Oct. 15, 2005

Box Score | Quotes | Notes

Duquesne held Saint Peter's to 150 yards of total offense in extending its conference win streak to a nation's-best 34 games with a convincing 24-0 win over the Peacocks at Rooney Field.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the Dukes, who evened their overall record at 3-3 (1-0 in the MAAC). The loss dropped Saint Peter's to 1-5 (0-2 in the MAAC).

Antoine Bullock led the way for Duquesne with a career-high 12 tackles, including 3.0 sacks to move him into a tie for second on the Dukes' all-time sacks list with 23.5.

Duquesne was dominant from the start, holding Saint Peter's to 14 yards on 13 first-quarter plays in jumping out to a 14-0 lead. Jeremy McCullough, who finished with 58 yards on 13 carries, scored on an 8-yard run with 5:00 to go in the opening quarter, and Alex Roberson pulled in a 3-yard pass from Scott Knapp on the Dukes' next possession for the two touchdown lead.

Fullback Greg Hough capped a 49-yard drive with an 11-yard touchdown run to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter, and Mark Troyan converted a 24-yard field goal with :15 left in the first half to close-out the game's scoring.

Duquesne, led by James Jacobs' 70 yards on 13 carries, finished with a season-high 169 yards on the ground.

Saint Peter's Sean Mayers, who entered the game ranked ninth nationally with a 121.2 yards per game rushing average, was held to 48 yards on 20 carries by a Duquesne defense that finished the game with nine total tackles for loss.

SPC quarterback Scott Bonnono completed 14-of-30 passes for 111 yards and was intercepted twice - once each by linebacker John Simmons and safety Michael Hill.

Knapp found eight different receivers in completing 17-of-29 passes for 152 yards for Duquesne. Alex Roberson led the way with four catches for 42 yards. Freshman Travis Taltoan added three grabs for 38 yards as the Dukes finished the afternoon with 338 yards of total offense.

Michael Ford, Harry Carter and Josh Antinopoulos were in on eight tackles each for Duquesne.

BY QUARTER   1   2   3   4   FINALSAINT PETER'S   0   0   0   0   0DUQUESNE    14  10  0   0   24
LEADERSRushing (Att./Yds./TD):  DU - Jacobs (13-70-0);  SPC - Mayers (20-48-0)Passing (Att./Comp./Int./Yds./TD):  DU - Knapp (29-17-1-152-1);  SPC - Bonnono (30-14-2-111-0)Receiving (Att./Yds./TD):  DU - Roberson (4-42-1);  SPC - Edmonds (4-35), Larmore (4-33)Tackles (Tot./Solo):  DU - Bullock (12/9);  SPC - Robinson (12/8)

Duquesne Head Coach Jerry Schmitt: "The first two games of the season we played well offensively, since then we've been struggling with our consistency. We did a lot of good things in the first half that we can build on. Defensively, we've been playing great all year. I think our kids developed more mental toughness [from a three-game road losing streak] than when we last played here [Sept. 10] and that's going to help us in conference."

Duquesne defensive end Antoine Bullock: "I like that fact that our defense played as a unit. We really helped the offense by pitching a shutout. The offense was able to get the ball rolling and that gets our confidence back up."

GAME NOTES --

The shutout was Duquesne's first since a 49-0 whitewash win at Butler on Sept. 13, 2003 ... DU's conference win streak now stands at 34 games ... it is the longest active conference win streak among NCAA Division I-A and I-AA schools and ranks third all time behind Oklahoma (44 in the Big Eight from 1952-59) and Nebraska (39 in the Big Eight/Big 12 from 1992-98) on the all-time list for Division I-A and I-AA ... Antoine Bullock (Houston, Texas/Sugar Land Kempner), who entered the game tied for 15th nationally with a sack per game average, finished with three sacks to up his season total to 9.0 and career total to 23.5 ... Bullock, who is now tied for second on DU's all-time sacks list with Philip Polony (2000-03), trails all-time sacks leader John Wojciechowski (24.0 sacks from 1992-95) by 0.5 ... freshman Travis Taltoan (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) caught three passes for 38 yards (both career highs) in his first extended playing time at wide receiver ... Duquesne's 169 yards rushing easily eclipsed its previous season high of 107 set at Columbia ... DU, led by James Jacobs' (Norristown, Pa./Norristown), 70 yards on 13 carries, averaged 4.3 yards per rush on the afternoon ... redshirt freshman quarterback Scott Knapp (Pittsburgh, Pa./Perry Traditional Academy) completed passes to eight different receivers on the afternoon ... sophomore linebacker John Simmons (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) recorded his first career interception in the second quarter ... Duquesne was 4-of-4 in the red zone with three TDs and a field goal ... Saint Peter's deepest penetration of the game - to the Duquesne 16 mid-way through the second quarter - was ended when junior safety Michael Hill (Largo, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) picked off a Scott Bonnono pass at the eight and returned it 11 yards to the 19.