Digging into the numbers from CLU's 16-7 win over Chapman:
Tough to score against: If you're thinking CLU has never played defense quite like it's playing right now, you're almost right.
Saturday's win over Chapman marked the third time this year that CLU has held an opponent to seven points. The Kingsmen have not had three such games in a season since moving to NCAA Division III in 1991. Nor, as a Division III program, have they had a five-game stretch in which they held opponents to 14 points or less, as is the case during their current five-game win streak.
To find comparable accomplishments, you have to go well back in the CLU record book. The last time CLU had three games allowing seven points or less in a single season was back in 1985, when a 6-5 campaign included a 28-7 win over Sonoma State, a 34-7 defeat of Western New Mexico, and a 24-3 defeat of St. Mary's. The last time the Kingsmen did it more than three times was in 1982, when the Kingsmen had three shutouts and a 21-7 win over Humboldt State. That team started the season 5-0, and allowed just 32 points in those wins to better the 48 points allowed in the current streak.
Still, since the first game in 1982 was a 34-16 win over Occidental, you have go go back another year to match, and better, the five straight games allowing 14 points or less.
The 1981 Kingsmen, who started 0-2, won their last eight games and never allowed more than 14 points in the process, giving up a total of just 65 points during the streak.
So CLU has played defense like this before. But it's been decades.
Tough to move against: The 139 yards allowed was not a CLU record -- the Kingsmen allowed just 26 yards to Caltech back on Oct. 30, 1965 -- but it is a fairly rare accomplishment. Football box scores are available on CLU's athletic website, clusports.com, back as far as the 2001 season, and Saturday's total equaled the low figure in the 69 games for which yardage stats are available. (The Kingsmen also allowed just 139 yards in beating Menlo 54-0 on Oct. 8, 2005).
Put another way, CLU has held opponents to less than 200 yards three times this season (Pacific Lutheran finished with 186 yards and Whittier had 192). In the previous seven seasons, CLU held opponents under 200 yards just five times, and never did it more than once in a season.
Tough to reach the end zone: Saturday's game was the second time this season CLU has won 16-7 -- the Kingsmen did it earlier against Pacific Lutheran -- but such low-scoring games have been a rarity during CLU's SCIAC era. In fact, since joining the SCIAC in 1992, CLU has only played in six lower scoring games: a 10-9 win over Azusa Pacific and a 14-3 defeat of Whittier in the first two games of the 1993 season; a 9-0 loss to Pomona-Pitzer in 1995, a 10-6 win over Chapman in 1996, a 6-0 overtime win over Occidental in 2002, and a 14-7 loss to Willamette last year.

Some odds and ends from CLU's 44-13 win over Pomona-Pitzer this afternoon:

A bit more from CLU's 44-13 win over Pomona-Pitzer in CLU's homecoming game at Mount Clef Stadium:

-- CLU's first six plays were a 22-yard pass from Jericho Toilolo to Jesse Matlock, a 10-yard run by Antoine Adams, a 46-yard pass from Toilolo to Matlock (for CLU's first touchdown), an 11-yard run by Danny Hernandez (who lined up at quarterback), a 13-yard run by Hernandez (who took a pitch and eluded at least three would-be tacklers behind the line of scrimmage) and a 13-yard run by Matlock. That's six plays, six first downs and 115 total yards. Not a bad start.
"It's hard to explain," said coach Ben McEnroe, "but there's definitely a feeling you get when you get on a roll offensively, and just feel like, from a play-calling perspective ... everything you call is going to work.
"There's a lot to be said about momentum. We have some big-play capabilities on the field, and Jericho does a good job managing it."
That early run was one of two occasions when Hernandez lined up at quarterback. He called those opportunities an "adrenaline rush." McEnroe said the Kingsmen would continue to showcase that look on occasion.
"He threw his first incompletion in practice this week," said the coach. "In that package we've got a couple of throws."
There was actually a pass called for Hernandez on Saturday, but he tucked the ball in and ran.
"He made a smart play," said McEnroe. "We would like to use that guy in a lot of different ways. He's a dual threat back there at quarterback, which is more than some of the schools that run these kinds of packages can say."
-- Toilolo had a very efficient day, completing 18 of 27 passes for 278 yards and running for another 26 yards.
"He seemed really comfortable today," said McEnroe. "Made some nice plays with his feet, made some nice plays with his arm and his head. He's just a smart guy. He managed a nice game."
It's hard to remember, given the impact Toilolo had last season before being sidelined by broken ribs and a punctured lung, that he still is relatively inexperienced as a collegiate quarterback. As McEnroe noted, this was just Toilolo's eighth collegiate start. The Kingsmen are 6-2 in those games.
-- CLU was flagged for 12 penalties, including two that gave Pomona-Pitzer first downs inside the 5-yard line on the Sagehens' first scoring drive. One of those, a celebration call after CLU broke up a pass into the end zone, left McEnroe more than a bit irked.
"I was a little disappointed with some of the penalties," he said. "Obviously, we don't have any control over that other than showing our kids on film and addressing it. Whether it was a good or bad call is irrelevant. We need to get some of those things straightened out, because in a closer game, it might come back to bite us."
-- CLU is now 12-7 all time against Pomona-Pitzer, 7-3 in SCIAC competition. Since the infamous (to CLU) 9-0 loss to the Sagehens in 1995 -- also known as The Game That Cost Joe Harper His Job -- the Kingsmen are 5-1 against Pomona.