• Saturday's contest is on the CBS Sports Network, with Jason Knapp handling play-by-play and Kevin Carter the game analyst. The producer is Giancarlo Gennarini. Colgate's radio crew is Eric Malanoski and Jeff Bishop on 94 WKXZ-FM.

• The Raiders are back in the Week 0 lineup for the second time in the last three seasons. Colgate traveled to No. 23 Cal Poly and claimed a 20-14 victory in 2017. Alex Mathews ran for a career-long 57-yard TD, Chris Puzzi converted the first two field goal attempts of his career and Abu Daramy-Swaray batted down a fourth-down pass attempt with 37 seconds remaining to seal the win.

• Defending champion Colgate topped the Patriot League preseason poll, while Raiders junior quarterback Grant Breneman and senior defensive lineman Nick Wheeler were selected as the Preseason Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year. The Raiders never have won three consecutive Patriot League championships, but they are predicted to do just that in 2019. Colgate picked up 12 of the 14 first-place votes and outdistanced second-place Holy Cross. Georgetown is picked for third, followed by Fordham, Lehigh, Lafayette and Bucknell. The 2002 and 2003 Raiders also won consecutive conference flags, but the other six titles are scattered across the previous 22 seasons. Colgate's 10 football championships are second only to Lehigh's 12.

• Nick Wheeler is this year's Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He finished second in the Patriot League last season with both nine sacks and 17 tackles-for-loss. He already is a two-time All-Patriot League First Team selection and last year earned All-America honors from four sources, including First Team from the AFCA. Wheeler needs five sacks to tie the Colgate program record of 28½ set by Kelly Robinson from 1979-81.

• Grant Breneman is this year's Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. He finished 126-of-204 passing for 1,605 yards, with six touchdowns against four interceptions on his way to All-Patriot League First Team honors. Breneman led the Patriot League with a 61.8 completion percentage and a 133.64 pass efficiency rating.

• Colgate leads the way with 10 players on the All-Patriot League Preseason Team (listed left). The Raiders placed five on offense, three on defense and two on special teams. In addition to Breneman, other first-teamers on offense are senior tailback Alex Mathews, senior tight end Nick Diaco, senior offensive lineman Jovaun Woolford and junior offensive lineman Jack Badovinac. The defensive members alongside Wheeler are senior linebacker Nick Ioanilli and senior defensive back Abu Daramy-Swaray. Senior Chris Puzzi is the All-Patriot League Preseason kicker and Daramy-Swaray also earned a spot as return specialist.

• The College Football 150th Anniversary commemoration showcases the rich history and traditions of the sport, its positive impact on lives and communities, and the opportunity it continues to provide to thousands of student-athletes across all levels of the sport. The Raiders are recognizing this year's celebration by wearing the CFB150 decal on their football helmets. Follow the celebration @CFB150 and take part in the conversation with the hashtag #CFB150. ??????

• Colgate's 10-win season last year was just the fourth in program history, and the Raiders got there by putting together an amazing run of near-perfection over their first nine games. Over a seven-game stretch, Colgate allowed 3, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0 and 0 points. The offense kept getting better, as well, scoring in succession during a six-game run 23, 27, 31, 38, 41 and 48 points. Colgate led the nation in scoring defense at 9.3, total defense at 237.7 and pass efficiency defense with an 88.77 rating. This despite the fact that the Raiders finished their season against arguably the toughest three-game stretch in program history in Army (28-14 loss), James Madison (23-20 win) and North Dakota State (35-0 loss).

• Colgate head coach Dan Hunt is now under contract through the 2023 season. Hunt through five seasons already is mentioned in the company of Colgate coaching legends. He just won his third Patriot League Coach of the Year Award and carries an overall coaching record of 36-23. But he's 31-13 in the last 44 games despite facing at least one FBS opponent in each of his five seasons – which makes him 31-10 against the FCS in that stretch.

• Colgate gets the 2019 football campaign started at No. 13 in the STATS FCS Preseason Poll and No. 14 according to the AFCA coaches (listed right).The Raiders are coming off arguably their best season since the 2003 run to the national championship game. Colgate finished 10-2 overall and 6-0 in the Patriot League while leading the nation in scoring defense and total defense. The Raiders opened last season unranked but rose all the way to No. 6 after nine consecutive victories, five of which were shutouts to tie an NCAA FCS record. Colgate settled at Nos. 7 and 8 in last year's final major national polls.

• Colgate quarterback Grant Breneman keeps having a hard time explaining just how awesome his experience was at this summer's Manning Passing Academy. Breneman spent three full days and part of a fourth on the Nicholls State campus in Thibodaux, Louisiana. He was one of 45 quarterbacks from across the country invited to assist Archie, Cooper, Peyton and Eli Manning at pretty much the coolest football camp in America. "It was an unbelievable experience," Breneman said. "I can't really put it into words but everything from the group of college quarterbacks who were there, interacting with the Mannings and the other big-name guys who were on site. There aren't many places where you get that caliber of quarterbacks and talent in one space."

• The Raiders have adjusted quite well to scholarship football. Colgate last year won its third title in a four-year span and 10th overall Patriot League crown. The conference allowed scholarship football for the first time in 2013.

• Colgate's outscored its Patriot League competition last year 223-26, or by an average of 37-4. The Raiders are riding an 11-game conference winning streak that is the second-longest in the nation, trailing only San Diego's 29 straight wins in the Pioneer League.

• Colgate tied an NCAA FCS record in 2018 with five shutouts, matching South Carolina State way back in 1978. Lehigh's second-quarter TD Nov. 10 snapped a 70-day, 29-quarter streak of zero touchdowns allowed dating to the fourth quarter of Colgate's Sept. 1 opener against Holy Cross. The 1935 Raiders were the last Colgate team with more than five shutouts. That squad had either six or seven shutouts, depending on how you interpret a "Triangular Game" against both St. Lawrence (31-0) and Amherst (12-0) that consisted of two quarters against each opponent. Your guess is as good as mine! The famous 1932 Colgate Raiders of Undefeated, Untied, Unscored Upon and Uninvited fame were 9-0 with nine shutout victories.

• The Raiders earned the No. 8 seed in last year's NCAA playoff tournament -- the first seeding by a Patriot League team.

• Colgate's streak of three consecutive shutout victories last season was its first since the 1961 Raiders blanked Bucknell 13-0, Harvard 15-0 and Princeton 15-0 in succession.

• A trio of Colgate Raiders are included in the 2019 STATS FCS Preseason All-America Team. Nick Wheeler was named to the First Team defensive line, Abu Daramy-Swaray earned a spot on the Second Team secondary and Jack Badovinac is a member of the Third Team offensive line. All three were named to the 2019 Preseason All-Patriot League Team.

• Abu Daramy-Swaray and Nick Wheeler are on the 2019 STATS FCS Buck Buchanan Award Watch List for Defensive Player of the Year. Grant Breneman headlines the Walter Payton Award Watch List for top Offensive Player.

• Chris Puzzi's 38-yard field goal to beat James Madison in last year's home playoff also set a program record. It was Puzzi's 15th made field goal of the season, breaking the previous mark of 14 set by Jonah Bowman in 2014. Puzzi finished 15-of-17 for 88.2 percent, setting another school mark for season percentage. Puzzi stands 24-of-29 (.827) for his career and is chasing the school records for made field goals (35 by Mike Powers, 1983-86) and percentage (.756 by Bowman, 2013-16). The senior also tied a Colgate record last year at Fordham by connecting on nine consecutive made field goals.