October 14, 2008

BULLDOGS HOST ROBERT MORRIS SATURDAY AT 1:00 PM
Game 7 - Bryant (3-3) vs. Robert Morris (2-4)
Parents & Family Weekend 

Game notes / Live Stats / Live Video / Live Audio (WOON)

DATE:                    Saturday, October 18, 2008
TIME:                    1:00 pm EST
SITE:                      Bulldog Stadium (3,200), Smithfield, R.I. / Natural Grass
SERIES:                 First Meeting
COACHES:           Bryant, Marty Fine, 5th year, 30-17; Robert Morris, Joe Walton, 87-59-1, 15th year.
RECORDS:            Bryant 3-3, Robert Morris 2-4
RADIO:                 WOON-AM 1240, www.bryantbulldogs.com.  John McCarthy calls the live action.

The Bulldogs look to get back in the win column this Saturday afternoon, hosting Robert Morris in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.  Kickoff Saturday is at 1 pm.  This weekend is Parents & Family Weekend at Bryant.  At 3-3 on the season, Bryant is coming off a 34-7 loss at Marist College last Saturday night in Poughkeepsie, NY.  Robert Morris, a member of the Northeast Conference, Bryant's new home in 2012, snapped a four-game losing skid with a 34-27 win over cross-town rival Duqesne last week.  Bryant is currently 16-2 at home in the regular season over the last four seasons and 2-1 this season ... Bryant is 2-1 at home this year while Robert Morris is 0-2 away from home.

THE BULLDOGS
Bryant, playing in its first season of Divison I-AA  (Football Championship Subdivision), comes into today's game with a 3-3 overall record on the year following last Saturday's 34-7 loss to Marist College.  Coming off a bye week and a big win over Wagner College two weeks ago, Bryant struggled to get its offense in gear against a fired up Marist squad that entered the game 0-4 at home on the year.  The Bulldogs trailed 13-0 at the half as Marist went up 27-0 before Lindsey Gamble got Bryant on the board with a 7-yard touchdown run early in the fourth.  Gamble would finish with 100 yards rushing in the game, his third career 100-yard rushing game. Jay Graber completed 11 of 15 passes for 119 yards as Ross Giffune and Jarrett Solimando each had three catches on the night. Giffune leads the Bulldogs with 16 catches this season while Solimando has been one of the team's most consistent pulling in a team-best 167 yards coming into today's game.  The senior has three touchdowns on the year, two coming against Monmouth.  Paul Polomski and Jason Riffe had eight and seven tackles respectively in the Marist game last week while Don Smith added six tackles (4 solo). Smith leads the team with four sacks on the year . Polomski's eight tackles against Marist gives him a team-best 42 this year.  Senior Bryce Martins is second with 40.

THE COLONIALS OF ROBERT MORRIS
Located in Moon Township, PA, Robert Morris makes its first-ever trip to Smithfield this afternoon.  The Colonials, coached by former New York Jets coach Joe Walton,  are 2-4 overall and 0-2 on the road this year.  After opening the season with a 27-13 win over Morehead State at home, the Colonials dropped four consecutive games before defeating Duquesne last weekend.  Myles Russ carried the ball 37 times for a whopping 246 yards and two touchdowns to lead RMU to the win.  Quarterback Erik Cwalinski completed a steady 13 of 21 passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns.  He was intercepted just once.  Cwalinski hooked up with senior Regis Flowers for a 22-yard touchdown pass with just over five minutes left in what would prove to be the game-winner.  With 870 yards on the season, Russ brings a rushing average of 145.0 yards per game into today's game. Cwalinski has 1,335 yards passing and 10 touchdowns under his belt.  The senior is averaging 222.5 yards passing per game.

TALE OF THE TAPE                                            Bryant   RMU

Scoring Offense                                                31.3        25.5

Scoring Defense                                               28.3        23.8

Rushing Offense                                              192.0     149.8

Rushing Defense                                              143.7     1168.5

Passing Offense                                               165.7     190.3

Passing Defense                                               257.3     235.0

Total Offense                                                    357.7     340.2

Total Defense                                                    401.0     403.5

THE COACHES
Bryant coach Marty Fine is in his fifth season coaching the Bulldogs.  Since his first year in Smithfield in 2004, Fine owns a coaching record of 30-17. Robert Morris coach Joe Walton is in his 15th season and is the only coach in the history of the school which started football in 1993.  Walton was the head coach of the New York Jets from 1983-89, posting a 53-57-1 record.  Also included among Walton's 35 seasons in the NFL is two years (1990-91) as offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers.  A two-time All-America tight end at Pittsburgh, Walton played seven years in the NFL with the Washington Redskins and New York Giants.

TALKING POINTS

*Bryant is 16-2 at home in the regular season over the past four seasons. 

* Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) needs six yards rushing to move into fourth all-time in school history. Smith has 1,329 career yards.  Lindsey Gamble (Roxbury, MA) is close behind with 1,321 yards.

* Smith's 118 yards rushing per game is the 11th-best average per game this season

* Bryant has scored only 17 points in the third quarter after only six games, but have scored 57 points in the fourth quarter.

* Chris Bird is currently 1st all-time with 47 career PAT kicks, passing Bobby Heilman's 46 set in one season.  Bird is tied for fifth with 86 points scoreds.

* Bryant will travel to Amherst, MA next week to face No. 7 UMass. 

SOLIMANDO AND GIFFUNE ARE THE RIGHT CATCH
Senior wide receiver Ross Giffune (Foxboro, MA) and senior tight end Jarrett Solimando (DeMarest , NJ) have led the way this season in the receiving department.  Giffune has a team-best 16 catches for 166 yards while Solimando is next with 13 and team-high 167 yards.  Solimando has three touchdowns, two coming against Monmouth .

BRYANT VS. DIVISION I
Bryant is currently 1-6 all-time vs. Division I-AA teams coming into the Marist game, earning the school's first win over a Division I opponent back on Sept. 27 at Wagner. Bryant is in its first season competing in Division I.

9/9/00                   at Sacred Heart                 15-19     L              2,173

8/31/02                at Rhode Island                 0-28      L              3,346

10/27/07              at Stony Brook                                  35-42     L              3,218

9/20/08               MONMOUTH                                     17-30     L              2,107

9/27/08                at Wagner                                           24-14     W            1,467

10/11/08              at Marist                                              7-34       L              2,347

HOME SWEET HOME
The Bulldogs are 16-2 at home in regular season games in the past four seasons.  The Bulldogs were 4-0 last season and 5-1 in 2006. Before the loss to Monmouth, the previous loss was a 24-21 defeat to C.W. Post in 2006.  The Bulldogs fell to West Chester in the NCAA Playoffs that same year.  

STANDING ROOM ONLY TO SEE THE BULLDOGS
Bryant, which led the Northeast-10 Conference in average attendance for four-straight seasons, drew 5,530 fans at the Sept. 13 Homecoming & Reunion game.  It was the second-largest in school history, just behind the 5,561 fans that showed up for Bryant's first-ever football game, a 30-14 win over Assumption in 1998.  The total eclipsed last year's season-best of 5,434 against Stonehill.

1.            5,561     vs. Assumption (9/26/98)

2.            5,530     vs. Merrimack (9/13/08)

3.            5,434     vs. Stonehill (10/13/07)

4.            5,234     vs. West Chester (11/18/06)

5.            4,854     vs. Merrimack (9/19/06)

 MAKING THE GRADE
Senior punter Brian Donnelly (East Dennis, MA) is one of 164 semifinalists (FOR ALL DIVISIONS) for the 2008 National Football Foundation Draddy Trophy as a national scholar-athlete.  The award recognizes individiuals for academic success, football performance and community leadership.  The finalists will be announced Oct. 29. 

DEFENSIVE RANKINGS
Freshman defensive back Samad Wagstaff (New Rochelle, NY) has shown he has a nose for the ball.  Against Merrimack, Wagstaff tied a school record (held by six others) with two interceptions in the game.  Wagstaff has five picks this season, already the second-most in a season, trailing only Jesse Lewis who had six in 2003. 

While Bryant is currently listed among the transition schools, the Bulldogs rank in several categories defensively:

Turnovers Gained                            20                           3rd

Turnover Margin                              1.50                        tied for 5th

Interceptions                                     11                           tied for 6th

Fewest Penalty yds                         36.87                    7th

10 YEARS = 50 WINS 
Bryant is celebrating its 10th season of varsity football this season.  The Bulldogs, who fielded a club team in 1998, started its first varsity season in 1999.  Saturday's game against Robert Morris is the 96th game in the history of Bryant football with the Bulldogs owning a 51-44 record. 

MILESTONES:

* Chris Bird needs 2 field goals to tie Peter DiMartino's all-time record of 15 career field goals (1999-01).  Bird has made 13 of 22 in two seasons.

CAREER RUSHING YARDS

1.       3,521          Andre McLeod (2000-03)

2.       3,259          Lorenzo Perry (2005-06)

3.       1,555          Chris Peaks (2003-07)

4.       1,335          Austin Martin (1999-00)

5.       1,329          Jerell Smith (2007-present)

6.       1,321          Lindsey Gamble (2006-pres.)

NEXT UP
Bryant will hit the road and travel to UMass Amherst next Saturday for a 1 p.m. game  The team will return home on Saturday, November 1 for Senior Day on Saturday, Nov. 1.

THE SIGNAL CALLER
After serving as the team's backup quarterback for the past two seasons, senior Jay Graber has been the starter all season long.  Graber has completed 91 of 160 passes (56.9 percent) for 956 yards.  He has thrown 7 interceptions and 8 touchdown passes on the year.

BULLDOGS ON WOON-AM 1240
All 11 Bryant University football games will be heard live on WOON-AM 1240 this season.  Fans can also listen in online at www.bryantbulldogs.com during the season.  John McCarthy returns for his seventh season calling the action.  He'll be joined by Patrick Sullivan who will provide color analysis.  The WOON-AM 1240 signal reaches throughout Northwestern Rhode Island, reaching south to North Providence and Pawtucket and as far as Bellingham, Attleboro, Mansfield, and Milford, Massachusetts.  In addition, the station will air the Marty Fine Coaches Show on Wednesday night starting at 6 p.m. The half-hour call-in show will take a look at this week's opponent as well as a look back at last week's game. 

 THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE
While Bryant will be playing a majority of Northeast Conference schools in the next couple of years, the Bulldogs won't become official members until the fall of 2012 when the school's four-year reclassification process towards Division I membership is complete.  Central Connecticut was picked to finish third overall with Albany and Monmouth picked to finished first and second in the preseason coaches' poll.  Albany, one of just two NEC schools Bryant won't play this year, garnered five first-place votes after an undefeated conference record last year.  The Danes are searching for their fourth conference title.  Five-time champion Monmouth earned two first-place votes with CCSU earning one first-place vote.