Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Open Patriot League Slate Against Towson Saturday
10/2/2001 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 2, 2001
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The Storyline The only Patriot League team yet to play a league game, Bucknell hosts conference rival Towson this week, seeking to avenge two straight last-minute losses to the Tigers. The Bison are looking to build on a two game winning streak that includes an overtime nailbiter over Columbia and last week's 38-6 rout of St. Mary's. Towson is 2-2 after last week's 20-17 overtime victory over Morgan State. A pair of All-Patriot League running backs will be on display, as Bucknell's Jabu Powell (96.7 yards per game) and Towson's Noah Read (122.3 yards per game) do battle.
The Bucknell-Towson Series The Bison and Tigers meet this week for the 14th time, with Towson clinging to a slim 7-6 series lead. The two teams first met in 1982, and have squared off every year since 1992. After Towson claimed five of the first six series meetings, Bucknell won five straight from 1994-98. The Tigers claimed each of the last two meetings in dramatic fashion. In 1999 a 4-yard touchdown run by Jason Corle with 26 seconds remaining in regulation gave them a 27-20 victory, and last season at Minnegan Stadium, Ed Kulic's 35-yard field goal with 11 seconds left propeled Towson to a 15-13 victory.
More on the Tigers The 2-2 Tigers have had little trouble moving the ball offensively thus far, but points have been hard to come by. Towson is averaging just under 400 yards of total offense per game and rank 35th nationally in that category, but it ranks 102nd in scoring offense at only 13.8 points per game. Turnovers have played a major role in that disparity, as Towson ranks next-to-last nationally in turnover margin at -9. QB Val Troiani had a solid game against Morgan State last week, completing 16 of 27 passes for 231 yards, while Noah Reed rushed for 103 yards and a pair of scores and caught five balls out of the backfield for an additional 80 yards. Defensively, the Tigers are allowing a stingy 15.3 points per game, led by MLB Sean Hendricks' 54 tackles (29 solo) in four games.
The Bison in League Openers Bucknell is a solid 5-1 in Patriot League openers under head coach Tom Gadd and 10-5 since the league's inception in 1986. The only time the team has been 0-1 in league play in the Gadd era was in 1998, when the Bison were shocked by Fordham 20-17 after a 2-0 start. This week marks only the fourth time in 16 years that Bucknell has opened its conference slate at home.
1986 Colgate 40-39 W 1994 at Lehigh 31-27 W 1987 at Colgate 28-31 L 1995 at Fordham 28-21 W 1988 Colgate 13-14 L 1996 at Holy Cross 38-7 W 1989 at Fordham 31-7 W 1997 at Lafayette 23-21 W 1990 at Lafayette 24-14 W 1998 Fordham 17-20 L 1991 at Fordham 21-14 W 1999 at Colgate 21-16 W 1992 at Holy Cross 12-27 L 2000 at Georgetown 24-10 W 1993 at Lafayette 14-31 LReversing the Turnover Trend After struggling to a -5 turnover ratio through two games, the Bison turned things around last week with a +4 against St. Mary's. The Herd recovered four fumbles to go with an interception, while limiting their own miscues to a single interception. The five forced turnovers were the most since the 1998 season opener against Duquense. Bucknell parlayed the five takeaways into 21 points, none bigger than the exchange in the final minute of the first half. With Bucknell clinging to a 7-6 lead, OLB Joe Massey sacked Gaels QB Gus Papanikolas, jarred the ball loose and DT Eric Storm recovered the fumble at the St. Mary's 31. Four plays later QB Todd Wenrich dove in from the 2 for a 14-6 lead. In the first two contests of the season, the Bison dominated the stat sheets against Kent State and Columbia, but turnovers and red zone inefficiency contributed to a loss at Kent and an overtime struggle at Columbia.
Academic All-America Day Last spring Bucknell reached a milestone when senior baseball player Russ Lindberg became the school's 100th all-time Academic All-American. Bucknell, which ranks third only to Nebraska and Notre Dame among all Division I institutions in producing Academic All-Americans, will honor all of its past honorees during a ceremony at halftime of the Towson game.
Packing 'Em In Bucknell drew 7,827 fans to last week's home opener against St. Mary's, the largest crowd to see a football game at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium since Oct. 24, 1998, when the Bison defeated Lafayette 33-22 in front of 8,472 fans. Last Saturday's crowd was the 13th largest since the renovation of Mathewson Stadium in 1989.
Moving the Chains Bucknell's 27 first downs against Columbia two weeks ago were the team's most since logging 29 first downs in a 49-20 win over Duquesne on Oct. 16, 1999. The Bison enjoyed their two most time-consuming drives of the year against the Lions, using 14 plays and 6:33 to move 72 yards for a second quarter score and 19 plays and a whopping 8:51 to march 90 yards for the tying touchdown in the final four minutes of regulation. Bucknell has outgained its opponents by a combined margin of 1190-868 through three games.
The Head Coaches Bucknell's Tom Gadd is in his seventh season at Bucknell, and he has already carved a niche as one of the school's most successful football coaches. The Bison have averaged seven wins over Gadd's first half-dozen years in Lewisburg, that after having averaged only 3.5 wins in the four seasons prior to his arrival. His 42 victories are the most by a Bucknell coach in a six-year period, and he boasts a 44-25 (.638) record at BU. He ranks third in the program's history for wins by a head coach, trailing only Harry Lawrence (45-51-1 from 1947-57) and Bob Curtis (48-56-3 from 1975-85). A 1970 graduate of Cal-Riverside, Gadd was the defensive coordinator at San Jose State prior to accepting his first head coaching gig at Bucknell in the spring of 1995. He has also coordinated defenses at Minnesota, Utah and South Carolina during his 32-year coaching career. Gordy Combs is in his 10th season at Towson with a 57-40 record. The Baltimore native graduated from Towson in 1972, where he was a starting linebacker and team captain. He succeeded his own head coach, Phil Albert, in 1992 after serving as an assistant coach on the Towson staff for 19 years.
