Sept. 7, 2005

FORDHAM (0-1) at #2 DUQUESNE (1-0)
Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1:00 p.m.
Rooney Field (4,500) -- Pittsburgh, Pa.

Ranking listed from The Sports Network I-AA Mid-Major Top 10

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Alex Panormios (play-by-play) & Chris Kucharski (color)
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DUKES HOST FORDHAM FOR FIRST TIME SINCE `69

Duquesne, coming off a 23-12 season-opening win over cross-town rival Robert Morris, stays at home to host the Patriot League's Fordham Rams on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1:00 p.m. (WKFB-AM 770, www.redzonemedia.com) on Rooney Field. It marks the first time since 1969 that the Rams and Dukes will meet in Pittsburgh. Fordham is the first of two Patriot League schools on the Duquesne schedule (at Georgetown on Oct. 8 is the other). Fordham, which was picked to finish fourth in the Patriot League preseason poll, opened last week with a 34-20 loss at Rhode Island. Duquesne enters the game ranked No. 2 in The Sports Network I-AA Mid-Major Top 10. Last year Duquesne split four games versus Patriot League schools with wins over Holy Cross and Georgetown and losses to Fordham and Bucknell. DU owns eight wins over Patriot League schools since 1999, no active I-AA Mid-Major has more wins vs. the Patriot League than Duquesne.

SCHMITT IS IT

Jerry Schmitt, who spent the last five seasons as head coach at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., returned to DU to take the head coaching position in April. He replaces Greg Gattuso - DU's all-time winningest coach (97-32-0 in 12 seasons) - who accepted a job as tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator under Dave Wannstedt at Pitt. Schmitt is no stranger to Duquesne football, having served as an assistant for 11 seasons (1985-87 and 1992-99) prior to taking the Westminster job. The Pittsburgh native was the Dukes' offensive coordinator for his last seven years and was part of DU's first three MAAC Championship teams (1995, `96 & `99). He went 28-21-0 in his five seasons at Westminster.

THE SERIES

Duquesne, which competes with Fordham in the Atlantic 10 conference in sports other than football and wrestling, is 0-3 all-time vs. the Rams ... last year, in the first meeting between the two school since 1970, Fordham handed Duquesne a 41-34 defeat at FU's Jack Coffey Field (game recap on page 6 of release) ... Fordham, competing as a Club team in 1969 and Division III team in 1970, took back-to-back meetings by a 36-0 count at Pittsburgh and 12-0 score at New York City ... Duquesne was competing as a Club team at the time of both games ... Fordham and Duquesne both have storied football histories, especially in the years prior to World War II ... from 1933-42, the Dukes and Rams were among the elite nationally ... over that 10-year span, Duquesne (71-22-2, .762) had the sixth-best winning percentage in the nation behind Alabama, Tennessee, Duke, Fordham and Notre Dame ... in 1934, Duquesne defeated Miami, Fla. 33-7 in the Festival of Palms Bowl (the precursor to the Orange Bowl) ... the Dukes also defeated Mississippi State in the 1937 Orange Bowl by a 13-12 score ... Fordham also played in a pair of New Year's Day Bowls, losing to Texas A&M, 13-12, in the 1941 Cotton Bowl and defeating Missouri 2-0 in the 1942 Sugar Bowl.

DU VS. FORDHAM
all-time (1969-current)

1969    L       H       0-361970    L       A       0-122004    L       A       34-41
Overall:          Fordham leads 3-0At Bronx:         FU leads 2-0At Pittsburgh:    FU leads 1-0At Rooney Field:  First meeting

The Dukes and Rams first met in 1969 when both schools competed at the Club level. The `69 season was DU's first since dropping Division I football after the 1950 season

PATRIOT GAMES

Duquesne owns eight wins over schools from the Patriot League (all in the last six years). In fact, no other current I-AA Mid-Major has won more games against Patriot League schools than Duquesne:

MOST WINS VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE BY CURRENT MID-MAJORS

8 - DUQUESNE, Monmouth
4 - Marist
3 - Davidson
2 - Central Connecticut State, Drake, San Diego
1 - Albany, Dayton, Robert Morris, St. Peter's, Stony Brook

GREAT SCOTT!

Redshirt freshman Scott Knapp (Pittsburgh, Pa./Perry Traditional Academy), who beat out redshirt junior Ben Palumbo (Canton, Ohio/McKinley) and redshirt freshman Mark Rupert (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) for the starting quarterback position in preseason camp, completed 23-of-42 passes for a freshman-record 365 yards and a touchdown in the season-opener vs. Robert Morris. Knapp's yardage total was the seventh-best in school history and second-highest passing yardage total by any QB at the Division I-AA level last weekend. The 6-3, 230-pound Knapp, who threw for 4,647 yards in leading Perry to a 37-4 record and three City League championships from 2001-03, is attempting to fill the shoes of four-year starter Niel Loebig, who finished his career as one of just five players in I-AA history to throw for over 10,000 yards (10,254) and 100 touchdowns (103). Duquesne has had an impressive run of quarterbacks beginning with Dave Loya in 1994. Loya, who became the starter in the second game of his sophomore year, broke 13 of 15 school passing records in this three years as a starter (1995-97). Tony Zimmerman, who began his career at Pitt, transferred in and started for three years (1998-00), breaking 11 of 15 records. Loebig followed Zimmerman and broke 13 of 15 passing marks in his four years as a starter (2001-04). Here is how DU's last four QB's fared in their first start:

FIRST CAREER STARTS FOR DU'S LAST FOUR QBs

              Opponent          Result    Att/Comp/Int  Pct  TD Sacks                                                   YdsScott Knapp    Robert Morris (H) W (23-12) 42-23-1 365  .548  1  1-11(Sept. 3, 2005)Niel Loebig    VMI (H)           W (41-18) 31-22-1 303  .710  2  0-0(Aug. 30, 2001)Tony Zimmerman Bucknell (H)      L (10-38) 22-8-2  149  .364  1  2-16(Dec. 5, 1998)Dave Loya      St. Peter's (A)   W (40-21) 13-6-0   79  .461  1  1-10(Sept. 24, 1994)

• Knapp was 14-of-25 for 222 yards in the first half vs. Robert Morris
• Loebig completed 13-of-16 passes for 174 yards in the first half vs. VMI
• Zimmerman's first pass was a 20-yard first quarter touchdown to Reggie Harris
• Loya's first career pass was intercepted vs. Georgetown on Sept. 17, 1994 (Loya came in for Brian Staines in the third quarter) ... DU won that game 3-0

MORE ON THOSE QB's

A total of three quarterbacks, from Dave Loya (second game of the 1995 season) through Niel Loebig last year, led Duquesne to an 86-22 record over an 11-year span. Loya started 31 in a row from 1995-97 (26-5), Tony Zimmerman 33 in a row from 1998-00 (26-7) and Loebig 44 in a row from 2001-04 (34-10). That means that entering the 2005 season, just three quarterbacks had started Duquesne's previous 108 games. Loya, Zimmerman and Loebig combined for eight MAAC Championships, one National Championship and broke 37 of a possible 45 school records over that 11-year span.

DUQUESNE'S TOP PASSING DAYS

  1.  438       Tony Zimmerman vs. Iona    Sr.  2000  2.  411       Niel Loebig at Dayton      So.  2002  3.  391       Tony Zimmerman at VMI      Sr.  2000  4.  373       Dave Loya vs. Siena        Sr.  1997  5.  372       Niel Loebig vs. Siena      Jr.  2003  6.  370       Niel Loebig at Iona        Jr.  2003  7.  365       Scott Knapp vs. RMUs       Fr.  2005  8.  354       Niel Loebig vs. Marist     Jr.  2003  9.  349       Niel Loebig vs. Lafayette  So.  2002 10.  348       Niel Loebig at Holy Cross  Sr.  2004

NOTES FROM ROBERT MORRIS

Redshirt freshman Scott Knapp's (Pittsburgh, Pa./Perry Traditional Academy) 365 yards passing was the seventh-highest single-game total in school history, eclpsing the school freshman record of 337 yards set by Niel Loebig vs. Dayton in 2001 ... only three other Duquesne quarterbacks - Tony Zimmerman, Loebig and Dave Loya - have ever thrown for more yards in a game ... Knapp was 14-of-25 for 222 yards in the first half alone ... he completed passes to eight different receivers on the afternoon ... sophomore Bruce Hocker (Upper Marlboro, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) established new career highs for catches (8) and yards (163) in notching his second career 100-yard game ... Hocker had 5 catches for 112 yards in the first half alone ... his previous career-best was 110 yards vs. Morehead State last season ... fellow sophomore Alex Roberson (Waynesboro, Ga./Curtis Baptist Upper School) tied his career high with six catches for a career-best 66 yards vs. RMU ... Josh Antinopoulos' (Monaca, Pa./Monaca) three sacks moved him into third place on Duquesne's career sacks list with 18 ... the senior All-American defensive tackle also broke up a pass and forced a pair of fumbles ... true freshman placekicker Mark Troyan (Ford City, Pa./Ford City) converted all three of his field goal attempts (36, 25, 36) and a pair of extra points ... the Dukes converted 10 of 18 third downs ... junior Todd Mills (South Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom) posted his second career interception early in the fourth quarter ... sophomore cornerback Paul Mulbah (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt), making just his third career start, posted a team- and career-high 9 tackles to lead Duquesne.

DUKES AT HOME

Duquesne is 53-12-0 (.815) on Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field since the opening of the facility in October of 1993. Over the last six-plus seasons, the Dukes have posted a 32-3-0 mark at home with the three losses coming to Robert Morris (28-26 on Nov. 23, 1996 in the ECAC Bowl), Dayton (42-16 on Sept. 29, 2001) and Bucknell (30-20 in last year's season finale on Nov. 20, 2004). The Bucknell loss snapped a 16-game home winning streak. Duquesne, which has gone undefeated at home four times in the last six years, has also had home win streaks of 14 (ended by the loss to Dayton) and 10 (ended by the loss to Robert Morris) games.