Lakeland and Rockford meet for the 17th straight season in a series that has been dominated by the Muskies save for one meeting at Taylor Field six years ago. Lakeland has won the last five meetings, including a 41-20 win last year at Rockford as Robby Michael threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more. The Muskies also won the last time the teams played at Taylor Field, posting a 70-21 victory in the 2022 season finale as Lane Sobieski closed out his career with seven touchdown passes to tie the school single-game touchdown pass mark. The Muskies also won the three meetings before that, while the Regents' lone win in the series came Oct. 13, 2018, a 37-20 victory on the road at Lakeland. The Muskies are 7-1 at home and 8-0 on the road in the series that started in 2008, the first season of football in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

Lakeland last time out: Lost at St. Norbert 55-13 last week
The Muskies had a long afternoon in De Pere, dropping their third straight game with an ugly performance on the road. Lakeland fell behind 41-7 by halftime, with the Green Knights scoring 20 points in the final 2:13 of the first half on three drives covering a combined 23 yards after a fumbled punt snap, an interception and a blocked punt. The Muskies' bright spots included Robby Michael connecting with Kolby Cohen for an 87-yard touchdown pass plus another 31-yard TD pass from Michael to Jeremy Kobe. Jake Leclaire led the defense with four tackles for loss and both Justin McMahon and Shamond Oliver posted interceptions.

Rockford last time out: Lost to Wisconsin Lutheran 49-48 (OT) last week
The Regents just missed a big surprise in NACC play, falling to the third-place Warriors in overtime. Rockford spent almost the entire game chasing WLC, trailing by as many as 21 points late in the second quarter and by 14 points midway through the fourth quarter, but Jaelen Ray's 67-yard pass to Blake Winters tied the game with 3:58 left in regulation. Both teams traded touchdowns in overtime, but the Regents' two-point conversion pass attempt to win failed. Ray completed 34 of 48 passes for 420 yards and three touchdowns and Jack Carey rushed 40 times for 169 yards and a score. Rockford piled up 603 yards of offense and 32 first downs and held the ball for more than 36 minutes, but the Regents' seven trips to the red zone included five scores but also two times coming up empty, which ended up being a difference in the game.

About the Regents: Rockford is enjoying its best season in years, with its four wins the program's most in a season since a 7-3 record in 2007, the year before the NACC was formed. The Regents are aiming for their first non-losing record since going 7-3 five consecutive years from 2003-07, and also are looking for their first three-win season in the NACC in the conference's 17 years.

Rockford is led by Ray, its quarterback for the past five years (including the 2020-21 COVID-19 abbreviated spring season) who has thrown for 12,338 yards and 101 touchdowns in his career. Ray is seventh in NCAA Division III in passing yards this season (2,614). Running back Jack Carey also is second in the NACC in rushing yards and is 54 yards from reaching 1,000 yards for the season.

Senior Day: Saturday is both Lakeland and Rockford's final game of the season, and it also is the final home game for 17 Muskies seniors. The list of seniors who will be honored before the game includes: Krystian Allen, Ty Barrett, Jatron Bevly, Xavier Catalan, Kolby Cohen, Matt Glogowski, Jeremiah Jones, Charles Kobe, Jake Leclaire, Justin McMahon, Karlis Ozols, Trell Randle, Vyron Rosquist-Wallace, Daytravion Sopsher, Evan Soto, Asa Spindler and Xaviar Thomas. The group includes six who are completing their fifth year with the team, as Jones, Kobe, Leclaire, Ozols, Spindler and Thomas all played in the abbreviated 2020-21 spring season during the COVID-19 pandemic, but retained a year of eligibility and were eligible for a fifth year. The five-year seniors have been a part of 21 victories in their time at Lakeland, and the four-year seniors were part of the 2021 Lakeland team that posted an 8-2 record, tied for the program's most wins since the 1997 Muskies finished 10-0.

Huge season: Senior Jake Leclaire is one Muskie who has made the absolute most of his final season. Leclaire has 19 tackles for loss this season and has been a monster of late, with 13.5 TFLs over the last four games. He leads the NACC and ranks fourth nationally in Division III in total TFLs and TFLs per game (2.4), and his total is the most by a Muskie since Ryan Van De Loo piled up 28.5 tackles for loss to rank second in Division III in 2005. Leclaire enters the finale with 39.5 TFLs for his career, and this season he also is second in the NACC in sacks with 7.5, with his .94 sacks/game leading the conference.

More national leaders: Even with Lakeland in a 3-game losing streak, Robby Michael continues to rank fifth in NCAA Division III in total offense, averaging 337.9 yards/game. Michael also enters Saturday 37 yards short of 2,500 for his Muskies career, and last week he topped 5,000 yards passing in his college career. Senior defensive back Justin McMahon also has worked his way into the D-III national leaders. Coming into the finale, his 1.6 passes defenses/game (four interceptions plus nine pass breakups) is tied for 14th best in the country.