Oct. 10, 2008

Game Notes

Stony Brook, N.Y. -

Stony Brook's football team will be making a historic visit to the state of Virginia on Saturday where the Seawolves will face Liberty in the first Big South game for Stony Brook. Liberty, ranked 15th and undefeated at 5-0, will provide a strong challenge for the Seawolves in their first outing in their new football league. The game, which will kickoff at 3:30 p.m., will be televised regionally on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), which is available in the New York area to satellite TV subscribers.

Kickoff
After taking a week off, Stony Brook returns to the gridiron this week with a historic game for the Seawolves - their first-ever Big South Conference game. The first Big South game for Stony Brook will not be an easy one; the Seawolves will have to take on un¬defeated Liberty on the Flames home field where they have won 10 straight. Stony Brook will be trying to break out of a first-half slump that has seen the Seawolves drop four straight after tak¬ing the first game of the season against Colgate. Two weeks ago the Seawolves saw Hofstra score 21 straight points in the second quarter as the Pride took a 43-3 win in LaValle Stadium. Despite a combined 138 yards of rushing from Conte Cuttino and Ed Gowins and six catches for 69 yards from Dwayne Eley, Hofstra kept the Seawolves offense out of the end zone and allowed just a second quarter field goal. Coming into this week's game Gowins and Cut¬tino are two of the top five rushers in the Big South.

The Opponent
Liberty, the preseason pick to win the Big South and the defending conference champs, is living up to its billing so far in 2008. The Flames come into the game undefeated at 5-0 and have moved all the way up to #15 in this week's Sports Network poll. Liberty has now won 10 straight going back to last season, the longest cur¬rent streak in FCS football. Last week it was a showdown on the road with the preseason #2 pick in the Big South, Coastal Caro¬lina. When the smoke had cleared it was the Flames who came away with a 43-38 win. Senior Rashad Jennings, the preseason Big South Player of the Year, ran for 195 yards and scored three times to earn Big South Offensive Player of the Week honors. Lib¬erty boasts the top scoring offense in the Big South at 37.2 points per game and the top offense at 443.2 yards per game. Senior Brock Smith is the top rated passers in the league, while senior Nick Hurskey leads the team in tackles per game with 7.8, third in the league.

The Series
Like all of the Big South schools that Stony Brook will meet this season, this will be the first meeting between SBU and Liberty in football. The Flames are one of seven opponents for the Sea¬wolves this season that are first timers. It will be the second game in as many years for Stony Brook in Virginia; the Seawolves played at Richmond last season.

For those fans unable to attend the game, all of the action will be carried on WUSB (90.1 FM) with Mike Solano and Jeff Bernstein bringing listeners all the action.