Patriot League Release
NCAA Interception Leaders

HAMILTON – Mike Armiento does not, in fact, have an interception in every game this season. It just seems that way.

The Raiders junior safety jumped to the top of the NCAA FCS leaderboard in interceptions over the weekend with his fifth pick in the last five games. Armiento is tied for first nationally with Richmond's Wayne Pettus; both players have five in seven games played this season.

For his efforts, Armiento was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this month. He also earned national honorable mention notice by the College Football Performance Awards.

"Now that I'm in the middle of the field, they can't really shy away from my side," said Armiento, who recently moved from cornerback to safety. "I'm able to be back there and react to the ball. Instead of half the balls coming my way, now all the balls are coming my way."

Armiento's latest heist kept Colgate alive for what turned out to be a 28-24 victory at Holy Cross in the Patriot League opener. He made Colgate's game-winning drive possible by intercepting a pass in the end zone with 3:50 remaining and the Raiders trailing 24-21.

Armiento also recovered an earlier Crusaders fumble at the Colgate 1-yard line, meaning he had a hand in preventing 14 potential Holy Cross points.

Red-Zone Awareness
His knack for red-zone takeaways began earlier this month at Cornell, when he turned in an 85-yard pick-six to boost the Raiders to a 41-20 victory. One week later against Stony Brook, Armiento intercepted a deflected pass at his own 2-yard line.

"The red zone shrinks the field, so there's less of an opportunity for the offense to do different things," he said. "Teams are going to go back to what they comfortably do in the red zone, and I watch a lot of film.

"It the hardest area to defend because it's the closest to the end zone, but it's also the most exciting to cover because you know all the pressure's on the line. That's always a fun thing to experience."

The Fort Lauderdale, Fla., native posted a game-high 10 tackles Saturday, all solo, including one for lost yardage. For the year, Armiento leads the Colgate defense with 59 tackles, 43 solo stops and six pass breakups, in addition to his five interceptions.

Armiento already broke a 61-year-old Colgate record for interception return yards in a game when he picked off two passes at Cornell for 134 yards. His season total stands at 144, which leads the country and is just 32 yards shy of the program's one-year mark of 176 set by Al Simmons in 1952.

Saturday's interception was the 11th of Armiento's career, lifting him to a tie for sixth on the all-time Colgate chart. He's in a 14-way tie for ninth on the Raiders' season list (see both lists below).

Colgate Interception Records

Career
1. Tom Wilson (1964-66)        20
2. Paul Lawler (1974, 76-78)   16
3. Sheldon Spicer (1985-87)    13
   Marcus Cameron (1993-96)    13
5. Brandon Tinson (1997-2000)  12
6. MIKE ARMIENTO (2011-pr.)    11
   John Owens (1951-53)        11
   Thomas Doyle (1969-71)      11
   Jared Nepa (2003-05)        11
10. Al Simmons (1950-52)       10
    Todd Palmatier (1971-73)   10
    Mark Murphy (1973-76)      10

Season
1. Tom Wilson (1966)            8
2. Paul Lawler (1977)           7
   Sheldon Spicer (1987)        7
4. Tom Wilson (1964)            6
   Tom Wilson (1965)            6
   Al Simmons (1967)            6
   Thomas Doyle (1970)          6
   Geoff Bean (2004)            6
9. MIKE ARMIENTO                5
   13 other players tied        5

Statistical Updates
The Patriot League's Matt Dougherty, Assistant Executive Director for Communications, found this nugget: Raiders quarterback Gavin McCarney is up to ninth in Patriot League history with 7,562 yards of total offense, split between 4,995 passing yards and 2,567 rushing yards.

Dougherty added that with five more passing yards, McCarney joins Appalachian State's Armanti Edwards (2006-09) and Morehead State's David Dinkins (1997-2000) as the only players in FCS history with career totals of at least 5,000 passing yards and 2,500 rushing yards.

McCarney earned Patriot League honorable mention notice after completing 18-of-23 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns, and running for 71 yards and a score in the 28-24 win at Holy Cross. He tossed the game-winning 31-yard touchdown to Brian Lalli with 59 seconds to play.

Colgate historian Bob Cornell reports that McCarney is currently seventh on the school's all-time passing chart and just 232 yards short of climbing into the top 10 in rushing. With five more passing yards, McCarney becomes just the fifth quarterback in Colgate history to pass for 5,000 in a career.

McCarney is also 10th in career scoring with 208 points, needing three more points for ninth place, 13 more for eighth, 15 more for seventh and 19 more for sixth. He currently stands third in career total offense with 7,572 yards and needs 970 more for second place. McCarney is averaging 277.0 yards per game.

Senior receiver Dan Cason caught six passes Saturday for a season-high 123 yards. It was Cason's second-best collegiate game ever behind the 173 yards he amassed last year against Georgetown.

He's now eighth in Colgate career receptions with 121, needing four more for seventh place and nine for sixth. Cason also has 1,650 receiving yards, just nine shy of 10th place all time.