After eight weeks, it all comes down to Saturday as the winner of the Week 9 matchup pitting the Wesleyan football team against Trinity will be crowned the outright 2024 NESCAC Champion. Currently tied atop the league standings with both teams sitting at 7-1, the Cardinals are playing for what would be the program's first-ever outright NESCAC title while the Bantams are going for an unprecedented 12^th league championship (would be the ninth outright title).
 
Wesleyan heads into Saturday's clash winners of five straight games, the longest active win streak in the NESCAC, as the Cardinals have rebounded from their lone defeat, a 24-13 home loss to Bates back in Week 3. All five have either come down to the fourth quarter or featured a sizeable Wesleyan comeback, starting with a 19-7 road win over Hamilton wherein the Cardinals scored 19 unanswered fourth quarter points. Jake Edwards '24, G'25 returned a fumble for a touchdown on the opening possession of overtime to give Wesleyan a thrilling 23-17 OT win over Colby in Week 5. The Cardinals held off Bowdoin in the final minutes of a 17-14 road win at Brunswick before rattling off 31 unanswered points, overcoming an early 14-0 deficit to defeat Amherst on the road 31-14. Then, most recently, Wesleyan defeated Williams 25-24 last week on Homecoming in one of the more-thrilling games anyone will witness.
 
Trailing 24-18 with 1:43 remaining and the ball on their own 7-yard line, Wesleyan mounted a game-winning touchdown drive, culminating with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Niko Candido '25 to defensive back turned wide receiver Luke LaSaracina '25 with just six seconds remaining. Gage Hammond '27 hit the go-ahead, game-winning extra point as the thousands on-hand celebrated a third straight Little Three Championship for the Cardinals, which hasn't happened since 1946-48.
 
The Cardinals head into Week 9 with the NESCAC's top-ranked defense, allowing just 14.5 points per game. Wesleyan allows just 251.4 yards per game, which is 27+ yards fewer per game than the next-closest ranked defense (Trinity). The Cardinal rush defense ranks third in the NESCAC (103 yards allowed per game) while the pass defense (148.4) is easily the best in the conference (next-closest is Tufts at 187.8). In the 25-24 win over Williams, the Ephs threw just five passes, completing only two for 22 yards, while one of the attempts was intercepted and returned 41 yards for a touchdown by Dylan Connors '26.
 
Wesleyan's opponents are averaging just 13.5 first downs per game, which is the fewest allowed by any defense in the league, while opponents are converting just 26.2 percent of their third down chances, which is easily the best in the conference (2^nd place Trinity is at 34.2) and ranked 12^th-best nationally out of 239 NCAA Division III teams.
 
Leaders on defense include LB Ben Carbeau '25 who has put together a tremendous statistical season, leading the team in tackles (59), tackles for loss (12.5), and sacks (5.0). He ranks third in the NESCAC in tackles, second in tackles for loss, and seventh in sacks. The safety duo of Connors and Nick Donatio G'25 is the best in the league, as Connors has 39 tackles, 8 TFL, seven pass breakups and two interceptions this year while Donatio has 48 tackles, 2.5 TFL, and five pass breakups. CB Sean Walker '25 ranks second in the NESCAC with 10 pass breakups while All-American CB Wesley Abraham '25 has five pass breakups and one interception in 2024.
 
On offense, Wesleyan's 23.9 points per game average sits fifth-best in the NESCAC, as does the Cardinals' 338.8 yards per game average. Wesleyan might have found an answer in the running game as the team ran for 148 and 170 yards the past two weeks with the backfield duo of James McHugh '26 and Matt Diaz '28 leading the way. Candido adds a running element at the quarterback position, rushing for 62 yards last week against Williams, which is his second-highest single-game total of his career. On his passing attempts, Candido averages 223.4 yards per game, but more importantly he's limited interceptions all throughout the year, coming into Saturday with a 11:3 TD-to-INT ratio in eight games this season.
 
Trinity heads into this game with the best scoring offense in the NESCAC, putting up 263 points in eight weeks (32.9 per game), which is 48 points more than the second-highest scoring team (Williams). The Bantams defense ranks just behind Wesleyan with 14.6 points allowed per game. Trinity averages more than 400 yards of offense per game (409.3) and allowed just 279 per game. The passing attack is the primary weapon for the Bantams, with Trinity averaging 278 yards through the air in 2024, nearly 40 yards more than second place Tufts.
 
The Bantams have scored 30+ points in five of the past six weeks and have gained 400+ yards five times this season. Senior QB Zander Zebrowksi, who is in his first year as the team's starter at the position, has thrown for 2217 yards, competing 72.8 percent of his passes with 22 TD and just 2 INT in eight games. The Bantams' WR duo of Nolan O'Brien and Sean Clapp poses the biggest threat in the NESCAC, with O'Brien coming in with 59 catches for 809 yards and 8 TD while Clapp is the Bantams' all-time leader in career receptions (163), posting 40 catches for 571 yards and 7 TD this season. At running back, Trinity features the 2022 NESCAC Rookie of the Year Tyler DiNapoli who has rushed for 550 yards and 7 TD this season while adding 28 catches for 240 receiving yards. For his career, DiNapoli has 1740 rushing yards, 706 receiving yards, and 23 total touchdowns.
 
Defensively, Trinity has a balanced unit featuring 16 players with at least one tackle for loss while 11 Bantams have at least one sack this season. DE Jordan Atkinson leads the way with 8.5 TFL and 5.5 sacks with six QB hurries this year. LB Amari Phillips is the team's leading tackler with 44 and DB Charlie Cooper leads the NESCAC 15 passes defended (11 pass breakups, four interceptions).  
 
These two storied rivals are set to meet for the 123^rd time, with Trinity holding the all-time lead in the series with a 67-54-1 record. The dominance from the Bantams has elevated since 2001, with Trinity holding a 20-2 record against the Cardinals in the last 22 meetings. Last season, Trinity landed a 58-6 win in Middletown to secure a share of the NESCAC Championship with Middlebury. The last time Wesleyan defeated Trinity came back in 2019 in a 28-20 triumph in Hartford. That win signaled the first Cardinal victory over the Bantams in Hartford since 1997.