ELON, N.C. -- The Elon football team will host its first Southern Conference football game of the season on Saturday as the Phoenix welcomes in the fifth-ranked Wofford Terriers for a 1:30 p.m. contest on Family Weekend.  The Phoenix coaching staff will also be participating in Coach to Cure MD by wearing patches.

Coach to Cure MD is a one-day, nationwide awareness building and fundraising event that will be held nationally on Sept. 29.  The goal of Coach to Cure MD is to raise awareness of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and generate financial support for Duchenne research.  Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed during childhood and affects approximately one in 3,500 boys worldwide.  Fans can support their coaches in this fight by either contributing online at www.CoachtoCureMD.org or by texting the word CURE to 90999 to donate $5.

The radio broadcast will air live on WPCM 920 AM and at elonphoenix.com and the contest will also be streamed for free at elonphoenix.com.

Site: Elon, N.C.
Stadium: Rhodes Stadium
Surface: Natural Grass
Capacity: 11,250
Radio: WPCM 920 AM – David Hibbard (play-by-play) and Taylor Durham (color)
TV: None
Series: Elon trails 11-24

Gameday Central
Parking/Tailgate Information
Live Audio
Live Stats
Live Video
Game Notes

The Matchup
Elon and Wofford are meeting for 36th time.  This will be the sixth all-time meeting between the two at Rhodes Stadium.
The Phoenix enters this game with a 2-2 record after coming up just short of upsetting #10 Georgia Southern in a 26-23 contest last weekend.  Wofford had last Saturday off, but defeated Western Carolina 49-20 in its last outing to improve to 3-0 overall.

The Series
Elon trails the series with Wofford by a 11-24 margin.  The Terriers have won the last two, including a nail-biting 28-21 decision the last time the teams met in Rhodes Stadium.  The teams had alternated wins and losses for five consecutive seasons until Wofford made it two wins in a row last year.  The first-ever meeting between the two came on Oct. 15, 1921, as Wofford claimed a 20-7 win over Elon in Spartanburg, S.C.

The Coaches
Elon: Jason Swepson (Boston College ‘92) is 7-8 and is in his second year as a head coach, both with the Phoenix.  Prior to becoming Elon’s head coach, Swepson spent 12 years as an assistant with Tom O’Brien at both Boston College and NC State.

Wofford: Mike Ayers (Georgetown, Ky. ‘74) is in his 26th season at the helm of the Wofford program.  In that time, Ayers has compiled a 165-111-1 record.  In 28+ seasons, Ayers is 176-132-2.

A Numbers Game
• 5 - Career 300-yard passing games for Thomas Wilson who threw for 302 yards at Georgia Southern last Saturday.
• 11 - Points by Adam Shreiner against Georgia Southern, giving him 248 for his career - good enough for fifth place on Elon’s all-time scoring chart.

It Happened on September 29
Elon Football: On Sept. 29, 2001, Elon earned its first-ever victory in Rhodes Stadium by defeating Gardner-Webb 27-14 in a Family Weekend contest.

World Events: On Sept. 29, 1977, Muhammad Ali defeated Earnie Shavers in 15 rounds to claim the heavyweight boxing title.

Ties With This Week’s Opponent
• Elon’s Miles Williams hails from Roebuck, S.C., just miles from the Wofford campus, and attended Spartanburg’s Dorman High along with a quartet of Wofford players - Rob Greene, Ray Smith, Josh Davis and Paul Inclan.
• Elon’s Hatchel Linens and Wofford’s Zack Cole both attended Patton High in Morganton, N.C.
• Phoenix wide receiver Danny Sellers and Wofford’s Brion Anderson both attended Bartram Trail in St. Augustine, Fla.

Elon vs. the WVIAC
Over the course of its 90+ football seasons, the maroon and gold has faced off with four current members of the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletics Conference.  Elon has gone 11-1 in those contests.  Elon is 8-1 vs. Concord and 1-0 against Shepherd, West Virginia State and West Virginia Wesleyan.

Family Weekend
In its previous 11 Family Weekend affairs in Rhodes Stadium, the Phoenix has compiled a record of 9-2 and has won four straight.

Tight With GSU
Elon’s three-point defeat against Georgia Southern continued a stretch in which most of the games against the Eagles have been close.  In fact, of the last seven meetings, four have been decided by a touchdown or less.

Nesting at Home
Now in the 91st year of Elon’s program history, the Phoenix owns an all-time record of 484-400-18 (.547) – including a sizzling 176-84-3 (.674) in 52 seasons of home games at Burlington Memorial Stadium and a mark of 33-30 (.524) in its current home at Rhodes Stadium.  Since 2007, Elon has gone 21-8 (.724) in the confines of Rhodes Stadium.

Payton Watch
Senior wide out Aaron Mellette is one of the 20 FCS players on the initial watch list for the Walter Payton Award which is presented annually to the top player in the division.  Following a junior year in which he set a new Elon and Southern Conference record with 1,639 receiving yards, Mellette placed fifth in the voting for the Payton in 2011.  The maroon and gold has now had a player finish in the top 20 in the balloting for five consecutive seasons.

Mellette in SoCon Top 10
Now in his senior campaign, wide receiver Aaron Mellette ranks among the SoCon’s all-time career leaders in receptions, touchdown grabs, 100-yard receiving games and receiving yards.  Mellette currently sits third with 231 catches, tied for third with 31 TD receptions, fifth with 16 100-yard receiving games and sixth with 3,102 receiving yards.

Sit Tight
Elon has been in a number of tightly contested games since 2010.  In fact, of the last 24 tilts, 11 have been decided by seven points or fewer.  The Phoenix has gone 6-5 in those games.

Air Attack
Over the past few years Elon has been known for its passing attack.  The Phoenix has ranked no lower than 23rd nationally in passing yards per game in each of the past six seasons and twice the maroon and gold was second nationally.  In that span, an Elon quarterback has thrown for 3,000 or more yards on four occasions.