Game Information – Kenyon College (3-5, 2-4 NCAC) at Wabash College (6-2, 5-1 NCAC)

• Wabash plays its 2022 regular season home game today against the Kenyon College Owls. The Little Giants are 6-2 overall and tied with DePauw University in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings with identical 5-1 records. A Wabash victory today against Kenyon combined with a DePauw win over Oberlin in Greencastle would make next weekend's 128th Monon Bell Classic the deciding game for the conference title and automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Football Tournament scheduled to begin November 19.
   
• Saturday's game between the Little Giants and the Owls features four of the top-five wide receivers in the conference. Kenyon's Zach Kim leads all receivers with an average of 127.6 yards per game. He's caught 53 passes for 1,021 yards and 12 touchdowns. Teammate Finn Murray has 58 receptions for 663 yards for a 94.7 yards-per-game average. Wabash juniors Derek Allen, Jr. and Penn Stoller rank fourth and fifth in the league standings. Allen, Jr. owns an 89.5 receiving yards-per-game average. Stoller averages 80.3 yards per game. Fellow junior Cooper Sullivan ranks eighth in the conference with his 70.9 yards-per-game average.
   
• Wabash junior quarterback Liam Thompson continues his assault on the football record book. Thompson broke the former record of six touchdown passes accomplished twice by Jake Knott (vs. Hiram, 10/21/00; vs. Allegheny, 10/28/00) and Matt Hudson (vs. Denison, 9/13/08). Thompson tied the NCAC record of seven touchdown passes in a game thrown by Wittenberg's Jake Kennedy (vs. Denison, 9/29/18) and twice by Earlham's Justin Rummel (vs. Manchester, 9/10/05 and 9/9/06).
   
• Thompson completed 28-of-37 passes for 392 yards. He connected on 14 consecutive passes in the first half, one week after setting the school record with 19 straight completions. He has thrown for more than 300 yards in six consecutive games. Thompson is one of four Division III quarterbacks with a seven-TD effort in a game this season. Benedictine's Evan Wydajewski threw eight TDs in the Eagle's game against Rockford (10/22/22).
   
• Cooper Sullivan caught four passes for a game-high 127 yards and one score. Penn Stoller hauled in three TDs with six receptions for 92 yards. Jacob Riddle, Derek Allen Jr., and Donovan Snyder all caught touchdown throws from Thompson.
   
• Freshman linebacker Gavin Ruppert earned NCAC Football Defensive Athlete of the Week honors after recording 16 tackles, including seven solo stops, against Hiram. He was part of a Wabash defense that held Hiram's Malcolm Rogers to 91 rushing yards on 16 carries. Ruppert reached double-digits in tackles three times this season, including a season-high 18 against Denison. He ranks second in the conference and 27th in the nation in total tackles, averaging 10.3 stops a game.
   
• The Wabash offense leads all of Division III in passing offense with an average of 368.5 yards per game. The Little Giant are second in total offense, averaging 557.5 yards per game. North Central leads the nation with a 571.2 yards-per-game average.
   
• SCOUTING THE OWLS
  Kenyon brings its high-powered passing attack to Little Giant Stadium for today's game versus Wabash. The Owls average 302.1 passing yards per game, second among North Coast Athletic Conference behind only Wabash (368.5 ypg). Kenyon is second in total offense, averaging 454.9 yards per game. Senior quarterback Ryan O'Leary ranks second in the NCAC, averaging 279 passing yards per game. He has completed 183 of 293 pass attempts for 2,232 yards and 20 touchdowns with seven interceptions. O'Leary threw for 466 yards last Saturday at DePauw, the second-most passing yards by a Kenyon quarterback in a game. He has thrown for more than 300 yards in four games this season, and four touchdown passes in each of his last three games.
  
  Sophomore wide receiver Zachary Kim leads the conference and ranks fifth in Division III with an average of 127.6 receiving yards per game. He finished with a Kenyon single-game record of 280 yards on nine receptions last week at DePauw and found the end zone four times. Senior wideout Finn Murray is second in the conference with a 94.7 receiving yards-per-game average. He caught ten passes for 121 yards last week versus DePauw and has five games with more than 100 receiving yards this season. Freshman Jordon Benjamin averages 78.8 rushing yards per game with 473 total yards on 70 carries with three TDs. O'Leary has four rushing touchdowns and averages 54.6 yards per game on the ground. The Owls are fifth in the conference in rushing with a team average of 152.8 yards a game.
  
  Senior safety Mychael Leno leads Kenyon in tackles with 78, including 53 solo stops. Sophomore defensive lineman Andy Canonico and senior end Isaiah Mann both have double-digit tackles for losses. Canonico leads the team with 14-1/2 for losses totaling 55 yards. Mann has made 11-5 tackles for losses of 47 yards. Mann and junior nose tackle Cole Garrison share the team lead with 2-1/2 sacks apiece as part of 16 total sacks this season by the Owls. Junior corner Jaylen Cardoso is tied for first place in the conference with three interceptions.