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LEWISBURG, Pa. – It wasn't half-a-hundred, but Colgate's 47-33 victory over Bucknell here Saturday places the Raiders in prime position to play for a Patriot League football title.

Jordan McCord and Gavin McCarney topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the third game in a row and Colgate blitzed the conference's top-ranked rushing defense for 284 yards.

Now Lafayette and Lehigh await over the next two weeks. Win twice, and Colgate earns its seventh conference championship since 1997.

“We scored 47 points but I never felt comfortable, and that's our MO,” Raiders head coach Dick Biddle said. “Sometimes you go to your strength and that's our offense, but our defense never let them get within two touchdowns and made the key stops.

“A lot of guys are banged up and we've got to keep getting better. This was a big win for us. When you win on the road in the league and you're 3-0, that's all that counts.”

Scoring Roll Continues
Colgate didn't make history by topping 50 points for the third game in a row, but the Raiders are 3-0 in league play and 5-3 overall. Colgate has won four games in a row, scoring 202 points in the process.

“We just want to play them one at a time,” Biddle said. “If we beat Lafayette, then we're playing for the championship.”

Colgate led 21-12 at halftime on the strength of three McCarney rushing touchdowns. The Raiders' junior quarterback entered the weekend third in the country in scoring, and now has 15 touchdowns and 92 points.

McCarney was 10-of-18 passing for 163 yards and an interception, and threw a touchdown pass to tight end C.J. Stempeck in the third quarter. It was McCarney's 11th consecutive game with a TD toss dating to last season, matching the school record set by Ryan Vena in 1997-98.

“I struggled a little bit throwing the ball today, but hats off to the offensive line again,” McCarney said. “Our O-line is just unbelievable. They do their assignments and it's easy for Jordan and me to do our jobs when they are pushing people around like that.

“We control our own destiny. We put ourselves right in the place we want to be. And like we've been doing, we're just going to take it one game at a time. We're going to celebrate tonight and it's back to work on Monday.”

Double Century Again
McCarney rushed 18 times for 121 yards, while McCord added 31 carries for 147 yards and two touchdowns. It's the third game in a row and the fourth time this year that both players topped the 100-yard rushing mark.

“They played hard and I've got to take my hat off to them, but we were able to find some holes,” McCord said of Bucknell, which entered the game leading the Patriot League in rushing defense average at 79.6. “The line did an exceptional job again today, but we had to work for it.

“We did OK today, but we can do a lot better.”

McCord improved his rushing totals to 1,165 yards for the season and 2,601 for his career. The Chicago senior climbed into 10th place on Colgate's all-time list, just ahead of Mark van Eeghen's 2,591 from 1971-73.

Five of Colgate's seven touchdown drives went for 65 yards or more. And despite being outgained 531-447 in total yards, the Raiders still won the time of possession battle by holding the ball for 31:09. The teams combined for only three penalties.

It was a season-high in points for Bucknell (1-7), which had reached 19 points in two previous games. Bison quarterback Brandon Wesley passed for 208 yards and rushed for another 87, while Jeremiah Young added 87 rushing yards.

Friel Tackle Leader
Raiders linebacker Patrick Friel led all tacklers with 16, including a pair of sacks. Friel now has 79 tackles for the season to lead the team.

“It's always nice to get a win, but we need to get better on defense,” Friel said. “We need to shore up our running-game defense. We were better in the first half but started to bend a little in the second half.

“A win's a win. No win's a bad win. But a championship team puts teams away and that's not what we did today. We've got to have a good week of practice and come out and be physical against a good Lafayette team.”

Daniel Cason led the Raiders for the second game in a row with five catches for 83 yards. He also scored his first touchdown of the season on a spectacular reverse early in the third quarter to make the score 28-12.

“It wasn't a receiving one, but I'll take a rushing touchdown,” Cason said. “We were working on that play all week in practice. They are very aggressive to the run, so we thought we could beat them with it.”

Key Defensive Stops
Colgate took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards in 11 plays. McCord converted a key fourth-and-1 at the Bucknell 41, leading to McCarney's 5-yard touchdown run. Andy Burgess made the PAT for a 7-0 Raiders lead.

Bucknell's first points came on a 21-yard field goal by Sean Cobelli with 14:53 left in the first half. That capped a 10-play, 74-yard drive that took 3:25 off the clock. The Raiders' lead was 7-3.

On Colgate's ensuing possession, McCarney was immediately intercepted by Bucknell's Evan Byers and the Bison were in business at the Colgate 30. A personal foul penalty helped Bucknell move into scoring position, where Cobelli converted a 23-yard field goal to narrow Colgate's lead to 7-6 with 11:36 left in the half.

Colgate took advantage of those defensive stops and put together another long scoring march. The Raiders drove 76 yards in 13 plays, with McCarney again scoring on a sweep – this time from 2 yards out. Burgess converted the PAT and it was 14-6 with 5:36 left in the half.

Bucknell took advantage of Brian Regan's 58-yard kickoff return to set up a short scoring drive. Quarterback Brandon Wesley plowed in from the 1-yard line and, although the two-point conversion failed, Bucknell was back within 14-12 with 3:37 left in the half.

But Colgate answered with another impressive drive. The Raiders went 75 yards in eight plays, McCarney scoring again from 6 yards out to make it 21-12 at halftime.

Sharp Third Quarter
To start the second half, Colgate forced a quick three-and-out and took over at the Bucknell 45. The Raiders had to convert fourth-and-1 from the Bucknell 22, but McCord took care of that to set up a nifty piece of play-calling.

From the Bucknell 17, McCarney broke right on a sweep but then handed to Cason, who found the end zone for his first touchdown of the season. Colgate had its first breathing room of the day and led 28-12 with 10:03 left in the third quarter.

Bucknell answered quickly, needing just 61 seconds to close the gap back to 28-19. A halfback pass from Tyler Smith to quarterback Wesley covered 55 yards and set up Jeremiah Young for a 10-yard TD run on the very next play.

But Colgate's offense answered with another touchdown march. McCarney hit Chris Looney for a key third-down conversion of 39 yards, and McCord found the end zone from 13 yards out. The PAT was blocked, but Colgate led 34-19 with 6:27 left in the third quarter.

Colgate's defense made a play on the ensuing drive, stone-walling Bucknell's Wesley on a quarterback sneak to hand the ball to the offense at the Bison 34-yard line.

Tight End Target
The Raiders needed only four plays for their third touchdown of the quarter, with McCarney hitting Stempeck on a 12-yard touchdown pass. It was Stempeck's fourth touchdown catch this season – he's second on the team – and the seventh by a Colgate tight end out of 13 pass receptions this year.

The Raiders led 41-19 with 3:39 left in the third quarter.

The team's then traded touchdowns to reach the final margin. Bucknell scored on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Wesley to Josh Brake. Colgate answered with a 13-yard TD run by McCord, but Bucknell responded on a 3-yard run by Smith. It was 47-33 with 9:06 left in the game.

The Bison had one last threat inside Colgate territory, but a deflected pass by Kris Kent on a third-down pass and Friel's sack on fourth down ended Bucknell's hopes with 3:59 to play.

“I knew Bucknell would play hard, but we kind of wore them out,” Biddle said. “People don't realize that we can throw the ball, and when you can throw the ball you're going to be able to run in. Our quarterback and our receivers are phenomenal, and our tailback is excellent.”

Colgate hosts Lafayette next Saturday in a 1 p.m. kickoff.