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KICKOFF: The No. 23 Engineers (8-1; 4-1 Liberty League) continue their season in the NCAA Playoffs, hosting Husson University (8-2; 6-0 ECFC).

FIRST MEETING: RPI has never faced Husson on the gridiron.

NEW FOES: RPI has played four different opponents for the first time in program history over the past two seasons ... It has a 3-1 record with wins over Allegheny, William Paterson and Western New England and a loss to Wesley.

STREAKS: The Engineers had an eight-game winning streak, a 13-game regular season winning streak and a nine-game home winning streak snapped with a 34-10 loss to Union on Saturday ... Husson has won seven consecutive contests.

HOW THEY GOT HERE: RPI earned its berth by winning the Liberty League title with a 4-1 mark ... The Engineers actually tied Ithaca, but earned the right to the national tournament based on a 10-9 head-to-head victory ... Husson won the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) outright with a 6-0 record for an automatic berth.

COMMON OPPONENT: Rensselaer and Husson have one common opponent in Union, which defeated both the Engineers (34-10 on Nov. 10) and the Eagles (30-7 on Sept. 1).

BACK-TO-BACK: RPI's qualification for the tournament marks the second straight time it has done so ... The Engineers had never previously made consecutive appearances. 

NCAA HISTORY: Rensselaer has played in the NCAA Playoffs five times with the most recent being last year ... The others were 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2007 ... The Engineers were defeated at Wesley, 45-27, in 2017.

FOURTH FIRST ROUND: Saturday's game is the fourth time RPI will have played a first round game, having earned a bye into the second round in 2001 ... The Engineers are 1-3 in first round games ... They defeated Curry in 2003 and lost to Rowan in 1999, TCNJ in 2007 and at Wesley in 2017.

ALL-TIME IN NCAA GAMES: Rensselaer is 3-5 all-time in the NCAA Playoffs, including a trip to the National Semifinals in 2003 ... The Engineers defeated Curry, Springfield and Ithaca before losing at eventual national champion St. John's in Minnesota.
FIRST ON ROAD: Last year's game at Wesley was the first time Rensselaer played a first round road contest.

THREE HOME VENUES: This season's playoff contest is the first for RPI Football at East Campus Stadium, which opened in 2009 ... The Engineers have previously hosted at Harkness Field (1999) and '86 Field (2001, 2003 & 2007).

POST-SEASON STREAK: Including this season, Rensselaer will have played in the post-season in each of the past five years ... The Engineers qualified for ECAC Bowls in 2014, 2015 and 2016, going 2-1.

ALL-TIME IN POST-SEASON: RPI has played in the post-season 17 times, all since 1992 ... It has 12 ECAC games and five NCAA Playoff appearances ... The Engineers are 10-2 all-time in ECAC Bowls and 13-7 in the playoffs.

RENSSELAER THIS SEASON: The Engineers began the season with eight straight wins before suffering a regular season finale loss to finish 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference.

EIGHT WINS: Rensselaer's eight wins are the second most in the regular season in school history ... Nine other teams have accomplished the feat with the most recent being in 2017 ... The school record is nine, which happened in 1999 (9-0) ... The school record for overall wins is 11, which happened in 2003 (11-2).

BY CLASS: The Rensselaer Class of 2019 has won 31 games, which is tied for second in school history ... Three previous classes (1996, 2005 & 2006) share the school record with 32 victories.

LEAGUE & NON-LEAGUE: RPI was 4-1 in the Liberty League and 4-0 out-of-conference ... The league wins were against Ithaca, St. Lawrence, Rochester and Hobart ... The loss came to Union ... The non-league wins were against Allegheny, WPI and Buffalo State.

HOME & AWAY: Rensselaer was 4-1 at East Campus Stadium and 4-0 on the road ... The road wins came at Ithaca, Rochester, Allegheny and Utica.

AS A TEAM: Rensselaer averages 28.0 points per game while allowing 17.11 ... It rushes for 155.8 yards and throws for 207.3 per contest, while the opposition has posted 82.7 rushing yards and 263.3 passing yards ... The Engineers are +7 in turnover margin.

OFFENSIVE DEPTH: RPI has had 16 different ball carriers and 15 different receivers.

GROUND GAME: Senior Nick Cella leads the ground game with 636 yards and five touchdowns on 144 carries, including 115 yards and a touchdown in Saturday's regular season finale.

ALL PURPOSE: Senior Conor Davies has team-highs of 34 catches for 359 yards and three touchdowns. He has also run the ball 19 times for 135 yards and two scores.

SENIOR RECEIVER: Keaton Ackermann is second on the team in receiving with 24 receptions for 291 yards and three touchdowns.

UNDER CENTER: Sophomore quarterback George Marinopoulos has started each game, helping the team to wins in each of its first eight contests ... He has completed 140 of 252 passes for 1820 yards with 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions ... He has a passing efficiency rating of 125.59.

LEADING TACKLERS: senior linebacker Jack Hoggard is first on the team in solo (34), assisted (54) and total tackles (88) ... He has five tackles for lost yards (9), a team-high seven pass breakups and a fumble recovery that he returned 17 yards ... Junior Jack Fallon, also a linebacker, is second with 61 total stops, including 21 unassisted and 2.0 for lost yards (4) ... He has a forced fumble and has two pass breakups.

OTHER DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Sophomore Amaechi Konkwo has a team-high 6.5 sacks, while three players are tied for the team lead with three interceptions apiece ... The Engineers have 15 INTs this season. 

KICKING GAME: Sophomore Sanjay Krishnan has made 11 of 13 field goals and 27 of 31 point-after-touchdowns ... He leads the team in scoring with 60 points ... Classmate Zac Montrief handles the punting and averages 38.1 yards per kick (44 for 1679) with 16 that have landed inside the 20-yard line.

RETURN MAN: Senior Conor Davies is the Engineers' return specialist ... He is first in the Liberty League in punt return average (11.2) with his longest of the season at 60 yards ... On kick returns, he has a conference-best 597 yards on 25 attempts with a long of 81.

ALL-LEAGUE: RPI had 14 All-Liberty League student-athletes, including the Co-Special Teams Player of the Year in Conor Davies and the Coaching Staff of the Year, led by Ralph Isernia ... Davies, a return specialist, was one of eight on the First Team ... Four others were chosen to the Second Team and two were Honorable Mention.

FIRST TEAM: Rensselaer had two All-Liberty League First Team choices on offense, four on defense and two on special teams: Bobby Boos (OL), Chris Neu (OL), Amaechi Konkwo (DL), Jack Hoggard (LB), John Sadak (LB), Luke Watanabe (DB), Conor Davies (ATH & RS) and Zac Montrief (P). 

SECOND TEAM: Rensselaer had two All-Liberty League Second Team choices on offense, one on defense and one on special teams: Nick Cella (RB), Aaron Castillo (OL), DJ Stefonsky (DB) and Sanjay Krishnan (K).

HONORABLE MENTION: Rensselaer had two All-Liberty League Honorable Mentions with senior Rohan Cherian-Ashe and Antonio Rogliano being tabbed ... They are both defensive linemen. 

REPEATS: Bobby Boos, Chris Neu, Amaechi Konkwo, Zac Montrief and Conor Davies have now been All-League in multiple seasons ... Neu is a three-time honoree with two First Team selections. 

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 Angelo Aita, Marc Anderson, Matt Boone, Aaron Castillo, Austin Charles, Riley Conboy, Joe Cuomo, Quinn Fettig, Jakob Grant, Jack Hoggard, Maliek Kelly, Sanjay Krishnan, Paul Marinan, George Marinopolous, Rory McCarthy, Zac Montrief, John Sadak, Nick Smith, Cole Valinoti, Luke Watanabe and Brendan Zotti.

ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT: The recently revealed CoSIDA Academic All-District teams included six Engineers ... They are Jack Hoggard (LB), George Marinopolous (QB), Zac Montrief (P), Cole Valinoti (DL), Luke Watanabe (DB) and Brendan Zotti (DB) ... Hoggard, Marinopolous and Valinoti are business and management majors ... Montrief is in aeronautical engineering, Watanabe in computers and systems engineering and Zotti in mechanical engineering.

ENGINEERS LAST WEEK: Freshman Ike Irabor scored three touchdowns and the Union defense forced five turnovers as the Dutchmen defeated No. 14/14 Rensselaer, 34-10 ... The Engineers jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Union scored 20 straight points ... RPI was led offensively by Nick Cella, who carried 23 times for 115 yards and a 1-yard touchdown ... Jack Hoggard finished with 11 tackles, including six unassisted and 1.5 for lost yards (2) ... He also had a 17-yard fumble return ... Luke Watanabe (2 solo) and Jack Fallon (1 solo) added eight stops with Fallon forcing a fumble.

LAST HOME LOSS: The Engineers' most recent home loss prior to last weekend was to WPI on October 22, 2016, 19-7.

NATIONALLY-RANKED: RPI was ranked 14th in the nation according to the American Football Coaches Association and D3football.com national polls heading into its game with the Dutchmen ... The Engineers dropped to 23rd by the AFCA and is now among those receiving votes in D3football.

VS. ST. LAWRENCE: Senior Conor Davies scored a pair of touchdowns and the RPI defense held St. Lawrence to only 19 yards rushing as the Engineers defeated the Saints, 27-20, to clinch the Liberty League title and the bid into the NCAA Playoffs.

AT ROCHESTER: The Engineers were in total control from start to finish in a 42-0 victory ... RPI ran for three touchdowns, passed for two others and recovered a fumbled punt in the end zone for another score ... The defense held the Yellowjackets to an even 100 yards of total offense – 11 rushing on 23 carries and 89 passing ... The Engineers piled up 372 yards – 221 on the ground.

VS. HOBART: Four student-athletes scored touchdowns and Rensselaer built a 24-3 second half lead on its way to defeating Hobart, 31-24 ... RPI finished with 154 rushing yards, including 80 and a touchdown from Nick Cella on 20 attempts, and 256 passing yards for 410 total ... Conor Davies caught three balls for 63 yards, while also rushing for 69 yards and a touchdown and picking up 66 return yards (59 on kickoffs) ... Juniors Andres Guisasola and John Sadak both had 12 tackles with Guisasola collecting eight unassisted, one for a loss and a PBU.

AT ITHACA: The Engineers held off the Bombers, 10-9 in Ithaca ... RPI jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a 23-yard field goal by Sanjay Krishnan ... Rensselaer later went ahead 10-3 on a two-yard, third quarter touchdown run by Nick Cella ... The Bombers pulled to within a point on a deflected touchdown catch with no time left in regulation but they failed on an extra point kick (blocked) and a two-point conversion attempt ... Cella finished with a game-high 73 yards rushing on 23 carries ... John Sadak led the Engineers with 11 tackles, including five unassisted and one for a 5-yard loss, along with an interception.

VS. BUFFALO STATE: In a 44-14 victory, the Engineers totaled 501 yards of offense, including 343 rushing ... Nick Cella led the Engineers with 131 yards on only 12 carries, including a 65-yard touchdown ... Freshman Joe Scaglione ran for 72 yards and a touchdown on eight carries and senior J.T. Kelly had 67 yards and a score on 11 attempts ... Jack Hoggard led all players with 13 tackles (2 unassisted), along with two pass breakups ... Luke Watanabe had eight stops (1 solo).

AT UTICA: Sanjay Krishnan made two field goals in overtime and DJ Stefonsky sealed the win with an interception in the end zone as RPI defeated Utica, 23-20, in triple overtime ... The Pioneers had a chance to win with four seconds left in regulation, but RPI's Rohan Cherian-Ashe blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt to send the game to overtime ... George Marinopoulos threw for 198 yards on 25 of 45 completions, while freshman Dylan Burnett had a team-high 72 yards on 13 carries and one TD ... Stefonsky finished with six solo tackles and two interceptions, both in the end zone ... Jack Hoggard had a game-high 16 tackles, including one tackle for loss.

VS. WPI: George Marinopoulos threw three touchdown passes, two to classmate Nick Smith, and the defense intercepted four passes as the Engineers retained the Transit Trophy with a 25-14 victory over WPI ... Rensselaer jumped out to a 19-0 lead against the Engineers ... WPI battled to within one score, 19-14, before RPI got back on the board.

AT ALLEGHENY: Rob Law scored two rushing touchdowns and another receiving, compiling 141 yards in total, and the defense forced six turnovers to lead Rensselaer to a 40-19 victory ... Law carried the ball six times for 57 yards with scores of 30 and 14 yards, and had 84 receiving yards with a 71-yard touchdown ... As a receiver, he had three catches ... Rensselaer's defense had four interceptions, including an 89-yard pick-six by senior DJ Stefonsky for a 23-10 lead with 9:24 left in the third quarter ... Jack Hoggard led the team in tackles with 12, including seven unassisted and two for lost yards (4).

THANK YOU SENIORS: The Engineers have 24 seniors who are finishing their careers soon.