• Sat, 11/19 | Football vs. Central Connecticut L, 42-21 (Final) BX | RC | PH
  • Sat, 11/12 | Football vs. Saint Francis (PA) W, 45-34 (Final) BX | RC | PH
  • Sat, 11/05 | Football at Albany W, 31-17 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 10/22 | Football at Robert Morris W, 34-27 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 10/15 | Football vs. Monmouth L, 40-35 (Final) BX | RC | PH
  • Sat, 10/08 | Football vs. Stonehill W, 42-7 (Final) BX | RC | PH
  • Sat, 10/01 | Football at Duquesne L, 31-28 (Final) BX | BX | RC
  • Sat, 09/24 | Football vs. Wagner W, 30-28 (Final) BX | RC | PH
  • Fri, 09/16 | Football at Sacred Heart W, 26-6 (Final) BX | RC
  • Sat, 09/10 | Football vs. American Int'l W, 27-16 (Final) BX | RC | PH
 

September 8, 2009

FOOTBALL HOSTS HOFSTRA THIS SATURDAY

September 8, 2009

BRYANT FOOTBALL HOSTS HOFSTRA SATURDAY AT 1 PM

GAME NOTES (pdf) / LIVE STATS / LIVE VIDEO / LIVE AUDIO

Bryant returns to action this Saturday hosting Hofstra University in the first-ever meeting between the two schools in football.  Kickoff is set for 1 pm at Bulldog Stadium (3,400).  Bryant is coming off a tough 19-10 win over former NE-10 archrival Southern Connecticut on a hot and humid afternoon last Saturday at Bulldog Stadium.  Senior running back Jerell Smith rushed for 121 yards while quarterback Mike Croce, making his first career start, looked sharp in his debut as the sophomore finished with 169 yards on 15 of 22 passing and two touchdowns.  Bryant will be idle next weekend and return to action Sept. 26 with a road contest at Robert Morris. Bryant will be supporting the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation Saturday.  Coaches will be wearing pink shirts in support of the Foundation.  Raffle tickets will be sold and a donation table to will be set up.  A special coin toss and national anthem performance is planned.

LAST TIME OUT
While Smith and Croce helped the Bryant offense move the ball effectively and efficiently (348 yards total offense / 15 of 22 passing), the Bryant defense played a huge role in preserving the win over  Southern Connecticut. The Owls had two golden opportunities to get into the end zone in the second half but could only come away with three points.  The big turning point came with Bryant holding a six-point lead in the third.  After Southern marched down field and faced first and goal from the 7-yard line, Bryant's defense stood tall.  One first down, SCSU moved the ball to the three on a pass to its tight end.  Two running plays followed, moving the ball to the Bryant 1-yard line. On fourth and goal, quarterback Chris Roberts' sneak up the middle was stuffed by Andrew Regan, Pete Gauthier and the rest of the defensive line, giving the ball over to the Bulldogs.  Bryant would be forced to punt and on Southern's next posession, the Owls again moved to the ball to the Bryant 13 yard line, but could only come away with a 30-yard field goal and trailing 13-10.

THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS
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 NEARS 2,000
Senior Jerell Smith, who is in his third season at Bryant since transferring from Howard University, enters Saturday's game with 1,994 career rushing yards and needs six rushing yards to reach 2,000.  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's 121 yards last Saturday was the 10th 100-yard rushing game of his career. He had 221 yards against Southern Connecticut last season.

BULLDOGS NOW 6-0 IN SEASON OPENERS AT HOME
Bryant is a perfect 6-0 when opening the season at home at Bulldog Stadium.  All-time, Bryant is 8-3 in season openers and 4-2 in openers under coach Marty Fine since 2004. 

LOOKING AT HOFSTRA
Fourth-year coach Dave Cohen and the Pride return 20 starters from last year's squad that posted a 4-8 overall record and 2-6 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association. Hofstra was picked to finish fourth in the CAA North Division in 2009, behind New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.  Senior linebacker Luke Bonus, a preseason all-conference selection leads a defense that finished the 2008 season 15th nationally in total defense and 10th in the country in rushing defense. Bonus, an all-America candidate, led the Pride with 96 tackles in ‘08.   In the Pride's opener last Saturday, Cory Christopher and Joe Sidaras combined to give Hofstra a formidable passing-running combination at the quarterback position while the Pride defense held up an early lead, contributing to a 17-10 season-opening victory over Stony Brook at Hempstead, NY. 

Christopher passed for 149 yards and added another 44 on the ground. Sidaras completed his only pass attempt and added a rushing touchdown as Hofstra led wire-to-wire in front of 7,160 fans. Hofstra improved to 13-0 in the all-time series against the Seawolves. The Pride defense held Stony Brook (0-1) to 46 rushing yards and forced six punts and one turnover on downs on the Seawolves nine drives. Junior receiver Aaron Weaver keyed the Hofstra passing attack, catching a team-high five passes for 39 yards.

THE COACHES
Bryant coach Marty Fine is now in his sixth season at Bryant.  Since his first year in Smithfield in 2004, Fine owns a coaching record of 35-18.  He is 0-1 against teams from the CAA.  Hofstra coach Dave Cohen is 14-21 overall in his fourth season.  A former defense tackle at C.W. Post from 1984-87, He was previously the defensive coordinator at Delaware from 2002-05 and prior to that was the defensive coordinator at Fordham from 1999 to 2001. 

TALKING POINTS
*Bryant fourth-year defensive coordinator Greg Gigantino was the Associate Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator at Hofstra from 1990-97 and 2001-2005. 

* Bryant first-year quarterbacks coach Mike McCarty was also an assistant coach / offensive coordinator at Hofstra for two seasons, 1992-93.

* Bryant is 0-1 against teams from the CAA.  Last year, the Bulldogs fell on the road at UMass, 42-7 in Amherst, MA.

* Jerell Smith needs six yards to reach 2,000 for his career

* Bryant has opened the year 2-0 only once before, in 2007 (team went 7-0 to start that year)

* Saturday's game with Hofstra is the 103rd game in the program's history (56-46 overall) and 13th competing at the Division I level.

*Hofstra travels to defending national champion Richmond next week.

BRYANT AGAINST DIVISION I OPPONENTS
Bryant is currently 5-7 all-time vs. Division I-AA teams, earning the school's first win over a Division I opponent on Sept. 27, 2008 at Wagner. Bryant is in its first season competing in Division I.  The Bulldogs are independent during their four-year transition year and will join the Northeast Conference (NEC) once the transition is complete in the fall of 2012.

Date   Opponent                  Score  W/L    Att.

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            0-30   L          2,238

8/30/08            at Central Conn.      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

10/18/08          ROBERT MORRIS    20-7     W        5,630

10/25/08          at #17 UMass            7-42     L          12,521

11/1/08            DUQUESNE             24-10   W        2,104

11/15/08          at Iona                        23-7     W        483

11/22/08          at Saint Francis (PA)           23-0     W        885

 

HOME SWEET HOME
The Bulldogs are 19-2 at home in regular season games in the past four seasons and posted a 4-1 record at home in 2008.  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.  

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. 

 

 

 

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