Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Football Squad Hosts Fordham Saturday
10/27/2006 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 27, 2006
What: Bucknell (4-4, 1-2 PL) vs. Fordham (2-5, 0-2 PL)
Where: Christy Mathweson-Memorial Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Oct. 28, 1 p.m.
Promotions: Parents' Weekend; Mt. Carmel High School Band Performance
**NOTE: THE JUNIOR BISON CLUB POSTGAME PARTY AND AUTOGRAPH SESSION IS POSTPONED TO NOV. 18**
Tickets // Game Notes
After playing four of its last five games on the road, the Bison return home to Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Saturday to take on Patriot League rival Fordham. Bucknell looks to climb back over the .500 mark for the fifth time this season against a Rams squad that comes in at 2-5. Both teams are looking to rebound from one-sided losses last week. The Bison fell at Lehigh 38-7, while Fordham was routed by Colgate 46-3 in The Bronx.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BISON
• ON THE SIDELINE: Tim Landis is in his fourth season at the helm of the Bucknell grid program. Landis is now 71-76-1 (.483) in his career, which also includes head coaching stints at Davidson (1993-99) and St. Mary's (2000-02), and 18-24 (.429) in three-plus seasons with the Bison. Landis is 2-1 against Fordham as a head coach.
• THE OFFENSE: Despite the loss of the top two quarterbacks, the top two fullbacks and a starting slotback to injury, the Bison offense continues to run the ball efficiently. Bucknell leads the league and ranks third nationally in rushing at 236.4 yards per game. The Bison are fifth in the league in both total offense (309.3) and scoring offense (21.0).
• UNDER CENTER: Collarbone injuries to Andrew Lair and Terrance Wilson, the top two quarterbacks on the depth chart, have meant a quick indoctrination to college football for promising freshman Marcello Trigg. The Tampa, Fla., native has been named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week in each of the last two weeks, first after leading the team to a victory over Georgetown, then after prodicing a team-high 91 rushing yards and a TD pass against Lehigh last week. Trigg will make his fourth straight start this week against Fordham.
• BACKS & RECEIVERS: Bucknell is also a bit depleted at running back, where FB Paul Forcellini and SB Rashod Bumpers have both been lost with ACL injuries, and FB Josh DeStefano, the team's leading rusher, missed time with a back injury before returning last week at Lehigh. Fortunately, the Bison are still deep in the backfield, particularly with the addition to the lineup of exciting freshman SB A.J. Kizekai, who has four touchdowns, 272 yards and a 7.6-yard average in his first five games. FB Kevin Mullen, who shares time with DeStefano, had a career-high 110 yards against Georgetown two weeks ago. Mullen had a 24-yard TD run at Fordham last season.
• THE O-LINE: This is Bucknell's most veteran position group, with all five starters and the two top reserves either juniors or seniors with game experience. The regular lineup consists of co-captain Stefan Niemczyk (LG) starting alongside Chad Glasser (LT), Joel Hoffer (C), Jonathan Grainger (RG) and Michael Anthony (RT). Senior Michael Boccella, a starter in eight games last season, also plays at the tackle spots.
• THE DEFENSE: Bucknell's young defense has yielded a league-high 412.0 yards and 26.3 points per game thus far. Three areas in which Bison had been performing very well -- causing turnovers, third-down stops and red-zone defense -- were lacking last week, as Lehigh went 5-for-5 with four touchdowns in the red zone, converted 8 of 13 third-down attempts and did not commit a turnover. Prior to last week, the defense has forced 12 turnovers, held the opposition to only a 35 percent success rate on third down and only 10 touchdowns in 22 trips inside the red zone.
• DEFENSIVE FRONT: The heart and soul of the Bucknell defense is the linebacker unit, led by senior co-captain Dorian Petersen, junior Ryan Slater and freshman Sam Nana-Sinkam. That trio ranks 1-2-3 on the team and 5-7-8 in the Patriot League with 74, 64 and 62 hits, respectively, through eight games. Petersen is having an All-Patriot League caliber season and has been named the league's defensive player of the week twice. Nana-Sinkam collected his second sack of the season last week at Lehigh.
• DEFENSIVE SECONDARY: Landis and defensive coordinator Jared Backus did some shuffling in the secondary prior to week three, moving safety Matt Palermo to cornerback and inserting promising freshman safety Brigham Farrand into the starting lineup for the first time. Farrand responded well, tying Petersen for game-high honors with 11 tackles, and he intercepted a pass on the Bucknell 1-yard line and also recovered a fumble against Cornell. Junior safety Stephen Collage had two interceptions against Penn and leads the team with three picks on the season.
• SPECIAL TEAMS: Bucknell continues to shine in all facets of the special teams (see p. 4 for more on the special teams). P Phil Azarik averaged better than 40 yards per kick once again last week. K Will Carney is 5-for-7 on field goals this season, the best percentage in the Patriot League, and is also 21-for-21 on PATs. Nolan Applegate had a career-long 30-yard punt return last week against Lehigh. He now ranks second in the Patriot League in punt return average at 10.6.
BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES:
With a victory over Fordham, Bucknell would ...
• ... climb back over .500 for the fifth different time this season.
• ... improve to 3-2 at home in 2006.
• ... avenge a 28-21 loss to Fordham last year and improve to 14-8 all-time against the Rams.
• ... move within one victory of clinching a winning season for the 10th time in 12 years.
• LAST WEEK: Bucknell continued its trend of alternating wins and losses every week in a 38-7 setback to Lehigh at Goodman Stadium. The Bison's 90-yard drive for a touchdown just before halftime brought them within 17-7, but Lehigh scored on both its third-quarter possessions to break the game open (see p. 16 of game notes for recap and boxscore).
• MORE FROM LAST WEEK: Senior WR Richard Simpson caught a 22-yard touchdown pass with five seconds remaining in the first half ... it was Simpson's second career TD grab, with the other coming at Cornell last season ... Bucknell's posted its third-best rushing total of the season with 250 yards ... freshman Jason Davis made his debut at quarterback for the Bison on the game's final series ... Davis moved from slotback to cornerback early in preseason camp, then switched to quarterback after Andrew Lair and Terrance Wilson went down with injuries ... junior FB Josh DeStefano returned to the lineup after missing the Georgetown game with a back injury ... DeStefano was the team's second-leading rusher against Lehigh with 51 yards on 13 carries ... junior LB Ryan Slater led all players with nine tackles.
• PARENTS' WEEKEND BRINGS LARGE CROWDS: Bucknell has typically drawn very large crowds on Parents' Weekend. In fact, the five largest attendances since the remodeling of Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium have come on Parents' Weekend, including a record crowd of 10,602 against Penn in 2004.
• YOUTH MOVEMENT: Head coach Tim Landis is relying on freshmen all over the field this season. This week against Fordham the Bison are expected to start six freshmen, three on offense and three on defense. A whopping 13 of the 44 players on this week's offensive and defensive two-deeps are true freshmen. Bucknell's starting quarterback (Marcello Trigg), No. 3 rusher (A.J. Kizekai), No. 3 receiver (Cale Cadman), No. 3 tackler (Sam Nana-Sinkam), No. 2 scorer (Kizekai), and leading kickoff returner (Jason Davis) and all-purpose yardage leader (Rashod Bumpers) are all rookies.
• ROOKIE HONORS: If it's not clear just how much of an impact the class of 2010 is making this season, just check out the list of Patriot League Rookie of the Week honorees for 2006. Through eight weeks, Bucknell has claimed the honor six times ... and by five different players. QB Marcello Trigg became the fifth different Bison to win the honor on Oct. 16, after leading the team to a 17-7 win over Georgetown, and he won it again this week after a solid performance against Lehigh. Previously, RB Rashod Bumpers won for his 126-yard rushing effort against Duquesne in the season opener; Brigham Farrand was honored after finishing with 11 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery in his first career start against Cornell; Sam Nana-Sinkam won after posting 11 tackles in a loss to No. 7 Richmond; and A.J. Kizekai was cited for his two-touchdown performance against Marist.
• ADVANCED TRIGG: At Robinson High School in Tampa, Marcello Trigg was a record-setting passing quarterback. He passed for over 7,000 yards and a county-record 82 touchdowns in his prep career, and Trigg has infused a passing threat in his three starts in Bucknell's run-oriented spread option offense. In the team's first five games of the season the Bison completed only 16 passes for 272 yards, but in his three starts against Penn, Georgetown and Lehigh, Trigg has connected with a receiver 23 times for 311 yards, including the team's only two passing touchdowns of the year.
• PETERSEN ROCK SOLID ON DEFENSE: Senior co-captain Dorian Petersen is making a major push for All-Patriot League honors in his final season. Despite playing each week on a very sore knee, Petersen is offering outstanding production on a youthful Bison defense. He had eight tackles, including one for a loss, last week at Lehigh. Two weeks ago, he was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week and Damon's Bison Athlete of the Week after compiling 13 tackles against Georgetown. He also recovered a first-half fumble that led to a touchdown, and in perhaps the biggest defensive play of the game, he forced a fumble to halt a Georgetown drive in Bucknell territory in a 10-0 game in the fourth quarter. Petersen is tied for the Patriot League lead with three forced fumbles, and he is fifth in the league with 74 tackles.
• MISTAKE FREE: Bucknell had gone 13 straight quarters without committing an offensive turnover until losing a first-period fumble against Lehigh last week. Still, the Bison have committed only nine turnovers in eight games and are +3 in turnover ratio for the season. They rank 19th nationally in fewest turnovers and tied for 37th in turnover ratio.
• AMONG THE BEST: Bucknell ran for 250 yards last week and now ranks No. 3 in Division I-AA in rushing offense.
I-AA Rushing Offense Team Avg. 1. Central Connecticut State 292.9 2. Southern Illinois 239.7 3. Bucknell 236.4 4. Wofford 235.0 5. South Carolina State 233.7• JUMPING RIGHT IN: RB A.J. Kizekai four weeks ago became the second Bison back this season to score a touchdown on his first career carry. In the season opener against Duquesne, RB Rashod Bumpers scored on a 51-yard run in the first quarter. Also in that game, QB Andrew Lair ran for a 38-yard TD on just his second career rushing attempt, and FB Paul Forcellini had a 13-yard TD run on only his fourth career attempt.
• TRULY "SPECIAL" TEAMS: Through eight games Bucknell's special teams have been excellent across the board. Some highlights:
• Kickoff Coverage -- Bucknell ranks seventh in the nation in kickoff coverage, allowing only 15.00 yards per attempt. The Bison have not allowed a return longer than 27 yards this season.
I-AA Kickoff Return Defense Team Ret. Avg. 1. Alabama State 15 12.00 2. South Carolina State 33 12.94 3. Stony Brook 26 13.62 4. Western Illinois 22 13.95 5. Prairie View 16 14.56 6. Albany 26 14.96 7. Bucknell 28 15.00 8. Dartmouth 18 15.11 9. Robert Morris 26 15.15 10. Cal Poly 23 15.48• Punting -- Sophomore P Phil Azarik has been outstanding thus far. He ranks 20th in the nation with a 41.0 average on 43 attempts. While there are still three games to play, it is worth noting that the Bucknell single-season punting record is 40.9 by Rich Miller in 1996.
Bucknell Single-Season Punting Average Player Year No. Avg. Phil Azarik 2006 43 40.953 1. Rich Miller 1996 62 40.903 2. Rich Miller 1994 50 39.7 3. Ken Durr 1981 46 39.4 4. Mike Morrow 1984 53 39.0 5. Jim Stewart 1955 13 38.3• Placekicking -- Sophomore K Will Carney is enjoying a fine 2006 season. He has made 5 of 7 field-goal attempts on the season and 9 of 13 in his career, including 3 of 4 from 40 yards or better. He is also 21-for-21 on extra points this season.
• Punt Returns -- Sophomore Nolan Applegate ranks second in the Patriot League and 28th nationally in punt return average (10.59).
• CONOVER SIGNED TO TITANS PRACTICE SQUAD: Former Bucknell All-America defensive end Sean Conover, a 2006 graduate, was signed to the Tennessee Titans' practice squad prior to the start of the NFL season. Conover was initially signed as an undrafted free agent by the Titans in May, and he saw significant playing time in all four of the team's preseason games. In those four games he totalled seven tackles, including a sack, against Green Bay last week. He was one of the Titans' final roster cuts as the team had to get to the NFL-mandated 53-player limit, but he was then one of seven players re-signed to the practice squad.
• IN THE CLASSROOM: The Bison boasted a league-high 24 members of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll last season. In the spring 2006 semester, the Bucknell football players combined for a solid 3.0 grade-point average, the sixth straight semester the team has earned a 3.0 or better.
• FRISBEY UP FOR DRADDY TROPHY: Bucknell senior DB David Frisbey has been selected by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame as a semifinalist for the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth, which is often referred to as the "Academic Heisman." The award comes with a 24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy and a $25,000 post-graduate scholarship. Frisbey carries a 3.54 cumulative grade-point average in Bucknell's highly regarded management program. A member of the university's Dean's List and the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, Frisbey was also named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District team a year ago, and he will be a nominee again later this fall. Frisbey is one of 37 Division I-AA semifinalists, and one of only two from the Patriot League, joining Lafayette quarterback Brad Maurer.
• LOOKING AHEAD: Next week Bucknell plays its final road game of the 2006 season, visiting upstart Holy Cross at Fitton Field at 12:30 p.m. The Crusaders enter this week's home game atop the Patriot League standings at 6-2 overall and 3-0 in league play. Holy Cross defeated the Bison 51-33 in Lewisburg in the 2005 season finale.
