franks '15 (115).

RETURN RECORDS: Junior Conor Davies is the school record holder for punt return yards in a single season (407 in 2016) and career (672) ... He has 48 returns, including 27 as a sophomore ... He is 20 from the school career record of 68 (Paul St. John '94) and nine from the season mark of 30 (Adam LoGiudice '06).

OPTIONS: The Engineers have had 17 different players carry the ball out of the backfield and seven of them average at least four yards per carry ... Fourteen players have at least one pass reception and eight have at least one receiving touchdown.

DEFENSIVE DEPTH: Nineteen Rensselaer players have double-digit tackles with 11 having at least 20 stops

SCOREBOARD: Senior kicker Christian Kapp leads the team with 52 points, followed by running backs Mike Tivinis (36), Nick Cella (30) and wide receiver Keaton Ackermann.

ALL-ACADEMIC: Rensselaer landed 22 student-athletes on the Liberty League All-Academic team (3.30 cumulative GPA as at least a sophomore) ... They are Keaton Ackermann, Angelo Aita, Sam Barrett, Matt Boone, Nick Cella, Diego Cuitino, Conor Davies, Nick Esposito, Jakob Grant, Bryan Hayes, Jack Hoggard, Oliver Kaija, Christian Kapp, Maliek Kelly, Paul Marinan, Rory McCarthy, Johnny Ramsdell, John Sadak, Nick Smith, Ed Trimpert, Luke Watanabe and Brendan Zotti.

THANK YOU SENIORS: Saturday's game is the last regular season contest for the Engineers' 21 seniors.