GAMEDAY: The Engineers play for the third time this season - and the second consecutive week at home - with Anna Maria College serving as the opposition ... Rensselaer enters with a 2-1 record, while the Amcats are 0-3.

#RPIRHC: This weekend is Reunion & Homecoming at Rensselaer with special events taking place beginning Thursday and running through Saturday ... The classes ending in 4 and 9 will celebrate special anniversaries.

FIRST TIME: The Engineers and Amcats have never played in football.

INITIAL MEETINGS: In the past five years, Rensselaer has played 10 schools for the first time in football ... In 2018, the Engineers played Allegheny, Husson and Johns Hopkins ... In 2017 it was Western New England, William Paterson and Wesley ... Maritime was in 2016, Buffalo State and MIT in 2015 and Framingham State in 2014 ... RPI is 7-3 in those contests.

IN POST-SEASON: Six of the recent first-time meetings came in the post-season, including four in the NCAA Playoffs ... The Engineers are 1-2 in those games and 3-3 overall.

SECOND OF THREE: RPI is in the middle of a three-game homestand, having played Utica last week and hosting Rochester next week.

FINAL NON-LEAGUE: The game against the Amcats is Rensselaer's final non-conference contest of the regular season. 

NON-LEAGUE GAMES: In the five years prior to this season, the Engineers are 18-7 in non-conference games ... Adding the three games to this point in 2019, they are 20-8.

TO DATE: A 52-14 win over Allegheny on September 7 and a 6-3 loss at WPI in the Transit Trophy Game put RPI's record at 1-1 ... Rensselaer bounced back to defeat Utica 35-33 last Saturday ... Anna Maria has lost at Becker (33-19), at home to Union (54-7) and at home against Nichols (37-20).

RPI LAST WEEK: 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.

DEFENSIVE LEADERS: Joey Gutowski finished with 10 tackles, including 0.5 for a loss of one yard, along with two pass breakups against the Pioneers ... Classmate John Sadak led the team with 11 stops, including one for a 2-yard loss ... Linebacker Grant Tragni finished with seven stops, a fourth quarter interception and a pass breakup ... Austin Charles, also a linebacker, chipped in with nine tackles.

ON OFFENSE: Rensselaer quarterback George Marinopoulos was 20 of 27 for 262 yards and three touchdowns in directing the Engineers to a win over Utica ... He connected with eight different receivers, three of whom (Tommy Avery, Sterling Walker-Sutton & Nick Smith) had TD receptions.

KICKING GAME: Kicker Sanjay Krishnan was perfect on all five of his point-after-touchdowns in the 35-33 victory over Utica ... He also averaged 58.7 yards on six attempts with two touchbacks.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL: Three Engineers were named to the Liberty League Weekly Honor Roll based on their performances against Utica ... Junior quarterback George Marinopoulos, senior safety Joey Gutkowski and junior kicker Sanjay Krishnan were all recognized.

TURNOVER MARGIN: With one more turnover than Utica on Saturday, Rensselaer is now even in turnover margin on the season ... The Engineers were +4 against Allegheny, a 52-14 win, but -3 against WPI, a 6-3 loss.

THREE OF FOUR: The last time RPI was 2-1 and won to improve to 3-1 was in 2015 when it finished 9-2 ... The Engineers last went from 2-1 to 2-2 in 2016, finishing that season at 6-5.

RECEIVING VOTES: Rensselaer is among the schools receiving votes in the two Division III national polls ... RPI collected 30 points in the D3football.com ranking and 25 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 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.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS: Sophomore Joe Scaglione ran for 41 yards on nine carries, and classmate Spencer Merkel amassed 33 yards on five rushes for RPI ... Signal caller George Marinopoulos threw for 188 yards on 27 of 42 passing ... Senior linebacker John Sadak, sophomore cornerback Blake Battle and senior linebacker Jack Fallon all had six tackles to pace Rensselaer.

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. 

DISTRIBUTION: RPI had 11 different pass catchers and 10 different rushers against the Gators ... Defensively, 29 Engineers had a hand in at least one tackle.

ON DEFENSE: Senior John Sadak led the Engineers in tackles with eight, along with an interception, while classmate Joey Gutowski had seven stops.

ON SEPT. 28: Rensselaer has played 16 games on September 28, going 4-12 with a home record of 3-3.

SHUTOUTS: Of the 16 games that RPI has played on Sept. 28, one team has been kept off the scoreboard in nine of them ... The Engineers are 3-6 in those contests.

1901 at Syracuse (26-0 L)
1907 vs. St. Stephen's (35-0 L)
1912 at Williams (7-0 L)
1918 at Wesleyan (14-0 L)
1929 vs. Long Island University (13-0 W)
1935 at Vermont (18-0 L)
1940 vs. Trinity (13-7 W)
1946 at Coast Guard (33-0 L)
1957 at Rochester (32-6 L)
1968 at Colby (6-0 W)
1974 vs. Western Connecticut (30-0 W)
1985 vs. Lowell (31-6 L)
1991 at WPI (26-14 L)
1996 vs. Albany (17-7 L) 
2002 vs. WPI (33-13 W) 
2013 at WPI (27-14 L)

ANNA MARIA LAST WEEK: The Amcats fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Nichols returned it for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead on its way to a 37-20 win on Saturday ... Alex Cohen was 21 of 43 for 311 yards and three touchdowns for Anna Maria, which got to within four points twice ... The Amcats defense was led by Carl St. Paul, who had 13 total tackles, with seven unassisted.

UP NEXT: The Engineers begin Liberty League play when they host Rochester next Saturday at 12:05pm ... Anna Maria hosts Apprentice on October 5 at 12pm.

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://www.rpiathletics.com ... A free, live full production is available for the home games online at www.rpitv.org, thanks to RPI TV.

COACH I HONORED: In early September, head coach Ralph Isernia was presented with the Marvin Anderson Award as the Rensselaer Athletics Coach of the Year ... In 2018, the Engineers were 10-2 after winning the Liberty League title and earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament - both for the second straight year ... RPI advanced to the national quarterfinals and captured ECAC Division III Team of the Year ... The Engineers were ranked 11th in the final 2018 D3football.com Poll and 12th by the American Football Coaches Association.