ROLLA, Mo. – Upper Iowa joined the Great Lakes Valley Conference this season and Missouri S&T's football team will be the first to see the Peacocks in person as the teams square off Saturday in a 1 p.m. contest in Fayette, Iowa.

Saturday's game will be a non-conference matchup between the teams, as the conference game between S&T and UIU will take place in Rolla on Oct. 7.  The Miners will come into the contest looking to get into the win column for the first time, while Upper Iowa is coming off its initial win of the 2023 campaign last Saturday when it topped Saint Ambrose.

S&T overcame one 14-point deficit last week at Wayne State (Mich.), but couldn't make a similar deficit later in the game as it lost 31-24 to the Warriors in Detroit.  Miner quarterback Tyler Gioia (Huntington Beach, CA/Edison) – named Monday as the GLVC's Offensive Player of the Week – completed 30-of-42 passes in the game for 323 yards and three touchdowns and has thrown for 547 yards and five scores over the first two weeks of the season.

Gioia, who has 613 in total offense, has accounted for all six S&T touchdowns this season and has completed 66.7 percent of his passes to currently lead the GLVC in that department.

Blaize Klossner (Rolla, MO/Rolla) had a career-high nine receptions in the game and CJ Wiggins (Yuma, AZ/Gila Ridge) hauled in eight passes for 140 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown reception that brought the Miners within a touchdown late in the contest.  Klossner leads S&T with 13 receptions for the season, while Wiggins has 12 catches for a team-leading 177 yards and tight end Justis Braden (Liberty, MO/Liberty North) has 10 catches for 125 yards and three touchdowns.

Josh Sanders (Maize, KS/Maize) currently leads the Miner ground game with 117 yards, while Cameren Smith (Claymont, DE/Concord) has ran for 76 in the first two weeks of the campaign.

Defensively, the Miners are paced by linebacker Justin Gniedziejko (Chicago, IL/Taft) with 14 tackles, while linebacker Justin Amaro (Wichita, KS/Goddard) has been in on 12 stops and safety Carson Prenger (Jefferson City, MO/Blair Oaks) on 10.  Amaro has 4.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, while Nick Mattli (O'Fallon, MO/Fort Zumwalt South), Aidan Hurtado (Austin, TX/McNeil) and Zatyvion Miller (Los Alamitos, CA/Los Alamitos) all have a quarterback sack.

ABOUT UPPER IOWA: The Peacocks picked up their first win of the season Saturday by knocking off Saint Ambrose 45-26, racking up 555 yards of total offense in a balanced attack.  UIU threw for 324 yards and ran for another 231 in the victory, averaging 8.2 yards per play from the line of scrimmage.

Quarterback Darryl Overstreet Jr. completed 22-of-34 passes for 310 yards and three touchdowns in the win and has thrown for 526 yards in the first two weeks of the season.  HIs top targets have been Willy Camacho with 14 receptions for 150 yards – he had a touchdown reception and two rushing scores against Saint Ambrose -- and Mante Morrow, who has 190 yards on 10 receptions.  Overstreet has completed 59.7 percent of his throws thus far in 2023.

Jayden Mitchell paces the Peacock ground game with 114 yards, while Camacho has accumulated 88 yards in the two outings and Aboubacar Barry has 69 yards.  Upper Iowa has averaged 152 yards on the ground in its first two games after its 231-yard outing a week ago.

Linebacker John Butsch leads the Peacocks with 18 tackles and has the team's only interception in the first two weeks. Trevor Thompson has 14 stops and leads UIU with five tackles for a loss, while Avery Dixon and Ben Kamara have eight tackles apiece.