October 20, 2008

BULLDOGS TRAVEL TO #17 UMASS SATURDAY AT 1 P.M.
Game 8 - Bryant (4-3) at #17 UMass (4-3)

GAME NOTES (pdf)

DATE: Saturday, October 25, 2008
TIME: 1:00 pm EST
SITE: Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium (17,000 / Field Turf)
SERIES: First Meeting
COACHES: Bryant, Marty Fine, 5th year, 31-17; UMass, Don Brown, 40-17, 5th season
RECORDS: Bryant 4-3,  UMass 4-3
RADIO:  WOON-AM 1240, www.bryantbulldogs.com.  John McCarthy calls the live action.

Don Smith (above) and the rest of the Bryant defense recorded 8 sacks against Robert Morris - the fourth-best single game sack total this season in FCS. www.dspics.com

The Bryant University football team takes its 4-3 record on the road this weekend when the Bulldogs head up to Amherst, MA to face the 17th-ranked UMass Minutemen (4-3) Saturday afternoon at Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium.  Kickoff is at 1 p.m. The game will be carried live on WOON-AM 1240 and online at www.bryantbulldogs.com.  Bryant is coming off an solid 20-7 win over Robert Morris at home last Saturday while UMass, ranked No. 10 entering last week, fell to ninth-ranked Richmond, 30-15 on Homecoming Saturday afternoon.  This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Bryant is playing its first season in the Football Championship Subdivision (I-AA) and only the school's 10th season of football all together.  The Bulldogs are an independent before joining the Northeast Conference (NEC) in 2012.   Bryant will return home next Saturday to host Duquesne in the final home game of the 2008 season. 

THE BULLDOGS
Bryant, 1-2 on the road this season, rebounded nicely from a tough 34-7 loss at Marist two weeks ago, with an impressive 20-7 win over Robert Morris before 5,630 at Bulldog Stadium last Saturday afternoon.  The Bulldogs equaled a school record with eight sacks on the day and limited Robert Morris to minus 20 yards rushing, mostly in part due to the eight sacks.  RMU leading rusher Myles Russ, who came into the game averaging 145 yards rushing, was limited to 37 yards on 16 carries.  Bryant's Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) paced the Bryant offense with 104 yards and added a 37-yard touchdown while Anthony DiNaso (Staten Island, NY) and Ross Giffune (Foxboro, MA) each had three catches.  Two of DiNaso's grabs came on touchdown passes of 13 and 19 yards from senior quarterback Jay Graber (Clarksburg, NJ).  Graber completed 14 of 30 passes for 195 yards and threw just one interception.

THE UMASS MINUTEMEN

The Minutemen will look to bounce back from last Saturday's 30-15 loss to ninth-ranked Richmond before 15,953 at McGuirk Stadium, snapping a 16-game home winning streak.  La Salle graduate Liam Coen completed 18 of 30 passes for 165 yards to lead UMass.  Eight of those passes went to wide receiver Victor Cruz who finished the day with 81 yards receiving.  UMass is 2-1 at home this year, defeating Albany 28-16 in the opener back on August 30 and knocking off Delaware, 17-7 back on October 4.  The Minutemen picked up road wins at Holy Cross (45-42) and Northeastern (28-24) with losses coming at Texas Tech (55-14) and James Madison (52-38).   Coen has completed 63 percent of his pass attempts this year (130-of-207) for 1,629 yards and 11 touchdowns.  He is averaging 232.7 yards passing per game.  Cruz has been his favorite target for much of the year.  Cruz has a team-best 46 catches for 701 yards (100.1 ypg) while Jeremy Horne is next with 30 receptions for 451 yards and four touchdowns.  Tony Nelson has handled the running duties for the Minutemen this season.  The 5-10, 210-pound junior has 831 yards on 157 carries (114 ypg ave.) and six rushing touchdowns.  He currently leads the CAA in rushing and is ranked 13th nationally. 

TALE OF THE TAPE                           Bryant  UMASS

Scoring Offense                                 23.1        26.4

Scoring Defense                                  24.3        32.4

Rushing Offense                              162.1     137.0

Rushing Defense                              102.7     195.4

Passing Offense                                164.4     241.0

Passing Defense                               238.4     170.3

Total Offense                                    326.6     378.0

Total Defense                                    341.1     365.7

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 31-17.  He led the Bulldogs to a pair of Northeast-10 Conference championships (2006, 2007) and two berths in the NCAA Division II playoffs (2006, 2007).  UMass coach Don Brown is also in his fifth season and comes into Saturday's game with a 40-17 record.  He has also led UMass to pair of conference titles and consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. 

TALKING POINTS

*Bryant's career rushing touchdowns leader Lorenzo Perry (2005-06) played for two years at UMass and was a teammate of Liam Coen's at La Salle.  Perry transferred to Bryant in 2006 and rushed for 3,259 yards and 36 touchdowns during his two seasons at Bryant.

* Bryant is 11-5 in the month of October under coach Marty Fine - 3-3 on the road.

*Bryant is 17-2 at home in the regular season over the past four seasons. 

* Jerell Smith needs 123 yards rushing to move into fourth all-time in school history.  Smith has 1,433 yards in two seasons since transferring from Howard University. 

* Bryant equaled a school record with 8 sacks against Robert Morris, the most since recording 8 against Assumption in 2003.  Bryant has 22 sacks this season and recorded 25 all last year.

ABOUT THOSE SACKS
Bryant's eight sacks against Robert Morris is the fourth-best single game performance in FCS this season, tying Northern Arizona's eight against Sacramento State.  Bryant also had six against Wagner earlier this season and have 22 on the year.  Senior rush end Don Smith (Attleboro, MA) has a team-best five.  He has 7.5 in his career, moving him up to fifth all-time in school history.  Paul Polomski (Franklin, MA) and Pat Gauthier (Woonsocket, RI) each have three.  Gauthier was named to the Boston Herald Weekly Honor Roll for his three-sack performance against Robert Morris. 

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 19 catches for 224 yards while Solimando has 13 for 167 yards.  Solimando has three touchdowns, two coming against Monmouth.

DiNASO PULLS IN A PAIR OF TDS
Sophomore wide receiver Anthony DiNaso (Staten Island, NY) had three catches against Robert Morris with two going for touchdowns.  DiNaso has 15 catches this season for 192 yards.  Bryant is 2-0 against FCS teams when DiNaso catches a TD.  He had a touchdown in Bryant's 24-14 win at Wagner College.

 BRYANT VS. DIVISION I

Bryant is currently 2-6 all-time vs. Division I-AA teams coming into the UMass game, earned 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.  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

HOME SWEET HOME

The Bulldogs are 17-2 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.  

BULLDOGS A BIG DRAW
Bryant, which led the Northeast-10 Conference in average attendance for four-straight seasons, filled the stands of Bulldog Stadium once again with a crowd of 5,630 - the second-most in school history - for Parents & Family Weekend on Saturday (Oct. 18) against Robert Morris.  Earlier in the season, Bryant drew 5,530 fans at the Sept. 13 Homecoming & Reunion game.  At the time, 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.

No.  Att:               Opponent

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

2.            5,630     vs. Robert Morris (10/18/08)

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 individuals for academic success, football performance and community leadership.  The finalists will be announced Oct. 29. 

DEFENSIVE RANKINGS
While Bryant is currently listed among the transition schools in the NCAA statistics, the Bulldogs would rank in several categories defensively if listed among the rest of the FCS in the national team report. 

Sacks                                     T12th                     3.14

Turnovers Gained            T2nd                      22

Turnover Margin              T4th                       1.43

Interceptions                     T5th                       12

10 YEARS OF FOOTBALL = 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 UMass is the 98th game in the history of Bryant football with the Bulldogs owning a 52-45 record. 

MILESTONES:

* Chris Bird (Monument Beach, MA) needs 2 field goals to tie Peter DiMartino's all-time record of 15 career field goals (1999-01).  Bird has made 13 of 26 in two seasons and is 6-for-13 this year.

* Bird is first all-time with 48 career PAT kicks.

* Lindsey Gamble (Roxbury, MA) needs 3 touchdowns to move into second all-time with 21.

* With 169 career tackles, junior Paul Polomski (Franklin, MA) needs 16 tackles to move into 6th all-time. 

* Bryce Martins (Uncasville, CT) is Bryant's all-time career leader with 27 pass breakups.  The senior co-captain has three this season and 44 total tackles, one behind Polomski's team-high of 45.

CAREER RUSHING YARDS
Running backs Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) and Lindsey Gamble (Roxbury, MA) both moved up a pair of spots in Bryant's all-time career rushing list.  Smith had 104 yards against Robert Morris last week. 

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

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

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

4.       1,433          Jerell Smith (2007-present)

5.       1,397          Lindsey Gamble (2006-pres.)

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

CAREER ALL-PURPOSE YARDS
Running back Jerell Smith has been a utility man for the Bulldogs this season. In addition to his team-best 814 yards rushing, Smith has 27 yards receiving and 453 yards in kick returns.
1.       3,749          Andre McLeod (2000-03)
2.       3,650          Lorenzo Perry (2005-06)
3.       2,599         Jerell Smith (2007-present)

NEXT UP
Bryant will return home on Saturday, November 1 for Senior Day on Saturday, Nov. 1.  The team will close out the season with road contests at Iona (Nov. 15) and St. Francis (PA) on November 22.

THE SIGNAL CALLER
After serving as the team's backup quarterback for the past two seasons, senior Jay Graber (Clarksburgy, NJ) has been the starter all season long.  Graber has completed 105 of 190 passes (55.3 percent) for 1,151 yards.  He has thrown 8 interceptions and 10 touchdown passes on the year.

SMITH AND GAMBLE
Looking at junior's Jerell Smith and Lindsey Gamble's game-by-game rushing numbers.  The pair have split equal duty coming out of the backfield.  Gamble started against Robert Morris and had 76 yards on the ground while Smith came off the bench for 104 yards.  Smith comes into the UMass game with 814 yards (116.3 yards per game) rushing and four touchdowns while Gamble is next with 429 yards and four TDs.   

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.