Patriot League Champion Colgate Coming To Town
12/8/2015 9:22:00 AM | Football
The Colgate Raiders, Sam Houston's opponent in Saturday night's NCAA Division I Football Championship quarterfinals, bring a rich tradition of football success to Huntsville.
The 2015 Patriot League champions are participating in their 125th season of football. The Hamilton, New York, based university's program dates back to 1890. The Raiders have competed at the NCAA FCS level since 1982. Colgate is making its 10th appearance in the FCS playoffs.
Sam Houston head coach K. C. Keeler knows the Raiders well. In 2003, Keeler's Delaware squad defeated Colgate 40-0 in the FCS national championship game.
“Colgate is bringing an outstanding football team to Huntsville this weekend,” Keeler said. “They are a team that likes to control the football and keep their opponent's offense off the field. They upset No. 5 ranked James Madison 44-38 last weekend on the road.”
The Raiders rolled 6-0 through the Patriot League to earn their eighth league championship. Other members of the Patriot league are Fordham, Lehigh, Holy Cross, Georgetown, Bucknell and Lafayette. Both of Colgate's playoff victories have come on the road. The Raiders defeated New Hampshire 27-20 in the opening round.
Much like Sam Houston, the Raiders struggled early in the year, losing their first three games to Navy 48-10, New Hampshire 26-8 and Yale 29-28. But the Raiders bounced back to win seven of their final eight games to fight their way into the playoffs.
Led by junior quarterback Jake Melville, the Raiders feature a well-balanced offense that is averaging 208.0 yards per game rushing and 185.4 yards per contest passing. Melville is the team's leading rusher with 173 carries for 1,000 net yards and 10 touchdowns this fall.
He has a stable of talented running backs behind him. James Holland has rushed for 697 yards and 15 scores and Demetrius Russell has added 557 yards and six scores.
“Colgate's ball control tactics paid off for them in their upset at James Madison,” Keeler said. “They had back-to-back drives of 10 minutes and seven minutes with JMU going five-and-out in between. You'll see them look to convert fourth down situations as well.”
The Raiders have scored six touchdowns on fourth-down plays this year. Colgate ranks eighth nationally in fourth-down conversions at 66.7 percent (28-of-42).
Bringing a seven-game winning streak to Huntsville, the Raiders have proven themselves in tight ball games. Each of those seven wins were decided by single digit margins. Starting with the Georgetown game Oct. 17, Colgate has won by margins of 4, 2, 9, 7, 4, 7 and most recently 6 points. That is an average victory margin of only 5.6 points.
Defensively, Colgate brings a reputation for putting pressure on the quarterback. The Raiders led the Patriot league in sacks this season with 36. Three all-conference defenders – Pat Afriyie, Brett Field and Alex Campbell – accounted for 25 of those sacks. Linebacker Kyle Diener led the Patriot League in total tackles with 121 this year.
Tickets to the Sam Houston versus Colgate NCAA playoff quarterfinal game are available now online at www.gobearkats.com or at the Bearkat athletic ticket office located on the west side of Elliott T. Bowers Stadium. Kickoff Saturday is at 11 a.m. The game will be telecast on ESPN3.
