PDF Game Notes
   FLORENCE, Ala. -- The University of North Alabama will celebrate its 70th football Homecoming this Saturday and nothing would make for a sweeter celebration for the Lions than to pick up a win against Mississippi College.
    UNA jumped out to an impressive 3-1 start in its first season of Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) competition but the Lions have since dropped back-to-back games to Campbell and West Florida. Despite the fact that those two teams have a combined 10-2 record, the Lions feel like they have taken a step back and need to turn the 2018 season back in a positive direction with four games remaining.
    To do that against Mississippi College will take a solid and sustained defensive effort from the UNA defense as the Lions will face a formidable triple-option attack.
    Although Mississippi College is just 2-3 on the season, the Choctaws boast one of the top rushing attacks in Division II, averaging 305.4 yards per game on the ground.
    After opening the season with wins over Clark-Atlanta and Southwest Baptist, the Choctaws have lost three straight to ranked West Florida and Valdosta State teams, in addition to Florida Tech.  MC's three losses have come to teams with a combined 16-2 record.
    All three were competitive, high-scoring contests and the Choctaws have scored at least 21 points in all five of their games this season.
    UNA will hope to take advantage of a Mississippi College defense that is allowing 432 yards and 33 points per game.
    Quarterback Christian Lopez has led UNA's offensive attack with 1,207 yards passing and seven TDs.
    A quartet of red-shirt freshman receivers have combined for 86 catches and 1,006 yards through the air and Damon Cox has rushed for 486 yards and two TDs.
    On the defensive side, the Lions have allowed more than 20 points in all six games this season but have battled to keep UNA in games and have contributed key stops in all three of the team's wins.
    This will be the fifth meeting between North Alabama and Mississippi College since the Choctaws returned to the Gulf
South Conference and Division II in 2014.
    The rivalry dates back to 1963 but was dormant from 1995-2013.
    UNA drilled Mississippi College 58-0 in Clinton in 2014 to renew the series and has added three more wins since then to hold an 18-14-2 lead in the all-time series.
    MC's last win in the series was in 1991.
    As far as Homecoming is concerned,     the Lions are 49-19-1 all-time in their 69 previous Homecoming games. UNA has won 13 straight Homecoming games, dating back to a 24-20 loss to Valdosta State in 2004. Last season UNA downed Florida Tech 30-7 on Homecoming.
    This will be the sixth time that Mississippi College has been the Homecoming opponent for UNA and the Choctaws have a 3-2 record in those previous five games. MC downed UNA on Homecoming in 1965, 1967 and 1973. UNA won the last two Homecoming meetings in 1981 (37-23) and 1983 (28-0).
    Following Saturday's game, the Lions will travel to Jackson State on October 20 and then have a week off before closing the season with home games against Shorter (Nov. 3) and North Greenville (Nov. 10).