Bulldogs PA bound this weekend

Game Notes

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University football team travels to Pittsburgh, Pa., to face Duquesne University on Saturday, Oct. 1, with a chance to take sole possession of first place in the Northeast Conference standings.

The Bulldogs (3-1, 2-0 NEC) are coming off a 30-28 victory over Wagner College last Saturday and have won three-straight games heading into the key matchup with the Dukes (3-1, 1-0 NEC). Bryant holds a 2-1 lead in the all-time series between the two teams but Duquesne has the most recent victory, a 37-29 victory at Bulldog Stadium in the 2010 season finale.

Last year's matchup was an offensive battle that featured 914 combined yards. Then-junior Mike Croce (Waterbury, Conn.) threw for a career-high 314 yards and connected with tight end Matt Tracey (Littleton, Colo.) for two scores. Duquesne junior quarterback Sean Patterson threw for 290 yards and scored four total touchdowns to lead the Dukes past the Bulldogs last November in Smithfield.  

The Dukes won four of their final five games in 2010 to finish 5-3 in conference play and have picked up right where they left off. After dropping a 27-26 nail-biter to Bucknell in week one, the Dukes have dominated their opponents the last three weeks. Duquesne has scored 40-plus points in each of the last two games and is averaging nearly 500 yards of total offense per game.

A second-year starter under center, Patterson is off to a scorching start in 2011. He threw four touchdowns in Duquesne's 41-14 romp of Saint Francis (PA) last weekend and has already thrown for 10 scores on the year. Larry McCoy has proven himself as one of the top running backs in the league, averaging 135.5 yards.

Junior running back Jordan Brown's (Glastonbury, Conn.) second touchdown of the game with 12:59 remaining in the fourth quarter proved to be the game-winning score in Bryant's back-and-forth affair with Wagner last weekend. Brown's 149.8 yards per game rank second among FCS programs, and he leads all NEC players with 233.5 all-purpose yards per game.

Saturday's trip to the Steel City will be third for the Bulldogs since joining the NEC in 2008. They made both previous trips in 2009, defeating Robert Morris, 20-13, and Duquesne, 20-0. It is also Bryant's first game against one of the conference's three Pennsylvania schools. The Bulldogs have fared well against the Keystone State schools, going a combined 8-1 and a perfect 4-0 on the road.

Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Duquesne's Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field.