Bearcats and Pirates to Meet in Battle of Undefeated Teams

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University, 4-0, and Whitworth University, 5-0, will battle each other at the Pine Bowl in Spokane, Wash., on Saturday, Oct. 6 in a Northwest Conference football game. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. (PDT).

Whitworth is 1-0 in the NWC, while Willamette is playing its first NWC game of the season.

You can follow all of the action between the Bearcats and the Pirates through a live audio webcast on the Bearcat Network. All of WU's football games in 2012 will be webcast, with road games featuring audio only. Audio and video will be available during home games. Full Access Sports is the Bearcats' webcast provider.

Live Stats from the game will be available on the Whitworth website. There will not be a live video stream of the game.

SWX will broadcast the game on cable as part of its coverage of Whitworth, but the broadcast will only be seen in the Spokane, Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and Yakima areas in Washington and the Coeur d'Alene area in Idaho. In the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, SWX is found on digital channel 6.2, on Comcast channel 115 in Spokane, and on Time Warner channel 306 in northern Idaho.

Willamette enters the game ranked first in NCAA Division III in passing offense with 394.2 passing yards per game.

Quarterback Josh Dean (Jr., Dana Point, CA/Dana Hills HS) is the individual national leader in passing yards per game with 370.8 yards per contest. He has completed 120 of 173 passes (69.4%) for 1,483 yards and 18 touchdowns.

The Bearcats have accumulated 2,113 yards of total offense for an average of 528.2 yards per contest. Willamette's average is ranked fourth in NCAA Division III.

Whitworth is averaging 379.6 total yards per game. The Pirates have earned 234.4 passing yards and 145.2 rushing yards per game. Senior tailback Ronnie Thomas has carried the ball 147 times for 673 yards (4.6 avg.) and eight touchdowns. He is ranked 15th in NCAA Division III with 134.6 rushing yards per game.