No. 3 Grand Valley (1-0) faces an early challenge in its season, heading to Colorado to meet No. 22 Colorado State-Pueblo (2-0) at 8 p.m. EDT on September 14.
The Lakers and ThunderWolves met in the 2023 season in a classic game at Lubbers Stadium that saw the Lakers win, 57-49, in double overtime.
Saturday’s game marks the sixth matchup all time between the teams with the Lakers winning the previous five contests.
In last year’s game, the teams combined for an incredible 845 yards of total offense — Grand Valley rolled up 453 yards compared to CSU-Pueblo’s 338.
The Lakers enter Saturday’s game after a dominating performance in their season opener against Central State on September 5 at Lubbers Stadium.
Grand Valley shut out the Marauders, 58-0, running for 546 yards, the second-highest team total in school history. The Lakers accumulated 667 yards of total offense.
“In the opener you’re looking for ball possession and not turning the ball over,” Wooster said. “You just want to play clean, fundamentally disciplined football, and we did that.”
For the first time in school history, three Lakers eclipsed the 100-yard mark rushing in a game — Khalil Eichelberger, 119 yards and two touchdowns; Kenneth Jones, 116 yards and a touchdown; and Derrick Woods, 108 yards and two touchdowns.
The Lakers’ defense limited the Marauders to 95 yards of total offense: 60 rushing yards, 35 passing yards.
“The running backs got a lot of recognition on Saturday, we played six and five of them scored,” Wooster said. “Their yardage was incredible, but if that’s happening the guys up front are playing extremely well.
“On the defensive line, we didn’t see any drop offs when the second or third lines came in to the game. A lot of position groups did shine on Saturday.”