ROLLA, Mo. – With a lot of opportunities sitting in front of it, Missouri S&T's football team heads to the road for the final time in the 2018 regular season Saturday as it will face McKendree University in a critical Great Lakes Valley Conference contest at 1 p.m. in Lebanon, Ill.

The Miners moved into the NCAA Division II Super Region 3 rankings Monday at No. 10 and still have a chance to gain a share of the GLVC title, should Truman State knock off Indianapolis Saturday.  If Truman is able to win Saturday, the Miners can claim their share by beating the Bulldogs on the final day of the season at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.

But before that, the 7-2 Miners have a date with a dangerous McKendree team, who despite its 5-4 record on the season does possess one of the most explosive offenses in the GLVC.   The Bearcats lead the conference in both total offense and scoring heading into play this weekend.

The Miners are currently 4-1 in the GLVC, while the Bearcats are one game behind S&T at 3-2 in conference play.

ABOUT THE MINERS:  Missouri S&T won its third straight game Saturday as it rode Braxton Graham's (Seneca, MO/Seneca) big performance to secure a 45-7 win over Lincoln at Allgood-Bailey Stadium.  Graham, the GLVC's special teams player of the week, recorded 256 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns in the contest, which included a 76-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Graham, who has 1,085 all-purpose yards on the season, leads the Miner receivers with 45 receptions for 800 yards and 10 touchdowns, while Logan Armontrout (Centralia, MO/Centralia) has caught 28 balls for 339 yards and Justin Vaughn (Houston, TX/George Bush) has 26 catches for 358 yards.  The quarterback for this air attack, Tyler Swart (Dickinson, TX/Dickinson), has completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 2,117 yards and 18 touchdowns on the season.

Meanwhile, Deshawn Jones (Olympia Fields, IL/Rich Central) has rushed for 605 yards and has scored seven times on the ground; he enters play Saturday just two touchdowns away from Terry Ryan's career record of 29 rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, the Miners recorded a season-high seven sacks in the win over Lincoln and is led in that department by linebacker Bo Brooks (Canutillo, TX/Canutillo) – the GLVC's defensive player of the week – with 8.5 sacks and a team-high 16 tackles for a loss, while defensive end Tershawn Wharton (University City, MO/University City) has five sacks and 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

S&T's leading tackler is linebacker Landon Compton (Lamar, MO/Lamar) with 77 stops on the season, while cornerback Roderick Chapman (Los Angeles, CA/Jefferson) leads the GLVC with four interceptions and 15 passes defended.

ABOUT THE BEARCATS:  The Bearcats topped William Jewell in a high scoring affair Saturday 47-30, as quarterback Reece Metcalf returned to the lineup to complete 17-of-24 passes for a school record 391 yards and four touchdowns to earn the GLVC's offensive player of the week award.  While Metcalf had the big day through the air, Preston Thompson added 105 yards and two touchdowns for the 5-4 Bearcats.

Metcalf, who missed just over a game and a half prior to the William Jewell contest, leads the GLVC in passing with 2,159 yards and 25 touchdowns while completing 66.5 percent of his throws.  His leading targets have been Jayln Williams and Josh Revay with 38 catches each; Williams has 599 yards and eight touchdowns, while Revay has six scores and 434 yards.

The Bearcats leads the GLVC in both scoring (35.9 points per game) and total offense (455.9 yard per contest), as they also possess the GLVC's second leading rusher in Thompson with 905 yards on the year.  Thompson is not doing it alone in the backfield, as Jace Franklin has rushed for 566 yards for a team averaging 205.9 rushing yards per game.

While the McKendree offense ranks first in the GLVC, the Bearcat defense enters the week at the opposite end of the list as it has given up an average of 463.8 yards and 34.2 points per contest.  Linebacker Ricco Gipson leads the unit with 82 tackles on the year, the fourth-best mark in the conference, while safety Blake Benoist has recorded 58 stops on the season.

McKendree has won the last two meetings from Missouri S&T, including last year's 39-31 decision in Rolla.