FOOTBALL RETURNS TO THE ROAD SATURDAY AT FORDHAM
October 5, 2009
BRYANT FOOTBALL TRAVELS TO FORDHAM SATURDAY NIGHT
Kickoff 6 pm
GAME NOTES (pdf)/ LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / WOON BROADCAST
BULLDOGS VISIT FORDHAM SATURDAY NIGHT
After picking up a 6-2 win at home over Wagner College
last Saturday, the Bulldogs return to the road this Saturday when
they travel to Fordham University for a 6 pm game. Bryant is
3-1 on the year following the win over Wagner and 1-0 on the road
this season. Fordham picked up its first win this season last
weekend, knocking off Old Dominion 34-29 at home before 3,673 at
Jack Coffey Field. Saturday's game will be the first of two
straight on the road as the Bulldogs return to NEC action October
17 with a trip to Albany to face the Great Danes, the preseason
favorite in the league. The Bulldogs are led by senior
running back Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) who is averaging 114.5
yards per game on the ground and a defense that is giving up just
98.0 yards rushing per game. On Monday, Smith was named the
Co-Player of the Week in the Northeast Conference.
BRYANT Stat Leaders:
Rushing
Jerell Smith (Sr., 5-9, 185) 89-458 yards, 2 TD (114.5 ave/game)
Passing
Mike Croce (So., 5-11, 200) 53-109, 680 yards, 6 TD, 1 INT (170.0 ave/game)
Receiving
Mike Canfora (Jr., 5-10, 180) 12-171 yards, 1 TD (42.8 ypg)
Matt Tracey (Jr., 6-5, 250) 11-175 yards, 2 TD (43.8 ypg)
Khalel Pritchard (Sr., 5-9, 170) 9-162 yards, 3 TD (40.5 ypg)
LAST WEEK AGAINST WAGNER
It may look more like a baseball score, but the Bulldogs
picked up a 6-2 win over visiting Wagner before a rain-soaked
Homecoming crowd of 3,262 last weekend in Smithfield,???RI.
Jerell Smith rushed for 179 yards and scored the only touchdown of
the game, a 17-yard run early in the fourth that proved to be the
game-winner (extra-point attempt failed). Wagner scored first
thanks to a Bryant miscue in the third when a high-snap on a punt
attempt sailed through the back of the end zone for a safety.
The Bryant defense, led by the play of linebacker Jason Riffe (8
tackles) and defensive lineman Patrick Gauthier (7 tackles, 1
sack), held Wagner to just 59 yards rushing and 46 yards passing on
the day.
BIG WIN AT ROBERT MORRIS
Trailing 10-0 after one quarter, the Bulldogs scored 20
unanswered points en route to a 20-13 road win over Robert Morris
in Moon Township,???Pa. back on September 26. For Bryant, it
was the school's first victory in NEC competition. Senior running
back Jerell Smith rushed for 111 yards on 24 carries, marking the
eighth time in Smith's career with 100 yards rushing in a game.
Quarterback Mike Croce completed 14 of 25 passes for 182 yards and
a pair of touchdown passes. Croce hooked up with senior wide
receiver Khalel Pritchard with a nine-yard touchdown strike midway
through the second quarter to pull the Bulldogs to within
10-7. A 28-yard field goal by Chris Bird early in the third
tied the game at 10-10 but a 21-yard field goal by Bird at the
start of the fourth quarter finally put the Bulldogs in front,
13-10. Later in the fourth, Croce and the Bulldogs took
advantage of another RMU turnover, this time connecting with Mike
Canfora for an 11-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-10. Canfora
finished the game with a career-high six receptions for 75
yards. Bryant had 344 yards of total offense while the
defense held RMU to just 167 yards all together. Jason Riffe
led the defensive effort for Bryant, finishing with a career-best
nine tackles including a pair for a loss and one sack .
LOOKING AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
Fordham got into the win column last weekend thanks
toa 34-29 win over Old Dominion at Jack Coffey Field.
The potent Fordham offense was in gear as quarterback John Skelton
completed 28 of 42 passes for a career-high 402 yards (ties for
second-most in school history) and set a school record with 687
yards of total offense. Junior Xavier Martin and sophomore
Darryl Whiting both rushed for over 100 yards in the game as
Martine had a career-best 187 yards on 25 carries and Whiting
chipped in with 101 yards on the ground. Old Dominion led 7-0
after scoring on its opening drive, but Fordham stormed right back,
scoring 25 unanswered points capped by a 57-yard touchdown run by
Whiting to make it 25-7 in the third.
(Record 1-3 overall, 0-1 Patriot League)
Sept. 5 at Rhode Island, 28-41 L
Sept. 19 COLUMBIA, 28-40 L
Sept. 26 at Colgate*, 12-20 L
Oct. 3 OLD DOMINION, 34-29 W
Oct. 10 BRYANT, 6 pm
Oct. 17 at Cornell
Oct. 24 at Lafayette*
Oct. 31 HOLY CROSS*
Nov. 7 BUCKNELL *
Nov. 14 LEHIGH*
Nov. 21 at Georgetown*
*Patriot League game
Fordham Stat Leaders:
Rushing
Xavier Martin (Jr., 5-9, 180) 60-350 yards, 2 TD (85.0 ave/game)
Passing
John Skelton (Sr., 6-5, 258) 95-160, 1337 yards, 8 TD, 4 INT (334.2 ave/game)
Receiving
Jason Caldwell (Sr., 5-11, 180) 22-325 yards, 3 TD (81.2 ypg)
Stephen Skelton (Jr., 6-5, 244) 22-274 yards, 2 TD (68.5 ypg)
TALE OF THE TAPE Bry Ford
Scoring Offense 17.2 25.5
Scoring Defense 16.2 32.5
Rushing Offense 164.8 159.0
Rushing Defense 98.0 217.8
Passing Offense 170.0 334.2
Passing Defense 153.5 205.5
Total Offense 334.8 493.2
Total Defense 251.5 423.2
THE COACHES
Bryant coach Marty Fine, now in his sixth season, comes
into today's game with a 37-19 record since arriving at Bryant in
2004. He has led the Bulldogs to four consecutive winning seasons
including an impressive 7-4 campaign in 2008, Bryant's first at the
Division I level. Fine led the Bulldogs to back-to-back conference
championships and NCAA playoff appearances in 2006 and 2007.
Fourth-year coach Tom Masella is 17-21 at Fordham and 34-47 in
eight seasons overall.
QUICK HITS
* Saturday's game with Fordham is the 106th game in the Bryant football history (58-47 overall) and 16th competing at the Division I level.
* With the win over Robert Morris on Sept. 26, Bryant is now 4-0 against NEC schools from the state of Pennsylvania.
* Bryant is now 2-0 against Wagner. Last year, the Bulldogs defeated the Seahawks 24-14 for the program's first victory against a Division I opponent.
* Mike Canfora is Bryant's leading receiver. The running back caught a career-best six passes against Robert Morris. He had two catches for 16 yards against Wagner last week.
* Freshman Jordan Brown is averaging 20.7 yards per kickoff return. He has a season-best long return of 31 yards.
*Defensive end Don Smith has three sacks this season. He needs two sacks to move past Jay Stahl for fourth all-time in school history. Smith has 13.5 entering today's game.
* Bryant has just two rushing touchdowns this season with Smith accounting for both TDs.
GREAT DEFENSIVE EFFORT AGAINST SOUTHERN
Led by sophomore linebacker Franck Tebou, the Bryant
defense held a potent Southern Connecticut offense to just 267
yards of offense including 108 yards rushing. SCSU senior
tailback Jarom Freeman, who ran for 400 yards in a game against
Bryant two years ago, managed just 75 yards on 17 carries in the
game. Tebou led the Bulldogs with a career-best 10 tackles
including six solo stops. Andrew Regan added seven tackles
while senior Paul Polomski and junior Addison Lynch each had five.
SMITH TOPS 2,000 CAREER RUSHING YARDS
Senior runningback Jerell Smith, who is now in his third
season at Bryant after transferring from???Howard, became the third
player in school history to go over the 2,000 yard mark in rushing
in a career. He is curently third on Bryant's all-time career
rushing list (program is only in its 11th year) behind Andre McLeod
(3,521) and Lorenzo Perry (3,259). Smith had 121 yards
against Southern Connecticut in the opener and finished with 48
against Hofstra to give him 2,042 for his career. He reached
the 2,000 mark with an 11-yard run on the team's first drive in the
first quarter. He has gone over 100 yards in three of
Bryant's four games this year including a season-best 178 vs.
Wagner at home last week.
MORE ABOUT THE RECLASSIFICATION
Bryant, located in Smithfield, Rhode Island (7 miles NW of
Providence), is currently in year number two of reclassifying from
Division II to full-time Division I (Football Championship
Subdivision in football) for all of its 22 intercollegiate
sports. Upon completion of the four-year transition
(2012-13), Bryant will become a full-time member of the Northeast
Conference (NEC). This year, Bryant will be included in the NEC
standings for all sports and eligible for weekly honors, however,
Bryant will not be eligible for postseason play in all sports
except field hockey and men's lacrosse which will be eligible for
postseason play in 2010-11. Bryant enjoyed tremendous success
at the Division II level, winning two Northeast-10 Conference
Championships in football and earning back-to-back NCAA playoff
appearances (2006, 2007).
HOME SWEET HOME
The Bulldogs are 21-7 at home over the past five seasons
and 21-6 in regular season games since 2004. The Bulldogs fell to
West Chester in the 2006 NCAA playoffs at Bulldog Stadium.
Bryant was 3-1 at home in 2008.
2004 - 2-3
2005 - 5-0
2006 - 5-2 (including NCAA playoff loss to West Chester)
2007- 4-0
2008 - 3-1
2009 - 2-1
Total 21-7
NEW LOCKER ROOMS FOR THE BULLDOGS
During this past summer, Bulldog Stadium underwent a
locker room expansion project that included a new expansive
football locker room. The locker room includes new wood
lockers, common area, coaches locker room, and LCD
televisions. In addition, a new men's lacrosse locker room
was built. The previous locker rooms were remodeled during
the project, providing new locker rooms for Bryant's field hockey,
women's lacrosse and women's soccer. The field hockey locker room
will serve as lockers for visiting teams.
NEC PRESEASON POLL 2009
Eligible for the first time in the Northeast Conference
standings, the Bryant University football team has been tabbed to
finish seventh in 2009 following the announcement of the preseason
coaches' poll. Defending champion Albany is the preseason
favorite for the fourth year in a row. The Danes, an
associate member of the league in football, won their fourth
conference championship going a perfect 7-0 (9-3 overall) in NEC
play. Bryant will travel to Albany on Oct. 17.
Monmouth, last year's runners up, were picked to finish second
followed by Central Connecticut and Sacred Heart.
1. Albany
2. Monmouth
3. Central Connecticut
4. Sacred Heart
5. Robert Morris
6. Duquesne
7. BRYANT
8. Wagner
9. Saint Francis (PA)
