Oct. 20, 2004

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• Lafayette Sports Network TV Outlets

THE MATCH-UP: Lafayette, alone in first place in the Patriot League, hits the road for the third consecutive weekend, visiting Fordham. At 5-2 overall, the Leopards are off to their best seven-game start since the 1988 Colonial League championship team that opened 6-1. A win at Fordham would give the Leopards six wins in their first eight games for the the first time since that same 1988 team posted a 6-1-1 mark through eight weeks. Fordham has had two weeks to prepare for Lafayette following its 27-20 overtime loss to Brown on Oct. 9. The Rams are seeking just their third 2-0 start in Patriot League play.

ORT NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Lafayette junior receiver Joe Ort was named Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Week following his heroics at Bucknell last weekend. Ort, not normally a member of the Leopards' field goal block unit, blocked Bucknell's potential game-winning field goal attempt on the game's final play. In his first appearance since suffering a concussion at Princeton on Sept. 18, Ort also caught two passes for 30 yards, including a 22-yarder on third-and-eight that extended the Leopards' go-ahead scoring drive.

WINNING THE ONES THAT COUNT: Lafayette enters the weekend 2-0 in Patriot League play. It is just the fourth time since the beginning of Patriot League play in 1990 that the Leopards have opened 2-0 in the league. The last time Lafayette started 2-0 was 2002, while the 1992 and 1994 Patriot League championship teams also won their first two league outings.

THE SERIES: Lafayette leads the all-time series with Fordham 15-6-1, but five of the Rams' six wins have come in the past seven years, including four straight victories. Three of the past four meetings have been decided by a touchdown or less, as well as each of the past three games in the Bronx (1998, Lafayette, 27-20; 2000, Fordham, 31-28; 2002, Fordham, 33-26).

THE HEAD COACHES: Frank Tavani (Lebanon Valley '75) is in his fifth season at the helm of the Lafayette football program. He is the 27th head coach in the program's 123-year history. Tavani enters this weekend's contest with a career record of 21-30. Ed Foley (Bucknell '89) is in his first season at Fordham. He served as the Offensive Coordinator at Fordham for five seasons before assuming the head coaching job. This is his first collegiate head coaching assignment.

HANGIN' A HUNDRED ON 'EM: Senior running back Joe McCourt has run for over 100 yards each of the past three weeks, the second time in his career he has posted at least three consecutive 100-yard rushing games. He has run for 173 and 167 yards the past two weeks, the fifth- and sixth-best single game performances of his career, respectively. McCourt eclipsed the century mark twice as a freshman, eight times as a sophomore, six times as a junior and four times this season. Lafayette is 12-8 over the past four seasons when McCourt rushes for at least 100 yards, including 5-1 in his past six 100-yard peformances.

McCOURT CAN THROW, TOO: With his 28-yard touchdown pass to Justin Lauver in the third quarter at Columbia, McCourt improved to 3-of-5 passing in his career for 34 yards. All three completions have gone for touchdowns, while he also threw an interception as a freshman. He enters this weekend with a career passing rating of 275.1. McCourt's five career attempts:

    2001    - at Holy Cross, 5-yd. touchdown pass to Marko Glavic    - at Lehigh, incomplete    - at Lehigh, interception    2003    - vs. Columbia, 1-yd. touchdown pass to Marko Glavic    2004    - at Columbia, 28-yd. touchdown pass to Justin Lauver

"PICK"ING IT UP ON D: Sophomore safety Torian Johnson's second-quarter interception at Columbia was the sixth pick this season for the Leopard defense, equaling their total for all of 2003. Johnson leads the team with two interceptions. Johnson has shown a knack for making big plays in close games this season. His interception and return at Richmond set up the Leopards' go-ahead touchdown, while his tackle of Bucknell kicker Ryan Korn at the one-yard line following Joe Ort's block preserved Lafayette's 14-13 win last weekend.

TAKING NOTICE: Lafayette has cracked the Others Receiving Votes section of both the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 and The Sports Network Top 25 for the second straight week. Lafayette is tied for 31st in the ESPN/USA Today poll and 34th in The Sports Network poll, up from 36th and 40th, respectively, in last week's rankings.

GOING THE DISTANCE: Sophomore Brad Maurer has played the entire game under center each of the past two weeks after having split time with junior Pat Davis through the season's first five games. The past two weeks, Maurer has completed 19-of-24 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns, as well as scored on runs of 63 and 10 yards.

LONG LAYOFF: Forty-one days will pass between scheduled home games for the Leopards during their current road trip, equaling the longest in-season span between home contests in Lafayette history. The Leopards also went 41 days between home games in 1986, posting a 2-3 record during the stretch. In 1893, Lafayette hosted Temperance Athletic Association on Oct. 4, then 41 days later faced Lehigh at home. However, a home contest that was scheduled with Rutgers the week prior to the Lehigh game was forfeited by the Scarlet Knights.

SCORING TRENDS: Two interesting trends related to scoring have developed as the 2004 season has played out. Lafayette has scored first in four of its five wins this season, while the defense has held the opposition to 16 points or fewer in each of the five victories.

PILING UP THE MILES: This weekend's game is the third in a four-game road trip, the Leopards' second road swing of at least three games this season. Since the beginning of Patriot League play in 1990, Lafayette has had 11 instances where it has played at least three consecutive games on the road. On those 11 occasions, the Leopards have posted a cumulative record of just 11-25, including 6-5 in the third game of those stretches.

Year    Opponents   Results1990    Army, Holy Cross, Fordham, Colgate  56-0 L; 34-3 L; 59-14 W; 36-7 L1992    Princeton, Cornell, Army    38-35 L; 44-33 L; 38-36 L1993    Holy Cross, Army, Lehigh    52-27 W; 35-12 L; 39-14 L1994    Bucknell, Colgate, Fordham  56-14 W; 14-6 W; 34-6 W1995    Dartmouth, Princeton, Holy Cross, Bucknell  14-7 L; 41-0 L; 27-17 W; 30-11 L1996    Harvard, Columbia, Colgate, Army    17-7 W; 3-0 L; 40-9 L; 41-21 L1999    Towson, Holy Cross, Brown   35-7 L; 30-12 L; 35-28 L2000    Colgate, Fordham, Duquesne  17-14 L; 31-28 L; 23-14 L2002    Princeton, Duquesne, Columbia   34-19 L; 23-22 L; 28-21 W2002    Fordham, Colgate, Bucknell  33-26 L; 31-24 L; 19-3 W2004    Georgetown, Princeton, Richmond 17-6 W; 35-18 L; 21-16 W

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Lafayette is in the midst of a stretch that sees it play on the road four times in five weeks, its most extended time away from Fisher Field since 1996. Lafayette won the opening game of that trip, 17-7 at Harvard, before dropping games at Columbia (3-0), Colgate (40-9) and Army (41-21). Fordham was slated to be the second opponent in that five-game stretch, but that game was cancelled.

McCOURT'S MILESTONES: After rushing for more than 1,000 yards the past two seasons, Joe McCourt will go into the record books as one of the most prolific running backs in both Lafayette and Patriot League history. McCourt enters this weekend with 3,976 rushing yards, second all-time at Lafayette and fourth all-time in the Patriot League. He trails Erik Marsh '95, the all-time leading rusher in Lafayette and Patriot League history, by 858 yards. With two touchdowns in the opener against Marist, McCourt passed Marsh as Lafayette's all-time leader in rushing touchdowns. He currently has 39. After hauling in a team-high 52 passes in 2003, McCourt sits fifth in career receptions at Lafayette with 127. Finally, McCourt's six-yard touchdown run at Bucknell made him Lafayette's all-time leading scorer. He has accounted for 260 career points (43 touchdowns, 1 two-point conversion).

LAFAYETTE vs. the PATRIOT LEAGUE: The Leopards have played 316 games all-time against the six fellow members of the Patriot League, and are 156-144-16 (.519) in those contests. Since the Patriot League began play in 1986, the Leopards are 51-47-1 (.520) vs. member schools and have won league titles in 1988, 1992, and 1994. Lafayette vs. the Patriot League:

    Bucknell: 44-32-6   Fordham: 15-6-1         Holy Cross: 11-7-0    Colgate: 9-34-4 Georgetown: 5-3-0       Lehigh: 72-62-5

NCAA DIVISION I-AA LEADERS: Lafayette has been one of the least penalized teams in the country during the first half of the season. Statistical categories in which Lafayette ranks in the Top-50 nationally:

Individual  Tackles - Maurice Bennett - 20th (74 tackles, 10.6 per game)    Rushing - Joe McCourt - 28th (99.3 yards per game)    Kickoff Returns - Larry Johnson - 41st (23.6 yards per return)    All-Purpose Yards - Joe McCourt - 48th (117.7 yards per game)
Team Fewest Penalties Per Game - T-3rd (4.0 penalties per game)    Fewest Yards Penalized Per Game - 8th (37.7 yards per game)    Fumbles Lost - T-10th (3 lost)    Scoring Defense - 24th (18.4 points per game)    Fumbles Recovered - T-26th (8 recovered)    Rushing Offense - 28th (197.0 yards per game)    Turnovers Lost - T-28th (11 lost)    Passing Defense - 30th (174.4 yards per game)    Passing Efficiency - 32nd (131.06 rating)    Turnover Margin - T-40th (.43 margin; 14 gained, 11 lost)    Total Defense - 49th (337.6 yards per game)

ROAD WARRIORS: Lafayette's seven-game road schedule, after having seven at home in 2003, has been the subject of much discussion throughout the season. Towson, which would have served as a home contest in 2004, departed the Patriot League at the conclusion of the 2003 season. The Leopards agreed to a home-and-home deal with Richmond, with the Spiders tentatively slated to visit Easton on Sept. 10, 2005.

SPREADING THE LOVE: A season-high eight different receivers caught at least one pass at Richmond on Sept. 25. Junior tight end Chad Walker led the way with four catches, the most for him in a game since 2002, while Jonathan Hurt, John-Frank Stubits and Romar Drake all snagged their first career receptions.

PUT IT ON THE BOARD: Sophomore kicker Rick Ziska has been perfect on 20 point-after attempts this season, including a 6-for-6 performance in the season-opener against Marist and a 5-for-5 day at Columbia. He is also 4-for-8 on field goals, including a 48-yarder that he hammered home just before halftime at Georgetown. The field goal was Ziska's first career make and the second-longest in the modern era for Lafayette. George McCaa's 53-yard field goal against Brown in 1909 still stands as the school record.

THE CAPTAINS: Senior linebacker Wes Erbe and senior offensive guard Stephen Bono were elected co-captains by their teammates during spring practice. Both are in their fourth seasons as starters at their respective positions. Erbe, who also served as a co-captain in 2003, is just the fourth player in Lafayette history to be named a captain in two different seasons. The last was Ryan Priest in 1985-86.

THE IRON CURTAIN: Lafayette returns its entire linebacking corps from 2003 in senior Wes Erbe and juniors Maurice Bennett and Blake Costanzo. The trio started all 11 games together a year ago, accounting for 306 tackles between them. Bennett led the team and ranked second in the Patriot League with 108 total tackles, while Erbe was fourth in the league with 104 stops. Erbe also forced five fumbles, tied for second-most nationally. Costanzo was tied for seventh in the Patriot League in total tackles, collecting 94. The group accounted for 12 sacks and 24 tackles for loss...This Season...Bennett leads the Patriot League in total tackles with 74. He has posted 13, 12 and 11 stops, respectively, the past thre games. Costanzo has tallied 57 tackles, including a career-high 14 at Bucknell, and 3.5 sacks. Erbe missed the first two games with an ankle injury, but returned against Princeton and has collected 29 tackles, including 10 total tackles and a sack against Harvard.

McCOURT NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK (9/13): Senior tailback Joe McCourt was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week for his performance at Georgetown on Sept. 11. McCourt ran 24 times for 104 yards and caught two passes for 21 yards in the 17-6 win.

RIGHTING THE SHIP: After back-to-back two-win seasons in 2000 and 2001, Lafayette won 12 games over the 2002-03 seasons, the most for the program in a two-year span since the 1992-93 campaigns, which saw the Leopards win 13 contests and a Patriot League championship in 1992. Lafayette's seven Patriot League wins in 2002-03 are the most since 1994-95.

EARLY START: Lafayette's 2004 season-opener with Marist, played on Sept. 4, is the earliest calendar date on which a Lafayette football game has been played.

ON THIS DATE: Historically, Oct. 23 has been kind to Lafayette, as the Leopards have posted a 12-4 overall record on this date. Lafayette and Fordham have met once on Oct. 23, with Lafayette winning 27-12 in Easton in 1993. Lafayette's all-time results on Oct. 23:

Year    Opponent    Result1886    at Stevens  W, 5-01897    at Penn State   L, 46-01909    at Princeton    W, 6-01915    Albright    W, 46-01920    Catholic    W, 84-01926    Albright    W, 30-71937    at NYU  W, 13-01943    Lehigh  W, 39-71948    at Bucknell W, 19-71954    at Bucknell L, 7-01965    Bucknell    W, 14-131971    Bucknell    L, 33-01976    Colgate L, 24-141982    Davidson    W, 49-141993    Fordham W, 27-121999    Bucknell    W, 22-21

THE SECRET WEAPON: Senior punter Mike Davis has been one of the Leopards' most consistent performers this season. He is averaging 37.1 yards per punt and has pinned opponents inside the 10 five times and inside the 20 eight times. Davis had his best day on Sept. 11 at Georgetown, when he punted five times, averaging 41 yards per kick, and forced Georgetown to start inside the 10 three times, including twice inside the five. His 41-yarder in the fourth quarter that was downed by Larry Johnson inside the one set up Andrew Brown's intercepton return for the go-ahead touchdown.

TAKE IT TO THE HOUSE: Junior defensive end Andrew Brown's two-yard interception return for a score at Georgetown was the Leopards' first interception return for a touchdown since Jeff Werrell and Adriel Linyear combined for a 100-yard interception return against Colgate in 2001. Werrell picked off the pass at the goal line, then lateraled to Linyear who carried it the final 56 yards.

McCOURT MOVES TO THE TOP: Senior tailback Joe McCourt's two rushing touchdowns against Marist made him Lafayette's all-time leader in rushing touchdowns. He passed Erik Marsh '95, who scored 35 touchdowns on the ground in his record-setting career. McCourt enters the weekend with 39 rushing scores.

MORE McCOURT: Joe McCourt is the lone All-Patriot League honoree returning for the Leopards this season. The 2001 Patriot League Rookie of the Year, McCourt garnered All-Patriot League Second-Team honors in 2003.

HOMETOWN HEROES: The 2004 Lafayette roster features five players from the Lehigh Valley:
- 90 Tauren Barker (Jr. / DL / Whitehall, Pa. / Whitehall)
- 14 Michael Bernhard (Fr. / QB / Allentown, Pa. / William Allen)
- 5 Matt Potter (So. / DB / Bethlehem, Pa. / Nazareth)
- 78 Robert Stroble (Jr. / OL / Easton, Pa. / Easton Area)
- 18 John-Frank Stubits (Sr. / TE / Nazareth, Pa. / Nazareth)

LOCAL CONNECTION: Five Leopards will be close to home this weekend when Lafayette visits Fordham. The five players on the Lafayette roster from the New York City area:
- 67 Jesse Campoamor (So. / OL / New York, N.Y. / Brooklyn Poly Prep)
- 95 Brian Carstens (Sr. / DL / Staten Island, N.Y. / Monsignor Farrell)
- 97 Mike Gervasio (So. / DL / Lindenhurst, N.Y. / Lindenhurst)
- 10 Matthew Korn (Fr. / K / Shirley, N.Y. / William Floyd)
- 76 Jack Thomson (Fr. / OL / Huntington, N.Y. / Huntington)

NOW UNDER CENTER...: At the end of preseason camp, head coach Frank Tavani named sophomore Brad Maurer as the starting quarterback for the season-opener against Marist. Maurer became first Leopard other than Marko Glavic to start a game under center since Chad Ritchie took the opening snap against Harvard on Sept. 30, 2000. Maurer, the Ohio High School Division II Offensive Player of the Year as a senior in 2002, had been battling junior Pat Davis since spring practice for the job.

ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT SELECTIONS: Lafayette has remained a mainstay on the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team, with the school being represented by 19 student-athletes during Frank Tavani's first four seasons as head coach. In 2003, offensive linemen Stephen Bono and Curt Wilson were selected to the Academic All-District II Team. Bono, a civil engineering major, was named to first team for the second straight season. Wilson, who received his degree in mechanical engineering last spring, was a three-time Academic All-District II selection, earning first-team accolades as a senior and second-team honors as a sophomore and junior in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Lafayette currently has six student-athletes nominated for the 2004 squad, with the All-District Team slated to be announced Nov. 11.

AND WE GO TO...OVERTIME: Lafayette has played five overtime games all-time and is 1-4 in those contests. After winning the first overtime affair in 1995 over Fordham (24-21 on 11/11/95), the Leopards have lost their last four OT games (11/18/95 at Lehigh - 37-30; 10/18/97 at Cornell - 41-34; 10/3/98 at Dartmouth - 13-10; 9/8/01 at Towson - 16-13).

THE FRIENDLY CONFINES OF Fisher Field: Lafayette will make just four appearances at Fisher Field in 2004, only the second time since the Leopards adopted a 10-game schedule in 1968 that Fisher Field has hosted fewer than five contests. Since 1926, the Leopards have played their home games at Fisher Field. The venue is in its 79th season, having played host to 379 games. Lafayette has recorded 12 undefeated home seasons at Fisher Field and has a 226-140-13 (.614) overall record.

LAFAYETTE LEADS NATION IN TELEVISED GAMES IN DIVISION I-AA: The Lafayette football program leads the nation among Division I-AA teams in 2004 with the most nationally-televised games as the Lafayette Sports Network will broadcast the Leopards' entire schedule on Empire Sports Network, DIRECTV and DISH Network. Regionally, the Lafayette Sports Network can be seen by more than 9.1 million viewers on RCN-TV 4 and WBPH-TV 60 in Eastern Pennsylvania - including all of Philadelphia - and Western New Jersey. The Lafayette Sports Network, which begins its fifth season of national telecasts via DIRECTV and DISH Network, has reached an agreement with Empire Sports Network to air all 11 Lafayette football games in 2004 to its potential audience of more than 17.5 million viewers in Upstate and Western New York as well as more than 40 million potential viewers on DIRECTV (channel 626) and at least 19.5 million possible viewers on DISH Network (channel 432). Empire Sports Network will broadcast seven games live in 2004 - six of the seven road games and the 140th meeting of Lafayette-Lehigh. The one road contest that will not be live, Oct. 9 at Columbia, will be shown that same day in tape-delay. Empire will also broadcast the Leopards' first three home contests in tape-delay the Tuesday following the game at 7 p.m. Local television sports broadcaster Gary Laubach will handle all of the Leopards' play-by-play duties for the eighth straight season. John Leone, Lafayette's Director of Alumni Affairs, will provide color analysis for the seventh straight season. Reporting from the Leopards' sidelines will be Dan Mowdy for the fourth season.

A HISTORY OF CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Lafayette football program has claimed three national championships -- 1896, 1921 and 1926 -- and recorded five undefeated seasons -- 1896 (11-0-1), 1921 (9-0-0), 1926 (9-0-0), 1937(8-0-0) and 1940 (9-0-0). Of recent note, the Leopards have won Patriot League championships in 1988, 1992 and 1994.

ALL-TIME RECORD: Lafayette is in its 123rd season of intercollegiate football, and enters this weekend with an all-time record of 609-520-39 (.538). The Leopards ranked 33rd all-time in wins with 604 entering the 2004 season.

LAFAYETTE'S FOOTBALL INVENTORS: Two primary elements of the game of football -- the helmet and the huddle -- were invented by former members of the Lafayette football program. George "Rose" Barclay from the class of 1898, one of Lafayette's all-time great running backs, invented the helmet when the "threat of cultivating cauliflower ears" led him to piece three thick leather straps around his head for the 1896 game against Penn. Former Lafayette coach Herb McCracken (1924-35; 59-40-6) devised the first huddle system during the 1924 season after learning the Pennsylvania football team had stolen Lafayette's signals. Lafayette became the first team to huddle before each play and this system was immediately adopted by other teams.