THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK FOOTBALL... Upper Iowa is entering rare air in the program's history with 5 wins this season marking just the 23rd time in the program's 119-year football history of reaching that mark. The Peacocks, who have only had 4 winning seasons since 1966's 8-2 campaign, are on the doorstep of a 6-win season and a guaranteed winning record. UIU will travel to Nebraska to face Wayne State College this week. Upper Iowa was leading the Cougars of the University of Sioux Falls last week 17-7 heading into the final quarter and held on for the 30-28 win. In this week's match up, Wayne State is led by their defense that has tallied 18 sacks for 111 yards and has held opponents to 164.2 rushing yards per game. Upper Iowa's offense has been running on all cylinders this season averaging 507.1 yards per game in total offense and, with two games to go, is within 110 yards of breaking last year's record-setting output of 4,674 yards.

THE SERIES... The Peacocks won their first-ever NCAA Division II and Northern Sun contest at Wayne State, 24-14, in 2006. The Wildcats won the yearly meeting in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but in 2010 Upper Iowa won on senior day in Fayette by a 21-20 count. Two years ago, the Wildcats outlasted the Peacocks winning a 44-41 overtime game despite 287 rushing yards from Chris Smith, a true-freshman at the time. Last season, Wayne State won 17-14 to pull ahead 5-2 in the series. A 47-yard, Max Martin field goal with 2:13 to play lifted the visiting Wildcats to a three-point late lead. After scoring the game's first touchdown early, UIU broke a 7-7 tie with a touchdown to open the fourth quarter, but Wayne State scored the final 10 points of the game for the victory.

SMITH ON THE DOORSTEP... Junior running back Chris Smith broke the single-season record for rushing yards at Upper Iowa last week and also crossed the 3,000-yard threshold in his career. The tailback ran for 258 yards and three touchdowns last week to earn the NSIC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time. This season, UIU's #21 has tallied 1,517 rushing yards, the fourth highest total in the country and second in the NSIC. Smith is now just 157 yards shy of the all-time career rushing yardage mark of 3,198 set by T.C. Hicks (2004-07). The Brown Deer, Wis. native's average per game of 168.6 on the ground also ranks fourth in the nation and second in the conference, while he also is ranked in rushing touchdowns with 14 (12th NCAA, 2nd NSIC), all-purpose yards/game with 178.0 (15th NCAA, 3rd NSIC), scoring/game with 9.3 (20th NCAA, 3rd NSIC). Prior to last week, the NSIC record for rushing yards in a season was held by Rayon Simmons of Winona State, who ran for 1,586 yards in 2012 just 69 yards ahead of Smith's current total. However, Tyler Tonderum of Southwest Minnesota State University has rushed for 1,708 yards this season to claim the record and set the new mark.

Yards Rushing/Career at UIU
	Yards	Years
T.C. Hicks	3198	2004-07
Chris Smith	3041	2011-P
Gary Marshall	2731	1972-75
Billy Proctor	2365	1990-93
Mike Hatten	2352	1999-00
Pat Maddock	2349	1978-80
Dave Sanger	2178	1966-69
Warren Pierce	2126	1964-66
Bob Reinert	2050	1961-64

4.58 MILES OF AIRTIME... Redshirt junior Cole Jaeschke was very efficient last week completing 23 of his 30 passes for 191 yards and a touchdown while crossing the 8,000-yard plateau in his career (8,052 yards or 4.58 miles). The Moorland, Iowa product has thrown for 2,623 yards and 21 touchdowns this season while completing 62.6% of his passes. He is currently just 360 yards shy of the all-time UIU mark for passing yards in a season (2,983) which he set last season. He is also just shy of two more season passing records at Upper Iowa that he set last season; he is 14 short of the completions record with 219 and 72 shy of the attempts record with 350 this season. UIU's signal caller is leading the NSIC in passing yards and is second in passing yards/game, completions/game, passing touchdowns, and is third in total offense and completion percentage. On the national scene Jaeschke is ranked 15th in passing yards, 18th in completions/game (24.3), 19th in passing yards/game (291.4), 23rd in passing touchdowns (21), 26th in total offense (304.4), 33rd in completion percentage (62.6%), 35th in points responsible for (136), 44th in points responsible/game (15.1), and 46th in passing efficiency (137.9).

King for a Day… Redshirt senior Derek Giesking has been Jaeschke's favorite target over the last four games. After just three catches over the first two weeks, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa native has 53 catches in the last seven contests including an average of 9.75 catches in the last four games. While leading the team in catches, Giesking is second in receiving yards with 610 and fourth on the team in touchdowns with 3. His receiving yards are ranked 81st in the nation and are the ninth-highest in the NSIC, while his receptions/game (6.3) are 40th best in the country and second-most in the conference.

Doing the Dougie... Senior Ethan Douglas is having another stellar season at linebacker for the Peacocks in his final run for UIU. After being all over the field last Saturday night versus the University of Sioux Falls and recording 19 tackles, Douglas has a team-high 90 stops (36th NCAA, 3rd NSIC) with 48 (42nd NCAA, 1st NSIC) coming on his own and 11.5 behind the line of scrimmage (63rd NCAA, 4th NSIC). Douglas now has 368 tackles in his four years for the Peacocks including 200 solo stops, 32.5 for loss and 3 sacks.