Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Football Hosts Lafayette Saturday in First of Five Straight League Games
10/13/2004 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 13, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Bucknell must recover quickly from a bitterly disappointing double-overtime loss to Penn, as the race for the Patriot League championship begins in full force this week with a home tilt against Lafayette. It is the first of five straight conference games for the Bison, who are one of five teams tied for first place with 1-0 PL records. Lafayette is also 1-0 in league play and 4-2 overall, including an impressive road win at Richmond on Sept. 25. Bucknell and Lafayette, who are meeting for the 82nd time, have had two common opponents thus far, with both teams scoring wins over Georgetown and Columbia.
TOURING THE HERD
• ON THE SIDELINE: Head coach Tim Landis posted a 6-6 record in his first year at Bucknell in 2003 and led the Bison to a third-place finish in the Patriot League. Landis is now 62-60-1 (.508) in his career, which also includes head coaching stints at Davidson (1993-99) and St. Mary's (2000-02). He is 0-1 lifetime against Lafayette.
• THE OFFENSE: Bucknell's vaunted running game had a tough time against a Penn defense that entered last week's game leading the nation in rush defense. The Bison were held to 137 ground yards, but they still made a number of big plays, including yet another in the passing game, in the double-overtime loss. Of Bucknell's 16 offensive touchdowns thus far, eight have been via the pass, including a 66-yard hookup between SB Mike Cangelosi and WR Nisan Trotter last week.
• UNDER CENTER: QB Daris Wilson has two 100-yard rushing games and is Bucknell's leading rusher, although he was held to just 27 net yards on a career-high 30 carries last week against Penn. Wilson continues to display tremendous passing accuracy. He was 9-for-12 for 116 yards vs. Penn, and is completing 74.5% (35-47) on the season.
• BACKS & RECEIVERS: Injuries to fullbacks Blamah Sarnor and Frank Lazio have forced some shuffling in the backfield. Last week senior Anthony Lovelace and freshman Josh DeStefano split time at FB and combined for 42 yards on 12 carries. Lazio could return this week against Lafayette. Mike Cangelosi moved to slotback and enjoyed the finest game of his career, rushing for a team-best 50 yards on seven carries with a TD and also passing for a 66-yard score. The receiving corps has been very solid, with WR Nisan Trotter and TE Ian Nutt combining for seven of the team's eight touchdown receptions.
• THE O-LINE: Sophomore Joel Hoffer has started the last two games in place of injured Stephen Watts at center. Tackle Jon Scharf and guard Aaron DeGraffenreidt have started every game thus far, while sophomore Stefan Niemczyk has grasped a starting role at left guard in recent weeks. Eric Becker is expected to make his first start of the season against Lafayette, replacing Justin Gibson.
• THE DEFENSE: After completely stifling Georgetown's offense two weeks ago, Penn's highly regarded passing attack posted some gaudy numbers, but the Bison defense hung tough and forced a season-high four turnovers. In a double-OT contest, the Quakers amassed 489 total yards, including 384 through the air. Bucknell entered the Penn game leading the Patriot League in total defense, and it now ranks fourth.
• DEFENSIVE FRONT: Bucknell limited Penn to just 105 rushing yards last week and forced All-Ivy tailback Sam Mathews to fumble twice. OLB Jeff Montagna forced one fumble and recovered another, while DE Sean Conover also punched a ball loose. OLB David Ulmer intercepted his first pass of the season.
• DEFENSIVE SECONDARY: The Bison secondary was busy last week, as Penn attempted 56 passes. CB Jerome Acy made a career-high 16 tackles, while FS Virgil Rush added 11 stops, broke up two passes and recovered a fumble. As a team the Bison logged a season-high nine pass breakups.
• SPECIAL TEAMS: While Dante Ross could not repeat the record afternoon he enjoyed at Georgetown two weeks ago, he still had a solid numbers against Penn. Ross, who ranks third in the nation in kickoff return average (32.6), totaled 72 yards on three kick returns and 13 yards on one punt return. It was an eventful day for the kickers against the Quakers. Ryan Bower kicked a pair of extra points and also forced a fumble with a big hit on a kick return. Ryan Korn drilled a career-long 47-yard field goal in overtime, his first trifecta of the season after an 0-for-3 start.
BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES
• PACKING `EM IN: A total of 10,602 fans crammed into Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium for last week's game against Penn, and the throng got its money's worth with a thrilling double-overtime contest. The crowd was the largest ever to see a game in Lewisburg since the stadium was remodeled prior to the 1989 season. The only other 10,000-plus attendance was in 1987, when 10,172 came out, also to see the Quakers.
TOP MATHEWSON STADIUM CROWDS (SINCE 1989): 10,602 Pennsylvania (PW) 32-25 (2OT) L 10/9/04 10,172 Pennsylvania (PW) 20-16 W 9/27/97 9,722 Columbia (PW) 27-20 W 9/26/98 9,202 Colgate (PW) 13-10 (OT) L 10/5/02 9,166 Pennsylvania (PW) 30-21 L 10/5/96 8,831 Lehigh 21-14 L 11/10/01 8,729 Holy Cross 21-7 W 11/4/95 8,472 Lafayette (HC) 33-22 W 10/24/98 8,435 Colgate (HC) 28-27 L 10/27/90 8,432 Princeton (PW) 14-9 W 10/13/90
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTY: Bucknell's venerable Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium celebrates its 80th birthday this week. The first game in the venue then known simply as Memorial Stadium was played on Oct. 18, 1924, a 21-3 victory by Lafayette over the Bison. This year Lafayette and Bucknell play on Oct. 16, just two days shy of 80 years to the day after that inaugural tilt.
• HOME COOKING: Despite last week's rare home loss, the Bison are now 36-15 (.706) in games played at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium since 1995. Overall, Bucknell has a stellar 306-145-13 (.673) record at home, including a 6-2 record under Tim Landis. Until last week, Bucknell had not lost a non-conference home game since 1996, a 30-21 overtime loss to Penn. The Bison had won 17 straight against non-Patriot League foes at home.
• EVEN STEVEN: On paper it is tough to find many differences between Bucknell and Lafayette. On offense Bucknell averages 351 yards and 26.2 points per game, while Lafayette averages 347 yards and 27.0 points. Defensively, the Bison yield 318 yards and 18.6 points per game, while the Leopards give up 326 yards and 19.3 points.
• AIR RAID: While the spread option offense is clearly a ground-oriented scheme, the Bison have also displayed a very consistent, and often explosive, passing attack. Bucknell actually has an equal number of rushing and passing touchdowns -- eight -- through five games. With most of the work coming from QB Daris Wilson, the Bison as a team lead the nation in pass efficieny rating at 202.51. They are completing 73.1% of their passes (38-52), with an average of 11.7 yards per attempt. On the other hand, Bison opponents have three TD passes and average 6.0 yards per attempt.
• SOMETIMES YOU FEEL LIKE A NUTT: Senior TE Ian Nutt has nine receptions this season, with four going for touchdowns and four others for first downs. He snagged one TD each against Villanova and Cornell, then had two TD grabs against Columbia. Nutt, who had only one career scoring catch entering the season, was the first Bison to have four TD receptions in the first three weeks of a season since Lester Erb notched six through three weeks of the 1990 season.
• UP NEXT: The Bison hit the road for their next two contests, beginning next week at Lehigh. Bucknell has lost six straight to the Mountain Hawks and have not won in Bethlehem since a 7-6 win there in 1996.
• BISON BRIEFS: Freshman RB Josh DeStefano saw his first career varsity action last week against Penn, running five times for 13 yards ... the Bison are now 3-4 all-time in overtime, including three straight losses ... QB Daris Wilson's 30 rushing attempts were the most by a Bison since Jabu Powell ran 30 times against Holy Cross on Nov. 3, 2001 ... Bucknell was the least-penalized team in the Patriot League last season, averaging just 39.2 penalty yards per game, but this year they are last in the league at 64.4 yards per contest.
• IN THE CLASSROOM: Bucknell senior OL Justin Gibson is a nominee for the AFCA Scholar-Athlete Award. Gibson is a Dean's List student in Bucknell's accounting program and was one of three Bison picked for the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, joining teammates LB David Ulmer and DL Shawn Tidwell. The Bison boasted a league-high 24 members of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll last season, and the team fashioned a solid 3.11 combined grade-point average last spring.
