Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Visit #17 Colgate Saturday in Battle of Patriot Unbeatens
10/23/2003 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 23, 2003
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Two of the three teams tied for first place with 2-0 Patriot League records square off when Bucknell visits 17th-ranked Colgate this week. While it is no surprise that the Raiders are in contention for a conference title, the Bison have been one of the league's surprises to this point. Coming off a 2-9, 0-7 season, Bucknell was picked to finish in last place in the Patriot League preseason poll. But the Bison have already doubled last season's overall victory total and are really just a few plays away from matching Colgate's 7-0 record. Bucknell's three losses are by a combined six points, and all three games were decided in the final two minutes.
* LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: This week's Bucknell-Colgate game will be televised on The Football Network, a first-year cable outfit based out of Baton Rouge, La. Empire Sports Network in Upstate New York will pick up the broadcast live, which means satellite customers with sports packages can view the game on DirecTV Channel 626 or Dish Network Channel 432.
* HONORS: Junior LB Kevin Ransome was honored as the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week on Monday following his monster 17-tackle performance in a 14-10 win over Towson. It is the second time in three weeks Ransome has earned the honor, and the fourth time in eight weeks this season that a Bison defender has been cited by the league's weekly voting panel. DB Joe Glenn and DB Virgil Rush were the defensive players of the week in the first two weeks of the season.
* FINALLY, A CLOSE WIN: After losing three of its previous four games by a combined six points, Bucknell finally came out on the winning side of a nailbiter last week against Towson. Two short TD runs by RB Blamah Sarnor erased a 10-0 deficit, but the victory was not secured until Jerome Acy's interception on the BU 8-yard line with 13 seconds to play. The victory was Bucknell's first by four points or less since a 17-16 win at Lafayette in 2001.
* A GOOD START: Bucknell is 2-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 2001 and for only the fourth time since joining the conference. The Bison have been 3-0 in league play twice, in 1997 and 2001.
* BISON DEFENSE STARTING TO GEL: Throughout the Tom Gadd era Bucknell was known league-wide for its terrific defenses. After giving up yardage in large piles early in the season, the defense has started to return to form over the last three weeks.
First 4 Games Last 3 Games Yards per game 414.3 363.7 Points allowed per game 22.3 11.3 Passing yards allowed per game 275.3 194.0 TD passes allowed 7 1 Second-half points allowed 42 3
* YOU'D BETTER SCORE EARLY: Since Micah Clukey kicked a 27-yard field goal on the opening series of the second half of the Bucknell-Fordham game on Oct. 4, the Bison have gone 85:04 without allowing a second-half point. The Rams went scoreless following the Clukey field goal, and the Bison blanked Penn and Towson in the second half in each of the last two contests.
* TURNOVERS ARE KEY TO SUCCESS: Through seven games, one statistic that can clearly be viewed as a difference maker is turnover margin. The Bison rank second in the country in takeaways with 26 and rank first in turnover margin (+14) and interceptions (16). In four victories the Bison have an even gaudier +15 ratio (20 takeaways, 5 miscues), while in the three losses they are just -1 (6 takeaways, 7 turnovers). Bucknell recorded seven takeaways against Fordham, their most since a 29-22 win over Columbia in 1992.
* GROUND WAR: This week's contest features the top two rushing teams in the Patriot League. Bucknell leads the league and ranks sixth nationally with a 259.6 rushing average, while the Raiders are No. 2 in the loop and ninth in Division I-AA at 250.0 ground yards per game. Colgate also has the national rushing and scoring leader in Jamaal Branch, who averages a gaudy 160.1 yards and 13.7 points per outing.
* MEMORIES GOOD AND BAD: Bucknell and Colgate have had their share of memorable games in a series that dates back to 1894. In 1951 the Bison went to Hamilton and defeated Colgate 21-20 in the penultimate game of a perfect 9-0 season. A year later, Colgate ended Bucknell's record 17-game winning streak with a 28-0 win in Lewisburg. In 1972, the Bucknell student body tore down the goalposts after a 41-7 rout of a very good Colgate squad. In 1996, the two teams met on the final day of the season at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in what amounted to a Patriot League championship game. The Bison eked out a 28-27 overtime victory when Brandon Little batted away Ryan Vena's pass on what would have been a title-winning two-point conversion. In 1997, Bucknell was one win away from a perfect 11-0 season and a second straight PL title, but the Raiders shellacked the Bison 48-14 to claim the crown for themselves. Since then, Colgate has captured the last three meetings by a combined eight points.
* TOUGH STRETCH: Colgate will be the third nationally ranked team the Bison have faced in the last four weeks. On Oct. 14, the Bison stunned 14th-ranked Fordham, a 2002 NCAA quarterfinalist, 31-10 in the Bronx. A week later Bucknell dropped a 14-13 decision on the road to No. 15 Penn when a 39-yard field goal fell short with 14 seconds left.
* ROAD WARRIORS: Bucknell is playing its sixth road game in the last seven weeks. The Bison went 2-3 on their recent five-game road swing, with all three losses coming against Ivy League opposition, by a combined six points. Bucknell was 0-6 on the road last season.
* BISON ON THE TUBE: In addition to today's game on The Football Network, Bucknell will make two more TV appearances this season. The Nov. 8 Lafayette game will be televised by the Lafayette Sports Network, while the Nov. 15 Lehigh game will be shown on tape-delay basis on CCN-8 in Lewisburg and Danville.
* GROUND FORCES: Bucknell leads the Patriot League and ranks sixth nationally in rushing offense at 259.6 yards per game. That average would put the Bison on pace to shatter the school record for ground yards in a season. The Herd is on pace for 3,115 yards, which would better the current mark of 2,909, held by the 1951 team, which also averaged a record 323.2 rushing yards per game. * CENTURY DUOS: For the first time since 1952, Bucknell earlier this season featured a pair of 100-yard rushers in consecutive games. At Cornell, RB Raphael Darrington ran for 107 yards on only nine carries, while QB Daris Wilson carried 24 times for 106 yards. The previous game against Delaware State, RB Frank Lazio and Wilson both topped the 100-yard rushing plateau. Prior to this season, the double-century feat had been done only twice in the last 23 years at Bucknell. It has now been done 19 times in school history, with the famed "Touchdown Twins" - Burt Talmadge and Brad Myers - accomplishing it eight times.
* STOP RIGHT THERE: While statistically stopping the opposition on fourth down is not charted as a turnover, the effect is the same, and Bucknell has also been outstanding in that area this season. Bison opponents have gone for it on fourth down 12 times this season and converted only three for a 25.0% success rate. Last week DB Joe Glenn's fourth-down sack of Towson QB Anthony Melzi snuffed out a fourth-quarter drive into Bucknell territory with the Bison clinging to a 14-10 lead.
* PROUD HISTORY: Bucknell's string of seven consecutive winning seasons, which had been the ninth-longest such streak in Division I-AA, came to an end in 2002. Still, with an all-time record of 536-490-51 in 117-plus seasons, Bucknell ranks 15th among all I-AA teams in total victories.
* FOUR OVER 100: Bucknell has had four different backs eclipse the 100-yard rushing mark this season - RB Blamah Sarnor (147 vs. Duquesne, 107 vs. Towson), RB Frank Lazio (114 vs. Delaware State), RB Raphael Darrington (107 vs. Cornell) and QB Daris Wilson (107 vs. Delaware State, 106 vs. Cornell, 199 vs. Fordham and 113 vs. Penn). The last time Bucknell had four different 100-yard rushers in a season was 1979, when a school-record five players achieved the feat - Ken Jenkins (four times), Hassen Abdellah (twice), Paul D'Aloia, Marshall Hall and Larry D'Amico.
* YOUTH IS SERVED: Of the 44 players listed on Bucknell's offensive and defensive two-deeps, only 10 are seniors. Of those 10, six are starters, and one - DB Jerome Acy - has another year of eligibility if he wishes to use it after missing all of 2002 with an injury. Twenty-two of the 44 players are freshmen or sophomores.
* BISON BRIEFS: All three of Bucknell's losses this season have come on AstroTurf ... the Bison are 2-0 on grass and 2-0 on FieldTurf ... WR Albert Marquardt has 10 catches in his last two games after totaling nine grabs in his first five games ... QB John Henry Jackson had never completed a varsity pass until going 9-for-11 for 129 yards in a relief role last week against Towson ... three Bucknell players have had multi-interception games this season - DB Joe Glenn (3) vs. Duquesne, DB Virgil Rush (2) vs. Fordham and DB Jerome Acy (2) vs. Towson ... freshman LB Dorian Petersen made a career-high six tackles in the Towson game.
