Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Football Looks to Build a Winning Streak Saturday at Historic Franklin Field
10/5/2005 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 5, 2005
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The Bison this week travel to one of college football's most historic venues, Philadelphia's Franklin Field, to battle Ivy League power Penn in a matchup of two teams looking to build on victories. The 3:30 p.m. kickoff will be televised live on CN8 cable network. Bucknell used a suffocating defensive effort and the heroics of Dante Ross to earn its first victory of the season last week, 27-7 over Marist on Homecoming Day at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Penn also held an opponent to single digits on the scoreboard last week, topping Dartmouth 26-9 in Hanover, N.H. These two teams have played some memorable games in recent years. Penn prevailed 14-13 two years ago at Franklin Field when the Bison missed a 39-yard field goal on the last play of the game, then the Quakers won in double overtime in Lewisburg last season.
TOURING THE HERD
• ON THE SIDELINE: Taking over the Bison after a 2-9 season, head coach Tim Landis has posted 6-6 and 7-4 records in his first two years at Bucknell, leading them to a pair of third-place finishes in the Patriot League. Landis is now 67-65-1 (.508) in his career, which also includes head coaching stints at Davidson (1993-99) and St. Mary's (2000-02). Landis is 0-2 in his career against Penn.
• THE OFFENSE: Injuries in the backfield have severely hindered Bucknell's spread option attack. The Bison started a different quarterback in each of the first three games of the season and have used five players at the position already this season, while standout FB Blamah Sarnor was injured late in the second quarter of the season opener against Georgetown and remains sidelined. Still, Bucknell leads the Patriot League in rushing at 223.5 yards per game. The Bison are averaging only 45.0 yards per game through the air, however.
• UNDER CENTER: The Bison have been jarred by injuries to two of their promising young quarterbacks already this season. Sophomore Terrance Wilson started the opener against Georgetown and played well, but suffered a broken jaw in that game and is out indefinitely. In week two at Stony Brook, Mahdi Woodard became the first freshman to start at QB for Bucknell since 1992, but he too was sidelined after taking a blow to the head late in the first half. Sophomore Ryan Ahern played the second half at Stony Brook, then became the third Bison starting QB in as many weeks at Cornell. Ahern also started against Marist, but he alternated with senior Dante Ross, who turned in a storybook performance in the win over the Red Foxes. Ross, normally a cornerback and kick returner, ran for 268 yards and three TDs, setting Bucknell and PL records for ground yards by a QB.
• BACKS & RECEIVERS: Bucknell also had a significant injury in the backfield on opening night, as senior FB Blamah Sarnor missed the second half with a foot injury and remains out. Sophomore Josh DeStefano moved from slotback to fullback, with juniors Kenny Davis and Peter Kaufman starting at the slots. Freshmen Daniel Zvara and Zach Allen both started last week vs. Marist, and Zvara caught his first collegiate pass, a 37-yard touchdown in the third quarter that gave Bucknell a 14-0 lead.
• THE O-LINE: Senior co-captain Stephen Watts shifted from tackle to center this week, opening up a starting assignment for Chad Glasser at left tackle. Guards Stefan Niemczyk and Michael Boccella have started all four games thus far, as has senior Eric Becker at right tackle.
• THE DEFENSE: Bucknell ranks second in the Patriot League and 18th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 17.8 points per game, and the Bison are third in the PL and 34th nationally in total defense at 333.0 yards per game. The Bison also have 11 takeaways in four games, including eight interceptions by seven different players.
• DEFENSIVE FRONT: Bucknell has a deep, veteran defensive line, led by All-American DE Sean Conover. Senior DE Andrew Decker remains out while recovering from a dislocated thumb. Fellow senior DE Brandon Bailey replaced him in the starting lineup and had two of the team's four sacks last week. ILBs Ryan Slater and Dorian Petersen have been all over the field in the first three games. The duo combined for 29 tackles at Cornell and ranks 1-2 on the team in tackles. Senior OLB James Lachman had the best game of his career last week, intercepting two passes and making a key tackle for a 12-yard loss that knocked Marist out of field goal range.
• DEFENSIVE SECONDARY: Senior CB Dante Ross is the cornerstone of the secondary, and he has been outstanding all season. Sophomore FS Stephen Collage had a career-high 15 tackles at Cornell. Junior CB David Frisbey led the team with a career-high 13 tackles against Marist. Bucknell ranks third in the Patriot League and 24th nationally in passing defense, allowing only 165.3 aerial yards per game.
• SPECIAL TEAMS: Ross has become the Patriot League's premiere return man and is the reigning PL Special Teams Player of the Year. He is averaging 11.0 yards per punt return this season. K Ryan Korn is 4-for-8 on field goal attempts this season, including a long of 47 yards against Georgetown. Last week senior K Ryan Bower handled all of the PAT tries. Freshman P Phil Azarik was off to a terrific start, averaging 39.5 yards on eight attempts, but he missed the Cornell game after coming down with a bout of mono, and he will likely be out this week as well. Korn has filled in nicely as the punter. Last week he averaged 38.5 yards on six attempts, and he is averaging 37.2 yards per boot on the season.
BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES:
• THAT'S A WINNER: It took a bit longer than expected, but the Bison secured their first victory of the 2005 season last week against Marist, snapping the Red Foxes' three-game winning streak in the process. The Bison had not been 0-3 since 1988. For a complete game recap and boxscore, please see Page 16.
• NOWHERE TO RUN: Bucknell turned in a stellar defensive effort against Marist last week. The Bison yielded only 42 rushing yards on 33 attempts, 41 coming on Obozua Ehikioya's fourth-quarter TD run after the game was well in hand. Prior to that run, the Red Foxes had just minus-4 rushing yards in the game.
• COLOR-BLIND QBS: Bucknell already has eight interceptions in four games this season, including four last week against Marist. The Bison rank T-10th in Division I-AA in that category. It's especially impressive considering Bucknell opponents have only thrown a total of 89 passes, meaning the Bison are picking off about one of every 11 attempts. The eight interceptions are spread among seven different defenders.
• DANTE'S INFERNO: In a throwback performance that had many folks in the pressbox reminiscing about Gordie Lockbaum, Bucknell senior Dante Ross had one of the most memorable games in Bucknell history last week in the win over Marist. Ross, who is the team's smallest player at 5'8", 164 pounds, played offense, defense and special teams, and he tore apart the record book along the way. He started the game at cornerback, contributed five tackles (four solo) and made an important leaping interception in the end zone to stop a Marist drive. On offense, he entered the game at quarterback on the second series of the day, and two plays later he put the Bison ahead with a 39-yard TD run. And he never stopped running. He finished with 268 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and he also tossed a 37-yard TD pass to Daniel Zvara, a huge play at the time with Bucknell still clinging to that 7-0 lead in the third quarter. On special teams, Ross totaled 36 yards on three punt returns and had a 21-yard kickoff return. More on Ross' career day:
• The 268 rushing yards broke the Bucknell and Patriot League records for a quarterback, surpassing the 252 yards by Bucknell's Daris Wilson last season at Holy Cross. It was the second-highest rushing total in Bucknell history and tied for the third-highest in PL history. It was the 13th 200-yard rushing game in Bucknell annals.
• Ross' 325 all-purpose yards were the second-most in Bucknell history, behind only the 341 posted by Ken Jenkins against West Chester in 1980. It was the fourth time in school history a player topped the 300-yard mark, and it was tied for the fifth-highest total in Patriot League history.
• Ross accounted for 305 of Bucknell's 346 total yards (88.2%) and had a hand in all four touchdowns.
• In one memorable sequence in the game, he outleaped 6'4" receiver Prince Prempeh for the interception in the end zone, then stayed on the field and had runs of 18, 26, 8, 3, and 23 yards, the last a TD, accounting for 78 of the 80 yards on the scoring drive.
• Ross had never before played quarterback until the previous game against Cornell, when he rushed for 59 yards on 15 carries. He was recruited to Bucknell as a wide receiver and was moved to defensive back during his freshman season.
• ROSS ECLIPSES EIBEN'S RECORD: Lost in all of Dante Ross' heroics last week was the fact that he became Bucknell's career leader in punt return yardage with 656. That is better than the 626 posted by current Toronto Argonauts star Kevin Eiben from 1997-2000. Ross also moved into second place on the Patriot League career chart.
• MORE FROM LAST WEEK'S WIN: Senior LB James Lachman recorded the first two interceptions of his career ... junior DB David Frisbey led all players with 13 tackles, a career high ... Bucknell outrushed Marist 308-42 ... QB Ryan Ahern gained 33 yards on seven carries ... sophomore DB John Thomson made his season debut and had a blocked punt and an interception ... senior DL Brandon Bailey had two of the team's four sacks ... senior DL Chris Praylo and senior DL Mike Hardman had the others ... it was the first-ever meeting between Bucknell and Marist.
• WEEKLY HONORS: Dante Ross was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. In his career Ross has now earned offensive, defensive and special teams player of the week awards, becoming the first player in league history to accomplish that trifecta.
• WINNING THE TURNOVER BATTLE: Bucknell had struggled in the turnover category early in the season, but seemed to get things turned around last week. The Bison had just one fumble against Marist, that coming on a sack on a Hail Mary pass attempt on the last play of the first half. Meanwhile, Bucknell had four takeaways and is now back to even in turnover ratio on the season.
• PHILADELPHIA FREEDOM: Bucknell has several players from the Philadelphia area making contributions this season. Senior LB James Lachman (Bryn Mawr, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) is starting at outside linebacker and last week picked off two passes in the win over Marist. Junior OL Stefan Niemczyk (Broomall, Pa./Malvern Prep) has started every game at left guard and is considered one of the team's top linemen. Senior FB Blamah Sarnor (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area) is a former 900-yard rusher who was being counted on to carry much of the rushing load entering the season, however he suffered a foot injury in the first half of the season opener against Georgetown and could miss the rest of the season. Freshman DL Brian Peters (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) is an up-and-comer who has yet to make his varsity debut.
• BUCKNELL VS. THE IVY LEAGUE: Bucknell is 35-88-3 all-time against the Ivy League, including 10-35 vs. Cornell, 2-1 vs. Brown, 11-3-2 vs. Columbia, 1-4 vs. Dartmouth, 3-4-1 vs. Harvard, 5-25 vs. Penn, 2-13 vs. Princeton and 1-3 vs. Yale. In two-plus seasons under head coach Tim Landis, the Bison are 2-5 against the Ancient Eight.
• YOUTH IS SERVED: Bucknell's two-deep features 20 first or second-year players this week. Several freshmen have made significant contributions in recent weeks week. Most notable: P Phil Azarik has a 39.5 season average; QB Mahdi Woodard rushed for 34 yards and a TD and completed 2 of 7 passes for 37 yards in his first career start at Stony Brook; RB Kadero Watson ran for 34 yards on four carries in his first career start against Cornell; RB Harrison Baker had three carries for eight yards against the Big Red; LB Julius Hopson has 14 tackles in four games and entered the starting lineup last week; WR Daniel Zvara caught a 37-yard TD pass last week; WR Zach Allen also started at wideout along with Zvara against Marist.
• QUARTERBACK CAROUSEL: Necessitated by injury, Bucknell has already used five different players at quarterback this season, including a different starter in each of the first three games. Sophomore Terrance Wilson, who won the starting job in the preseason, took every snap in the season opener against Georgetown but later found out that his jaw was fractured, and he remains out indefinitely. In week two at Stony Brook freshman Mahdi Woodard got the start -- the last frosh to start a game at QB for the Bison was Peter Harteveld against Lehigh in 1992 -- but Woodard took a blow to the head late in the first half and did not return. Sophomore Ryan Ahern, who like Wilson and Woodard had never taken a varsity snap entering the season, came on in relief and performed admirably, and Ahern started against Cornell and Marist each of the last two weeks. Dante Ross has also filled in at quarterback in the last two contests, and freshman Ben Bouffard took one snap late in the first half against Marist.
• A WINNING ERA: After posting a solid 7-4 campaign in 2004, Bucknell has finished at .500 or better in nine of the last 10 seasons. Over that decade span from 1995-2004, the Bison won 63 games, the most in any 10-year period in school history. This season Bucknell is in search of its first Patriot League title since 1996.
• PRESEASON PREDICTIONS: Bucknell over the summer was picked fifth in a preseason poll of Patriot League head coaches and sports information directors. Lehigh (68 points) was picked to win the conference, followed by defending champion Lafayette (61), Colgate (49), Fordham (41), Bucknell (40), Holy Cross (20) and Georgetown (15).
• HONORS GALORE FOR CONOVER: Senior DL Sean Conover has received a barrelful of honors since the end of last season. Following a monster junior year in which he led the Patriot League in sacks (10.5) and forced fumbles (5), Conover was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and earned Second Team All-America citations from both the Associated Press and The Sports Network. Recently Conover was named to the Preseason All-America team and the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List by The Sports Network, in addition to Preseason Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year honors.
• ROSS ALSO HONORED: Senior CB Dante Ross was named the Patriot League Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year last month after claiming the similar honor following a terrific 2004 season. Ross led the league in both kickoff (29.1) and punt (9.5) return average and became the first player in school and league history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game when he did so against Georgetown last season.
• IN THE CLASSROOM: The Bison boasted a league-record 26 members of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll last season, and the team fashioned a solid 3.12 combined grade-point average last spring.
• UP NEXT: The Bison return home to take on another team from the Main Line next weekend when Villanova visits Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Villanova won last season 20-14, evening the all-time series at 11-11-2.
