Bucknell University Athletics
2-1 Bison Attempt to Tame Lions Saturday
9/26/2003 8:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 26, 2003
After two victories and a bye, Bucknell tasted defeat for the first time in 2003 last Saturday at Cornell. A victory at Columbia this week would erase the sour memories a tough 21-19 setback to the Big Red, in which a Bison field goal attempt struck the goal post in the final minutes. The Herd's third straight road game overall and second straight against an Ivy League foe will be no easy task. Columbia opened last week with a narrow 37-30 loss to defending Patriot League champ Fordham. The contest will be a matchup of two first-year head coaches. Tim Landis is in his first season at BU, while the Lions' Bob Shoop will be in just his second game as a head coach.
* ROAD WARRIORS: Bucknell is in the midst of a five-game road swing that will also take the Bison to Fordham and Penn in the next two weeks. It is the team's first five-game road trip since 1982. Including the Sept. 13 bye, the Bison will actually go six weeks between home games for the first time since 1916, when they played nine straight games (including one at a neutral site) away from Lewisburg.
* GROUND FORCES: Bucknell leads the Patriot League and ranks seventh nationally in rushing offense at 286.3 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 3,435 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 has featured a pair of 100-yard rushers in consecutive games. Saturday at Cornell, junior 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, junior 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.
* FOUR OVER 100: Bucknell has already had four different backs eclipse the 100-yard rushing mark in only three games this season - RB Blamah Sarnor (147 vs. Duquesne), RB Frank Lazio (114 vs. Delaware State), RB Raphael Darrington (107 vs. Cornell) and QB Daris Wilson (107 vs. Delaware State and 106 vs. Cornell). 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.
* TURNOVER TURNAROUND: One of the biggest contributing factors to Bucknell's 2-9 record a year ago was turnover margin. The Bison ranked next-to-last in Division I-AA with a -17 ratio in 2002, but they have reversed that trend in the first few games of the season. Bucknell has already forced 12 turnovers, the second-most in the nation among teams that have played three games. The Bison's +7 turnover margin is fourth in all of I-AA.
* INJURY FLIP-FLOP AT FULLBACK: After rushing for 147 yards in the season-opener against Duquesne, sophomore FB Blamah Sarnor sat out the Delaware State game with a thumb injury, but returned last week against Cornell. Backup FB Frank Lazio, who rushed for 114 yards and three scores in the 33-28 win over the Hornets in a fill-in role, replaced Sarnor on the sidelines last week with a sore shoulder. Lazio is probable to play this week.
* NOT MUCH TO GO ON: For the first time this season the Bison coaching staff will have some current game film of their opponent to scout with. Each of Bucknell's first three foes - Duquesne, Delaware State and Cornell - opened their season with the Bison.
* GALLOPING QB'S: When junior QB Daris Wilson rushed for 107 yards against Delaware State two weeks ago, he became the first Bison signal caller since Sam Havrilak in 1968 to run for more than 100 yards in a game. Widely regarded as the top running quarterback in school history, Havrilak ranks sixth on Bucknell's career rushing list with 1,913 yards, and he had six 100-yard games.
* 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 534-488-51 in 117-plus seasons, Bucknell ranks 15th among all I-AA teams in total victories.
* NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: Since 1995, Bucknell is 25-15 (.625) versus non-league opponents, including 11-8 against Ivy League foes. Bucknell is 14-6 against non-league foes over the last three-plus seasons. The Bison tackle five non-league foes in 2003.
* NEXT UP: Bucknell dives into arguably its most difficult stretch of the season, with three nationally ranked foes coming up in the next four weeks - all on the road. Next week Bucknell visits defending Patriot League champion Fordham, followed by a trip to 2002 Ivy League champ Penn. Following a home tilt with Towson, the Bison travel to Colgate, who tied Fordham atop the PL regular-season standings a year ago.
