Amherst College (0-0) vs. Bates College (0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 * Garcelon Field
Lewiston, ME * 1 p.m.

LIVE COVERAGE
Amherst's season opener will
feature live statistics and a webcast.

THIS WEEK IN THE NESCAC
Tufts @ Hamilton (1 p.m.)
Williams @ Bowdoin (1 p.m.)
Middlebury @ Wesleyan (1 p.m.)
Trinity @ Colby (1 p.m.)

THE SERIES
Amherst holds a commanding 21-4-2 advantage in the all-time series, out-scoring Bates by a 152-6 margin during its current five-game winning streak thanks to four shutouts. Now competing against each other only twice every four years, the Jeffs and Bobcats were regular opponents from 1976-91, with seven of those 16 games decided by seven points or fewer. Bates last got the best of Amherst in 1999 with a 19-7 season-opening result in Lewiston.

LAST MEETING
Amherst ran for a pair of touchdowns, threw for two others, returned a fumble for six points and was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goal attempts in its 44-0 season-opening win over Bates. Alex Vetras '11 threw for 165 yards and two touchdowns, while Eric Bunker '12 led a powerful running game with 96 yards and a touchdown. Led by inside linebacker Brandon Quinn '11, the Jeffs' defense recovered three Bobcat fumbles and held Bates to eight first downs. Amherst nearly tripled Bates in total yards with a 391-143 edge on the day and dominated every facet of the game, scoring on all six of its trips to the red zone.

AMHERST LAST TIME OUT
Williams College quarterback Pat Moffitt '11 threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to J.C. Stickney '12 with 3:26 left in the fourth quarter to close the books on the 125th football game in Amherst-Williams history. The Ephs' 31-16 win capped off their seventh 8-0 season, while the Lord Jeffs ended the year at 6-2. The teams were knotted at 10-10 at halftime, but Williams scored the only seven points of the third quarter and outscored the Jeffs by a 14-6 margin in the fourth. Moffitt finished with four touchdown passes and 326 yards, with Stickney accumulating 135 receiving yards and a pair of TDs.

BATES LAST TIME OUT
Bates ended the 2010 season with a 2-6 record after defeating Hamilton College 28-18, marking the Bobcats' sixth win over the Continentals in their past seven meetings. Bates took over the lead early in the second quarter and used an opportunistic defense to keep the lead the rest of the way, despite being held without a first down for the entire second half. Kevin Helm '12 had a career-high 18 tackles (14 solo) to spearhead a Bates defense that limited Hamilton to negative rushing yardage as a team until its final possession. The Bobcats sacked Hamilton quarterback Jordan Eck six times, while first-year safety Andrew Kukesh recovered a Hamilton fumble and picked off two passes.

SCOUTING AMHERST
The 2010 Lord Jeffs garnered national attention with their "blur" offense, which helped them average a program-record 35.8 points and more than 400 total yards per game. Amherst's ability to score in bunches was put on display from the get-go, as the Jeffs scored on five of their first six drives against Bates and on each of their first three at Bowdoin. The most remarkable performance came against Tufts in Week 6, when Amherst scored a touchdown on 10 of its final 12 possessions after being shut out in the first quarter. Highlighting this year's offense are running back Eric Bunker '12 and center John Ceccio '13, who each landed on the All-NESCAC Team in 2010. The Lord Jeffs will need to replace the school's all-time leading passer, but they have an abundance of veteran wide receivers who are capable of taking over a game.

Amherst's offense will keep its foot on the gas pedal in 2011, but the defense will need to find consistency. The Lord Jeffs allowed 10 points or fewer in four of their wins in 2010, but they surrendered an average of 34.8 in their other four games. Amherst outscored opponents by a 230-81 margin in the first three quarters last year but was out-scored by Trinity and Williams by a combined 42-6 in the fourth. The average number of passing yards the Jeffs have allowed per game has increased every year from 129.6 in 2005 to a NESCAC-high 256.6 in 2010, but Amherst should put a stop to that streak in 2011 thanks to one of the conference's best shutdown secondary units. Spearheading the defense is All-America lineman Kevin Ferber '12, who recorded 5.5 sacks last year and has notched 100 tackles in his career.

While the offense should be firing on all cylinders and the defense should be much improved from a year ago, Amherst's special teams units are expected to once again stand out in the NESCAC. Matt Rawson '12 established himself as one of the best punters in the conference and one of the top placekickers in all of Division III, while Philip Nwosu '14 led the league in touchbacks as a standout kickoff specialist. The Jeffs are typically a disciplined team, and last year was no exception as they led the league in turnover margin and committed the fewest number of penalties. They also led the conference last year in 4th-down conversion rate (.588, 10-of-17) and red zone offense (.875, 35-of-40), as Amherst will look to continue its aggressive style of play.

SCOUTING BATES
Five Bates players earned a spot on the All-NESCAC Team in 2010—the program's most since 2003—but defensive back Andrew Kukesh '14 is the only one from that group who returns to the lineup this year. Kukesh ranked second in the NESCAC with six interceptions as a first-year, one of which came against Amherst in the season opener. The Bobcats notably lose linebacker Myles Walker '11, who led the team in tackles three years in a row, as well as punter Gavin Segall-Abrams '11, who led the NESCAC in yards per punt and handled the majority of the Bobcats' kicking game in 2010.

Bates has finished with two or fewer wins in each of the past eight seasons, but the Bobcats saw significant improvements in 2010. Behind the triple-option offense, the Bobcats averaged 106 rushing yards per game for the NESCAC's sixth-highest mark, a drastic jump from the 57.9 they averaged in 2009. Bates also saw a decrease in the number of sacks allowed, dropping from 31 in 2009 to 16 a year ago. Last season the Bobcats led the league in punting (34.5) and ranked third in rushing defense (116.8), fourth in sacks (18) and fourth in turnover margin (+3). They scored an average of 13.0 points and accumulated 220.2 yards of total offense per game, 106.0 of which came on the ground.

PROBABLE STARTERS

RETURNING STATISTICAL LEADERS

2010 STATISTICAL COMPARISONS