Football Looks to Build on Winning Streak Saturday at Penn

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bison football squad certainly enjoyed its bye week coming off back-to-back wins over Marist and Lehigh, the latter a wild 38-35 double-overtime affair in the first Patriot League game of the season. Bucknell's third straight win in Bethlehem gave the Bison their best start since 2015, and now they will look to stay hot with two Ivy League foes up next on the schedule.

Bucknell travels to historic Franklin Field this Saturday for the first time since 2018, and the Bison will be looking to shed a nine-game series losing streak to the Quakers. Ray Priore has another talented squad in 2024. Penn is 1-2, but the losses were one-score margins against soon-to-be FBS Delaware (29-22) and reigning Ivy League co-champion Dartmouth (20-17). The Quakers' win was a 27-17 verdict over Colgate from the Patriot League.

Saturday's game is a 1 p.m. kickoff in Philadelphia, with TV/streaming coverage on ESPN+ along with Doug Birdsong's local radio call on WKOK 1070 a.m.

FULL MEDIA NOTES:

When: Saturday, Oct. 12, 1 p.m.
Where: Franklin Field, Philadelphia, Pa.
Internet Video: ESPN+
Radio: 1070 AM (WKOK)
Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: PennAthletics.com
Follow on X: @Bucknell_FB
Media Notes: Bucknell | Penn
Digital Game Program

With a victory, Bucknell would...
• ... build its first three-game winning streak since 2014, when the Bison started 7-1 on the way to an 8-3 season.
• ... improve to 4-2 on the season, its best start since 2014.
• ... move to 3-1 in road games.
• ... snap a nine-game losing streak against Penn and pick up its first win over the Quakers since 1999 (23-16).
• ... improve 6-32 against Penn in a series that dates back to 1895.
• ... improve to 3-2 under Dave Cecchini in the week following a bye. The Bison were also coming off a bye week when they played Penn last season, and the Quakers won 37-21 in Lewisburg.

The Bob Odell Connection
• National Football Foundation College Hall of Famer Bob Odell is also in the athletics halls of fame at both Bucknell and Penn. An All-America halfback for the Quakers, Odell won the 1943 Maxwell Award and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. Odell was Bucknell's head coach from 1958-64 and led the 1960 and 1964 teams to Lambert Cup championships. He later served as head coach at Penn (1965-70) and Williams (1971-86), and the Bucknell head football coach position is now named in his honor.

Bucknell at a Glance
• Bucknell improved to 3-2 on the season by winning a 38-35 double-overtime thriller at Lehigh on Sept. 28. The Bison also have wins over VMI and Marist, with the losses coming to FBS Navy and Merrimack.
• Bucknell, Holy Cross, and Lafayette are all 1-0 in Patriot League play and have an early jump on the league leaders with lots of intraconference play still to come. There are two more PL games coming up this week with Georgetown visiting Lafayette and Fordham traveling to Holy Cross.
• Bucknell claimed three of the four Patriot League weekly awards after the Lehigh win. Gavin Willis was the Defensive Player of the Week, TJ Cadden was the Special Teams Player of the Week, and Tariq Thomas was the Rookie of the Week.
• The Bison are averaging 29.8 points per game to rank second in the Patriot League and 32nd nationally in FCS, and they have found a variety of ways to score those points. In the two back-to-back wins over Marist and Lehigh, Bucknell has scored on offense, defense, and special teams.
• TJ Cadden is in the midst of a historic special teams season for the Bison, as he added to his two punt return touchdowns with a 100-yard kickoff return TD at Lehigh last week. Cadden leads the nation in return TDs and kickoff return average (39.5), and he is third nationally in punt return average (17.5).
• Defensively, it had been three seasons since a Bucknell player had returned an interception for a score, and now Alex Smith Jr. and Aaron Davis have done it in consecutive games.
• Bucknell has been a solid road team in recent years. Among its 10 victories over the last two-plus seasons, seven of them have come away from home, including wins at VMI and Lehigh this season.
• QB Ralph Rucker IV is in his second season leading the Bison offense after transferring from Oklahoma. In 15 games at Bucknell he has thrown for more than 3,500 yards, he has completed 63.3% of his passes, and he has 31 touchdown passes against only nine interceptions.
• Of Rucker's 31 TD tosses over the last two seasons, 10 have gone to wideout Eric Weatherly. Weatherly has three TD receptions in the last two weeks, and three times in his career he has caught two TD passes in the same game. One of those was last year against Penn, when he hauled in his first two scores in a Bucknell uniform in a home loss to the Quakers.
• The Bison have rotated four running backs throughout the first five games, but freshman Tariq Thomas has started to carry more of the load. The Springfield, Mass., native has started the last four games and he leads the team in rushing attempts (52) and yards (206). Thomas carried 18 times for 77 yards against Lehigh, both career highs. Paul Neel (39 carries), Michael Cadden (20), and Danny Meuser (13) have also seen time in the backfield.
• Michael Cadden, a freshman, is TJ's younger brother. Both have reached the end zone this season. Michael scored on a 2-yard run in the Navy game on opening day, and TJ has five touchdowns, with two TD catches in addtition to the three return scores.
• The Bison were picked to finish seventh in the 2024 Patriot League Football Preseason Poll after finishing the 2023 campaign in a tie for sixth with a 4-7 (1-5 PL) record.
• Matt Schearer was named to the 2024 Preseason All-Patriot League Team for a second season in a row. The Bison also landed eight on the Phil Steele 2024 Patriot League Preseason All-Conference Team.
• Bucknell is in its sixth season under head coach Dave Cecchini, who was voted as the Patriot League Dick Biddle Coach of the Year during the 2021 spring campaign for leading the Bison to a spot in the first-ever Patriot League Championship Game following the abbreviated season. Cecchini's team is coming off a record-setting campaign in 2023 that saw the offense average 38.8 points per game over the final four contests.
• Bucknell returned a total of 42 letterwinners in 2023, a group that includes two fifth-year seniors, 18 seniors, 14 juniors and eight sophomores. 11 Bison are three-time letterwinners, and fifth-year RB Danny Meuser is a four-time letterwinner. Bucknell lost 32 letterwinners last year.
• Bucknell welcomed 33 newcomers this season, including 27 freshmen. Five newcomers transferred to Bucknell.
• The Bison welcomed a host of new faces to the staff during the offseason: special teams coordinator/linebackers coach Brad Jarman, running backs coach Jalen Banks, defensive line coach Codey Cole, assistant offensive line coach/run game analyst Ashley Cornwell, defensive quality control/cornerbacks coach Roger Wright-Lester, and video coordinator Kiem LeGrant.
• Fifth-year senior OL Casey Stephenson, senior LB Brad Jamison, senior S Alex Smith Jr., and junior OL John Ohnegian were selected by their teammates to serve as team captains for the 2024 season. Stephenson is just the 12th multi-year captain in program history.
• The "CD" stickers Bucknell is wearing on its helmets are to honor fallen teammate Calvin Dickey, who tragically passed away in July.

Inside the Bucknell Depth Chart
• Bucknell's projected starters on offense have made a combined 145 starts at Bucknell.
• Bucknell's projected starters on defense have made a combined 142 starts at Bucknell.
• On offense, one fifth-year (OL Casey Stephenson), one senior, seven juniors, one sophomore, and one freshman are expected to start.
• On defense, seven seniors, two juniors and two sophomores are expected to start.
• 17 Bison have made at least 10 starts entering Saturday's game. S John Schlendorf leads the team with 27 career starts. Schlendorf is joined by three other Bison that have started 20 or more games: Stephenson, TE Charlie Kreinbucher and DL Aneesh Vyas.
• 11 Bison in total have made their first career starts this season.
• Five Bison have starting streaks of 10 or more games in a row: Schlendorf (27), Kreinbucher (19), S Alex Smith Jr. (16), OL John Ohnegian (16) and Stephenson (14).
• Seniors Schlendorf and Smith Jr. have played in all 38 of the team's games over their three-plus seasons.

In the Record Book
• TJ Cadden became just the third Patriot League player to return two punts for touchdowns in a single season, and his three total return touchdowns in a season is a school and league record.
• Cadden's 100-yard kickoff return at Lehigh was just the second 100-yard play of any kind in Bucknell history. A.J. Kizekai had a 100-yard kickoff return against Lafayette in 2008.
• QB Ralph Rucker in 2023 set single-season records for passing completions (211), passing yards (2,537) and total yards (2,667). He also tied the single-season passing touchdowns mark (21).
• Rucker also tied for the second-most touchdown passes in a game (4) and set the record for the most passing yards in a single game (387). At VMI this season, Rucker became just the second Bucknell quarterback with three 300-yard passing games in his career, joining Jim Given '87.
• On Bucknell's all-time career lists, Rucker now ranks T-3rd in touchdown passes (31), 10th in passing yards (10), and 11th in completions (302) — all in just 15 games played.
• WR Eric Weatherly tied for fifth in single-season receiving touchdowns in 2023 with seven.
• Bucknell's 400 passing attempts in 2023 were second-most in program history behind the 426 attempts in 2019. The team's 242 completions, 2,854 passing yards and 24 touchdown passes were each records.
• The Bison set a new program record with 259.45 average yards per game in 2023.
Milestones to watch
• Ralph Rucker IV needs 11 touchdown passes to tie Scott Auchenbach's school record of 42, which has stood since 1989.
• Eric Weatherly needs 76 receiving yards to reach 1,000 in his Bucknell career.
• Josh Gary needs 336 receiving yards to reach 1,000 in his career.
• Derrick Anderson Jr. needs 8 receiving yards to reach 500 for his career.
• John Schlendorf needs 11 tackles for 200 in his career.

Bison Award Winners
• The National Football Foundation announced the 203 semifinalists for the 2024 William V. Campbell Trophy®, college football's premier scholar-athlete award. Bucknell senior linebacker Brad Jamison was among the semifinalists this year. Only Bucknell and Dayton have had a Campbell Trophy semifinalist each of the past 19 years.
• Bucknell has earned seven Patriot League weekly awards this season.
• TJ Cadden has twice been an honorable mention for Stats Perform FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week this season, and Gavin Willis earned the same distinction on defense after the Lehigh game.
• The Bison returned one All-Patriot League player, LB Brad Jamison.
• K Matt Schearer was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team in July. It was his second time being named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team after earning the honor in 2023 as well.
• Eight Bison were named to the 2024 Phil Steele Patriot League Preseason All-Conference Team: K Schearer (1st Tm), LB Jamison (2nd Tm), QB Ralph Rucker (3rd Tm), WR Eric Weatherly (3rd Tm), OL Xavier Allen (3rd Tm), OL Casey Stephenson (3rd Tm), OL John Ohnegian (3rd Tm) and S John Schlendorf (3rd Tm).
• The Bison lost First Team All-Patriot League CB Ethan Robinson as well as First Team All-Patriot League KR and Second Team All-League RB Coleman Bennett from last season.
• Bucknell returned one of its three Academic All-Patriot League honorees from last season: OL Ohnegian.

Head Coach Dave Cecchini
• Dave Cecchini, one of the all-time great wide receivers in Patriot League history who has since gone on to achieve tremendous success in the coaching ranks, was named the 27th Bob Odell Head Football Coach at Bucknell University on February 6, 2019.
• Cecchini was voted as the 2021 Spring Patriot League Dick Biddle Coach of the Year for guiding the team to a spot in the Patriot League Championship Game. In addition, he was selected as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented by STATS to the FCS Coach of the Year, for the second time in his career.
• In his first season at the helm, Cecchini led the Bison to a third-place finish in the
Patriot League, their highest placement since they were the 2014 runners-up. Their Patriot League victories came over defending champion Colgate (32-14), rival Lehigh (20-10) and Georgetown (20-17); two of their three league losses came by a touchdown or less.
• In 2017 while at Valparaiso, Cecchini was a finalist for the American Football Coaches Association's FCS National Coach of the Year and the STATS FCS Coach of the Year awards; he was also voted as the Pioneer Football League Coach of the Year and the AFCA FCS Region 4 Coach of the Year.
• Since arriving at Bucknell, Cecchini's players have combined to earn 24 All-Patriot League First/Second Team awards as well as one First Team All-American.

Inside the 2024 Schedule
• This is the 139th season of football at Bucknell. The Bison played their first-ever game in 1883 and have played continuously since 1887.
• Bucknell is scheduled to play 12 games for just the third time in program history and for the first time since 2003. The Bison also played 12 games is 1916. Bucknell has six home games for the first time since 2017.
• The Bison opened the 2024 slate against FBS opponent Navy. It's the fifth FBS team Bucknell has faced under head coach Dave Cecchini and the third time it has faced an FBS foe in the season opener.
• Bucknell went on the road again in week two to face VMI for a third season in a row. The Bison defeated the Keydets for a second straight season.
• Bucknell hosted Merrimack for its home opener on Sept. 14 for what was the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Bison then defeated Marist a week later for Family Weekend on Sept. 21, making it three wins over the Red Foxes in as many seasons.
• This marks the 45th time in the last 46 seasons that Bucknell has had at least one Ivy League program on the schedule.
• Next week's game against Cornell is part of Homecoming Weekend. Among the festivities is the annual Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This year's five-person class includes a football alumnus in Luke Rohrbaugh '71.
• Bucknell's 2024 opponents went a combined 63-69 last season.

2023 In Review
• Bucknell went 4-7 (1-5 PL) during the 2023 campaign but saw noticeable improvements in several areas, including a potent offense that set several school records. The four wins were the most in a single season by the Bison since 2017.
• The Bison earned wins over VMI, Cornell, Colgate and Marist. The 49-34 victory over Colgate was arguably the team's best performance, as it posted 593 total yards and seven touchdowns. They were the most points the Bison had scored since 2003, and the 593 total yards tied for second in program history.
• Bucknell was also competitive in most of its losses, including a heartbreaking 50-47 overtime thriller against Georgetown, a narrow 27-21 loss at Fordham, and a decent first-half showing in the season opener at James Madison before the Dukes went on to start the season 10-0.
• Bucknell set program records for single-season passing yards (2,854), passing touchdowns (24), and average yards per game (259.45). Quarterback Ralph Rucker set records for single-season completions (211), passing yards (2,537), total yards (2,667) and tied the single-season passing touchdowns mark (21). He also set several single-game highs.
• Bucknell got stronger toward the end of the season, averaging 38.8 points over the final four contests.
• Three Bison earned All-Patriot League honors at the end of the 2023 campaign. Cornerback Ethan Robinson landed on the First Team, linebacker Brad Jamison landed on the Second Team, and Coleman Bennett received First Team honors as a kick returner and Second Team honors as a running back.

Facility Upgrades
• The Bison officially opened the doors to the Pascucci Team Center on April 15, 2024, completing a plethora of enhancements in and around Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in recent years that were made possible through the generous support of Michael Pascucci '58, P'81, P'87, G'21, G'22.
• Standing prominently between the turf practice field and the north end zone of the stadium, the new facility is a 16,000-square-foot athletics hub that features a state-of-the-art strength and conditioning facility with an expansive weight room that overlooks the turf practice field. Adjacent to the weight room is a sports medicine center.
• Specifically designed to bridge the practice and game-day fields, the team center's south facade offers sweeping views of Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Inside, a spacious team meeting room and conference room allows teams to review film and gather for off-field training and learning events. A Bison Fuel station ensures convenient access to nutritious snacks, supplements and hydration.
• Earlier phases of the project included the installation of a modern LED video board at the south end zone of Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in 2021 and the completion of a turf practice field in 2022.
• The Bucknell football team's locker room, located within Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, was also redone over the summer and includes brand-new lockers, a player's lounge, and more.

CMMS Turns 100
• Bucknell Athletics proudly celebrates Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium's 100th anniversary season in 2024. Over the course of 10 decades, the historic landmark has played host to more than 450 football games along with countless other athletic events and community gatherings. The Bison will celebrate a century of tradition throughout the 2024-25 academic year, and the Oct. 19 home game vs. Cornell will serve as the football team's official Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium 100th Anniversary Game during Homecoming Weekend.
• The picturesque Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium was dedicated in 1924 and was known originally as Memorial Stadium as a tribute to Bucknell's numerous war veterans. The stadium underwent a major renovation in 1989, and at that time it was rededicated to honor the iconic Christy Mathewson, who was a three-sport star and model student-athlete during his playing days at Bucknell.
• Bucknell is 256-187-10 all-time at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

How to Follow the Bison
• All of Bucknell's games this season will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the exception of the season opener at Navy, which was shown on CBS Sports Network.
• All of the Bison's games are aired on local radio on WKOK 1070 AM. The broadcast will also be available for internet streaming on BucknellBison.com.
• Bucknell is active on X (@Bucknell_FB) and Instagram (Bucknell_FB). Interact with the team using the hashtags #ACT and #rayBucknell.

Up Next
• Bucknell returns home next week to face Cornell on Homecoming. The 1 p.m. kickoff will mark the team's final non-conference game of the regular season.

Football Looks to Build on Winning Streak Saturday at Penn

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Players Mentioned

Xavier Allen

Derrick Anderson Jr.

Coleman Bennett

Michael Cadden

TJ Cadden

Aaron Davis

Josh Gary

Brad Jamison

Charlie Kreinbucher

Danny Meuser

Paul Neel

John Ohnegian

Ethan Robinson

Ralph Rucker IV

Matt Schearer

John Schlendorf

Alex Smith Jr.

Casey Stephenson

Tariq Thomas

Aneesh Vyas

Eric Weatherly

Gavin Willis