BRYANT FOOTBALL GAME NOTES
October 8, 2007
GAME OF THE WEEK: BRYANT FOOTBALL HOSTS STONEHILL
Last Two Undefeated Teams in Conference Meet For
First Place in NE-10
Game 5 - Stonehill College (4-1, 4-0 NE-10) at
Bryant University (5-0, 5-0 NE-10)
Date: Saturday, October 6, 2007,
Location: Bulldog Stadium, Smithfield, RI
(3,400)
Radio/TV: http://www.bryantbulldogs.com/ (John McCarthy, Pat
Sullivan), http://www.ne10.tv/
UPDATE:
The red-hot Bryant University football team, fresh off
perhaps its biggest win in school history last Saturday at C.W.
Post, will return home this Saturday to host Stonehill College at
Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. A large crowd is expected to
turn out to see the Bulldogs (5-0, 5-0 NE-10) and Skyhawks (4-1,
4-0 NE-10) battle for sole possession of first place in the
Northeast-10 Conference. Both teams come into Saturday's game
undefeated in league play. Bryant is enjoying its best start
to a season in school history at 5-0 while Stonehill, under the
direction of first year coach Rob Talley is enjoying similar
success. The lone loss for the Skyhawks was a 30-10 setback
against Division I Iona.
MORE TIDBITS
* Saturday's game will be the 85th game for Bryant since
becoming a varsity program in 1999.
* Bryant owns a 45-39 all-time record covering eight seasons.
* Last Saturday's win over CW Post was Marty Fine's 24th at
Bryant. Fine owns a record of 24-11 in his fourth year, the
most wins for a coach at Bryant.
* Bryant is 20-5 in its last 25 regular season games, not
including last year's postseason loss. The Bulldogs were 7-3
in 2005 and were 8-3 last year including a loss to West Chester in
the NCAA's.
SERIES:
This will be the ninth meeting all-time on the gridiron
between Bryant and Stonehill. The Bulldogs own a 7-1 all-time
series lead and have won six-straight dating back to 2001.
The Bulldogs are 4-0 in games played at Bulldog Stadium including a
24-12 win back in 2005. Last year, Bryant defeated Stonehill
35-14 in Easton, Mass. as Charlie Granatell completed 13 of 17
passes for 274 yards as the Bulldogs rolled up 551 yards on the
Skyhawk defense. Bryant's lone loss was a 45-13 decision back in
2000 in Easton, Mass. Bryant coach Marty Fine is 3-0 against
Stonehill.
A GLANCE AT THE SKYHAWKS
Stonehill comes into the Saturday's game 4-1 on the season
under first year coach Rob Talley. The Skyhawks opened the season
with conference wins over Assumption (20-14), Pace (23-0) and at CW
Post (12-7) before falling to Iona 30-10 in a non-conference game
at home. Last week, Stonehill crushed Saint Anselm 56-7
behind Jeff Payne's 152 yards rushing on 24 carries and three
touchdowns. Eddie Vachon added 142 yards on the ground plus a
pair of TDs while quarterback Cruz Parsons completed 9 of 16 passes
for 187 yards and threw for two touchdowns. Stonehill has
outscored opponents 74 to 9 in the first half this season.
LOOKING AT THE BULLDOGS
Bryant is off to its best start to a season at 5-0 and
last week picked up perhaps its best win of all, a 24-17 win at CW
Post. The win was Bryant's first ever against the Pioneers in
seven meetings. Bryant trailed 14-0 before scoring 17
unanswered points and after CW Post tied the game with a field goal
in the third, Jerell Smith scored on a 14 yard touchdown run in the
third that would prove to be the game winner. Smith rushed
for a career-best 125 yards on 20 carries for the Bulldogs.
Sophomore Lindsey Gamble leads the Bulldogs with 106.6 yards
rushing per game this year while quarterback Charlie Granatell has
completed 73 of 125 passes for 835 yards and seven
touchdowns. 15 different players have at least one reception
this season.
BULLDOGS IN THE NE-10
Rushing
Lindsey Gamble, 2nd, 106.6 ypg
Passing
Charlie Granatell, 7th, 167.0 ypg
Receiving
yards
Sean Bergin,9th, 59.6 ypg
Kick
Returns
Jerell Smith, 1st, 27.1 ypg
Scoring
Lindsey Gamble, t2nd, 8.4 ppg
PAT
Kicking
Chris Bird, tied for 1st, 15-for-15 PAT attempts
TALE OF THE TAPE - BRYANT AND STONEHILL (rank)
Bryant
STONEHILL
Scoring
Offense
26.8 (t4th)
24.2 (8th)
Scoring
Defense
20.8
(4th)
11.6 (1st)
Rushing
Offense
172.0
(2nd)
150.2 (4th)
Rushing
Defense
154.8
(6th)
147.0 (5th)
Passing
Offense
171.6
(7th)
160.8 (8th)
Passing
Defense
137.6
(1st)
191.8 (7th)
Total
Offense
343.6
(6th)
311.0 (7th)
Total
Defense
292.4
(4th)
338.8 (5th)
NE-10 STANDINGS
Team
Conf. All
Bryant
5-0 5-0
Stonehill
4-0 4-1
Bentley
4-1 4-1
Southern
Conn.
2-2 3-3
American International
2-2 2-3
CW
Post
2-2 2-3
Merrimack
1-3 1-4
Assumption
1-4 1-5
Pace
1-4 1-5
Saint
Anselm
0-4 0-5
THE COACHES:
Bryant coach Marty Fine is currently in
his fourth season coaching the Bulldogs. Since his first year
in Smithfield in 2004, Fine owns a coaching record of 24-11.
Stonehill coach Rob Talley is in his first year and brings a 4-1
coaching record into Saturday's game. Talley, a graduate of
Boston University, has been an assistant coach at Dartmouth College
and was reception an assistant offensive line coach with the San
Francisco Forty Niners of the NFL.
GAMBLE AND SMITH COMBO:
Bryant has been going with a three-back rotation in the
backfield with Chris Peaks (29 yards vs. Merrimack), Howard
University transfer Jerell Smith, and Lindsey Gamble, sophomore who
had just 27 yards on 9 carries in 2006 behind the Lorenzo Perry
Show. Gamble ran for 177 yards on 26 rushes against Merrimack
in Week 2 and followed with a career-best 182 yards and school
record-tying 4 touchdowns in the win over Assumption. Gamble rushed
for 70 yards on 22 carries against CW Post but it was Smith taking
center stage with 125 yards rushing.
WINNING WAYS:
Bryant has put together two consecutive winning seasons
since a 4-5 slate in Fine's first year as coach in 2004. In
2005, Bryant went 7-3 overall followed with an 8-3 campaign in
2006. The only other winning season was in 1999 when the team
went 5-4. Bryant is 20-5 in its last 25 regular season games,
not including last year's NCAA playoff loss.
RECORD BOOK UPDATES:
* Running back Chris Peaks needs TWO YARDS rushing to move past
Austin Martin for third all-time in career rushing. Peaks has 1,334
yards . Lorenzo Perry is second with 3,259.
* Charlie Granatell holds all of Bryant's passing records
including 5,862 passing yards.
* Peaks (11 TDs) needs four touchdowns to move into third
all-time for career TDs
* Chris Wohlheter (2nd, 8) needs four interceptions
to become all-time career INT leader (11).
* Wohlheter is currently tied for 5th with 153 career tackles.
GRANATELL ON THE MARK:
Senior quarterback Charlie Granatell (Franklin
Lakes, NJ / Ramapo) has started every game (35) since
coming to campus as a freshman in 2004. Granatell's junior
year was his best yet, passing for a career-best 1,975 yards and 21
touchdowns. Granatell finished the season ranked second nationally
with a 167.5 efficiency rating.
GRANATELL ON THE SEASON
Granatell enters this week's game with 5,862 yards and 50
touchdowns. He is the holder of 15 school records. On
the season, Granatell has completed 73 of 125 passes (58.4 percent)
for 835 yards and 7 TDs. He has thrown just 2 interceptions
and has not been intercepted since the second quarter of the
Merrimack game back on Sept. 14. Since then, he has not
thrown an interception in 92 pass attempts.
