This weekend Eastern University Football (5-1, 5-0) travels to Berks County for the first of two-straight road tests in Reading. They will take on an Alvernia team that has surprised many after being picked to finish last in the MAC Preseason Coaches Poll.

The Golden Wolves, under first-year Head Coach Steve Devlin, have won three of their last four games and are two last-minute plays from being unbeaten in the MAC. In the first week of league play, Widener scored a touchdown with 58 seconds left to secure a 14-10 win. In Alvernia's Oct. 10 game against Misericordia, the Golden Wolves led 17-14 at the final two-minute timeout. Though the Cougars scored to go up with 75 seconds left, Alvernia still had three plays at the six-yard line to win.

This past weekend, Alvernia (3-3, 3-2) flipped the script on they Reading rival Albright as the equalized the all-time series at three games apiece with a 20-14 come-from-behind win. Albright, the hosts, scored twice in the first half to lead 14-0, but the Golden Wolves used a 74-yard interception return and a pair of rushing touchdowns to win. Alvernia broke the tie with a six-play drive that covered 50 yards in just over two minutes.

Quarterback Sawyer Esbenshade has adapted to college well. The first year from Lancaster has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and has seven touchdowns against only two interceptions. He has also run for a pair of scores.

Alvernia throws for 225 yards per game but runs for only 91 yards an outing. Opposing teams record nearly three sacks per contest. Defensively, the Golden Wolves are solid against the run. They allow only 117 yards per contest, but they have given up nearly 200 throwing yards per game. They have forced 10 turnovers and opponents score just 17.5 points per game.

Though the Wolves seem susceptible in the air, it would be out of character for the Eagles to start chucking the ball around. Brett Nabb threw for a pair of scores in the Eagles' 17-0 win over Widener, but the Eagles threw only three times after halftime and have only 68 attempts on the year. Nabb completes 60 percent of his throws, and the Eastern receivers average over 10-yards per catch, but the game is on the ground.

Last weekend, both Nabb and Jeremiah Avrilien went over 3,000 yards for their careers. Both players have 30 rushing touchdowns in 38 career games.

Jeremiah Avrilien is fourth nationally in rushing yards per game (846 yards) and averages 7.23 yards per carry. Eastern's senior running back has 3026 yards on 526 attempts. His losses on negative plays total only 102 yards.

Nabb has 3097 yards on 526 carries. He is second in the MAC in rushing and 25th nationally with 108 yards per game. The Eastern offense is one of three Division III teams nationally with only two turnovers. Both those turnovers came in an eight-minute stretch at Delaware Valley.

With the offense taking care of the ball, the Eastern defense has thrived. The Eagles are ranked eighth in total defense. The top ten teams in that category have a combined record of 55-4. All the teams in the top 25 have a winning record. The top 48 schools in Total Defense don't have losing records. Teams have gained only 218 yards per game.

One could look at a lack of redzone stops as an issue, but the Eagles have had few chances to improve on that statistics. Though opposing teams have scored in each of their redzone appearances this year, they have only been there nine times. Over the last four weeks, opponents have only been inside Eastern's 20-yard line only three times.

After Jason Bateman went out with injury in Eastern's loss at Endicott, the Eagles have been an incredibly balanced defense. DonJuan Clark III leads the Eagles in tackles and has earned a couple MAC Player of the Week honors, but the Eastern defense has players doing their jobs and churning out short possessions. The Eagles' defense is on the field for just over 52 snaps per game. By contrast, the Alvernia defense sees nearly 65 snaps per contest.

Though the Eagles have led for all but a few minutes in the league, MAC Teams average only 111 yards per game in the air.

The quick stops give the Eagles a chance to win the battle for field position. Though he is aggressive in his decision making — he has returned over half of opposing punts – Chris Rivera averages 12.8 yards per punt return. That puts him 18th in the nation. Since Rivera ran for a 91-yard touchdown on a kickoff at Endicott, MAC teams have opted to kick away from him or even out of bounds to avoid the big return.

The two youngest programs in the MAC met for the first time at Franklin Field in Sept. 2023. After the start of the game was delayed by over an hour, the Eastern collected a 23-20 win for the first win in program history. Eastern threw for 314 yards in that game and Nabb held for extra points.

Though the Eagles have won all three games in the series, the games have all been fairly close. Even last year, when the two teams finished at opposite ends of the league standings, the Golden Wolves were within ten points in the second half before falling 24-14 at Radnor Street Road.

Without a loss and with wins over the two one-loss teams, the Eagles have a full game lead in the MAC standings. One school, either Delaware Valley or Misericordia, will stay alive in the chase. The Aggies will host the Cougars. Misericordia lost last-year's contest 51-20 and is 0-11 all time against the Aggies. Stevenson, the other two-loss team, hosts Albright. The Mustangs lost to Delaware Valley, 40-30, last week.

The Eagles are back in Reading at Albright next weekend and will host Stevenson on Nov. 7. Eastern will honor its second senior class before that game.