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No. 9 Davenport visits No. 1 Ferris State in the AFCA poll at 1 p.m. ET Saturday at Top Taggart Field in Big Rapids, Michigan. Both teams are 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the GLIAC, so the winner takes sole possession of first place in the league.
There's more on the line than the standings. Ferris State has won 38 straight games, and Davenport has never beaten the Bulldogs. The Calder City Classic trophy goes to the winner for the third time.
Kickoff is 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Top Taggart Field in Big Rapids. The game streams on FloCollege.
Ferris State, the two-time defending national champion, beat Michigan Tech 27-20 last week for its 38th straight win. That streak is tied with Northwest Missouri State (2015-18) for the second-longest in Division II history. Grand Valley State holds the record with 40 straight wins from 2005-07, so a win Saturday would put the Bulldogs one away from tying it.
The last two weeks have been tighter than usual for the Bulldogs. They came back from 17 points down to beat Grand Valley State 41-34 on Oct. 17. Against Michigan Tech, Eoin O'Sullivan made a 50-yard field goal late in the third quarter, and Avery Kucharski added a 33-yarder to make it 27-20 with 1:34 left.
Quarterback Wyatt Bower has been Ferris State's top player on offense. Through seven games, he led the Bulldogs with 1,243 passing yards and eight touchdown passes, plus 537 rushing yards and 11 rushing scores, as the Hillsdale Daily News reported. He left the Michigan Tech game early with a lower-body injury. The Hillsdale Daily News, citing Devin Waldrop of the Ferris State Register, reported it was an ankle injury and that Bower returned to the sideline in a walking boot. His status for Saturday is uncertain.
Ferris State has a proven backup. Chase Carter ran for 141 yards against Michigan Tech and completed 11 of 23 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns, and he was named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week. Carter led Ferris State with 1,181 rushing yards during last season's national title run.
Davenport comes in off a 49-0 home win over Wayne State, its second straight home shutout. The Panthers held the Warriors to 112 yards, eight first downs and 0-for-15 on third down. Davenport allows 12.6 points per game.
The offense runs through running back Cephus Harris. He has 1,587 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns through eight games, an average of 198.4 yards per game. Harris needed one half to run for 200 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries against Wayne State. Jonathan Palmer threw for 115 yards and two touchdowns in that game.
Davenport leads the GLIAC with 333.1 rushing yards per game. Ferris State averages 292.1, and leads the league with 516.6 total yards per game to Davenport's 505.3.
Both defenses are built to stop the run. Davenport gives up 96.4 rushing yards per game, and Ferris State allows 110. Each team has allowed just two rushing touchdowns all season. Through eight games, Ferris State has allowed 2,047 total yards and Davenport has allowed 2,051.
Ferris State leads the series 10-0. The teams first played in 2017, and they met twice in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The Calder City Classic trophy, modeled on the Alexander Calder sculpture La Grande Vitesse in downtown Grand Rapids, started in 2024. Ferris State won the first two editions, 24-9 in 2024 and 44-23 in 2025.
Last year's game was closer than the score. Davenport led 14-0 and was tied 23-23 at halftime in Caledonia before Ferris State scored the last 21 points. Harris ran for 185 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries in that game. Davenport head coach Sparky McEwen played and coached at Ferris State, and several Panthers transferred from the Bulldogs.
Michigan Tech is 3-1 in the league, one game behind both teams. Saturday's winner gets sole possession of first place and the head-to-head tiebreaker. It won't settle the title, though. Davenport still plays Michigan Tech on Nov. 7 and Grand Valley State on Nov. 14.
