CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – Fighting Tiger football is still seeking their first win of the 2019 season as they head back on the road to Barbourville, Ky. to face Union College at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.
 
The voice of Tiger football, Jim Freeman will be on the call along with Matt Payton on the airwaves of 88.7 The Tiger as well as the audio only stream on the CU Sports Network online at campbellsvilletigers.com/watch.
 
TIGER CLAWZ

• Campbellsville is coming off of their first shutout loss in the Perry Thomas era as they fell to now No. 8 ranked Reinhardt University 28-0 last Saturday in their home opener at Finley Stadium.
• The Bulldogs head into the game winless at 0-3 after losses on the road to Morehead State (44-7) and Webber International (42-18) with their most recent game coming at home with a 45-20 loss to St. Thomas.
• What was thought to be a question at quarterback for the Tigers was answered as CU went with sophomore returner Talaileva Sufia in the starting spot. Sufia took every snap under center against the Eagles and went 7-for-15 for 47 yards, two interceptions, was sacked five times.
• With the offensive unit struggling on Saturday, kicker/punter Noah Bicksler got a lot of action against Reinhardt. Bicksler punted six times for an average of 44.5 yards per punt, a long of 53 yards, and pinned three inside the 20 yard line as he currently sits second in the NAIA in punt yards per attempt.
• Senior linebacker Darius Moore is picking up right where he left off in 2018, as he was the team's leading tackler.  Through two games this year, he has 23 as he ranks 12th in the NAIA in tackles per game at 11.5.

 
SERIES FACTS: A 30-YEAR HISTORY

• Both Union and Campbellsville have been playing each other in football since the inception of the football program as CU in 1988.
• The two teams have not played in every season since 1988 but they did play every year from 1988 to 2004 then eight times in the 14 seasons since.
• The last time these two teams matched up was in 2016 when the Bulldogs pulled out a 47-40 win in Campbellsville. The two years without a match-up of Union and Campbellsville is tied for the longest timeframe between head-to-head meetings.
• The Tigers do own the advantage of head-to-head records with a 15-10 overall record against the Bulldogs. CU also has a winning mark against Union in both home games and road games as they are 8-5 in Campbellsville and 7-5 in Barbourville.
• The longest winning streak in the series belongs to Campbellsville as they rattled off nine-straight victories over Union College from 1996 to 2004. The largest margin of victory for either team was a 42-point win for the Tigers early in that winnings streak on Nov. 7, 1998.

 
SCOUTING UNION COLLEGE

• The Bulldogs and Tigers share a similar early season trait of offenses trying to find a footing as Union has averaged only 15 points per game and 338.7 yards of total offense per game over their first three games.
• Defensively Union College has also struggled early on, allowing at least 40 points in all three of their losses, although their season opener was against NCAA FCS opponent, Morehead State.
• UC has given time in each game to a pair of quarterbacks in redshirt senior Kendrick Furness and redshirt sophomore Connor Marchionda with Furness making significantly more passing attempts (84) than Marchionda (35) as both have thrown three touchdowns and four interceptions.
• Linebacker Jay Brown is their leading tackler with 25 through three games as he's made 16 solo tackles and nine assisted tackles with one tackle for a loss.

 
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE

• A lot of early season trends for both teams will have to change course for one of these two winless teams to come out with a one in the win column after Saturday night's game.
• Both the Bulldogs and Tigers are averaging less yards of total offense than they allow with Union allowing 452.7 total yards per game while only gaining 338.7 yards per game and Campbellsville allowing 395 yards per game and gaining 317 total yards per game.
• Turnovers have been an issue early on for both offensive units with Union owning a turnover margin of -8 and CU sitting at -5. The Tiger defense has yet to force a turnover in 2019 along with losing two fumbles and throwing three interceptions as the Bulldogs have intercepted a pass and recorded a fumble but have totaled eight picks and a pair of fumbles lost on the offensive side.
• Third downs have been a big issue for the Tigers as they've only converted two of their 23 third-down attempts (9%) while allowing their two opponents to convert on 32-percent of third downs. Union has a better offensive number on third down at 14-for-48 (29.2%) but also has allowed a 37.1% success rate to their opponents on third down.

 
HIGHS AND LOWS IN 2019 DEBUTS

• Heading into the home opener for Campbellsville, there was a buzz around a handful of debuts for players that had to miss the season opener in Talaileva Sufia and Emmanuel Johnson on the offensive side and Kaleb Gentry on the defensive side.
• Both Johnson and Gentry were able to go slide into their roles smoothly as Johnson was the team's leading rusher with 85 yards on nine rushes for an average of 9.4 yards per rush.
• Gentry totaled four tackles in the game and added a tackle for a loss against the tough rushing attack of Reinhardt.
• Sufa, on the other hand, seemed to struggle in his first game action since 2018 as he went 7-for-15 for 47 yards and a pair of interceptions.

 
CU'S DEEP RUSHING ATTACK

• Johnson's return emphasized the depth in the Campbellsville ground game as he teamed with David Richardson for 148 of the team's 161 yards rushing in the game against Reinhardt.
• That along with the capabilities of third-string running back Ormani Zanders and the ball-carrying ability of receivers like Kendon Young and Ziyon Kenner give Cu the ability to have a multi-faceted and dynamic running game.
• Currently rushing for 167 yards per game, it has been the ground attack of the Tigers that has seen them at their most successful as far as moving the ball down the field over the totality of the first two games of the 2019 season.
• Although he finished the game with a net loss in his rushing stats due to being sacked five times, Talaileva Sufia also can make things happen with his feet as he gained 37 yards on six rushing attempts including picking up a pair of first downs.

 
LOOKING AHEAD

• Next week the Tigers will play another game away from home as they take a trip to Lakeland, Fla. to face the Fire of Southeastern University.
• That game was originally scheduled for the second week of the season but Hurricane Dorian's threat to the coast of Florida forced both teams to reschedule the game for Sept. 28.
• The game against Southeastern will be their final game of September as they will head into October with three-straight home games starting with Georgetown College on Oct. 5.