ELON, N.C. -- After earning victories on the road in each of the past two weeks, the Elon Phoenix football team returns to the friendly confines of Rhodes Stadium to take on the Furman Paladins in a 1:30 p.m. kick.  The Phoenix is looking for its third consecutive win in the series with Furman.

Site: Elon, N.C.
Stadium: Rhodes Stadium
Surface: Natural Grass
Capacity: 11,250
Radio: WPCM 920 AM – David Hibbard (play-by-play) and Taylor Durham (color)
Series: Furman leads 10-3

Live Audio
Live Video
Live Stats
Game Notes

Noteworthy
• Quarterback Scott Riddle is among the players on the Watch List for the 2010 Walter Payton Award which is presented to the top offensive player at the FCS level.
• Aaron Mellette’s 71 receptions, 840 receiving yards and 10 receiving TDs this year all rank among the top-10 single-season marks during the program’s NCAA Division I history.
• Elon has gotten on the scoreboard first in six of its nine games this season.
• Brandon Wiggins reached the 100-tackle mark for the season with 16 stops at The Citadel. He is now fourth in program history with 334 total takedowns.
• The Phoenix allowed just 16 points to The Citadel, the lowest total allowed by the squad this year.

The Coaches
Elon: Pete Lembo (Georgetown '92) is 77-36 in his 10th season as a head coach.  He is 33-22 in his four-plus years at Elon.
Furman: Bobby Lamb (Furman ‘86) is 67-38 in his ninth season as a head coach, all with Furman.

SoCon Showing Support for the Gulf Coast
Southern Conference football teams will show their support for those being impacted along the Gulf Coast by wearing helmet decals with the initials “GC” during the 2010 football season. More than 170 SoCon football players come from states that share a coastline being affected by the oil spill. The nine institutions that play SoCon football agreed to display the decals to express their support and encouragement for the people living in the region.

“Pete Lembo of Elon approached me with the idea while we were at our annual coaches’ meetings in June,” noted Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino. “I lived in Louisiana for six years and my son was born there, so when Pete mentioned it, the concept really resonated with me.”

Use of the decal was approved by the NCAA’s rules committee and supervisory officiating organization upon request by the conference.

Elite Company
Quarterback Scott Riddle has led the league in passing yards in each of his first three seasons in the league. No player has ever led the SoCon in passing for four consecutive years. Marshall’s Michael Payton (1990-92) is the only other player to have led the league in passing for three straight seasons.

2010 SoCon Passing Leaders
1. Scott Riddle, Elon - 2,486
2. B.J. Coleman, UTC - 2,285

Tightly Contested
Despite sporting a record of 4-5, the Elon Phoenix has been in some very close contests. Elon has actually outscored its opponents by 12 points on the season.

Four of the five defeats have come against teams ranked in the FCS top-25. In fact, all but one of Elon’s games against FCS competition have been against a top-25 foe.

The Missing Riddle
Quarterback Scott Riddle missed the first game of his career when Elon visited The Citadel on Nov. 6. The senior had started all 43 games of his career prior to that game. Sophomore Thomas Wilson led the Phoenix to victory in Riddle’s absence.

Going to the Ground
The Elon offense found the end zone four times in its 27-16 victory at The Citadel, but for the first time since Nov. 22, 2008 at Liberty the Phoenix failed to score a touchdown via the pass.