Bison Football Begins Three-Game Road Trip Saturday at Lafayette
Oct. 28, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format Bucknell looks to snap a three-game losing streak this week when it plays its first of three straight road games at defending Patriot League champion Lafayette. The Bison are in the middle of an extremely difficult portion of their schedule, made even harder by a rash of injuries that have particularly impacted the offensive backfield. Bucknell's last three opponents -- Penn, Villanova and Lehigh -- have all been nationally ranked at some point in the last two seasons. Lafayette is coming off a bye week. In their most recent outing, the Leopards suffered only their second loss of the season, 24-17 to Harvard at Fisher Field. 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 188.3 yards per game. The Bison are averaging only 62.7 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 has started the last three weeks 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 Daniel Zvara had his best game as a Bison against Lehigh, with four receptions for 107 yards. • THE O-LINE: Bucknell's offensive line underwent a slight shift last week. Sophomore Jonathan Grainger, just a week after moving from defensive line to offensive line, made his first start at right guard. Junior Michael Boccella moved from that position to right tackle. Boccella, senior center Stephen Watts and junior left guard Stefan Niemczyk have started every game this season. • THE DEFENSE: Bucknell is fifth in the Patriot League in total defense at 368.3 yards per game. After allowing only 17.8 points per game in their first four games, the Bison have allowed 44.3 ppg in their last three. The Bison have 16 takeaways in seven games, including 11 interceptions by nine 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 two weeks ago against Villanova, recording four tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Last week he blocked a punt and recovered a fumble. Fellow senior DE Brandon Bailey replaced injured classmate Andrew Decker in the starting lineup and has 3.5 sacks in the last four weeks. ILBs Ryan Slater and Dorian Petersen have been all over the field in the first seven games. The duo ranks 1-2 on the team in tackles with 60 and 56, 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 against Villanova and Lehigh. 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 45 on the year. Junior CB David Frisbey is tied for the team lead with five pass breakups. • 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 12.3 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 has taken over the kicking duties and is 2-for-2 on field goals, including a 42-yarder against Villanova and a 43-yarder against Lehigh. BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES: • A TOUGH THREE WEEKS: Bucknell is right in the middle of the most difficult portion of its 2005 schedule. The Bison have dropped their last three to No. 25 Penn, Villanova and No. 16 Lehigh by a combined margin of 133-27. This week Bucknell looks to avoid its first four-game losing streak since 2002. • WELL-RESTED FOES: For the fourth time this season, Bucknell will play an opponent that had the previous week off. Lafayette had a bye last week. • FRESHMAN QUARTET HONORED: Each week the Bucknell coaching staff names players of the week on offense, defense, special teams and scout team. This week, for the first time in recent memory, four freshmen swept the awards. WR Daniel Zvara had four catches for 107 yards -- both career highs -- and was named the top offensive player. DB Devon Lutz was picked on defense after collecting six tackles and his first career interception. On special teams, the choice was K Will Carney, who kicked a 43-yard field goal on only his second career attempt (his first was a 42-yard boot vs. Villanova). And LB Todd Rinaldo was named the scout team performer of the week. • NOTES FROM LEHIGH: QB Dante Ross completed 7 of 13 passes for a career-high 151 yards ... as a team the Bison averaged 20.1 yards per completion ... RB Josh DeStefano ran for a season-high 52 yards and also caught two passes for 21 yards ... the loss was Bucknell's worst at home since a 45-9 setback to Lehigh in 2003 ... Ross has had a hand in each of Bucknell's last seven touchdowns (6 rushing, 1 passing) ... the Mountain Hawks won their eighth straight game in the series. • COLOR-BLIND QBS: Bucknell has 11 interceptions in six games this season, including four against Marist four weeks ago. The Bison rank T-14th in Division I-AA in that category. Bucknell opponents have thrown a total of 161 passes, meaning the Bison are picking off about one of every 14 attempts. The 11 interceptions are spread among nine different defenders. Bucknell also has more interceptions than touchdowns allowed (10). • 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 the Oct. 1 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 the first five games of the season. He has since made the permanent switch to QB. • AMONG THE LEADERS: Dante Ross ranks fourth among all active Division I-AA players in career kickoff return average (27.0). He also ranks fifth in punt return yards (719) and ninth in punt return average (11.1). Also, Ross' 268-yard performance against Marist is the second-best rushing total in the nation this season, behind only the 356-yard effort by Portland State's Joe Rubin against Northern Colorado. • ONE MORE POSITION FOR THE RESUME: Just in case he hadn't played enough positions this season, Ross punted three times two weeks ago 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 719 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 two weeks ago. Sophomore Jonathan Grainger began practicing with the offensive linemen on the Tuesday prior to the Villanova game and made his starting debut last week against Lehigh. 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 in each of the last two weeks after returning from thumb surgery. • 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 three 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 -4 in turnover margin this season. • YOUTH IS SERVED: Bucknell's two-deep features 23 first or second-year players this week. Of the 34 freshmen on the Bison roster, 20 have seen varsity action this season. • 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: Bucknell travels to Fordham next week to take on head coach Ed Foley (Bucknell `89) and the Rams at Jack Coffey Field. Like Bucknell, the Fordham (0-7, 0-3 PL) has struggled with injuries in 2005. Last season the Bison won a 21-10 thriller over Fordham at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. |
MULTIMEDIA 
Photo Galleries 
Facilities Gallery 
Coach's Bio 
Video Player Bud Ranck-Tom Gadd Kickoff Classic (July 27-28)Community Photo GalleriesHistoryFacilitiesProspective Student-Athletes |
