ROLLA, Mo. -- Since the Great Lakes Valley Conference began sponsoring a football championship in 2012, Missouri S&T and Indianapolis have been found at the top end of the standings on an annual basis.  Saturday night, those two teams meet up in a key early matchup that could go a long way in deciding the eventual conference champion at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

The Miners enter Satuday's contest with a 4-1 record after winning their GLVC opener 48-23 at Southwest Baptist and are undefeated against NCAA Division II competition this season.  Meanwhile, the Greyhounds – who have won five of the six previous GLVC titles – are 3-1 overall and are already 2-0 in league play after taking down Lincoln 41-17 last week.

UIndy has won all six prior meetings from Missouri S&T, including last season's 43-34 win in Indianapolis that clinched the outright GLVC title for the Greyhounds.  In that contest, the Miners had the lead at halftime, only to have UIndy outscore S&T 26-6 in the second half.

ABOUT THE MINERS: Thanks to one of the best offensive performances in school history, Missouri S&T got its GLVC schedule started on a winning note Saturday with the win at Southwest Baptist.  The Miners rolled up 609 yards of total offense, the third-most in a game in program history, as quarterback Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson) put up some of the best single game numbers of his career.

Swart threw for a career-best 448 yards, the sixth-most in a game in S&T history, and five touchdowns in the win as he broke a pair of program records along the way.  The five scoring passes extended his total to 62 to surpass Evan Gray's career record and he also broke the completions record of 508 as he completed nearly 80 percent of his throws.

On the year, Swart has connected on 64.3 percent of his passes for 1,185 yards and 12 touchdowns and has passed the 7,000-yard mark for his career.  His top target has been Braxton Graham (Seneca, MO/Seneca) with a GLVC-high 32 receptions for 451 yards and six touchdowns after his seven-catch, 173-yard effort at SBU.

Josh Brown (Gainesville, FL/North Marion HS) has 16 catches for 233 yards and two scores, while Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) has 15 receptions for 164 years.  Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) leads the Miner rushing attack with 264 yards.

Defensively, the Miners own the top-ranked defense in the GLVC as they are allowing just 275.8 yards per game and are tops against the run with just 61.4 yards given up per game.  Linebacker Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) leads the way with 38 tackles, while fellow linebacker Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) has been in on 37 stops and Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) on 27, including 3.5 sacks and eight tackles for a loss.

Roderick Chapman (Los Angeles, CA/Jefferson), meanwhile, tied an S&T and GLVC record last week with three interceptions as he became the first Miners since 2004 to pick off three passes in a game.  Chapman has four interceptions to lead the GLVC and also heads the league list with seven pass breakups.

ABOUT THE GREYHOUNDS:  UIndy jumped all over Lincoln to record its third straight victory, running out to a 31-0 lead in the first half of the eventual 41-17 win over the Blue Tigers.  The Greyhounds, who are averaging 361.2 yards per game on the offensive side of the ball, showed good balance in the win with 205 yards on the ground and 270 through the air.

Al McKellar, the GLVC's second-leading rusher with an average of 91.5 yards per game (366 total yards in four games) had 110 yards in the win while quarterback Jake Purichia was 16-of-24 for 270 yards and had three scoring passes.  Purichia has thrown for 660 yards and eight touchdowns on the season, with seven of those going to Malik Higgins.

Higgins has caught 17 passes for 312 yards and is averaging 18.4 yards per receptions, while Ryan Topper has averaged better than 16 yards per catch on his seven receptions.

The UIndy defense, which ranks right behind the Miners with an average of 294 yards allowed per game, is paced by linebackers Joe Lambright and Cole Sigmund.  Lambright leads the Greyhounds with 42 tackles, while Sigmund has been in on 31 stops on the season.  Alec Patch leads UIndy with five quarterback sacks as the unit has recorded 18 on the season.

The Greyhounds are also a plus four in the turnover department, with Blake Luker having the team's only two interceptions.