Bucknell Football Returns to Patriot League Play Saturday against No. 20 Lehigh
Oct. 19, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Patriot League rivals Bucknell and Lehigh meet Saturday in front of a Parents' Weekend crowd at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The 20th-ranked Mountain Hawks are seeking their eighth consecutive victory over the Bison. Bucknell's last defeat of Lehigh came during the Orange & Blue's 1997 10-1 season. While Lehigh comes in at 4-2 and the Bison at 1-5, both teams are actually tied in the Patriot League standings with 0-1 marks. Bucknell dropped a 19-16 overtime decision to Georgetown on opening day, while Lehigh also lost at home, 13-10 to Holy Cross two weeks ago. TOURING THE HERD • THE OFFENSE: Injuries in the backfield have severely hindered Bucknell's spread option attack. The Bison have started four different quarterbacks 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 will likely be sidelined for the season. Still, Bucknell leads the Patriot League in rushing at 192.5 yards per game. The Bison are averaging only 46.3 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 likely out for the rest of the season. 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. Ross started against Penn and Villanova and is expected to remain at the position for the rest of the season. • 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 WR Zach Allen caught his first two career passes last week. • THE O-LINE: Senior co-captain Stephen Watts shifted from tackle to center three weeks ago, opening up a starting assignment for Chad Glasser at left tackle. Guards Stefan Niemczyk and Michael Boccella have started all six games thus far, as has senior Eric Becker at right tackle. Prior to the Villanova game the coaching staff moved sophomore Jonathan Grainger from DL to OL to add depth on the offensive side of the ball. Grainger played some at right guard against the Wildcats. Another defensive player, senior DE Andrew Decker, saw some time at tight end last week to help as an extra blocker. • THE DEFENSE: Bucknell ranks 52nd nationally in total defense at 344.7 yards per game. The Bison also have 14 takeaways in six games, including 10 interceptions by eight different players. • DEFENSIVE FRONT: Bucknell has a deep, veteran defensive line, led by All-America DE Sean Conover. Conover had his best game of the season last week against Villanova, recording four tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Senior DE Andrew Decker returned last week after recovering from a dislocated thumb. Fellow senior DE Brandon Bailey replaced him in the starting lineup and has 3.5 sacks in the last three weeks. ILBs Ryan Slater and Dorian Petersen have been all over the field in the first six games. The duo ranks 1-2 on the team in tackles with 52 and 51, respectively. • DEFENSIVE SECONDARY: Ross had been the cornerstone of the secondary, but for the first time since taking on the quarterback duties Ross did not play on defense last week against Villanova. Instead, freshman CB Devon Lutz made his collegiate debut. Sophomore FS Stephen Collage had a career-high 15 tackles at Cornell and ranks third on the squad with 39 on the year. Junior CB David Frisbey led the team with a career-high 13 tackles against Marist. • SPECIAL TEAMS: Ross has become one of the Patriot League's premier return men and is the reigning PL Special Teams Player of the Year. He is averaging 13.0 yards per punt return and 24.5 yards per kickoff return this season. Junior walk-on Matt DeMartino and Ross have handled the punting duties in place of freshman starter Phil Azarik, who remains out with mono. Freshman K Will Carney notched his first collegiate point on a PAT at Penn, and he booted a 42-yard field goal on his first career attempt last week against Villanova. BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES: • BEATING RANKED FOES: Bucknell has defeated a top-25 opponent in each of Tim Landis' first two seasons at Bucknell. In 2003, the Bison knocked off 14th-ranked Fordham 31-10 in the Bronx, and last season, they routed 22nd-ranked Colgate 42-7 at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Bucknell is 2-4 against ranked foes under Landis. The Bison fell to No. 15 Penn (14-13) and No. 17 Colgate (50-6) in 2003, and to No. 10 Villanova (20-14) and No. 16 Lehigh (40-17) in 2004. • COLOR-BLIND QBS: Bucknell has 10 interceptions in six games this season, including four against Marist three weeks ago. The Bison rank T-11th in Division I-AA in that category. It's especially impressive considering Bucknell opponents have only thrown a total of 134 passes, meaning the Bison are picking off about one of every 13 attempts. The 10 interceptions are spread among eight different defenders. • NO FLAGS: One positive postscript from last week's 38-10 loss to Villanova was that the Bison were not penalized at all during the game. In 2005 the Bison rank T-12th nationally for fewest penalties at 4.5 per game. • VILLANOVA TIDBITS: Freshman WR Zach Allen caught his first two career passes ... senior DE Sean Conover had a big day, logging four tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup ... junior LB Dorian Petersen recorded his second interception of the season, this one coming on a terrific leaping grab in front of the Villanova bench ... freshman K Will Carney booted a 42-yard field goal on his first collegiate attempt ... senior DE Brandon Bailey had a half-sack, giving him at least a piece of a sack in three straight games. • 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 three weeks ago 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: • ROSS NOW THE STARTING QB: Following the record-setting performance against Marist, Ross earned the starting nod at QB against Penn, making him the fourth Bison to start at the position in five games. Last week he made the permanent switch to QB and did not play on defense for the first time this season. • ONE MORE POSITION FOR THE RESUME: Just in case he hadn't played enough positions this season, Ross punted three times last week against Villanova, marking the first time since high school that he had done that in a game. He averaged 35.3 yards per kick, including one that was downed inside the 20. So in 2005 Ross has now run the ball, thrown a pass, caught a pass, intercepted a pass, returned a punt, returned a kickoff, made a tackle, blocked a field goal, forced a fumble and punted. • ROSS ECLIPSES EIBEN'S RECORD: Lost in all of Dante Ross' heroics in the Marist game was the fact that he became Bucknell's career leader in punt return yardage. He now has 717 career yards, which 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. • SWITCHING SIDES: A pair of defensive linemen saw time on the offensive side of the ball for the first time last week. Sophomore Jonathan Grainger began practicing with the offensive linemen on Tuesday prior to the Villanova game and is the backup at right guard. Grainger, normally in uniform No. 95, has switched to No. 75. Senior Andrew Decker has also changed his number, from 50 to 99, as he saw time at tight end last week in addition to his regular defensive end duties. • WEEKLY TRIFECTA: Dante Ross was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week after the Marist win. 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. He was also named the ECAC Player of the Week and the Lewisburg Hotel Bison Athlete of the Week. • TURNOVER WOES: Bucknell had struggled in the turnover category early in the season, but seemed to get things turned around three weeks ago against Marist when it had just one fumble, that coming on a sack on a Hail Mary pass attempt on the last play of the first half. But two weeks ago at Penn the Bison had a fumble and an interception returned for second-quarter TDs, and in the second half three turnovers inside their own 20 led to TD drives of 19, 8 and 12 yards. The Bison are -3 in turnover margin this season, the same ratio as Lehigh. • YOUTH IS SERVED: Bucknell's two-deep features 23 first or second-year players this week. • 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. • 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. Conover was named to the Preseason All-America team and was on the initial 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 QB/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: Things don't get any easier for the Bison next week, when they travel to Easton, Pa. to take on defending Patriot League champion Lafayette. The Leopards have won three straight against Bucknell and lead the all-time series 44-32-6. |
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