STORYLINES
• The Eureka College football team will begin its fourth Upper Midwest Athletic Conference schedule Saturday when the Red Devils take their longest road trip of the season for a 1 p.m. kickoff against defending league champion St. Scholastica at Public Schools Stadium in Duluth, Minn.
• Eureka is shooting for its first 2-0 start since 1998, and its first 2-0 start in back-to-back road games since 1976.
• The Red Devils will aim to win their second consecutive UMAC opener after dumping Crown last season, 23-6, in the league opener on Sept. 17 at McKinzie Field. Eureka will also try to win its first UMAC road opener since beating MacMurray, 63-44, in a UMAC South Division game on Oct. 24, 2009.
• Eureka senior quarterback Sam Durley, who broke the single-game NCAA record with 736 passing yards last week at Knox, will enter the game needing 24 completions to break the all-time Eureka record. His next completed pass will be the 400th of his career. Durley's former teammate, Nick Lindsey (2006-09) owns the all-time Eureka record with 422 completions.
ONLINE COVERAGE
• St. Scholastica will provide live video and live statistics of Saturday's game. Fans unable to make the trip to Duluth can visit csssaints.com for more information on watching the game.
• The Eureka College sports information staff will tweet updates throughout the afternoon at twitter.com/EurekaRedDevils. Fans can use the hashtag "ecreddevils" to join the conversation.
ABOUT EUREKA
• Eureka put forth its best offensive showing in school history with 821 yards of total offense in last Saturday's 62-55 come-from-behind win at Knox. The Red Devils broke seven single-game school records in the win.
• Eureka's win over the Prairie Fire snapped a 17-game losing streak in non-conference road games. The victory also proved to be Eureka's first season-opening win on the road since 1998.
• Overall, Eureka boasts 38 returning letterwinners on its 2012 roster. A total of 34 newcomers have joined the program for the upcoming campaign to give the Red Devils a roster of 74 student-athletes.
ABOUT ST. SCHOLASTICA
• Fifth-year NCAA Division III program will look to return to the win column Saturday after dropping a 28-13 non-conference decision to Whitworth last Saturday in Duluth. The Pirates, coached by former Eureka head coach John Tully, kept the potent CSS offense off the board until the final seven minutes of the game.
• The Saints swept their 2011 regular season schedule to win the UMAC title and earn the league's first automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Saints' run ended in the first round in a 48-2 defeat at #3 St. Thomas (Minn.). The loss ended a 14-game winning streak.
• St. Scholastica received three first-place votes in the preseason UMAC coaches' poll, but ultimately was picked second behind Greenville. The Saints return 14 starters, but lost five seniors from its potent offense, including UMAC Offensive Player of the Year and Gagliardi Trophy Finalist quarterback Alex Thiry.
THE HEAD COACHES
• Eureka College athletics Hall of Famer Kurt Barth is currently in his fourth season as the head coach of the Eureka football program in 2012. He named the 19th head coach in program history in December 2008.
• Barth is 1-2 all-time against St. Scholastica. He will be shooting for his third career victory in the state of Minnesota on Saturday.
• A veteran head coach among the NCAA Division III ranks, Greg Carlson is in his fifth season directing St. Scholastica. Carlson, the only head coach in St. Scholastica football history, earned the 2011 UMAC Coach of the Year award after guiding the Saints to the 2011 NCAA Division III playoffs.
• Carlson won 112 games in 18 seasons as head coach at traditional Division III power Wabash (Ind.) from 1983 until 2000, leading the Little Giants to four league titles.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
• The Red Devils and Saints will meet for the fourth time on Saturday. St. Scholastica owns a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series.
• Eureka rallied for a 21-20 win in the first-all time meeting at the 2009 UMAC Dome Day. The Saints responded with a 38-21 win in Duluth in September 2010 and a 48-7 triumph last November in Eureka to close their perfect 2011 regular season.
DURLEY'S DAY IN THE SUN
• Eureka senior quarterback Sam Durley finished Saturday's 62-55 victory at Knox 34-for-52 with five touchdown passes and an NCAA record 736 passing yards. Durley's final touchdown pass, a 13-yard toss with 20 seconds remaining, gave the Red Devils their first lead of the afternoon that eventually held up as the final 62-55 score.
• In addition to the single-game NCAA record, Durley broke Eureka's all-time passing yardage, attempts and passing touchdown records on Saturday. The senior now has 6,095 career passing yards, 792 attempts and 48 touchdowns. Each mark bested the previous record held by Durley's former teammate Nick Lindsey (2006-09). Durley is the first Red Devil in program history to throw for 6,000 yards.
• Durley was selected as the Manning Award Player of the Week, a member of the D3Football.com Team of the Week and the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week. His performance created a national and local media frenzy, as Durley was the subject of interviews by ESPN Sportscenter, SiriusXM Radio and USA Today.
GETTING THE HANG OF IT
• Perhaps lost in all of the hoopla of Sam Durley's record-breaking day was the outstanding debut performance of senior wide receiver Jordan Kindred.
• Kindred, playing his first organized football game of any kind on Saturday, hauled in 13 balls for 235 yards. The 13 catches were the third-most catches in a game by a Red Devil in program history, while the 235 yards marked the fourth-best performance in school history.
•The fifth-year student-athlete, who ranks fifth in Eureka men's basketball history with 315 assists and has one year of basketball eligibility remaining, joined Durley on the D3Football.com Team of the Week.
HUBER IN THE RECORD BOOKS
• Senior kicker Travis Huber joined Durley as four-year players to make their marks in the Eureka record book last Saturday. Huber booted a pair of field goals to run his career total to 15 and take sole possession of the all-time Eureka lead. The Morton, Ill. native entered the season tied for the all-time lead with Rick Edwards (1986-88).
• In addition to the new career field goal record, Huber broke the single-game Eureka mark for extra points with his 8-for-8 performance versus Knox. Huber had previously shared the single-game record of seven with Chris Kurtenbach and Ralph McKinzie.
• Huber's 14 points scored moved him into a fifth-place tie on Eureka's all-time points scored list with Gary Urwiler (1989-91) with 135 career points scored.
MAKING A SPLASH
• After being riddled by injuries in his first season as a Red Devil in 2011, junior wideout Jake Bane had quite the arrival on Saturday.
• Bane grabbed a pair of 13-yard touchdown throws late in the fourth quarter to help the Red Devils rally from a 10-point deficit. He made seven catches overall for 207 yards. The yardage total marked the ninth-highest single-game total in school history.
• Eureka freshman running back Zach McCoy turned in an impressive debut for the Red Devils on Saturday, earning the start at running back and carrying 26 times for 93 yards.
• McCoy's three touchdown runs were the most in a game by a Red Devil since Nick Lindsey ran for four scores against Crown on Nov. 7, 2009, and the most rushing touchdowns by a running back since Justin Dempsey scored three times at MacMurray on Nov. 3, 2007.
KNOX NEWS AND NOTES
• Fourth-year wide receiver Matt Dawson set new career-highs with 91 receiving yards and two touchdowns last Saturday. The Goodfield, Ill. native needs 433 yards to break into Eureka's all-time top-10 list in receiving yards.
• Cody Followell also benefited from Durley's record-breaking performance. The junior from Forrest, Ill. set new career-bests with six catches and 79 yards.
• Junior linebacker Drew Duffy led the defense with a career-high 12 tackles.
PRESEASON UMAC POLL
• Eureka was picked to finish fifth in the nine-team Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, according to a coaches' poll released by the league office in early August. Greenville received three of a possible nine first-place votes to be picked as the preseason favorite for the second consecutive season.
EUREKAREDDEVILS.COM IS LIVE
• The Eureka College Department of Athletics is proud to announce the debut of EurekaRedDevils.com, the new official online home of the Red Devils. Developed and launched through a partnership with Sidearm Sports, EurekaRedDevils.com is the very best source for information on each of Eureka's 18 varsity programs.
• The website includes press releases, team rosters, schedules and results, season statistics, live statistics, historical archives, action photos and biographies for coaches and student-athletes.