The Match-Up: Lafayette opens the month of November with two-hour road trip across I-80 to face the Bucknell Bison. It is the second straight conference contest for the Leopards who will play three of their final four games on the road. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.  

13 For 5: Jamar Curtis churned out his 13th career 100-yard rushing game with 117 yards against Holy Cross. The Waldorf, Md. native now has 2,651 career rushing yards, ascending into sixth place on Lafayette's career list (passing Ryan Priest '85). He also has 25 career rushing touchdowns, sitting in seventh place. 

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• notch program win No. 705
• make it four straight wins over Bucknell, including six of the last seven meetings
• even the Leopards' league record at 2-2

LV TE's: In the lead-up to the wonderful made-up holiday that is National Tight Ends Day (10/27), Dallas Holmes and Ethan Hosak both pulled down touchdowns against Holy Cross. Hosak had a two-yard TD in the second quarter, his second of the season while Holmes pulled in a 12-yard TD in the fourth quarter, which was his third TD of the year. 
    Both are Lehigh Valley products as Holmes is from Bethlehem, Pa. and played at Liberty High School, while Hosak hails from Macungie, playing at Allentown Central Catholic. 

Lining Up: Lafayette has used six different starting lineups on the offensive line in eight games this season due to injuries. By contrast, Lafayette employed one starting front five for all of 2023. The Leopards have used nine linemen as starters.

Approaching the Top 10: Junior QB Dean DeNobile needs just four passing yards to take over 10th place at Lafayette. He currently has 3,702 yards, sitting behind Danville, Pa. native Andrew Shoop '13 who had 3,705. 

On the Run vs. Sacred Heart: Lafayette rushed for 297 yards and four touchdowns en route to a 31-17 victory over Sacred Heart (10/17). Jamar Curtis accounted for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground. Troy Bruce added 83 yards and a score. Rookie QB Jason Penza contributed 49 rushing yards, while fellow QB Dean DeNobile got in on the action with a one-yard TD run. 
    The Sacred Heart game was the team's highest output of the season and also marked season highs for Curtis, Bruce and Penza.

Persing Performances: Soph. Carson Persing's production has increased significantly in 2024. In the home opener vs. Marist, the Danville, Pa. native had nine receptions for 82 yards (both career highs). At Columbia, Persing pulled down 10 receptions for 58 yards. He is coming off a seven-catch, 74-yard game against Holy Cross.
    In 2024, he has 37 receptions for 282 yards following a 2023 campaign in which the economics major managed 31 catches for 306 yards. 

Breakups Are Hard: Senior CB Gabe DuBois leads the Patriot League with 11 pass breakups and 12 passes defended on the season. He registered four PBUs vs. Georgetown. He was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week (10/7) following the Fordham game in which he rang up nine tackles. He also had five pass breakups, including three on the final drive, to secure the victory. 

18 Leading The Way: LB Preston Forney leads the team (tied with Saiku White) with 49 tackles, including an eight-tackle performance vs. Georgetown. The Texas native, who is playing a fifth year at Lafayette, managed a season-high 12 tackles at Fordham, registering two tackles for loss with a sack and a forced fumble.  

Moving Up the Charts: Junior WR Elijah Steward needs nine more catches to break into the Lafayette top 10 for career receptions. The economics major currently has 127 career catches, trailing Frank Corbo '85 with 128. With 1,603 career receiving yards, Steward is looking for 70 yards to move into the top 10 ahead of Quincy Miller '97.

Carasia's Career Campaign: Senior Chris Carasia sits tied for 10th place on Lafayette's career receiving touchdowns list. The Ocean Township, N.J. native reeled in TDs in the first five games of the 2024 season. Carasia secured four catches for 114 yards and a TD at Columbia (9/21). For the season, he has 27 receptions for 378 yards and five touchdowns. He is on pace to set single-season career highs in all three categories (previously with 32 receptions for 333 yards and five scores in 2023). 

Ahead of Schedule: John Troxell '94 is in his third season at the helm of his alma mater's football program, and by all accounts the revitalization of Lafayette football is ahead of schedule. In 2023, Lafayette won a Patriot League title and advanced to the NCAA playoffs after posting the most wins in a season in more than 40 years. The team went from 4-7 (3-3 PL) in year one (2022) to 9-3 (5-1 PL) in year two (2023). Both seasons were capped by wins over archrival Lehigh.
    Troxell was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in 2023 and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award. 

The Opponent: Bucknell (3-5, 1-1) hosts Lafayette with hopes to stay alive in the Patriot League title hunt. The Bison dropped their first league game last week against Georgetown (21-20), but have wins over Lehigh (38-35), VMI (35-28) and Marist (34-18).
    Senior QB Ralph Rucker (134-of-200, 1,492 yards, 11 TDs) guides the offense with help from freshman RB Tariq Thomas (502 yards, 4 TDs), who's fresh off of a 145-yard, two-touchdown day against Georgetown. Rucker has relied on wide receivers Eric Weatherly (41 rec, 426 yards, 3 TDs) and Josh Gary (32 rec, 404 yards, 3 TDs) in the passing game, with both averaging double-digit yards per catch.
    Defensively, soph. LB Gavin Willis leads the team in tackles, sitting at 84 for the year and has racked up 32 of them in his last two games. Freshman LB Brandon Biagiarelli has collected three of Bucknell's 12 sacks for the 2024 campaign. Junior DB Aaron Davis has been a ballhawk as of late, recording an interception in three of his last five games.
    Dave Cecchini (Lehigh '85) is in his sixth season as the Bucknell head coach. 

The Last Time They Met: Lafayette erupted for 42 first-half points and ran away to a 56-22 victory over Bucknell on Sept. 30, 2023 in the Patriot League opener at Fisher Stadium.
     The offense propelled Lafayette to a 4-1 mark for the first time since 2009 while giving Leopard head coach John Troxell his 100th career head-coaching win. Four different players scored for the Maroon and White in the opening half. Jamar Curtis accounted for two of the scores, including the initial touchdown on a 10-yard run at 5:44 in the first. Curtis finished with 10 carries for 106 yards.
    Billy Shaeffer had a nine-tackle effort that included 3.5 sacks. The Leopards finished with seven sacks on the afternoon for the second straight game with Jaylon Joseph and Blamassi Meite each adding one and Tim O'Hearn and Michael Vaughn combining for another. Lafayette's defense stifled the Bucknell running game, holding the Bison to minus-24 yards on 22 carries while limiting them to 6-of-15 on third down.