Bucknell University Athletics
Stunned by Two Crushing Losses, Bison Football Looks to Regroup Saturday at No. 16 Lehigh
10/19/2004 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 19, 2004
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As if a double-overtime loss to Penn wasn't a bitter enough pill to swallow, Bucknell last week against Lafayette suffered an almost unimaginably gut-wrenching one-point loss when Ryan Korn's potential game-winning field goal was blocked, then after scooping up the loose ball Korn was tackled at the 1-yard line as time expired. Hardly a tonic for a quick change in fortunes, the Bison this week face a difficult road test against a 16th-ranked Lehigh team that has defeated Bucknell six straight times by an average margin of 23 points. The Mountain Hawks have won four straight since a 22-16 loss at Villanova on Sept. 11. Last week they came from 21-10 down to defeat Yale, 30-24. Bucknell's only other showing against a ranked team this season was a 20-14 loss at No. 9 Villanova in the season opener.
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 62-61-1 (.504) 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 Lehigh.
• THE OFFENSE: After finding yardage tough to come by against a tough Penn defense, the Bison option attack rebounded with a 402-yard effort last week against Lafayette, with 274 yards coming on the ground. A big hindrance, however, was four first-half fumbles in a driving rainstorm, including two deep in Leopard territory. Turnovers have been an issue for the Bison, who now have 17 giveaways in six games, including 12 in the last three weeks.
• UNDER CENTER: QB Daris Wilson has two 100-yard rushing games and is Bucknell's leading rusher, although he has been held to just 39 ground yards on 40 carries over the last two weeks. Wilson was lifted after fumbling four times in the first half of last week's game against Lafayette. QB John Henry Jackson performed admirably in relief, particularly on long drives to put Bucknell in field goal position at the end of each half. Wilson is expected to regain his post this week at Lehigh.
• BACKS & RECEIVERS: FB Frank Lazio, a former slotback who moved to fullback in place of the injured Blamah Sarnor, returned from an injury of his own last week and ran for 106 yards on 17 carries against Lafayette. Peter Kaufman lost his starting job to Mike Cangelosi two weeks ago but came back off the bench last week with a career-long 61-yard touchdown run. At the other slot, Kenny Davis had his three-game scoring streak end last week against Lafayette. 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 and numerous key receptions on third and fourth down.
• THE O-LINE: Center Stephen Watts returned from a knee injury last week and performed well. 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 made his first start of the season against Lafayette, replacing Justin Gibson.
• THE DEFENSE: Bucknell held Lafayette to just 90 passing yards and 287 total in a 14-13 loss last week. The defense was at its best in short-yardage situations. The Leopards were just 3-for-12 on third down, with several third-and-short situations thwarted. The Bison also forced a fumble on their own 1-yard line to prevent a score. Bucknell is allowing only 17.8 points and 313.0 yards per game this season.
• DEFENSIVE FRONT: DE Sean Conover and DT Corey Mayo combined for five tackles for loss last week and had 1.5 of the team's three sacks of Brad Maurer. All-Patriot League tailback Joe McCourt did rush for 167 yards.
• DEFENSIVE SECONDARY: The Bison secondary faced only 10 pass attempts against Lafayette last week, seven of which were completed for 90 yards. FS Virgil Rush had a terrific day, breaking up two passes -- one on third down and the other on fourth down -- while leading the team with 13 tackles. Three of those tackles came behind the line of scrimmage, including one sack. Bucknell has allowed only three TD passes all season and rank 39th nationally in pass defense at 180.2 yards per game.
• SPECIAL TEAMS: It was a frustrating day for K Ryan Korn, who made two field goals (25, 37) against Lafayette but had a potential game-winner from 39 yards out blocked on the final play of the game. Korn is now 3-for-7 on the season, with three of the four misses blocked. Lafayette kept the ball away from dangerous return man Dante Ross, whose lone touch resulted in a 21-yard punt return. Bucknell's punt coverage was excellent last week, as Lafayette averaged under 3 yards per return.
BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES:
• FRUSTRATIONS MOUNT: Last season, three of Bucknell's six losses came by a combined six points, and in 2004 the team's three losses have all been equally frustrating. First was a 20-14 setback at Villanova, in which the Bison were stopped on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line in the waning minutes. After winning three straight from Cornell, Columbia and Georgetown, Bucknell watched Penn overcome three different deficits to steal a 32-25 double-overtime decision. Then came last week's topper against Lafayette, when K Ryan Korn was dragged down just shy of the goal line on a wild final play.
• HEARTBREAKERS: In its record-setting 10-1 campaign in 1997, Bucknell won close game after close game, including five straight wins and six overall decided by a touchdown or less. Since then, however, Bucknell's fortunes in close games have mysteriously changed. Over the last six-plus seasons the Bison are 11-23 in games decided by seven points or less and just 3-16 in games separated by three points or less (or overtime). Bucknell has lost nine straight games decided by a field goal or less dating back to a 17-16 win at Lafayette in 2001.
• GETTING DEFENSIVE: Bucknell's defensive unit has continued to show marked improvement in the course of one season. A year ago Bison opponents averaged 406.9 yards and 25.0 points per game, but in 2004 Bucknell is allowing 313.0 yards and 17.8 points per game.
• HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTY: Bucknell's venerable Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium celebrated 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 played on Oct. 16, just two days shy of 80 years to the day after that inaugural tilt.
• HOME COOKING: Despite rare home losses in each of the last two weeks, the Bison are now 36-16 (.692) in games played at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium since 1995. Overall, Bucknell has a stellar 306-146-13 (.672) record at home, including a 6-3 record under Tim Landis. The Bison had won 17 straight against non-Patriot League foes at home until the 32-25 double-overtime loss to Penn two weeks ago. The Bison have lost home games in consecutive weeks for the first time since 1996, when William & Mary, Harvard and Penn won in Lewisburg on consecutive weeks.
• STRENGTH VS. STRENGTH: This week's game features Bucknell's spread option rushing attack that is ranked 13th nationally at 237.2 yards per game against a Lehigh stop unit that lists 10th in I-AA allowing just 95.8 rushing yards per contest. The Mountain Hawks have not allowed more than 189 rushing yards in a game this season, they have held three teams under 100 yards rushing and they have allowed only one 100-yard rusher -- Liberty's Eugene Goodman (142).
• 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 has eight passing touchdowns and nine rushing TDs through six games. With most of the work coming from QB Daris Wilson, the Bison as a team rank fourth in the nation in pass efficieny rating at 166.27. They are completing 64.9% of their passes (50-77), with an average of 9.5 yards per attempt. On the other hand, Bison opponents have three TD passes and average 6.2 yards per attempt.
• SOMETIMES YOU FEEL LIKE A NUTT: Senior TE Ian Nutt has 11 receptions this season, with four going for touchdowns and five others for first downs, including a huge fourth-down conversion last week against Lafayette. 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 are back on the road next week at Holy Cross for a 1 p.m. kickoff. The Crusaders, who picked up their first win under new coach Tom Gilmore last week at Dartmouth, are 9-2 all-time against Bucknell at Fitton Field.
• BISON BRIEFS: Freshman DL Ryan Walsh made his first career start last week against Lafayette and recorded a half-sack ... Bucknell lost kickoff specialist Ryan Bower to a torn ACL suffered in the second half of last week's game against Lafayette ... Bower had four tackles this season, including a forced fumble against Penn ... Nazareth, Pa., native RB Mike Cangelosi returns to his home area this week.
• 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.
