What: CUC Football v. Rockford University 
Where: Concordia Stadium, River Forest, IL    
When: Saturday, Oct. 27, 1:00 PM
Links: Video   Live Stats

After a rugged stretch of games that saw the Concordia-Chicago Cougars take on the conference's two undefeated teams in the last two weeks, the Cougars will look to make a strong finishing push over the final three weeks of the season, beginning with Saturday's home game against the Rockford University Regents.

Both teams will be looking to bounce back after a loss last Saturday in less than ideal weather conditions. The Cougars (1-6, 0-4 NACC) lost in Mequon, WI as a strong wind played a significant factor in a 24-point second quarter for the Concordia Wisconsin Falcons; a game comeback effort by the Cougars was not enough as the Falcons prevailed 45-34. In Rockford, the Regents (2-5, 1-3 NACC) and the Aurora Spartans played through an early-season snowfall, with Aurora taking an early lead and going on to a 25-7 win. 

Concordia-Chicago and Rockford have a long history as rivals, going back to the days of the Northern Illinois Intercollegiate Conference, but their football rivalry only traces back to 2008 when the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference began sponsoring football. The Cougars currently have the edge in the series at 6-4, but the Regents have won three out of the last four including last year's 29-14 win at Rockford's Sam Greeley Field. The last time they played in River Forest, victory went to CUC by a score of 35-14.

Rockford comes into the game with two quarterbacks that are both seeing regular action. The duo of Delayno Mack and Eric Mackey have combined for 119-223 for 1493 yards and 13 touchdowns. The completions are being spread between a primary group of four receivers, all with between 18 and 25 catches. The Regents' rushing game averaged 165 yards per game, and their two main backs - Chance Manning and LaVar Johnson Jr. - each ran for over 100 yards in last year's contest.

Defensively, Rockford is led by lineman Jared Johnson who comes in with 55 tackles on the year including 10 tackles for minus-yardage and five quarterback sacks, the latter mark putting him second in the conference. Also, keep an eye on defensive back Ja'uan Joiner. Two weeks ago, he led his team to their first-ever
victory over Lakeland University with two interceptions, one of which he took back for a touchdown. 

The CUC offense continues to produce at a healthy 29.9 points per game. The ground game has been good for 255.3 per game, and Eddie Hopkins became the latest contributor to the rushing stats as he scored three touchdowns and totaled 91 yards on 12 carries at CUW last week. In the passing game, Eric Hoff has been a favorite target for both Griffin Beaudette and Jordan Sepulveda, and Hoff has cracked the upper echelon of receivers in the NACC with 54.9 receiving yards per game and six touchdowns.

On defense, the Cougars' trio of linebackers are now all in the top five of conference in tackles per game, with Rudy Payan continuing to lead the pack with 11.3 per game. Matt Henning (8.7) and Thaddous Daniel Jr. (8.4) coming in close behind. The Cougars also got a big effort last week from defensive end Gustavo Alba, who was in on a season-high 12 tackles.