SLIPPERY ROCK — Saturday was going to be all about the line.

And Slippery Rock dominated — right down the line — on both sides of the football en route to a 40-14 homecoming PSAC West victory over Gannon at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

SRU (6-1, 3-1) rushed for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Noah Grover threw for 202 yards and a pair of scores. Gannon (5-2, 3-1) rushed for negative yardage and surrendered six quarterback sacks.

“I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. That’s the way we were going to have to win this game,” SRU coach Shawn Lutz said.

“We couldn’t run on them, plain and simple,” Gannon coach Erik Raeburn said. “If you can’t run the ball, you don’t have a chance.”

The Rock’s lone score of the first quarter was a D.J. Opsatnik 20-yard field goal. But SRU scored on consecutive possessions in the second quarter. Bryce Profitt — seeing playing time due to an assortment of injuries to wide receivers — caught a 21-yard touchdown pass for his first reception of the year. Isaiah Edwards capped a 66-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard TD run for a 17-0 lead with 1:45 left in the half.

The Golden Knights threatened to score before intermission, but a Jalen Dangerfield interception on the final play of the half snuffed out that opportunity. Josh Stokes intercepted a pass to deny a Gannon scoring chance late in the game.

“We had some guys out, but we’ve got so many players on this team who can make plays,” SRU quarterback Noah Grover said. “First string, third strong, it doesn’t matter. We still expect to click offensively.”

Chris D’Or broke free for a 61-yard scoring run on the first offensive play of the second half and the rout was on. D’Or rushed for 105 yards on only 14 carries, his fourth 100-yard rushing game of the season. Tim Smith scored on a 7-yard run for SRU in the fourth quarter.

“I prefer to share the load,” D’Or said of the running game. “Myself, Isaiah Edwards, Chris Wells, Tim Smith, we all bring a different type of running to the table. It makes our overall game effective.

“(On the 61-yard touchdown), they only had one guy on the boundary and we decided to take advantage. All I had was one guy to beat. That was it.”

The Rock’s starting defense only played three quarters. That was more than enough time to shut down a Gannon rushing attack that shined in a win over Edinboro the previous week.

“Our goal every week is to come out and stop the run. We’ve been pretty successful with that,” defensive tackle Jeff Marx said. “Force the quarterback to throw the ball, then get after him. But you have to deny the run first.”

Lutz said the quarterback sacks aren’t as important a statistic as how many times you put pressure on the opposing QB.

“You want the quarterback to be in distress and we put their guy in distress on probably 10 to 15 other passing plays,” the coach said.

Gannon quarterback Kory Curtis still threw for 305 yards and two touchdowns, though much of his passing yardage occurred after the game was out of reach.

“Kory stood in there and our receivers made some nice catches for him,” Raeburn said. “Give Slippery Rock credit. They have 11 very good players on defense. But I was disappointed in our blocking up front.

“We can play better than that. We have to play better than that.”

SRU started the same six offensive linemen — Butler graduate Nick Stazer included — for the seventh straight game.

“We’ve stayed healthy there and cohesion and knowing each other’s tendencies are so important,” Lutz said of the offensive line. “Those guys are doing a great job.”

Notes: SRU leads the series with Gannon 11-6 and defeated the Golden Knights for the eighth straight time. ... Gannon entered the game allowing 263 yards per game. SRU tallied 371 Saturday. ... The Rock is 25-2 over its last 27 PSAC West games. ... SRU has outscored its opponents 59-9 in the first quarter and 128-29 in the first half this year. ... Brandon Bischof led SRU with 10 tackles and D.J. Adediwura had three sacks. ... ... SRU travels to California (Pa.) for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff this Saturday.

Gannon 0 0 7 0 7 — 14

Slippery Rock 3 14 16 7 — 40

First Quarter

SRU — DJ Opsatnik 20 field goal, 2:27

Second Quarter

SRU — Bryce Profitt 21 pass from Noah Grover (Opsatnik kick), 8:05

SRU — Isaiah Edwards 1 run (Opsatnik kick), 1:45

Third Quarter

SRU — Chris D’Or 61 run (Opsatnik kick), 14:42

G — Branse Stanley 22 pass from Kory Curtis (Eric Scarpino kick), 11:52

SRU — Curtis called for intentional grounding in end zone for safety, 7:54

SRU — Max Maciejewski 20 pass from Grover (Opsatnik kick), 4:04

Fourth Quarter

SRU — Tim Smith 7 run (Opsatnik kick), 9:37

G — KeJohn Batiste 10 pass from Curtis (Scarpino kick), 3:45

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Gannon, Antonio Wright 7-24, Melvin Blanks 7-1, Kory Curtis 8-(-34). SRU, Chris D’Or 14-105, Tim Smith 7-35, Chris Wells 12-31, Isaiah Edwards 6-6, Brayden Long 1-2, TEAM 2-(-2), Noah Grover 1-(-8).

Passing: Gannon, Kory Curtis 23-40-305-2. SRU, Noah Grover 19-29-202-0.

Receiving: Gannon, Donell Maspn 5-85, Branse Stanley 5-69, Jonathan Bowden 3-51, KeJohn Batiste 3-39, Damerisse Freeman 3-27, Antonio Wright 2-19, Alex Whittaker 1-14, Melvin Blanks 1-1. SRU, Cohen Russell 5-52, Kyle Sheets 3-35, Chris D’Or 3-30, Kenyon Johnson 2-35, Bryce Profitt 2-29, Gavyn Barnes 2-1, Max Maciejewski 1-20.