GAMEDAY: The Engineers play their third straight game at East Campus Stadium as Rochester visits for the Liberty League opener for both squads.
 
FOURTH OF FIVE: Including the contest with the Yellowjackets, Rensselaer has played four of its first five games at home.
 
UNTIL NOVEMBER: RPI plays at nationally-ranked Hobart next week, followed by a bye week and a trip to St. Lawrence ... Its next home game is November 2 against Buffalo State.
 
LIBERTY LEAGUE OPENERS: Under head coach Ralph Isernia, the Engineers are 3-3 in their first conference games ... Only one of those games was played in Troy.
•10-9 win on Oct. 6, 2018 at Ithaca
•30-0 loss on Oct. 7, 2017 at Hobart
•20-14 loss on Sep. 24, 2016 at St. Lawrence
•28-21 win on Sep. 26, 2015 at WPI
•27-6 win on Sep. 27, 2014 vs. WPI
•27-14 loss on Sep. 28, 2013 at WPI
 
DEFENDING CHAMPIONS: Rensselaer and Ithaca have tied for the Liberty League title in each of the past two seasons with identical 4-1 records ... RPI earned automatic berths into the NCAA Playoffs based on its head-to-head victories over the Bombers (27-14 in 2017; 10-9 in 2018).
 
SADAK HONORED: The ECAC has announced the Football Players of the Month for September 2019 and Rensselaer's John Sadak has been chosen as the Division III North's top defensive player ... Through four games, the linebacker has helped the Engineers to three wins as the team's leading tackler ... He has 15 unassisted stops, 13 assisted tackles and 4.5 tackles for a loss of 13 yards - all first on the squad ... Sadak also has a 6-yard sack and an interception.
 
ALL-TIME VS. ROCHESTER: RPI has faced Rochester on 77 occasions, trailing 31-42-4 (.442) in the series, which dates back to October 13, 1906 ... RPI was shut out in four of the first five games - and 11 of the first 24 - including a 0-0 tie in the series opener, which was played in Rochester.
 
STREAKS: The Yellowjackets won 12 straight games from 1954 to 1965 and were 14-1 from 1951 to 1965 ... The U of R was 16-2 against Rensselaer from 1951 to 1987, but things changed in the 1990s ... From 1993 to 2005, Rensselaer posted a 10-1 record with two five-game winning streaks.
 
MOST RECENTLY: The Engineers are 7-3 in their last 10 games with Rochester, including wins in four in a row and seven of the last nine meetings.
 
ALL-TIME AT HOME: RPI is 16-17-3 (.486) all-time as the home team against Rochester, including 7-3 in the last 10 games in Troy, though both teams have won three of the last six ... The Engineers won 63-14 in 2017, which is the most recent visit from Rochester.
 
LEAGUE PLAY: Rensselaer is 17-6 in Liberty League action with the Yellowjackets.
 
IN THE RECORD BOOK: RPI's 77 games against Rochester are the third most against any one opponent ... Rensselaer's 32 wins is second and its 41 losses rank third ... The Engineers have shut out the Yellowjackets 11 times, which is third most among all opponents.
 
LAST SEASON: The Engineers were in total control from start to finish in a 42-0 victory over the Yellowjackets in Rochester ... 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 and 151 through the air.
 
OFFENSIVE STANDOUTS: George Marinopoulos completed 16 of 24 passes for 151 yards for RPI with two touchdowns and one interception (on a tipped reception) ... He threw an 11-yard scoring pass to Conor Davies midway through the first quarter for a 14-0 lead and then found Keaton Ackermann for 12 yards and a score midway through the third ... Joe Scaglione rushed for 56 yards and two touchdowns and Nick Cella led RPI on the ground with 70 yards and a TD on eight carries.
 
BALANCED DEFENSE: The Engineers had nine players with at least three tackles against the Yellowjackets ... Rensselaer recorded three sacks with seven other tackles behind the line of scrimmage for 20 yards in losses ... Damien Hall had two of RPI's six pass breakups – both at the line.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS STARS: Dennis DeCicco got both the forced fumble and the recovery on a second quarter touchdown off a Rochester fumbled punt return ... Kicker Sanjay Krishnan was successful on each of his six point-after-touchdown tries and he averaged 56.3 yards on seven kickoffs (394 total yards) with two touchbacks.
 
RPI LAST WEEK: George Marinopoulos threw three touchdown passes and the RPI defense got at least one tackle from 31 different student-athletes as the Engineers shut out Anna Maria College 38-0 in a non-league game at East Campus Stadium ... Rensselaer took control with 28 first quarter points, including a pair of touchdown passes from its junior quarterback.
 
OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION: George Marinopoulos hit on 6 of 10 passes for 91 yards against the Amcats with Vinnie McDonald making three catches for 52 yards, including a pair of touchdowns (31 & 10 yards) ... Sophomore Dylan Burnett ran for 72 yards on five carries.
 
DEFENSIVE DEPTH: Junior defensive lineman Conor Ahern had five tackles, including a 3-yard sack and 2.5 tackles for a loss of four yards, an interception with a 12-yard return, and a pass breakup against Anna Maria ... Spencer Brockdorff had six tackles, Liam Sheehy had five and Josh Cohen also had five ... RPI finished with four sacks (30 yards lost) and 12 tackles for lost yards (44).
 
WEEKLY HONOR ROLL: Three Engineers were named to the Liberty League Weekly Honor Roll based on their performances against the Amcats ... Quarterback George Marinopoulos, defensive lineman Conor Ahern and kicker Sanjay Krishnan were all recognized ... They are all juniors.
 
ON SEPT. 28: Rensselaer has now played 17 games on September 28 and in those contests, a team has been kept off the scoreboard in 10 of them.
 
FINAL NON-LEAGUE: The game against Anna Maria was Rensselaer's final non-conference contest of the regular season ... The Engineers were 3-1 this season.
 
NON-LEAGUE GAMES: The Engineers are 21-8 in non-conference games in the past six seasons, which is Ralph Isernia's tenure.
 
RECEIVING VOTES: Rensselaer is among the schools receiving votes in the two Division III national polls ... RPI collected 32 points in the D3football.com ranking and 19 in the AFCA Poll ... Defending national champion Mary Hardin-Baylor is first in both listings with Mount Union in second and Wisconsin Whitewater third.
 
RPI IN WEEK 3: Senior defensive back Joey Gutowski broke up the potential game-tying two-point conversion with 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter and RPI defeated Utica 35-33 in a night game at East Campus Stadium ... Trailing by eight points with 2:57 to play in regulation, the Pioneers gained possession on their own 33-yard line and connected on six completions, the last of which was a 1-yard scoring strike ... Gutowski batted away the two-point try and the Engineers recovered the onside kick to seal the win.
 
RPI IN WEEK 2: Junior Bryce Wade connected on two field goals, including the game-winner from 26 yards out with 3:52 left, to lift WPI to a 6-3 win over No. 19 RPI in the Transit Trophy Game ... After Wade put the hosts ahead, RPI drove to the WPI 35 but fumbled after a pass reception and the ball was recovered by WPI ... Wade also made a 25-yarder with 4:24 to go in the first quarter to put WPI up before junior Sanjay Krishnan nailed a 27-yard FG with 17 seconds left in the first quarter to tie the game.
 
RPI IN WEEK 1: Senior Marc Meislahn scored two 1-yard touchdowns and junior George Marinopoulos threw two touchdowns and ran for one as No. 19 Rensselaer defeated Allegheny 52-14 in a non-league game ... Meislahn, a slot receiver who missed nearly all of 2018 due to an injury, helped RPI to leads of 7-0 and 38-7 ... He finished with seven yards rushing along with 46 receiving yards on three catches ... Of Rensselaer's 502 yards of total offense, 356 came through the air with Marinopoulos connecting for 276 yards and two scores (1 & 19 yards) on 23 of 35 passing ... He had a 1-yard touchdown on the ground.