• This year's showdown between Davenport and Ferris State begins a new tradition as the teams will compete in the Calder City Classic for the first time. The matchup will feature two West Michigan teams battling for a traveling trophy designed to pay homage to "The Calder" which is an art sculpture located in downtown Grand Rapids. Davenport will be fighting to capture their third-straight, eight-win season, while No. 2 (AFCA) Ferris State will look to claim the GLIAC Championship for the first time since 2021.
• Davenport was able to score a season-high 52 points in last week's win over Northern Michigan in their final home game of the season. Two notable performances resulted in some weekly awards from the GLIAC and D2Football.com. Cam Grodhaus was named National and GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week after a school record, 25-tackle performance against Northern Michigan. Mac VandenHout also earned GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors after accounting for four touchdowns in his first career start at quarterback.  Myren Harris also was able to rush for 115 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. Hakeem Harris caught two passes for 83 yards including a 77-yard touchdown which was the second-longest pass play of the season for Davenport. 
• Ferris State has won nine straight after a season-opening loss at Pittsburg State. Three weeks ago they dispatched of Grand Valley State 34-7 in Allendale to put themselves in the driver's seat towards a conference championship. Last week, the Cardinals of SVSU gave the Bulldogs all they could handle before FSU pulled out the 27-24 victory in Big Rapids. Trinidad Chambliss passed for 159 yards and a score and rushed for 87 yards and another score. Brady Rose threw a 58-yard touchdown pass off a trick play, wide-receiver throw and later in the third quarter caught the game-winning touchdown from seven yards to give FSU a 27-17 lead.

• Myren Harris (2nd) 794 rushing yards; (2nd) 147 rush attempts; (3rd) six rushing TD's; (1st) 1,124 all-purpose yards; (3rd) eight total touchdowns
• Mike O'Horo (5th) nine touchdown passes
• Preston Smith (2nd) six touchdown catches; (4th) 15.73 yards per catch
• Brandon Gielow (3rd) 58 points scored; (2nd) 31 extra points; (1st) 31-31 PAT percentage; (T-1st) nine made field goals
• Antjuan Collins (2nd) 493 kick return yards; (1st) two kickoff return touchdowns; (1st) 30.81 kick return average
• Cam Grodhaus (T-3rd) three interceptions; (3rd) 91 total tackles; (1st) 52 unassisted tackles; (t-5th) nine pass breakups
   

• Redshirt senior Myren Harris has five 100-yard rushing games this season. He is first in the GLIAC with 794 yards this season and is on the brink of leading the conference in rushing for the second straight season. He now has 1,770 rushing yards in 20 games at Davenport. If you add his two years at Wayne State, Myren currently has 3,455 career rushing yards in 39 games for an average of 88.6 per game. He is currently ranked seventh in NCAA Division II in career rushing yards among active players and is tops in the GLIAC.
• Senior Preston Smith had a streak of 19 straight games with a reception end against NMU. He caught four passes for a season-high 111 yards and a score against Wayne State. It was his fourth career 100-yard plus receiving day and the first since 112 yards on nine catches against Wayne State on Oct. 15, 2022. With his third catch against WSU, Smith hit 100 career receptions to become just the third Panther to ever accomplish that feat. He is second all-time at DU with 1,578 receiving yards and became the all-time touchdown receptions leader with his fourth-quarter score at SVSU. Smith had caught a TD in four straight games prior to the NMU contest.
• Graduate student Austin Alward suited up as a Panther for a school-record 43rd time last Saturday against NMU. His career totals equal 139 tackles, 40.5 tackles for loss, and 19.5 sacks. He ranks sixth all-time in tackles, first in tackles for loss, and first in sacks. He is currently tied for 15th among active NCAA Division II players in career sacks.
• Senior Brandon Gielow reached a milestone earlier this season becoming the all-time leading scorer in school history. He currently has 182 points consisting of 28 field goals and 98 extra points. He ranks 13th currently among all NCAA Division II active kickers in field goal percentage (77.8) and 19th in field goals made (28).
• Graduate student Cameren Grodhaus, the transfer from Lake Erie College, leads the team with 91 tackles and ranks first in the GLIAC in total tackles. He broke the single-game tackle record at DU with 25 against NMU. He earned D2Football.com national and GLIAC defensive player of the week honors. The 25 tackles is the most by any player in all NCAA divisions this season. For his career, Grodhaus has recorded 316 tackles with 225 of those coming at Lake Erie in three seasons. Grodhaus is currently fifth among active NCAA Division II players in career tackles.
• Graduate student Kendall Williams has made an impact in his one year at Davenport since transferring from Wayne State. Williams has played in 10 games and rushed for 200 yards and has 32 receptions for 308 yards and three touchdowns. He will be playing in his 40th career game at Ferris State and sports career totals of 1,702 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns. In addition, he has 3,593 all-purpose yards with 820 kick return yards to go with 108 receptions for 1,071 yards and three scores. 

• Davenport hasn't beaten Ferris State in eight all-time matchups in a series which began in 2017. The teams played each other twice during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The 2021 season was a conference and non-conference game. The 2022 season was a regular season and playoff contest both at Top Taggart Field. There have been four games in Big Rapids and four games in Caledonia. The Bulldogs have been among the elite teams in NCAA Division II during all eight games. FSU has been ranked in the top 10 in the last seven meetings and this is the third time they come in ranked No. 2 (AFCA). Davenport will need to figure out a way to score more frequently to pull off an upset on Saturday. They are averaging 7.75 points per game in the all-time series against the Bulldogs. Last year's 28-10 margin was the closest in the series thus far. Both teams registered 19 first downs and Ferris State had a 371-295 edge in total yards. DU was picked off four times and was minus-3 in the turnover battle.

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