Bowdoin and Wesleyan Battle For 80th Time This Saturday
SATURDAY’S
GAME
The Bowdoin College and Wesleyan University football teams will
meet for the 80th time in series history Saturday afternoon (12:30
p.m.) as the Polar Bears celebrate Parent’s Weekend at
Whittier Field. Bowdoin traded blows with NESCAC-leading Trinity
last weekend before allowing two late scores in a 45-31 setback.
The Cardinals succumbed at Amherst, 23-0. Both teams stand in a
five-way tie for fourth place in the league with a 2-3 overall
record.
BROADCAST
INFORMATION
Bowdoin will provide a Live Video Webcast and Live
Statistics from Whittier Field on Saturday.
AT HOME BENEATH
THE PINES
Whittier Field has truly been a home-field advantage for the Polar
Bears over the last two seasons. Bowdoin is 4-1 in their last five
home contests and have posted some gaudy offensive numbers during
that stretch. Over the last four home games, the team has averaged
445 yards of offense and, dating back to the beginning of the 2008
season, have averaged 32 points per game at home.
OLIVER THE
RECORD BOOK
Senior quarterback Oliver Kell established and tied two prominent
school records in last week’s defeat at Trinity. Already the
program’s all-time leader in pass yardage, Kell threw for
four touchdowns to raise his season total to 12, tying the mark set
by Hayes MacArthur ‘99 in 1998. He also shattered
MacArthur’s all-time touchdown passes record of 30 and
currently has 32 for his career.
BOWDOIN BY THE
NUMBERS
The Polar Bears extended their school-record of consecutive games
with a 100-yard receiver to five as Justin Starr caught eight
passes for 124 yards against Trinity. Bowdoin boasts the
league’s most efficient passing attack, averaging 308 yards
passing per game with 12 scores and just four interceptions this
season. The Polar Bears have the best receiving corps in the
conference with Pat Noone leading the league in catches (46) and
yards (617) and Starr sitting third in yards (469) and second in
yards per catch (19.5). As a unit, Bowdoin’s offense is
second in the NESCAC at 405.8 yards per game and 
fourth with a 27.2 scoring average. Defensively, Bowdoin is ninth
in the conference, permitting 365.2 yards per contest and have
allowed an average of 25.0 points per game. Ian Vieira is sixth in
the NESCAC with 4.5 sacks this year while the Polar Bears stand
second in the league with a +5 turnover margin.
SCOUTING THE
CARDINALS
The Cardinal offense ranks eighth in the NESCAC in both scoring
(12.4/game) and total yardage (252.8/game). Sophomore quarterback
Blake DuBois is averaging 126.6 yards passing per game, but has
thrown eight interceptions against just three touchdowns this
season. The Cardinals are ninth with a -6 turnover margin in 2009,
and have relied heavily on their defense, which stands third in the
conference in total yards allowed (281.6/game) and fifth in scoring
(17.6). Justin Freres is the team’s leading tackler with 51
stops this season while Pete Sugarbaker has posted 4.0 sacks.
LAST
MEETING
Kell was a one-man wrecking crew in Middletown last season,
carrying or throwing the ball on 61 of Bowdoin’s 80 offensive
plays in a 17-10 victory. He passed 31 times for 229 yards and a
touchdown and rushed 30 times for another 113 yards and a score.
His five-yard scamper with 1:31 remaining proved to be the
difference.
BOWDOIN vs.
WESLEYAN
The Cards leads the all-time series 49-28-2 over the Polar Bears
in one of the more bizarre rivalries in Bowdoin’s history. In
looking through the series history, Wesleyan-Bowdoin games have
often been a statistical oddity. The most fumbles ever committed by
a Bowdoin team (10) came in a 1966 loss to the Cardinals, while the
most fumbles ever committed by a Polar Bear opponent was
Wesleyan’s nine in a 1977 Bowdoin win. In the 1976 game,
Bowdoin threw two passes- the fewest in modern Bowdoin history- in
a 42-34 victory. In addition, the fewest yards gained in a game by
the Polar Bears came in 1966 (23) against Wesleyan, while the
fewest yards ever allowed by a Bowdoin defense (44) also came
against Wesleyan in 1963.
