Off to its fourth consecutive 2-0 start, the football team takes the gridiron this weekend for its first away contest of the season.
The Jumbos will make the long trip up to Brunswick, Maine tomorrow to square off against the Bowdoin Polar Bears, who currently sit winless at the bottom of the NESCAC with a 0-2 mark. And after convincing wins over Wesleyan and Bates, Tufts is looking to start 3-0 for the third consecutive season.
This won't be the first time that the two NESCAC teams have faced each other in 2008. The Jumbos hosted the Polar Bears in a pre-season game back in early September, a contest in which Tufts came out on top. But junior linebacker Alex Perry doesn't think that the scrimmage will have any significant bearing on this weekend's game.
"During that scrimmage, I think Bowdoin had something like seventeen starters out," Perry said, "so we haven't really had a fair assessment of their potential yet."
Despite Bowdoin's 0-2 record, the Polar Bears boast one of the most potent offenses in the NESCAC. Last weekend in a 31-24 loss to Amherst, Bowdoin quarterback Oliver Kell threw for an impressive 202 yards and three touchdowns. Through the first two games of the season, Kell is second in the NESCAC in both passing yards and total offense. Possessing the unique ability to both pass and run, he has also added 108 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
The weakness of the Polar Bears' offense lies in the backfield, as Kell is the only Bowdoin player to rush for more than 100 yards in 2008. It's clear that Bowdoin's offense lives and dies around its quarterback, and the Jumbos' defense will need to focus on containing Kell in order to come out victorious.
"Kell is a great quarterback, there's no doubt about it," Perry said. "But, as a defense, we are confident that we have the game plan to stop him. We have trust in our secondary, linebacker corps and defensive line to do the job."
If their defense performs half as well as it did in their last game, the Jumbos should have no problem stopping the Polar Bears. Last weekend, Tufts dominated the Bates offense, holding the Bobcats to just seven points and 167 yards of total offense while also forcing two turnovers before emerging with a 34-7 victory. The Jumbos hope that after such a strong performance, they can keep the momentum going.
"A game like last week's was certainly a confidence booster for our unit," Perry said.
On the other side of the ball, Tufts' offense has to be licking its chops as it gets ready to face a Bowdoin defense that is allowing a conference-worst 467.5 yards per game and has already surrendered a league-high 73 points. But despite those numbers, junior quarterback Anthony Fucillo insisted that the offense isn't planning to alter its approach.
"I think we go into every game the same," Fucillo said. "We've been doing very well establishing the running game with [senior tailback] Will [Forde], and I don't think we really change our mentality from game to game."
Last weekend Fucillo threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns as the Jumbos scored their highest point total since the second game of the 2007 season. While Fucillo has enjoyed a solid start to the 2008 season, the brightest spot on the offense has been Forde's on-the-ground performance. Forde has rushed for over 100 yards in both games so far this season and leads the NESCAC with 249 rushing yards. As a team, the Jumbos rank first in the NESCAC with 424 yards on the ground.
"I think we have a lot of talent as an offense and it really starts with our offensive line," Fucillo said. "They don't get enough credit and they've done a really nice job this year."
Aided by Fucillo's strong arm and Forde's quick feet, the Jumbos are averaging 405 total yards per game. If the squad can maintain its high-octane offense while containing the Polar Bears' offensive weapon in Kell, both through the air and on the ground, then a 3-0 record remains squarely within its reach.
