The sun was setting as Washington & Jefferson coach Mike Sirianni and his quarterback, Bobby Swallow, huddled alone on the field at Harold Burry Stadium long after a 32-14 loss to Salisbury State in the opening game last season.

In an uneven performance in his first collegiate start, Swallow completed 17 of 25 passes for 157 yards and had a touchdown with two interceptions. (He was intercepted just three times the rest of the season).

But Swallow's debut didn't shake Sirianni's faith in him.

"I thought we had something special right there," Sirianni said.

As a junior, Swallow has blossomed into the most accurate passer in NCAA Division III this season with a 227.9 efficiency rating. Last week, he tied his own school record set earlier this season against Hanover (Ind.) with six touchdown passes -- all in the first half of a 58-18 victory against Westminster.

For the season, Swallow has completed 70.9 percent of his passes for 1,877 yards and 28 touchdowns. His only interception came in the third quarter of a 28-12 victory against Thiel two weeks ago. That ended his streak of 163 consecutive attempts without one.

"That's pretty remarkable. Those are pretty impressive numbers," Sirianni said. "He doesn't force things, that's his mentality. He's a student of the game."

Swallow's numbers are up dramatically from last season, when W&J's offense emphasized the run and his best passing game was for 230 yards in a 30-27 loss to Mary Hardin-Baylor in the second round of the playoffs. He threw 20 touchdown passes last season.

"We've opened it up a lot more," Sirianni said. "We wanted to get more on his plate. He's always been a kid who has been confident. He knows what he can do."

No. 8 W&J (7-0) will play Saturday at Grove City.

Super sub

Slippery Rock hasn't missed a step the past two games without injured running back Corey Manfull, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's leading rusher with 144.6 rushing yards per game. He is out with a shoulder injury.

The slack has been picked up by redshirt freshman Ryan Lehmeier, a former standout quarterback at North Hills High School who became the second player in Slippery Rock history to rush for 200 or more yards in consecutive games when he ran for 210 and four touchdowns in a 41-18 victory against Clarion. Lehmeier had 229 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-24 victory against East Stroudsburg two weeks ago. The only other player to go over 200 yards in consecutive games for the Rock is Dorrian Glenn, who ran for a school-record 335 against California and 295 against Clarion in 2001.

Streakers

California's 7-0 start is the school's best since 1958, when the Vulcans were 8-0 and won the PSAC title.

Waynesburg is 6-0 for the first time since the Yellow Jackets went 7-0 in 1967, led by wide receiver Don Herrmann who played nine seasons in the NFL. Waynesburg's most recent undefeated season was 11-0 in 1996.

Carnegie Mellon (2-4) has lost four consecutive games for the first time since 1974, when the Tartans lost their final five games for a 3-5 record in their last non-winning season.

The polls

California (7-0), a 27-3 winner against Lock Haven, dropped two spots to No. 3 in the Division II Northeast Region rankings. IUP (5-1) is fourth, Slippery Rock (6-1) fifth and Edinboro (5-2) ninth. The top six teams receive bids to the national playoffs.