BRIDGEWATER, Va. -- The Bridgewater College football team is set for its first home game in nearly a month as it plays host to No. 10/11 Randolph-Macon at the Jopson Athletic Complex in its annual Hall of Fame game on Saturday at the Jopson Athletic Complex.

Bridgewater vs. Randolph-Macon
When: Saturday, October 14, 2023
Where: Bridgewater, Va.
Stadium: Jopson Athletic Complex
Kickoff: 2:00 pm
Gameday Forecast: Mostly Cloudy; 30% chance of showers
Series Record: RMC Leads, 63-17-3 (Last Meeting: RMC won 44-7 in Ashland, Va.)

SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS: Ranolph-Macon enters today's contest ranked No. 11 in the nation, according to D3football.com, and No. 10 in the American Football Coaches Association poll. The Yellow Jackets are a perfect 5-0 on the season and have outscored ODAC opponents 139-21 over the last two games, including a 59-7 win against Averett last week and a 70-14 victory at Guilford two weeks ago. The high-powered offense leads the ODAC averaging 58.0 points per game, which is fourth most in all of Division III. The school in Ashland has yet to score less than 51 points in a game this season and have not lost a regular season game since midway through the fall 2021 season.  Drew Campanale leads the offense as the quarterback has tossed for 943 yards and eight touchdowns with just two interceptions. He's completing passes at nearly a 72% clip midway through the 2023 campaign. Nick Hale is the team's leading rusher with 405 yards on 55 carries. He has found the end zone 10 times, while David Wallis paces the team with 21 catches for 474 yards and five touchdowns.

RANDOLPH-MACON HEAD COACH:  Pedro Arruza has made a name for himself as one of the top football coaches in the state of Virginia as he is in his 20th season on the sidelines for Randolph-Macon. Over those 20 seasons, he has a record of 129-68 (.655) and has had eight straight winning seasons. In total, his teams have finished at least .500 in 15 of his previous 19 seasons entering this year. The Yellow Jackets have already secured at least a .500 season after getting its fifth win a week ago. Arruza also has coaching experience at Washington-St. Louis (Division III) and Butler. Prior to that, Arruza coached and taught at Battle Ground Academy in Tennessee. He was a four-year starting running back at Wheaton and was twice named an All-American during his playing days. Arruza left the school as the program's all-time leading rusher and is in the school's Hall of Fame. 

LAST MEETING: The Eagles went to Ashland last season in a matchup of undefeated teams. The nationally-ranked Yellow Jackets went on to win 44-7 in a game that saw the Eagles struggle offensively. RMC scored two touchdowns in the opening quarter before BC cut the lead in half on a Malcolm Anderson rushing touchdown. The Yellow Jackets held Bridgewater off the board for the remainder of the game and scored 30-unanswered points to get the win. Drew Campanale was a perfect 17-for-17 through the air for 256 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.

ALL-TIME SERIES: The series between the two programs dates back to 1926 and have met 83 times before this week. The Yellow Jackets lead the all-time series 63-17-3 and have won 31 of 40 games played in Bridgewater. Randolph-Macon has picked up a win in each of the last three games in the series with BC's last victory coming in 2019 as the Eagles downed RMC, 28-21, on their way to an undefeated season and an ODAC Championship. Overall, Randolph-Macon has won eight of the last 10 games.

LEADING THE WAY: Bridgewater junior running back Kennedy Fauntleroy ran for 107 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles' 24-10 win against Shenandoah last Saturday. The first-year starter now stands at 686 yards on the season, which leads the ODAC and ranks seventh in the nation. He also paces the conference in yards per game at 137.8, which is sixth-best in all of Division III. He also leads BC in scoring and ranks fifth in the ODAC.

SHUT IT DOWN: Junior cornerback Noah Hines is experiencing a career season as he leads the nation in passes broken up per game. Routinely matching up with the opposing team's top receivers, Hines is averaging 2.6 passes defended per game and has 12 total PBUs. That total sits as the best in all of Division III and is second to only Aaron Davis from Wheeling (Division II) when the category is extended to all NCAA football playing divisions. Last week, Hines swatted away three passes, which is his third straight game with at least three passes broken up. He also has 18 tackles (12 solo) and 1 interception on the season.

NICE WITH IT: Sophomore linebacker Aaron Nice has stepped into his first full season as a starter in stride, picking up where he left off from last year. The Stuarts Draft native leads the team with 54 tackles (30 solo) and also paces the ODAC with 9.5 tackles for loss. Those TFLs combined to cost the opposing team 26 yards, and he ranks 18th in DIII with 1.9 TFLs/game. 

FULL OF OFFENSE: Today's game features Randolph-Macon who averages 58 points per game and Bridgewater who averages nearly 32 points per game. On the flip side, the Yellow Jackets' defense allows just 10.8 points per game and the Eagles are allowing 24.0 points per game. Last week, the Eagles held Shenandoah to its lowest point total of the season as the Hornets entered the contest averaging nearly 38 points per game and were held to just 10. The Yellow Jackets have yet to score less than 51 in a game this year and have scored in the 30s every game since 2021. 

KEEPING THE QUARTERBACK CLEAN: Bridgewater's experienced offensive line has shined halfway through the 2023 season. The line has allowed just five sacks on the season with three of those coming in the season's opening game against Susquehanna who now ranks No. 12 in the country. Since then, the Eagles' quarterbacks just two times in the last four games and the line has not allowed a sack since the first quarter of the Hampden-Sydney game. 

STANDING STRONG ON THIRD DOWN: An important area to watch for during today's game is third downs, as the Eagles have held opponents to a 32.0 percent conversion rate on the down, while Randolph-Macon enters the contest as the national leader in third down efficiency converting on over 62.0 percent of tries, including 16 of its last 23 attempts (69.5%). 

HALL OF FAME: The Bridgewater College Athletic Hall of Fame will gain three new members on Saturday as Dr. Daniel Metzler (posthumous), Julie Glover Yeomans and Donald "Buck" Gordon will all be inducted as the 2023 Hall of Fame Class. Metzler still stands as the track & field program's record holder in the pole vault with a mark that has stood since 1975. Yeomans was a three-time First Team All-ODAC selection and was also named ODAC Player of the Year during her time with the Eagles. She helped lead the team to a pair of ODAC Championships as well as a runner-up finish in her four years. She still ranks inside the program's top 10 listings in assists. Gordon stands as one of just three BC baseball players to be drafted in the MLB Amateur Draft after being selected in the 19th round by the Chicago Cubs in the 1995 draft. He was named an All-American as a catcher for the Eagles and was a part of a pair of ODAC Championship teams. Gordon left BC with a career batting average of .403 and still sees his name all through the program's record book in nearly every batting category.