CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The Campbellsville University football team will play their third-straight game at Finley Stadium this Saturday with their Homecoming game against University of Pikeville.
 
The Tigers and Bears will kickoff at 2:01 p.m. ET as the game will get started a minute after the top of the hour in honor of the late Ron Finley, former head coach of Fighting Tiger football.
 
The Homecoming game will air on WLCU TV – Comcast 10 as well as online on the CU Sports Network and on the radio on 88.7 The Tiger with Jim Freeman and Matt Payton set for the call.
 
TIGER CLAWZ

• Last week, CU dropped a tight three-point game against Thomas More University by a final of 31-28 as the Saints scored the only points in the second half with a third quarter field goal.
• Campbellsville never lead in the game but only faced a seven-point deficit during the first half on four different occasions before tying the score every time at 7-7, 14-14, 21-21, and 28-28 at halftime.
• The second half was a bit of a struggle for the Tiger offense as they only gained three first downs and 77 yards of total offense after a strong first half performance from the offense, playing part in CU losing the time of possession battle for the first time this season.
• CU had a few strong individual performances lead to weekly honors as kicker/punter Noah Bicksler earned the Mid-South Conference Special Teams Player of the Week and Kendon Young earning Student-Athlete of the Week honors from the NCCAA. Bicksler went 4-for-4 on extra points and averaged 39.6 yards per punt as Young finished with six catches for 167 yards and a touchdown.

 
SERIES FACTS: ROAD-FIELD ADVANTAGE

• Saturday's match-up will be the 15th time the Bears and Tigers and the first time the two teams will face off since the 2017 season, a game that Campbellsville won by a final score of 28-14.
• That game was the 2017 opener in Campbellsville as CU was led by a big offensive day from quarterback Hunter Brown as the then senior went 37-for-53 for 383 yards and three touchdowns with all three of those touchdowns going to the then sophomore Kendon Young for his only three catches of the game.
• Although there has been three-straight wins by the home team, that is three of only four wins by the home team in the 14 meetings between Pikeville and Campbellsville. Both teams have a losing record at home in the overall series with the Tigers currently at 3-5 at home and the Bears are only 1-5 at home against CU.
• The longest winning streak on either side has been a four-game winning streak for Campbellsville from 2006 to 2010as the Tigers earned wins every year during that stretch except for 2007 and 2009 when the teams weren't scheduled to play each other.

 
SCOUTING UNIVERSITY OF PIKEVILLE

• The Bears currently sit at a 2-3 record at this point in the season with their most recent game resulting in a win over Georgetown College 37-31 in Georgetown.
• So far in the season Pikeville has one other common opponent to Campbellsville  in Reinhardt University, who the Bears fell to by a score of 20-17 in Waleska, Ga. for their first NAIA contest of the season.
• Defensively, the Bears have not allowed fewer than 20 points all season with their loss to Reinhardt resulting in their lowest points allowed total of the season with their third down defense struggling to allow first downs on 46.6 percent of attempts (34-73).
• The UPike offense is one that relies pretty heavily on their running game that averages over 200 yards per game behind starting running back Derius Gibson, who leads the team in rushing with 391 total yards and 78.2 yards per game.
• Their ground attack helps the Bears possess the ball quite a bit as they average over 40 minutes of possession per game, over two-thirds of total game time.

 
KENDON YOUNG: CAMPBELLSVILLE GREAT

• Last Saturday night, senior wide receiver Kendon Young became the all-time leader in Campbellsville University football in receiving yards in his career, currently sitting at 2,598.
• A Campbellsville, Ky. native, Young has been a consistent force in the CU offense over the last four years post graduating from Campbellsville High School, finishing each season with no less than 30 receptions, 450 yards, and five touchdowns in each season as a Tiger.
• Young passed former receiving yards leader Demetrius Gipson after his six catch, 167-yard performance last Saturday against Thomas More where he also caught a touchdown pass.
• He is also tied for second in career receptions with his current offensive coordinator, Rick Gehres (2001-04), with 153 total catches and third in touchdown grabs with 26, behind Gipson (29) and Tyus Alcorn (36), whom Young was a teammate of during his freshman season.

 
HOMECOMING BLUES

• Homecoming football is a tradition unlike many others in the realm of American sports but the Campbellsville University football team may look at Homecoming on the schedule and start to dread the date.
• Coming into 2019, the Tigers have lost their last three homecoming games, last year against Bethel University, in 2017 against Georgetown in double overtime, then in 2016 against Bethel again.
• 2015 was the last time CU came away from their Homecoming game with a win and it was against the Bears of the University of Pikeville on Oct. 10 by a final score of 42-34 at Finley Stadium.
• Prior to 2016, the Tigers had won each of their Homecoming games from 2012 to 2015 as CU will look to get back on the winning side of their Homecoming result for the first time in four seasons since that last win in 2015.

 
FLIPPING THE OFFENSIVE SCRIPT

• Through their first four games of the season, Campbellsville hadn't had any games where they attmempted more passes than rushes, with the only game that didn't have an advantage to either was against Lindsey Wilson with the total even at 36.
• Over the last two games, CU has seemed to center their offensive game plan around the passing game, dropping back to pass 39 times and rushing 27 times against Georgetown then dropping back 34 times and rushing 26 times against Thomas More.
• That increased passing has shown positive and negative results for the Tigers as quarterback Talaileva Sufia has broken his career-high in passing yards in every game since week three but the defenses have been able to pin their ears back on the pass rush, sacking Sufia 23 times over the last three games.

 
LOOKING AHEAD

• The Tigers will get back onto the road for the first time since Sept. 21 when they head to Williamsburg, Ky. to face No. 11 University of the Cumberlands on Oct. 26.
• After that game CU will head into an off week on the week of Nov. 2 before coming back home for Senior Day against Cumberland University on Nov. 9.