Archive For The “Joe Susan” Category

The 2015 Patsy Ratings – Bucknell’s Class of 2019

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The 2015 Patsy Ratings – Bucknell’s Class of 2019

The businesswoman who looked suspiciously like Nicki Minaj broke out the pink champale, something that made Art very angry.

“What the eff… are you doing?” he angrily asked.

“Aren’t we done?” she said, almost levitating off the ground.

“NO!” Art said.  “There are two teams left to do.  I know these have been a grind – and it’s taken us an unnaturally long time to do these – but there’s really only two left.”

Art looked at the spreadsheets again, his eyes uncomfortably glancing at the bottom drawer where he knew the Corvousier was kept.

“Two more,” he said as much to himself as he did the businesswoman with the champale.  “Two more, then we can get to our summer plans.”

The businesswoman sighed.   “Bucknell,” she said.

“Yes, Bucknell,” Art said.  “The surprise of 2014, the team that was one play away from knocking off the eventual champions.  While they won’t be anyone’s surprise team in 2015, what is a bit of a surprise is their overall Patsy Rating.  It’s been their best in a while.  A… LONG… while.”

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Bucknell Finishes What it Started Last Season, Beats Lehigh 45-24

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Bucknell Finishes What it Started Last Season, Beats Lehigh 45-24

Fifteen minutes before the game was about to start, ESPN Radio announcer Matt Kerr told the radio-listening public that 4-1 Bucknell would not only be missing their starter quarterback, QB R.J. Nitti, but would also be without the services of their star running back, RB C.J. Williams.

You might be forgiven if that made you think that Lehigh’s chances of getting their first win, and avenging last season’s loss to Bucknell in Lewisburg, would be much greater.

It didn’t turn out that way, however, as backup QB Trey Lauletta stepped right up into the void and had the game of a lifetime against Lehigh’s beleaguered defense.

After Lehigh scored the game’s first touchdown, Lauletta and the Bucknell offense helped create the the next 31 points for the Bison, and when Lehigh finally settled down and cut the deficit to one score, Lauletta would find WR Will Carter for a back-breaking touchdown to win the game for the Bison.

“Embarassing” is what Lehigh head coach Andy Coen told ESPN radio sideline reporter Matt Markus it was.
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Game Breakdown: Bucknell at Lehigh, 10/11/2014

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Game Breakdown: Bucknell at Lehigh, 10/11/2014

We break down Bucknell after the flip.

One thing that is worthy of mention about last year’s game, and may have gotten lost in all the talk of “revenge”, was the element of surprise.

Head coach Joe Susan, facing off against a then-Top 25 team, had just re-introduced QB Brandon Wesley to the staring lineup the prior week, and also unveiled a brand-new offensive attack against Lehigh as well, meaning that the game film head coach Andy Coen saw from the prior week against Dartmouth was essentially worthless.

Surprise doesn’t excuse the outcome, from a Lehigh perspective – not at all – but it’s worthy of mention that Bucknell’s pistol formation and offense shouldn’t be taking anyone by surprise this week.  It also means that nobody should be reading too much into Bucknell’s loss at Bryant last week, either.

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Game Preview: Bucknell at Lehigh, 10/11/2014

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Game Preview: Bucknell at Lehigh, 10/11/2014

It didn’t really need to be mentioned by head coach Andy Coen and the coaching staff, because everyone already knew.

They all remembered last year’s beatdown by Bucknell at Lewisburg, 48-10.

Many of them, even the sophomores, remember the pain of that day.

300 yards rushing by the Bison.  QB Brandon Bialkowski‘s broken collarbone.  Five turnovers.  130 yards receiving for Bison sophomore WR Will Carter.

They also remember the humiliating exclamation point: sophomore RB C.J. Williams‘ hurdle over Lehigh’s secondary, getting an emphatic touchdown to put the icing on the cake.

Sometimes the pain of losses of games gone by can seem distant, unconnectable, by the playing members of a football team.  There is no way for these players to imagine how it felt in 1997 for the Mountain Hawks to lose to the Bison, for example, the last time a Lehigh team had lost to Bucknell in football before last season.

But last year’s loss was so raw, so emphatic, and so emotionally charged that nobody on this team could have possibly forgotten how it felt to go in there and lost that badly, that comprehensively.

There was no need for coach Coen to invoke revenge in a fiery post-practice speech.  They know.
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Know Your 2014 Opponents: Bucknell

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Know Your 2014 Opponents: Bucknell

You might have been forgiven for overlooking them last year.

After all, Lehigh always beat Bucknell.  It was what they did.

The last time the Bison beat the Mountain Hawks anywhere, RB Rich Lemon was their star back, and Monica Lewinsky was still welcome in the Bill Clinton White House.

But for a fifteen year stretch, the Bison couldn’t beat Lehigh with a ten-point head start.

So you might have been forgiven for not making the trip to Lewisburg fully anticipating No. 16.

Except that, on October 26th, 2013, Bucknell changed the narrative.

Bucknell didn’t just beat heavily-favored, nationally-ranked Lehigh in their own house.  They put on the type of beating that left Lehigh fans absolutely stunned, a 48-10 stampeding that will not soon be forgotten by either side.

Bucknell used to be another name on the Patriot League schedule for Lehigh to beat.  Now?  Their name is circled, a critical game in early October that will be a pivotal game for both sides in the Patriot League title race.
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Lehigh Stampeded by Bison, 48-10

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Lehigh Stampeded by Bison, 48-10

(Photo Credit: Bucknell Athletics)

16 years is a long time to wait for Bucknell to get a league victory over Lehigh.

And on Saturday, the Bison took out 15 years of frustrations on a Lehigh team which was on the back foot from the opening kickoff and never really got back on the right foot.

There’s really no other way to describe it: it was a nightmare for the Brown and White.

Freshman RB C.J. Williams stampeded the Lehigh defense for 154 yards, and the Bison would rack up 309 total rushing yards, in a stunning 48-10 win over the Mountain Hawks.
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Game Breakdown: Lehigh at Bucknell, 10/26/2013

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Game Breakdown: Lehigh at Bucknell, 10/26/2013

We break down the Bucknell game – and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip.

When most people think of Bucknell, they tend to think of basketballs, not footballs.

Part of that comes from their upset of Kansas in the NCAA Tournament, the, um, SECOND most talked-about Patriot League upset over a legendary hoops program in the NCAA tournament.

But that’s not to say that the folks down Lewisburg way don’t care at all about football.

If there is an underrated stadium in the Patriot League it’s Christy Matthewson Stadium, named after the hall-of-fame pitcher.  Built in 1924, it was originally named Memorial Stadium to honor all the Bucknellians who had “fought in war”, either the Civil War or World War I, and had a “Christy Matthewson Memorial Gateway” in the front to honor the late pitcher, who had recently died from tuberculoisis complications stemming from his time in war.

While Lewisburg isn’t, shall we say, a metropolis, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the stadium, which seats 13,100, could approach sellouts once again if Lehigh, Lafayette and Bucknell could both be in the title hunt at the same time.  The Bison have proved this with Sojka Pavillion, as their establishment of a perennial mid-major powerhouse in hoops have provided lots of sellout crowds.
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Game Preview, Lehigh vs. Bucknell, 10/26/2013

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Game Preview, Lehigh vs. Bucknell, 10/26/2013

“After the halftime speech, this team pulled together and had the will to win this game. They overcame their mistakes. They got back down to it, and did what they needed to do to will this game into the win column. Players stepped up and made plays. Others shook off a rough first half and really stepped up in the second to show the nation what they are capable of doing.”

No, those aren’t the words of the Sunbury Daily Item sportswriters after Bucknell’s 17-14 win over Dartmouth this weekend.

This was a part of my “Sunday Word” after Lehigh, back in 2010,  rallied from a three-score deficit to beat Harvard, 21-19 and – in retrospect, a sentiment shared by myself and head coach Andy Coen, for starters – kicked off the amazing success on the field that the Mountain Hawks have enjoyed ever since.

It’s too early to say yet if Bucknell’s win, where the Bison defense shut down the Big Green and allowed the Orange and Blue offense to score 17 unanswered points, will have a similar effect on the guys out in Lewisburg, PA.

But there’s some indications out in central PA that the Bison are starting to put things together.

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Know Your 2013 Opponents: Bucknell

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Know Your 2013 Opponents: Bucknell

If there’s one word that describes Bucknell head coach Joe Susan, it’s “stoic”.

It’s not that he doesn’t have a sense of humor; he flashes it, at times, at media days and other interviews.  But when it comes to talk of his football team, a stoicism takes over, a reflection of how he wants his team to be, how he wants his players to approach the game.

Going into the 2012 season, many media members saw Bucknell as a team that still needed a lot of work to compete for the Patriot League title, though I did not; I saw some real potential in Susan’s stoic leadership, a defense that was best in the league, a potential breakout year after a 6-5 season.

But the Bison struggled to a 3-8 record, reversing on offense, struggling to score despite their strong “D”.  And while Susan has remained stoic, some of the frustration has started to peek through.
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Game Breakdown, Bucknell at Lehigh, 10/20/2012

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Game Breakdown, Bucknell at Lehigh, 10/20/2012

We break down the Bucknell game – and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip.When most people think of Bucknell, they tend to think of basketballs, not footballs.Part of that comes from their upset of Kansas in the NCAA Tournament, the, um, SE…

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