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TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology football team hits the road for Franklin College and a matchup with the last unbeaten team in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
Rose-Hulman stands 5-2 overall and 4-1 in league play entering Saturday's matchup. Franklin is 5-1 and 4-0 in conference play, with a No. 14 national ranking from d3football.com and a No. 16 national ranking from the American Football Coaches Association this week.
The Fightin' Engineers have relied on their defense during the 2016 season. Rose-Hulman leads the HCAC in scoring defense (17.1 points per game) and is third in total defense (349.0 ypg). The defense has forced 14 interceptions, 21 sacks and seven fumbles in the first seven games.
Sophomore John Kirby leads the defensive statistics with 50 tackles. Kevin Nowak and Alec Thompson pace the squad with three interceptions. Kaelen Garner is the HCAC leader in sacks (7.5) and Thompson has a team-high eight pass breakups.
Austin Swenson completed a pursuit to capture every significant passing career school record earlier this season. Swenson has completed 668-1,033 passes (64.7%) for 7,548 yards and 73 passing touchdowns in his Fightin' Engineer career.
Alec Fisher and Swenson combined for the #3 ranked play on ESPN College Football Final's "Top Plays" on Saturday. The play featured Fisher with a one-handed touchdown catch in the endzone in the win over Manchester. Fisher has a career school record 32 touchdown catches and has 187 career receptions for 2,314 yards.
Junior Matt Murray has been named the HCAC Special Teams Player of the Week four times this season. Murray is 3-3 on field goals, 16-18 on extra points and averages 39.6 yards per punt this season.
Franklin has a record of 53-1 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference since Rose-Hulman last defeated the Grizzlies in 2009. The only blemish in the last six years was a 2013 loss at Bluffton. Reigning HCAC Most Valuable Player Chase Burton leads the Franklin offense by completing 158-224 (70.5%) for 2,053 yards and 24 touchdowns with just six interceptions.
After Saturday's game, Rose-Hulman hosts Bluffton University on Oct. 29 at Cook Stadium.
