Robert Morris football coach Bernard Clark has no idea if the gameday staff plans to post or announce out-of-town NEC scores at Joe Walton Stadium during his team’s game versus cross-town rival Duquesne on Saturday.

“We have a jumbotron. We have the ability to do it,” Clark said. “I’ve never seen them do it, though. That’s the weird thing about it. I’ve never seen them do it in the middle of a game.”

Regardless, will fans in the stands or players on the field find out and let Duquesne players know what’s going on in New Britain, Conn., while warm-ups or the first quarter are going on?

“It’s not about psychological warfare or anything like that,” Clark said with a laugh. “The most important thing is. We have to play well. We have no dog in this fight. They do. Play our game and learn from mistakes in the past.”

For the record, an RMU spokesperson claims that the university has “no plans on announcing or showing any scores” from the Central Connecticut State noon kickoff against Mercyhurst in advance of (or during) the Dukes-Colonials showdown in Moon on Saturday.

That’s a 2 p.m. kick, and may have very little implications on the FCS playoff race by the time it starts.

Or … it could be for all the marbles.

Thanks to the Dukes’ 38-33 thriller of a victory last week at Rooney Field over CCSU, those two teams are vying for the NEC’s playoff berth this weekend. If the Blue Devils beat Mercyhurst, they claim the title outright and go to the postseason.

However, if Mercyhurst pulls off the upset in New England and Duquesne wins at RMU a few hours later, the Lakers, Dukes and Blue Devils will all share the title (with potentially Wagner too) and the Dukes will head to the FCS playoff by way of a tiebreaker.

For his part, Dukes coach Jerry Schmitt knows — for better or worse — that trying to keep the score away from his players in advance of their kickoff will be a losing battle.

“I’m smart enough and not too old to know that with social media and cellphones, pretty much everybody is going to know or have a good idea (of the score) when we take the field,” Schmitt said. “For us, we can’t control what happens in New Britain. We can only control what happens on the football field we are playing on.”

The odds are stacked against Duquesne (6-5, 4-2) to thread the needle and wind up in the postseason. While they are 13½-point favorites to beat RMU (3-8, 2-4) on the road, the Lakers (5-6, 4-2) are 10½ point underdogs to pull off an upset vs CCSU (7-4, 5-1).

Last year’s NEC playoff berth also came down to either CCSU or Duquesne in the season’s final week. The difference was that those teams got to play it out head-to-head in New Britain, with the Blue Devils upending the previously NEC-unbeaten Dukes 21-14 by forcing eight turnovers.

This year, the Dukes need help, but are at least still alive. That’s largely due to running back Taj Butts and the blocking he got last week from his offensive line.

“They did an amazing job. From the beginning of the week, during practice, they took it seriously,” Butts said. “Every period. Inside run. Pass pro. We took it play by play and took it seriously, so when it came to the game, it was just falling back on your training.”

Despite injuries to both ankles and a hamstring during the season, Butts pushed himself off the sideline Saturday after missing two games to step in for injured starter Ness Davis. He delivered with 254 rushing yards and three touchdowns against the Blue Devils to earn FCS player of the week honors.

254 YARDS ON THE DAY! pic.twitter.com/cTJAe1Tg8z

— Duquesne Football (@DuqFB) November 15, 2025

Butts, Davis and Brashear High School’s Shawn Solomon have helped power the Dukes to a league-leading 2,059 rushing yards this season.

“They have such similar traits. That’s what makes them interchangeable,” Clark said. “They know the offense. All of them have good size. None of them are small. They’ve done a great job all year.”

Meanwhile, stopping the run on defense will be Duquesne’s top priority. Their 3-0 start to NEC play was largely derailed by an inability to do so. Back-to-back losses to Wagner and Long Island University featured 447 rushing yards allowed over the two defeats.

Then last week, CCSU got 165 on the ground, including 108 from NEC rushing leader Elijah Howard.

Now the Dukes have to contain RMU’s Ethan Shine. He has totaled 691 rushing yards this season, sixth-most in the NEC.

“He’s a big kid (215 pounds). He runs hard. He is going to try to bounce off you. We have to wrap up, get hats to the football and keep him under control,” Schmitt said.

Football matters like those, Schmitt is willing to absorb with his players after the results of his game are known by early evening Saturday.

The rest? Schmitt is willing to leave that up to football fate.

“I’ve got all positive thoughts,” Schmitt said. “We are going to play Dukes’ football on Saturday. Good things happen to good people. We’ve got good people on this football team. We hope for the best.”

LISTEN: Tim Benz and Jerry Schmitt discuss the NEC regular season finale between Duquesne and Robert Morris.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)