TOWSON, Md. – Hoping to bounce back from two consecutive losses to nationally-ranked Colonial Athletic Association opponents, Towson University travels to Delaware Stadium to face the University of Delaware on Saturday, November 8 at 12:00 noon.

Now 3-6 on the season and 1-4 in the CAA, the Tigers will be facing a Delaware team that is also struggling. The Blue Hens, who were NCAA FCS national runners-up last season, are also 3-6 overall and 1-4 in the CAA. After a 41-7 loss to number one-ranked James Madison on Saturday, the Blue Hens have lost four of their last five games.

“Delaware is a much better team than their record would suggest,” says Towson Coach Gordy Combs. “They were such a good team last year and they lost so many key players to graduation. We do know that their defense is very tough and they are going to be quite a challenge for us this week.

“The Delaware game is always very special for us,” adds Combs. “Delaware has a program we’ve always admired and we have tried to emulate. We’re looking forward to Saturday’s game.”

Towson and Delaware will be meeting for the tenth time on Saturday. The Blue Hens, who beat Towson by 27-7 last season, own a 5-4 series lead. The schools played for the first time in 1982 when Towson was one of the top NCAA Division II teams in the nation. The teams played three times from 1982 to 1984 and Delaware won two of those games. The Tigers and the Blue Hens have met four times as conference opponents. Each team has won two of those conference matchups.

The Tigers are coming off a disappointing 34-14 loss to 16th-ranked William & Mary on Saturday. The Tigers played their best first half of the season against the Tribe and owned a 14-7 lead at halftime. In the first half, the Tigers rolled up 231 yards of total offense as senior quarterback Sean Schaefer (Northern H.S./Dunkirk, Md.) completed 15 of 21 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

However, the Tribe came out in the second half and dominated play. The Tribe defense held Towson to seven total yards on 20 offensive plays after halftime while forcing three turnovers. William & Mary outscored the Tigers by 27-0 in the second half.

Schaefer, who entered the game as the CAA leader in total yardage (273.8 per game) and passing yardage  (270.2 per game), was held to 186 passing yards and 169 total yards by the William & Mary defense. He was sacked three times in the loss.

Schaefer, who has now passed for 10,706 yards in his career, is currently ranked 14th on the NCAA FCS career passing yardage list. He needs 294 yards to become the 11th quarterback in NCAA FCS history to pass for more than 11,000 career yards.

For the season, Schaefer has completed 219 of 331 passes for 2,348 yards. He has thrown 16 touchdown passes and has been intercepted 13 times. In three career games against Delaware, Schaefer has completed 58 of 90 passes for 845 yards with only two interceptions and seven touchdowns. Two years ago, Schaefer led the Tigers to a win at Delaware by completing 27 of 37 passes for 435 yards and five TD’s.

Schaefer has done a great job distributing passes to all of his receivers. In fact, four different Tigers have caught more than 30 passes this year.

Sophomore Steve Holmes (Old Mill H.S./Severn, Md.) and senior Marcus Lee (St. John’s College H.S./Silver Spring, Md.) are tied for the team lead with 38 catches. Holmes has 38 receptions for 418 yards and one touchdown while Lee has 38 catches for 295 yards and four TD’s. Junior David Newsom (Elizabeth H.S./Elizabeth, N.J.) is third on the team with 37 catches for 445 yards and one TD.

With four catches against William & Mary, Lee extended his pass-catching streak to 42 games in a row. He is the second-leading receiver in school history with 205 receptions for 2,233 yards and 11 touchdowns. With three games remaining in his career, Lee needs 15 more receptions to become Towson’s all-time pass receiving leader. Former All-American Jamal White, ’02 currently holds the record with 219 receptions for 3,156 yards.

Sophomore wide receiver Hakeem Moore (Courtland H.S./Fredericksburg, Va.) has emerged as a receiving threat in the last few weeks. He is fourth on the team with 31 catches for 350 yards and one TD.

Senior linebacker Jordan Manning (St. Joseph H.S./Mays Landing, N.J.) continues to lead the Tiger defense. He matched his season high with 11 tackles in the Tigers’ loss to William & Mary. With 77 tackles in nine games, Manning is fifth in the CAA in tackles.

Manning, who recorded the 300th tackle of his career in the loss to William & Mary, now has 310 tackles in his college career. He ranks fourth on Towson’s all-time list of tackle leaders, trailing Jeff Boller, ’83 (382), Mike Arbutina, ’95 (361) and former teammate Brian Bradford ’08 (328). Bradford was a consensus first team All-American selection last season.

Despite missing three games with a knee injury, senior safety Drew Mack (Buena Regional H.S./Landisville, N.J.) is also having a tremendous season. He is tied for second on the team with 52 tackles and he is also tied for the team lead with eight pass break-ups. A pre-season All-CAA selection, Mack intercepted his first pass of the season against William & Mary on Saturday. He now has six interceptions in his career.

Turnovers continue to be a problem for the Tigers, who are last in the CAA in turnover ratio. Towson has a minus-12 turnover ratio on the season. The Tigers have turned the ball over 20 times and forced only eight turnovers. Even more damaging has been the result of those turnovers. Opponents have scored 107 points off the Tigers’ 20 turnovers while Towson has managed 14 points off its eight takeaways.

TIGER TALES:  Junior tailback Matt Castor (Linganore H.S./Mt. Airy, Md.) had his touchdown-scoring streak snapped in the game against William & Mary ... Castor had scored at least one TD in the four previous games before being shut out by the Tribe ... Castor is the seventh-leading rusher in the CAA, averaging 73.3 yards per game ... He has run for 513 yards on 134 carries with a team high five touchdowns.

After their game at Delaware on Saturday, the Tigers close out the season with a pair of very difficult assignments ... On November 15, Towson visits sixth-ranked Villanova ... On November 22, the Tigers close out the season against number one-ranked James Madison.