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HOME AGAIN: For the second time in four games, No. 19/20 Rensselaer (3-0) hosts a non-league opponent at East Campus Stadium as Buffalo State (0-2) travels across the state to face the Engineers.

FINAL NON-LEAGUER: After the contest with the Bengals, RPI plays only Liberty League foes for the rest of the regular season. 

ON SEPTEMBER 22: Rensselaer is 5-2-0 all-time on the 22nd of September.

HOME WINNING STREAK: RPI has won six straight games at East Campus Stadium ... The Engineers were 4-0 last season with the most recent defeat coming on October 22, 2016, to WPI (19-7).

SCHOOL RECORD: Rensselaer's record for home winning streak is 10 games, which it accomplished from October 30, 1993 to October 7, 1995.

UNBEATEN ATTEMPT: Rensselaer is attempting to go unbeaten against its non-conference opponents in a regular season for the first time since 2013, when it was 3-0 versus non-league foes.

NON-LEAGUE IN 2017: RPI's lone non-conference, regular season loss last season was at Buffalo State, 33-21, on September 23 ... The Engineers also fell at Wesley, a non-league opponent, but that was in the NCAA Playoffs (45-27).

SECOND MEETING: Last year's game with the Bengals was just the second all-time meeting  and the first in the regular season ... The Engineers beat Buffalo State, 20-13, in the initial contest, the Asa S. Bushnell Bowl in New Britain, Conn., in 2015.

NOVEMBER 21, 2015: Austin Amery scored the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter and Rensselaer scored 17 unanswered points in defeating Buffalo State, 20-13, at Arute Field on the campus of Central Connecticut State ... Jeff Avery completed 22 of 37 passes for 252 yards and Nick Schlatz led the running game with 69 yards on 19 carries ... Mark Grimes led all RPI defensive players with 10 tackles, including eight unassisted and 1.0 for a loss (1 yard) ... Anthony Pilla had eight stops with seven solos, 5.0 behind the line of scrimmage (34 yards lost), three sacks, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry ... Wide receiver Stephen Johnson led the Bengals with two receptions for 68 yards, including a 58-yard touchdown, and a 13-yard rushing TD ... Shaq Frederick led the defense with 15 tackles, including seven unassisted and one for a loss (4 yards), plus a fumble recovery with a 10-yard return.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017: Buffalo State scored 24 unanswered points and limited Rensselaer to 89 total yards in the second half to register a 33-21 come-from-behind victory ... After trailing 21-9 after the first half, the Bengals forced a turnover on RPI's opening possession and took control of the game from there ... The Engineers jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, taking advantage of a pair of big plays to set up touchdowns ... Ed Trimpert finished 7 of 20 for 151 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions ... Keaton Ackermann caught three passes for 67 yards with a pair of touchdowns ... Bryan Hayes led the defense with 11 tackles ... Kyle Hoppy finished 22 of 34 for 263 yards with a touchdown, and added a team-high 46 rushing yards for Buffalo State ... Bart Mazzara finished with six tackles with a hand in three of the turnovers with an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.
 
TO DATE IN 2018: A 40-19 win at Allegheny on September 1 and a 25-14 win over WPI in the Transit Trophy Game put RPI's record at 2-0 ... The Engineers needed three overtimes at Utica to move to 3-0, defeating the Pioneers, 23-20 ... Buffalo State, which was idle last week, lost its first game by a point at Bridgewater State, 30-29, before losing at Adrian, 56-27.

D3FOOTBALL.COM POLL: The Engineers are listed 20th in the latest D3football.com Top 25 after being 25th (preseason), 24th and 21st ... Rensselaer earned 109 votes this week, which is eighth behind No. 19 Illinois Wesleyan and two in front of No. 21 Delaware Valley.

HIGHEST SINCE 2008: Rensselaer was last ranked as high as No. 20 in the D3football.com Poll in Week 9 of 2008 ... RPI was last inside the top 20 after Week 2 in 2004 when it was 17th.

INITIAL AFCA TOP 25: RPI is ranked 19th in Division III, according to the first American Football Coaches Association Coaches Poll, which was released on Monday ... This is the first time Rensselaer has appeared in the AFCA Top 25 since 2008 when it was ranked 25th on November 11 ... It was No. 17 the week before (Nov. 4), No. 21 on October 28 and No. 22 on October 21 of that season.

RPI AT UTICA LAST WEEK: Sophomore kicker Sanjay Krishnan made two field goals in overtime and senior defensive back D.J. 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 ... Sophomore quarterback 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.

ALL-TIME IN OVERTIME: Rensselaer played its first overtime game since 2014 and is now 2-5 in games that have gone extra time ... RPI is 2-3 in OT contests on the road.

OVERTIME POSSESSIONS: Saturday's game tied the school record for most possessions in overtime, thus the longest game in program history ... The 2005 game at Hobart also went to three overtimes, though Rensselaer lost that contests, 56-48.

THREE MORE: After registering four interceptions in each of its first two games, Rensselaer had three picks at Utica on Saturday ... DJ Stefonsky had a pair and senior classmate Sean Egan had one, which he returned 22 yards for a touchdown. 

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK: Saturday was the third straight game the Engineers had an INT return for a touchdown ... Senior DJ Stefonsky had an 89-yard effort in a 40-19 Week 1 win at Allegheny ... Junior John Sadak had an interception with a 28-yard return for a TD to put RPI head, 25-14, against WPI.

AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS: Leading into Week 3, the Engineers were first in Division III with their eight interceptions ... RPI remains among the leaders with 11 picks.

SPECIAL SPECIAL TEAMS: Sophomore Sanjay Krishnan made three field goals in the win at Utica, including two in overtime (21 & 35 yards) ... Zac Montrief, also a sophomore, punted nine times and averaged 41.6 yards per attempt, including two over 50 yards.

71-YARD BOMB: Zac Montrief had a 71-yard punt on Saturday, which is tied for the second longest in school history ... Mike Macaulay had a 72-yard punt at Bridgewater State in 1992 and Wayne Evans went for 71 yards against Rowan in 1999 ... Montrief's kick is the longest in a regular season game.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL: Selected to the Liberty League Weekly Honor Roll following their performances at Utica were Zac Montrief and DJ Stefonsky.

COACH I: Saturday's game against Utica was the 57th for sixth year head coach Ralph Isernia, moving him into fourth in school history ... Ed Jontos coached 56 games, Dave White coached 81, Dick Riendeau coached 82 and Joe King coached 213 ... Isernia is second to King (152) in victories with 37.

UP NEXT: The Engineers are idle next Saturday as well as on October 13 ... RPI plays at No. 25 Ithaca in its Liberty League opener in between ... Game time on October 6 is 1pm.

CO-CHAMPIONS: Rensselaer and Ithaca were co-champions of the Liberty League in 2017 after both schools finished with 4-1 records ... RPI earned the NCAA bid based on its head-to-head win over the Bombers.

FOLLOW THE ACTION: All Rensselaer football games are aired live on WRPI, 91.5 FM, and on the Internet at www.wrpi.org ... All home games feature live statistics at https://rpiathletics.com/sidearmstats/football/summary ... A free, live full production is available for the home games online at www.rpitv.org.

BUFFALO STATE'S START: The Bengals began the season with a long road trip to Bridgewater State in Massachusetts and fell by a point, 30-29 ... They then traveled to Adrian in Michigan, where they lost 56-27 ... Saturday's game is Buffalo State's third road game before playing two at home.