Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Gridders Visit Cornell Saturday in Search of First Victory of 2005
9/14/2005 8:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 14, 2005
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A handful of key injuries and two heartbreaking losses have marred the start of the 2005 season, but Bucknell still has plenty of season left and seeks to get things turned around this week at Cornell. The Big Red, who are looking to build off a strong turnaround season under new head coach Jim Knowles, are making their season debut. The Bison, who have not started a season 0-3 since 1988, dropped their first two games by three points or less for the first time in school history. Two weeks ago Georgetown rallied for a 19-16 overtime win in Lewisburg, then last week on Long Island, Bucknell rallied from an 18-7 halftime deficit only to see Stony Brook kick the winning field goal with 0:04 remaining.
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 66-64-1 (.508) in his career, which also includes head coaching stints at Davidson (1993-99) and St. Mary's (2000-02). Landis is 1-1 against Cornell in his career.
• THE OFFENSE: Bucknell's offense has moved the ball effectively at times this season, particularly on the ground, where it averages a Patriot League-best 214.5 yards. Turnovers have been the Achilles heel, however, as the Bison have coughed it up nine times in two games. Last week a fumble in the Stony Brook red zone thwarted one potential scoring march, and another miscue deep in its own territory led to a short Seawolves TD drive.
• 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. Last week 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 became the third Bison QB to play this season, engineed a pair of second-half scoring drives and led the team in rushing with 73 yards.
• 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. Freshman Kadero Watson also saw his first varsity duty last week at Stony Brook. WR Richard Simpson caught his first varsity pass last week and blocked well on the perimeter. Freshmen Daniel Zvara and Zach Allen rotated at the other wideout spot, with Zvara earning his first career start.
• THE O-LINE: Sophomore Greg Conti made his first collegiate start last week, joining stalwarts Stephen Watts (LT) and Stefan Niemczyk (LG) up front. Senior Eric Becker (RT) and junior Michael Boccella (RG) are also expected to start this week.
• THE DEFENSE: Bucknell's defense has allowed 20.0 points per game and 354.0 yards per game through two weeks. The Bison also have five takeaways, including four interceptions by four different players. Defensive coordinator Jared Backus' group would like to generate a bit more pass rush, as the unit has been held to just one sack in two games.
• DEFENSIVE FRONT: Bucknell has a deep, veteran defensive line, led by All-American Sean Conover. Conover had seven tackles and knocked down a pass last week. Senior DT Jacob Burney recorded the team's lone sack. ILBs Ryan Slater and Dorian Petersen have been all over the field in the first two games. Slater leads the team with 19 tackles, nine coming last week at Stony Brook. Junior OLB Stephen Matzura, who started in place of the injured Matt Palermo last week, recorded his first career interception. Freshman OLB Julius Hopson saw his first varsity action and made five tackles. Opponents are averaging 168.0 yards on the ground thus far.
• DEFENSIVE SECONDARY: Senior CB Dante Ross is the cornerstone of the secondary, and he enjoyed a terrific game last week at Stony Brook with a team-high 10 tackles. Junior CB David Frisbey picked off his first career pass, while sophomore FS Stephen Collage also played well. Opponents are averaging 186.0 yards per game passing through two games.
• SPECIAL TEAMS: Ross has become the Patriot League's premiere return man and is the reigning PL Special Teams Player of the Year. Last week he returned the opening kickoff of the second half 54 yards, setting up a key TD. He also blocked a 23-yard field goal attempt and made a diving tackle for no gain on a punt return. K Ryan Korn was having an outstanding day against Georgetown until the final play of regulation. Korn tied his career high with three field goals (42, 47, 25), with the 47-yarder in the second quarter matching his career long. But with seven seconds left in regulation, after a low snap, Korn's potential game-winning 42-yard try was blocked. Korn bounced back last week to boot a tying 23-yarder midway through the fourth quarter. Freshman P Phil Azarik has been terrific so far, averaging 39.5 yards on eight attempts.
BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES
• UNFAMILAR FOES: For the third straight week, Bucknell will be facing an opponent making its 2005 debut. Cornell and rest of the Ivy League begin play this week.
• A TOUGH START: Bucknell has dropped two gut-wrenching contests to start the season, with last-play field goals ending both losses. It is the first time in program history that the Bison have started 0-2 with both losses coming by three points or less.
• WORTH REPEATING: The last time Bucknell began a season with two losses was 2002. That year, the Bison got on the board in Week 3 with a 14-3 victory over Cornell.
• BUCKNELL VS. THE IVY LEAGUE: Bucknell is 35-87-3 all-time against the Ivy League, including 10-34 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 seasons under head coach Tim Landis, the Bison are 2-4 against the Ancient Eight.
• ROSS NEARING RECORD: Senior DB Dante Ross needs only 31 punt return yards to equal the Bucknell career record. Ross' 595 punt return yards trails only the 626 posted by current Toronto Argonauts star Kevin Eiben from 1997-2000. In his last game at Schoellkopf Field, Ross returned a punt for a TD.
• QUARTERBACK CAROUSEL: Necessitated by injury, Bucknell has already used three of its four quarterbacks this season. 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. Last week 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. Ahern rushed for a team-high 73 yards on 16 carries and pieced together two scoring drives in the second half. Woodard is listed as questionable for this week's game at Cornell.
• TWO-WAY THREATS: Last week at Stony Brook the Bison received important offensive plays from two big men who are better known for their defensive prowess. Senior DE Sean Conover, the reigning Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, caught a 17-yard pass on a fake field goal in the opening period, setting up a short TD run by Mahdi Woodard. In the third quarter, sophomore Ryan Walsh, a starting defensive tackle, entered the backfield as part of the team's "heavy" package and plowed across the goal line for a 2-yard TD run.
• YOUTH IS SERVED: Bucknell's two-deep features 22 first or second-year players this week. Several freshmen made significant contributions last week. Most notable: P Phil Azarik averaged 37.0 yards on five punts and now ranks third in the Patriot League with 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; RB Kadero Watson ran for six yards on his first career carry; LB Julius Hopson made five tackles and played on special teams in his first extended action; LB Todd Manjuck made a pair of special teams tackles.
• 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).
• STREAK SNAPPED: Bucknell entered the 2005 campaign on a four-game winning streak after finishing up last season with consecutive victories over Holy Cross, Fordham, Colgate and Duquesne. The team was seeking its first five-game winning streak since 2001.
• 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.
• CAPTAINS NAMED: Just before the season opener vs. Georgetown, it was announced that senior DL Sean Conover and senior OL Stephen Watts will serve as team co-captains in 2005.
• FIRST-TIME STARTERS: A handful of Bison made their first career starts opposite Georgetown. On offense, QB Terrance Wilson and WR Andrew Guadagno were first-time starters. Defensively, OLB Matt Palermo, ILB Ryan Slater, DB David Frisbey and DB Stephen Collage made their initial starts. Last week at Stony Brook, OL Chad Glasser, QB Mahdi Woodard, and OLB Stephen Matzura joined the list.
• BACKUS IN NEW ROLE: Jared Backus enters his fourth season as a member of the Bucknell coaching staff, but this will be his first as defensive coordinator. Backus takes over that role from Tripp Merritt, who was named head coach at Davidson during the offseason. Backus, who most recently tutored the defensive line and special teams, will still utilize a 4-4 look. Jim Reid, the former head coach at both Richmond and Massachusetts, succeeds Backus as special teams/defensive line coach.
• IN THE CLASSROOM: Bucknell senior K Ryan Bower is a nominee for the AFCA Scholar-Athlete Award. Bower is a Dean's List student in Bucknell's electrical engineering program. He received a perfect 4.0 GPA last spring and has a 3.88 cumulative average. 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.
• BISON BRIEFS: Last week's game at Stony Brook was Bucknell's first ever against a team from the Northeast Conference ... DL Jacob Burney (PAT) and DB Dante Ross (FG) both blocked kicks last week ... four different Bison have interceptions this season (LB Dorian Petersen, LB Matt Palermo, DB David Frisbey, LB Stephen Matzura), and for all four it was his first career pick ... WR Richard Simpson made his first career catch ... on Sunday the Bison JV squad suffered a 42-0 loss to Lackawanna, one of the top junior college programs in the East ... sophomore LB Craig Kostelic had a game-high 15 tackles, while freshman DB James Streapy had 13.
• UP NEXT: The Bison are off next week, then return home on Oct. 1 to face Marist at 1 p.m. The Homecoming Day contest will be Bucknell's first meeting with the Red Foxes.
