LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO
RADIO: ESPN 92.7 FM/1340 AM

ARCATA, Calif. – The Humboldt State football team will face a nationally-ranked challenger this Saturday as it travels to defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion and No. 8-ranked Azusa Pacific. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Azusa Pacific, the GNAC's preseason favorite to repeat, opened its season last week with a 24-13 win at Lonestar Conference powerhouse West Texas A&M. The Cougars won both meetings against the Green and Gold last season.

"This team has high goals, and first and foremost is to win the conference championship," said Head Coach Rob Smith. "Well, to do that, you have to go through the defending conference champ, and that happens to be Azusa. It's a tremendous challenge that we're excited about, quite frankly. We have developed a great rivalry with Azusa Pacific borne out of mutual respect; we won the championship in 2015 and they won it last year. They're currently ranked eighth in the country in the AFCA National Coaches Poll, so it's a great opportunity for us, and we always approach games like this as just that, an opportunity to match up against a quality opponent and gain some national recognition ourselves."

HSU opened the 2017 season with an 83-14 victory over CETYS University in Redwood Bowl. Smith knows his team is excited to face the Cougars after the first unit logged limited time in the exhibition opener. Despite some Jacks playing just one or two drives against the Zorros one thing was obvious, the offense has explosive playmakers at every skill position. HSU's defense under the leadership of new coordinator Barry Sacks showed it was no slouch either. Junior linebacker Curtis Williams was a wrecking ball in the international friendly and he along with the rest of the Green and Gold defense caused problems for the Zorros signal caller.

Williams admits the Jacks are looking forward to a rematch with California's only other DII football program.

"We just can't wait to go out there and get started," said Williams. "They're going to come with an intensity that we're anticipating, so we just want to get out and do our best and hope the outcome is in our favor."

Local fans can listen to Saturday's game broadcast live on ESPN 92.7 FM/1340 AM and follow live stats, video and audio via links above the preview.