Nov. 20, 2009
Center Valley, Pa. - The Patriot League automatic playoff bid belongs to No. 13 Holy Cross, but the outright League title and chance for another postseason entrant is still at stake on the final regular-season Saturday of the football season.
Patriot League Football Release - 11.17.09 
Most of the attention will turn to a familiar place on the final Saturday of the year: the Lafayette/Lehigh game. The rivals square off in Bethlehem for the 145th time in the most-played rivalry in college football, and there's a lot on the line for Lafayette. The No. 21/22 Leopards are at 8-2 overall and 4-1 in the Patriot League, and in the thick of the at-large playoff chase. Lafayette can aid its case for a postseason berth with a win over Lehigh, which would also give the Leopards their first nine-win season since 1981 and provide the Patriot League with three nin-win teams for the first time.
There will be plenty of regional and national television coverage for the Lafayette/Lehigh matchup. It can be seen live on WFMZ-TV, RCN-4 and 8 and WBPH-60 in the Lehigh Valley, and also on Fox College Sports Central, ESPN360.com and through ESPN Game Plan. Lafayette leads the all-time series, 76-63-5, though Lehigh broke a four-game Leopard winning streak last year in Easton.
Lafayette can also capture a share of its seventh League title with a win and a Holy Cross loss, but the Crusaders are going for some history of their own at Bucknell. Holy Cross has its first League crown since 1991 and first playoff spot since 1983, and the Crusaders are trying to match their other title seasons by winning the outright crown with a perfect League record. Holy Cross' 9-1 record is its best since a perfect 11-0 mark in 1991. Fifteen of the previous 23 Patriot League champions have finished with a perfect record, though last year's Colgate team was the first since 2003 to pull it off. Bucknell does have a history as a spoiler, however. The Bison won at No. 19 Fordham in the final game in 2007 when the League champion Rams were going for a perfect Patriot League record.
No. 22/21 Colgate also has playoff hopes. The Raiders finished their regular season with a 9-2 overall record and a 4-2 Patriot League mark. No Patriot League team with a 9-2 record or better has been denied an at-large playoff spot since 1998. Selections to the NCAA Division I Football Championship will be announced on Sunday from 3-3:30 p.m. on ESPNews.
The remaining game on Saturday pits Fordham at Georgetown, with the Hoyas looking for their first victory of the season.
For a look at NCAA FCS statistics and the career and single-season Patriot League statistical leaderboards going into the final weekend, read pages 10-12 of the Football release.
For more coverage of Patriot League Football throughout the weekend, follow the League's Gameday Blog, which will provide live in-person coverage from the Lafayette/Lehigh game and score updates from other League contests. Brief updates will also be available on the League's Twitter page. Also, view the Patriot League composite schedule for all video, audio and live stat links for the weekend's games.
Read the synopsis for each of Saturday's matchups below, including any live stat, video and audio links for each contest. Articles previewing the Lafayette/Lehigh game are also included.
This Week in the Patriot League
No. 21/22 Lafayette (8-2, 4-1) at Lehigh (3-7, 3-2)
Goodman Stadium; Bethlehem, Pa. - Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
Series Lafayette, 76-63-5 TV WFMZ-TV, FCS-C, RCN-4 and 8, WBPH-60, ESPN360.com, ESPN Game Plan
Streak Lehigh, One Win Last Meeting Lehigh, 31-15 (11.22.2008)
Last Lafayette Win 21-17 (11.17.07) Last Five Games Lafayette, 4-1
Lafayette Head Coach Frank Tavani, Lebanon Valley, 1976
Career Record 60-52 (10th Season) Overall/Lafayette; 35-27 Patriot League
Lehigh Head Coach Andy Coen, Gettysburg, 1986
Career Record 19-24 (Fourth Season) Overall/Lehigh; 14-9 Patriot League
No. 21/22 Lafayette and Lehigh renew the most-played rivalry in college football on Saturday in Bethlehem, the 145th edition of the matchup...Lafayette leads the all-time series, 76-63-5, though Lehigh has a 13-10 edge in Patriot League games...The Leopards will finish 5-1 in the Patriot League with a win, and would share the League title with a win and a Holy Cross loss...If that happens, it would be Lafayettte's seventh League title...Lafayette also needs a win to keep its at-large FCS playoff hopes alive...Lehigh is trying to finish 4-2 in the Patriot League for the second year in a row, and tie Lafayette and Colgate for second place in the standings...The Mountain Hawks snapped a four-game skid to the Leopards in last year's meeting, knocking off Lafayette, 31-15, in Easton...Lafayette posted a 21-17 win in the last matchup in Bethlehem in 2007...The starting quarterbacks have earned the last two game MVP honors, with Lafayette's Rob Curley winning in 2007 and Lehigh's JB Clark in 2008...Lafayette has won the last two meetings in Bethlehem, as Lehigh has not knocked off Lafayette at Goodman Stadium since 2003...The teams are tied, 35-35, in matchups in Bethlehem...The first meeting was contested in 1884, a game Lafayette won, 50-0...The biggest margin in the series was a 78-0 victory for Lehigh in 1917...Lehigh is trying to win two games in a row over the Leopards for the first time since 2000-01...Lafayette has not won three straight games in Bethlehem since 1945, 1947 and 1949.
Lafayette No. 21/22 Lafayette had its chance for the automatic berth to the FCS playoffs come to an end with a 28-26 loss at Holy Cross on Saturday...The Leopards can still win a share of the crown with a victory over Lehigh and Holy Cross loss at Bucknell on Saturday, and are still very much in the mix for an at-large FCS playoff spot...Lafayette had its seven-game winning streak snapped...The Leopards lost to Holy Cross for the second year in a row, as the four-game winning streak for the road team in the series came to an end...It was the fourth consecutive time that the matchup was decided by 10 points or less...Lafayette scored the first two touchdowns of the game for a 12-0 lead, but missed extra points on both scores proved costly...After Holy Cross rallied to take a 28-19 lead, the Leopards cut the deficit to 28-26 on 14-yard touchdown pass from Rob Curley to Mark Layton...The Leopards moved the ball to the Holy Cross 35 on their next possession, but their drive was ended on a 4th-and-10 play where Jimmy Thomas sacked Curley for a 20-yard loss...Lafayette got the ball back with 38 seconds to play, but Layton fumbled after making a reception and the Crusaders recovered...Curley went 23-of-32 for 312 yards and two touchdowns with an interception for the Leopards, his fourth consecutive 300-yard game...He is third in the country in pass efficiency, and in the top 20 in passing yards, total offense and completions per game...Three receivers had strong games, with Layton catching six passes for 94 yards and a touchdown, Greg Stripe notching seven catches for 75 yards and Mitchell Bennett pulling in five for 74...Maurice White had 72 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns...The Lafayette defense recorded three interceptions and two sacks...In addition to keeping playoff and League title hopes alive, Lafayette needs a win at Lehigh to avoid losing its final two games for the second year in a row.
Lehigh Lehigh improved to 3-2 in the Patriot League with a 35-28 victory at Fordham on Saturday...After the teams were tied, 28-28, at the break, the Mountain Hawks scored the only touchdown of the second half on a third-quarter pass from JB Clark to De'Vaughn Gordon...Lehigh continued its dominance of the series with the Fordham, winning for the 20th time in 22 all-time matchups and moving to 18-2 in Patriot League games...The Mountain Hawks have won the matchup for the past two years and 11 of the last 12 seasons...Lehigh closes out its road schedule at 2-2, though the Mountain Hawks are just 1-5 at Goodman Stadium heading into their home finale on Saturday...The back-and-forth first half featured four touchdowns in each quarter, with four ties and two lead changes...Lehigh notched the only score of the second half when Clark threw a 22-yard touchdown to De'Vaughn Gordon with 3:34 to play in the third quarter...The Lehigh defense took over from there with five of its nine sacks in the game, including Casey Eldemire's first-down sack of Fordham quarterback John Skelton at the Lehigh 17 with under a minute to play....Skelton followed with three incompletions as Lehigh hung on for the win...Clark went 15-of-36 for 201 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions through the air for the Mountain Hawks, and also ran for 49 yards and a touchdown...The four touchdown passes tied a career-high...Gordon notched four receptions for 75 yards, with three going for touchdowns...Jay Campbell had 155 yards on the ground for Lehigh...Craig Zurn had seven catches for 76 yards...Eldemire had eight tackles, the sack and an interception, while Devin Greene had 2.5 sacks and Matt Cohen recorded two...Cohen now has nine sacks this year, the most for a Patriot Leaguer since 2004...Troy Taylor had a team-high 11 tackles with two tackles for loss and a sack...Lehigh held a 235-23 edge in rushing yardage, and a 436-409 advantage in total offense... The 235 rushing yards were the most for Lehigh since racking up 238 in a win over Bucknell on Nov. 10, 2007...Lehigh's nine sacks were the most for the program since matching that number against St. Mary's in 2003...Lehigh's 37 sacks as a team are its most since totaling 40 in the 2004 season...The Mountain Hawks are first nationally with 3.7 sacks per game.
Lafayette Game Notes
Lehigh Game Notes
Lehigh Video
Lafayette Video
Feature and Preview Articles
No. 13/13 Holy Cross (9-1, 5-0) at Bucknell (3-7, 1-4)
Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium; Lewisburg, Pa. - Saturday, 1 p.m.
Series Holy Cross, 16-9
Streak Holy Cross, Four Wins Last Meeting Holy Cross, 34-17 (11.1.2008)
Last Bucknell Win 42-27 (10.30.2004) Last Five Games Holy Cross, 4-1
Holy Cross Head Coach Tom Gilmore, Penn, 1986
Career Record 39-26 (Sixth Season) Overall/Holy Cross; 22-13 Patriot League
Bucknell Head Coach Tim Landis, Randolph-Macon, 1986
Career Record 84-98-1 (17th Season) Overall/31-46 (Seventh Season) at Bucknell; 15-27 PL
No. 13 Holy Cross is trying to lock up the outright Patriot League title with a win in the regular-season finale at Bucknell on Saturday...The Crusaders clinched at least a share of the crown and the automatic berth to the FCS playoffs with a 28-26 win over Lafayette on Saturday...Holy Cross won its sixth title overall, and the previous five all came during undefeated League seasons...Holy Cross is trying to become the 16th team in 24 Patriot League seasons to finish with a perfect League record, though just the second in the past six years...The Crusaders have won the last four games against Bucknell, scoring at least 27 points and winning by 17 points or more each time...It is their longest winning streak over the Bison since claiming the first nine matchups in the series...Bucknell's last win over Holy Cross was at home, 42-27, on Oct. 30, 2004...The Bison have a 3-1 home mark this year...Bucknell is trying to spoil a perfect Patriot League season for a team that has already clinched the playoff berth for the second time in the past three years...The Bison won at No. 19 Fordham, 38-24, on the final day of the 2007 regular season to deal the Rams their only loss...Holy Cross leads the all-time series, 16-9, with a 14-9 edge in League games.
Holy Cross The No. 13 Crusaders earned their first Patriot League title since 1991 and made the playoffs for the first time since 1983 by coming from behind to beat No. 20 Lafayette, 28-26, at home on Saturday...Holy Cross won the title in November after losing a matchup for the crown in the past two years...The Crusaders won their sixth Patriot League Championship, with the previous titles coming in 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1991...They have nine wins overall for the first time since a perfect 11-0 campaign in 1991, and improve to 5-0 in the Patriot League for the second year in a row...Holy Cross has won five games in a row overall, and finishes its home schedule with a 6-0 record...The Crusaders have won 10 straight home games dating back to last season...The win stopped a four-game streak for the road team in the series, and was the second straight for the Crusaders over the Leopards...The Crusaders trailed 12-0 after one quarter and 19-7 in the second quarter, but senior quarterback Dominic Randolph notched two passing touchdowns and a rushing score for a 28-19 lead in the third quarter... Lafayette closed within 28-26 early in the fourth quarter, but Holy Cross' Jimmy Thomas came up with a sack for a loss of 20 yards on Lafayette quarterback Rob Curley to stop the Leopards' drive with 3:58 to play...Lafayette had one more chance with 38 seconds to go, but the Crusaders forced a fumble on the first play and took a knee to seal their sixth overall Patriot League crown...Randolph completed 23-of-37 passes for 348 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions in the win, and also ran for 10 yards and the score...He leads the nation in total offense and points responsible for per game this season...Luke Chmielinski caught six passes for 75 yards and had both a rushing and receiving touchdown...Anthony DiMichele had nine tackles and a key third-quarter interception, while Thomas had seven tackles, two tackles for loss and the sack...Holy Cross is third nationally in passing offense, and sixth in total offense.
Bucknell The Bison led Colgate, 14-9, in the third quarter and were within one point with less than eight minutes to play in the game, but the Raiders added two late touchdowns for a 29-14 win in Hamilton on Saturday...Bucknell closes out its road trip with an 0-3 mark, and has lost five consecutive games overall...Bucknell lost to Colgate for the eighth time in the past 10 meetings, and third in a row...The Bison finished 0-6 on the road this year, though they do take a 3-1 home record into Saturday's finale...Bucknell played a strong first half on the road for the third consecutive game, as the Bison scored the opening touchdown on a five-yard run by C.J. Hopson and trailed only 9-7 at the break...Bucknell took a lead midway through the third quarter, with Hopson scoring on a one-yard run to make it 14-9 with 9:52 to play in the period...But Colgate took over from there with the last 20 points of the game...Bucknell had 214 rushing yards in the game...The solid ground effort was led by Hopson, who had 134 yards and the two touchdowns...Travis Nissley had 12 tackles for the Bison, while Ahkiel White had his fourth interception of the year.
Holy Cross Game Notes
Bucknell Game Notes
Gametracker
Video
Audio
Fordham (4-6, 1-4) at Georgetown (0-10, 0-5)
Multi-Sport Field; Washington, D.C. - Saturday, 1 p.m.
Series Fordham, 28-19-3
Streak Fordham, Three Wins Last Meeting Fordham, 17-0 (11.15.2008)
Last Georgetown Win 24-21 (10.22.2005) Last Five Games Fordham, 4-1
Fordham Head Coach Tom Masella, Wagner, 1981
Career Record 37-50 (Eighth Season) Overall/20-24 (Fourth Season) at Fordham; 8-15 PL
Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Kelly, Springfield, 1982
Career Record 5-37 (Fourth Season) Overall/Georgetown; 1-21 Patriot League
Fordham and Georgetown close out their seasons with a Patriot League matchup in Washington, D.C...The Hoyas are trying to earn their first victory of the year, and snap a 12-game losing streak in Patriot League games...Fordham has dominated the series of late, winning 13 of the last 14 matchups...That includes a 17-0 triumph at home last season for the Rams...Georgetown's only win in that stretch was a 24-21 victory at home in 2005...Fordham leads the all-time series, 28-19-3, with a 7-1 edge in Patriot League competition.
Fordham Fordham will suffer a losing Patriot League record for the second year in a row and fifth time in the last six seasons after losing its home finale to Lehigh, 35-28, on Saturday...The Rams were tied 28-28 at the half, but could not score in the second half as a third-quarter touchdown was the game-winner for the Mountain Hawks...Fordham has struggled against Lehigh, losing for the 11th time in the last 12 meetings and 18th time in 20 Patriot League games...Fordham played its home finale, finishing 3-3 at Jack Coffey Field in 2009...John Skelton threw three first-half touchdown passes to David Moore....Skelton was 28-of-45 for 386 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions in the game...It was his seventh 300-yard effort this season...He now has Fordham single-season records with 261 completions and 3,303 passing yards this season...He threw nine passes for 141 yards and the three touchdowns to Moore, while Jason Caldwell recorded 10 receptions for 128 yards and Asa Lucas had seven for 105 yards....Isiejah Allen had 10 tackles, while James Crockett had nine tackles and a sack...Caldwell is third in the nation in receiving yards per game, and 12th in receptions per contest...He leads the Patriot League in both categories...Skelton leads the nation in passing yards per game, and is second in total offense and completions per contest...After the finale at Georgetown, Skelton will become just the third Patriot Leaguer to play in the East-West Shrine game in January.
Georgetown Georgetown fell to 0-10 on the season with a 49-10 loss at home against No. 4 Richmond on Saturday...It was the second straight year the Hoyas fell to the Spiders...Georgetown lost to a ranked team for the third time this season, dropping games to Holy Cross and Colgate while each team was in the top 25 earlier in the year...Georgetown fell behind 21-0 early in the game...Phillip Oladeji scored the Hoyas' lone touchdown on a one-yard run in the second quarter, and Georgetown closed within 21-10 late in the period...But Richmond made it 28-10 by halftime and tacked on three touchdowns in the second half, including a return for a score on the opening kickoff... Oladeji had 27 rushing yards and a touchdown...Nick Parrish led the Georgetown defense with 14 tackles.
Fordham Game Notes
Georgetown Game Notes
GameTracker
Video
Audio
Team Notebook
No. 22/21 Colgate (9-2, 4-2) - Regular-Season Complete
Colgate The Raiders kept their hopes alive for an at-large berth into the NCAA Division I Football Championship by scoring the last 20 points of the game and defeating Bucknell, 29-14, on Saturday...Colgate completes its regular season with a 9-2 record, and also finishes with a 4-2 Patriot League mark...The Raiders win nine games in a season for the second year in a row and fifth time in Head Coach Dick Biddle's 14-year tenure...They finish 4-2 or better in the Patriot League for the third year in a row and 12th time in the past 13 seasons...Colgate completes its home schedule with a perfect 6-0 record, and has won its last 10 home games overall...The Raiders' only losses this year came at ranked Holy Cross and Lafayette teams...Colgate beat Bucknell for the third year in a row, and eighth time in the last 10 seasons...After falling behind 14-9 in the third quarter, Colgate rallied behind the combination of Greg Sullivan and Pat Simonds...Sullivan threw a 34-yard touchdown to Simonds for a 15-14 Raider lead with 4:55 to play in the third quarter, then tossed a nine-yard TD to the senior with 7:16 left in the game for a 22-14 Colgate lead...Sullivan iced the Colgate victory with a 31-yard touchdown run less than a minute and a half later...Sullivan and Simonds each had big days in the regular-season finale...Sullivan completed 12-of-20 passes for 212 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and ran for 102 yards and a score...Simonds caught nine passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns...His 14 receiving touchdowns are tied for the second-best single-season mark in Patriot League history...Nate Eachus carried 24 times for 99 yards and a touchdown, as the Raiders held a 251-214 edge in rushing yardage and a 463-273 advantage in total offense...Uzi Idah had 10 tackles to lead the Colgate defense...The Raiders will now wait and hope to hear their name called for a playoff spot on selection Sunday.
|
|
 |
