University of St. Thomas Athletics
Marist
Football returns home to host Marist
10/24/2023 3:01:00 PM | Football
St. Thomas holds 29 game win streak on its home field
ST. PAUL, MINN. – It feels like an eternity has passed since the University of St. Thomas football team played in the comforts of O'Shaughnessy Stadium. After two weeks on the road, the Tommies are back at home and ready to host Marist College in a key Pioneer Football League (PFL) game.
On paper, St. Thomas and Marist look nearly identical. The Tommies enter Saturday's contest with a 5-3 overall record and a 4-1 mark in PFL play. The Red Foxes have played one less game, as they are 4-3 overall and 4-1 in PFL play. Thanks to their identical records, both St. Thomas and Marist are still vying for a conference title, as the two teams are tied for third in the PFL standings.
Kickoff for Saturday's game is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at O'Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at www.tommiesports.com/tickets. Fans who cannot attend in person can watch the game in a variety of ways, including broadcast TV. The game will also air on Fox 9+ in the Twin Cities and surrounding metro area, and the game will also be streamed on Midco Sports Plus. Fans can tune into the live radio call on 1500 ESPN and follow live stats as well.
Tommie Tidbits:
LAST TIME OUT: St. Thomas rebounded in the best way possible last weekend, earning a resounding 38-6 win over Stetson to improve to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in PFL play. Junior running back Hope Adebayo led the Tommies offensive efforts, rushing for 197 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns. One of his touchdowns runs was a 67-yard rush, which ranks second in the DI era and second this season among single rush yardage. The St. Thomas defense was also outstanding, allowing just six points in four quarters of work.
TUNE IN: Football fans can follow the Tommies on their new streaming home, Midco Sports Plus and the Midco Sports Plus App. The subscription-based service will provide a digital streaming platform for regular season home St. Thomas football games along with exclusive Tommie and PFL content, including replays, highlights, interviews, and special feature stories. Subscriptions cost $9.99 per month or $79.99 for an annual plan. Fans can also listen to the call on 1500 ESPN and follow Live Stats on TommieSports.com. Additionally, the game will air on Fox9+ in the metro area.
THE OPPOSITION: For the first time in forever, the Tommies will face an opponent who is not coming off their bye week. On paper, the Red Foxes look eerily similar to St. Thomas thanks to their 4-3 overall record and 4-1 mark in PFL play. Marist lone conference loss this season came in its PFL opener against Davidson, as the Red Foxes were outscored 49-21 in early September. Since then, they've rattled off four consecutive wins over conference opponents, including Valparaiso (36-30 OT), Stetson (34-24), San Diego (30-16) and Presbyterian (19-10).
REBOUND WINS: Thanks to Saturday's win over Stetson, the Tommies are now 27-1 in games following a loss since head coach Glenn Caruso took over in 2008. The 16-year veteran has never lost back-to-back contests in PFL play and has lost back-to-back games just once in his tenure at St. Thomas. After Saturday's win, Caruso has a .964 winning percentage in games following a loss.
MAYOR OF DELAND: Junior running back Hope Adebayo had himself a day in the Tommies win over Stetson. Adebayo rushed for 197 yards on 13 carries, his first 100+ yard rushing performance since St. Thomas' win over Valparaiso on November 5, 2022. However, this wasn't the first time the running back went off against the Hatters. As a freshman in 2021, Adebayo rushed for 182 yards and a DI program record four touchdowns in the Tommies 38-7 win. In the victory, the then freshman set four different program records, two of which he still holds (single-game rushing touchdowns; consecutive games with 150+ rushing yards). All-time, Adebayo has rushed for 379 yards against Stetson and scored six touchdowns. He missed the 2022 meeting between the two teams due to injury. Adebayo was named the PFL Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against the Hatters.
HOME SWEET HOME: Thanks to home losses by Clemson and Cincinnati, the Tommies entered the 2023 season with the longest home field win streak at any level of college football. St. Thomas kept the streak alive two weeks ago, winning its 29th consecutive game at O'Shaughnessy Stadium with a 17-10 win over Butler. The Tommies have not lost on their home field for over 2500 consecutive days, and their last loss came at the hands of UW-Oshkosh on December 3, 2016.
HALFTIME LEAD: The Tommies have won 17 consecutive games in the Division I era when leading at the half. In fact, St. Thomas' last loss when leading at the half occurred on October 19, 2019 when it was still a member of the MIAC. The Tommies led rival Saint John's 14-13 entering the half in a neutral site game at Allianz Field. The Johnnies outscored St. Thomas 25-6 in the second half of the game, beating the Tommies 38-20 in the final meeting between the teams in the Division III era. St. Thomas has yet to lose a game when leading at the half in the Division I era.
YARDS ARE A GOOD THING: There is one commonality in the Tommies five wins this season: the success of the rush game. St. Thomas is 5-0 this season when rushing for over 100 yards, 4-0 when rushing for over 200 yards and 1-0 when rushing for over 300 yards as a team. However, the Tommies are just 4-2 when tallying over 100 receiving yards in a contest. In fact, St. Thomas top two receiving yardages came in losses in 2023. The Tommies tallied 216 yards in the air in their loss to Harvard on September 16 and 133 in a loss to South Dakota one week earlier.
REMEMBER THE DAY: The St. Thomas offense put together its best performance of 2023 on Saturday. In fact, the Tommies recorded a "first" in the DI era, rushing for 378 yards in the win. It marks the first 300+ rush yard for St. Thomas since jumping divisions in 2021 and the most rush yards in a game for the team since September 21, 2019. The Tommies rushed for exactly 500 yards in a win over Hamline and also rushed for over 300 yards three times that 2019 season.
"TAK"TFULLY BRILLIANT: Freshman Tak Tateoka has been nothing short of brilliant since taking over as the team's starting quarterback in September. In mid-October, Tateoka became the first freshman QB in the DI era named to the Jerry Rice Award Watch List. The Jerry Rice Award is given annually to the FCS Freshman of the Year, and Tateoka was one of 22 freshman/first years named to the list. In seven games, the freshman has amassed 598 passing yards, completing 60 of 123 passes, and a 120.33 QBR. He additionally has thrown for five touchdowns and connected with 15 different receivers this season.
OCTOBER SUCCESS: The month of October has treated St. Thomas well since head coach Glenn Caruso took over in 2008. The Tommies are 55-8 in October during Caruso's tenure and 10-2 since making the leap to Division I. Two of those wins have come against Marist, a team St. Thomas has beat twice in the spookiest month of the year. The Tommies defeated the Red Foxes 27-7 in the first ever meeting between the two teams in 2021 before upending them 38-24 in a road game last year.
LAW OF AVERAGES: St. Thomas has scored an average of 32.5 points when playing Marist, while the defense has held the Red Foxes to 15.5 points in two meetings. The Tommies have scored 30+ points in three games this season and twice in PFL play. St. Thomas is coming off its best offensive performance of 2023, scoring a season-high 38 points and tallying 466 yards of total offense in a win over Stetson.
LONGEST YARD: Sophomore kicker Stephen Shagen finally got to strut his stuff in the Tommies 38-6 win over the Hatters. Shagen was 1-1 on field goal attempts, tying his career-high with a 40-yard attempt in the second quarter of Saturday's game. He also went 4-4 on extra point attempts, scoring a season-high seven points for St. Thomas, and kicked for a career-high 412 yards on kickoffs. The sophomore additionally averaged 58.6 yards per kick on kickoffs, his highest average so far in the 2023 season.
