Tufts fans will finally get their chance to see the 2001 edition of the Jumbo football team, when it hosts NESCAC rival Bowdoin this Saturday in the home opener. The high-flying Jumbos will be looking to extend their perfect record to 3-0, while the Polar Bears are in search of their first win of the season.
In fact, Bowdoin has not won a game since Oct. 16, 1999 - a streak that currently stands at 14 games - and has not defeated the Jumbos since 1997.
Even so, Tufts coach Bill Samko, who has a 4-3 career record against Bowdoin, is not about to let his team get overconfident. "I think we better go play well," Samko said. "Because if you don't play well against any team in this league, they're going to get you. [Bowdoin] is very hungry to win, so I'm sure that they'll come out and play extremely hard."
Last year, the Jumbos narrowly escaped with a 27-23 win over the Polar Bears in Brunswick, ME courtesy of Chuck McGraw's three-yard touchdown run with 41 seconds to play. Tufts' offense was mediocre at best for the majority of that contest, gaining a total of 238 yards on the day, but turning over the ball three times. One of the three turnovers, a fumble off a bad snap, led to a recovery in the end zone and a decisive touchdown by Bowdoin to give the hosts a 20-7 lead with 12:55 to go in the fourth. But a John Elway-like comeback by Tufts resulted in a 20-point explosion to give Tufts the win.
This time around, the story should be a bit different, as the Jumbos look to a running game who has racked up totals of 315 and 340 yards in their first two contests. Junior running back Keven Kelley leads the NESCAC in rushing with 324 yards, 137 more than his closest competition.
"We try to run the ball; there's no secret about that," Samko said. "We're not going to change that part of our game all year, to be honest. So that's the plan."
The Jumbo's running game will be aided by the fact that Bowdoin's defense has struggled in its first two games. The Polar Bears first surrendered 303 yards against Middlebury and then another 411 against Amherst, while giving up a combined total of 56 points. Bowdoin's offense has also been dismal so far, with only seven total points on the year. Last week, Amherst held the Polar Bears to just 127 yards of total offense.
The Jumbos, on the other hand, have outscored their opponents by a combined total of 76-32 and have racked up an average of 413 yards of total offense and 536 all-purpose yards per game.
But despite his team's recent success, Samko stresses the fact that his players still have things to work on. "You have to take advantage of your opportunities when you get them," he said. "I don't think we did a real good job of that up at Bates. We threw two interceptions in their end and missed a field goal. When you play against better teams, there's no way that you're going to win when you make mistakes like that."
Assuming that the Jumbos can run the ball effectively once again, though, they should remain atop the NESCAC for at least another week. "We've been able to run the football and keep it away from the other guys," Samko said. "We have the ball for about 40 minutes a game and they have it for about 20. And when you don't have the ball, it's harder to score points."
