Game Notes

THIS WEEK
Sat., Oct. 24 – at Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.), 1:00 p.m.

For the first time in five years, a Patriot League contest will feature a pair of nationally-ranked teams as the No. 17 Colgate Raiders (7-0, 2-0) travel to No. 22 Holy Cross (5-1, 1-0) Saturday, Oct. 24. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at Fitton Field. The Raiders topped Holy Cross 28-27 last season.

THE SERIES
This is the 72nd meeting between Colgate and Holy Cross, with the Crusaders leading 37-29-5. Colgate won the last season 28-27 in Hamilton for the Patriot League Championship and is 10-3 against the Crusaders during the Biddle era.

THE COACHES
Colgate head coach Dick Biddle, who has the most wins in school history, is in his 14th season at the helm of the Raiders.  His overall record is 111-49 and is 10-3 against Holy Cross.
Holy Cross head coach Tom Gilmore is in his sixth campaign with the Crusaders. He has compiled a mark of 35-26 at Holy Cross. 

LAST OUTING
Senior wide receiver Pat Simonds made a career-high 12 catches for 111 yards and a touchdown as No. 17 Colgate defeated Georgetown 31-14 Saturday at Multi-Sport Field on a cold and rainy day, vaulting the Raiders' record to 7-0.
Sophomore running back Nate Eachus rushed 27 times for 161 yards and a touchdown. He has rushed for over 100 yards in all four games he played this season.
Junior quarteback Greg Sullivan went 13-20 for 125 passing yards, while rushing for 62 yards for another score. Furthermore, the Colgate signal-caller is now 16-2 as Colgate's starting quarterback.

HOLY CROSS NOTEBOOK
Senior quarterback Dominic Randolph is one of the favorites to win the Walter Payton Award, presented annually to the top player in the NCAA football championship subdivision. In six games so far this year, he has completed 161 of 246 attempts for 1,961 yards and 18 touchdowns, in addition to ranking second on the team in rushing with 219 yards and three scores on 46 carries.

SECOND-HALF DOMINANCE
Colgate has allowed only 7 points in the second-half over the last two games, and has outscored its opponents 100-36 in the second-half overall.
     
1,000-YARD RUSHING CLUB
This season Greg Sullivan became just the third quarterback in school history to reach 1,000 yards rushing. The all-time leader is Tom Parr who finished his career in 1974 with 2,221 when Colgate was running the wishbone.
Nate Eachus also became just the 27th Colgate player to ever reach 1,000 rushing yards in his career. He currently sits 18th with 1,463 yards, 273 yards behind 17th.

COLGATE VS. PATRIOT LEAGUE TEAMS UNDER BIDDLE
In the last 14 seasons, the Raiders are 64-16 against Patriot League teams under head coach Dick Biddle for a winning percentage of .800.  They have lost to Lehigh six times, Bucknell four times, Holy Cross three, Fordham twice and Lafayette once.

CAREER RECEIVING CHART
Senior wide receiver Pat Simonds has moved into fourth place on the school's all-time receptions 148 and fifth all-time in receiving yards with 2,386 yards.         
Simonds is second in the Patriot League in scoring averaging 7.2 points per game.

BY THE NUMBERS
    • Colgate has won 65 of its last 92 games.
    • Colgate has won 64 of its last 81 Patriot League games.
    • Colgate has won 28 of its last 41 games decided by nine points or less.
    • Colgate has won 36 of its last 44 games at Andy Kerr Stadium.

THE BIDDLE ERA
Last season became a major milestone in the coaching career of Colgate head coach Dick Biddle.  On September 7, Biddle became the winningest football coach in school history with his 97th victory, passing the legendary Andy Kerr.
Entering his 14th season with the Raiders, Biddle has an overall mark of 111-49. He has achieved the best winning percentage (.690) of any Colgate coach with seven or more years at the helm of the Raiders.  Biddle is also the first Colgate coach to ever record nine straight seasons with seven or more victories.
He has been named Patriot League Coach of the Year four times while guiding the Raiders to six Patriot League titles and six appearances in the FCS (formally I-AA) playoffs.
In 2003, Biddle was named the American Football Coaches Association Division I-AA National Coach of the Year after leading the Raiders to a 15-1 record, and to the national championship game of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
   
VOTE FOR BIDDLE
Colgate head coach Dick Biddle is a front-runner for the 2009 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award voted on by fans.
The award provides each coach with $50,000 to donate to the charity or charities of his choice, as well as a $20,000 grant to donate to his school's alumni association.
Fans can vote for coach Biddle at www.coachoftheyear.com or at www.gocolgateraiders.com.

A TOP-20 DEFENSE
Colgate is ranked 15th in the nation in scoring defense (16.29) and 17th in total defense (275.4 ypg). Senior Greg Hadley leads the Raiders in tackles with 43 on the year, including four tackles for loss. Hadley is followed by Garrington Spence with 37 tackles and Uzi Idah with 36. Five Raiders each have one interception on the year, while Spence returned his 15-yards for a touchdown.   

DIFFERENT STYLES
This game will feature different style offenses as Colgate is currently ranked first in the nation with 273.7 rushing yards per game, while Holy Cross is ranked second in the nation in with 327.3 passing yards per game. Colgate is ranked 13th in the nation in total offense (429.0 ypg), while Holy Cross is 7th (447.0 ypg).
Defensively, the Raiders are ranked 17th in total defense, while Holy Cross is 63rd.

15-STRAIGHT
Dating back to last season the Raiders have won 15-straight regular season games, seven straight in the Patriot League.

2009 HONORS
Freshman Evan Colborne was named the Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance against Georgetown.
Senior Paul Mancuso was named the Patriot League Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance against Princeton.
Wide receiver John Schademan was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week following his performance against Cornell.
Quarterback Greg Sullivan has earned the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week award twice this season and ECAC Offensive Player of the Week once.
Tailback Jordan McCord was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week and ECAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week following his performance against Dartmouth.
Wide receiver Pat Simonds was named to the 2009 Sports Network preseason FCS All-America Team.

RANKED IN BOTH POLLS
The Raiders are ranked 17th in both the Sports Network poll and the FCS Coaches Poll. The Raiders received 1,264 points in the Sports Network poll and 255 votes in the FCS Coaches poll.

COLGATE VS. TOP 25 TEAMS
Colgate is 7-8 in its last 15 games against teams ranked in the Top 25 of the FCS.  In 2003, they defeated #24 Lehigh, #19 Fordham, #5 Massachusetts, #10 Western Illinois, and #13 Florida Atlantic, before losing to #3 Delaware in the FCS championship game.
Colgate lost to #14 Massachusetts in the 2004 season opener and later to #12 Lehigh.  In 2005, they beat #15 UMass 17-14, and lost to #16 Lehigh 50-34 and #1 New Hampshire 55-21.  In 2006, they lost to #10 UMass 28-7 and in 2007 to #2 UMass, 35-17. Last year #23 Furman defeated the Raiders 42-21, but beat #21 Lafayette, 21-13.

FOLLOW THE RAIDERS ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER
Fans of all Colgate University sports can follow their favorite teams more than ever, as Colgate Athletics joined the world of social networking on Twitter and Facebook.

UP NEXT
Colgate will host Lehigh on Family Weekend Saturday, Oct. 31. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m. The Raiders topped Lehigh 34-33 last season and have a 7-6 record against the Mountain Hawks during the Biddle era.