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DUKES BEGIN DEFENSE OF MAAC TITLE VS. ST. PETER’S

Duquesne, who opened the season with a 41-18 win over VMI on Aug. 30, returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 8 against Saint Peter’s (1-0) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League opener for both schools. Kickoff is set for 1:35 at Rooney Field. Duquesne, winner of four of the last six MAAC titles (1995, 1996, 1999, 2000) is attempting to become the first league team to win three consecutive championships.

Saint Peter’s, picked to finish fourth the MAAC in a preseason poll of league coaches, opened its season with a 22-20 win over Central Connecticut State last Saturday.

DUQUESNE VS. SAINT PETER'S

all-time (1994-current)

1994 __ W ___ A __ 40-21
1995 __ W ___ H __ 42-13
1996 __ W ___ A ___ 48-9
1997 __ W ___ H ___ 40-0
1998 __ W ___ A ___ 52-0
1999 __ W ___ H ___ 51-6
2000 __ W ___ A ___ 34-0

Overall: Duquesne leads 7-0
At Jersey City: DU leads 4-0
At Rooney Field: DU leads 3-0

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING

Duquesne leads the overall series vs. Saint Peter’s 7-0 with an average margin of victory of 36.9 points per game (43.9-to-7.0). In the last four meetings, DU has outscored SPC 177-to-6. Don’t let the scoring margin deceive you as Saint Peter’s, in its third season under third-year head coach Rob Stern, has shown marked improvement. Last season, Stern guided the Peacocks to four wins, including a 2-5 mark in MAAC play.

The four wins were the most by a Saint Peter’s team since the Peacocks moved from Division III to I-AA in 1993. In addition, SPC led the MAAC in both total defense (7th nationally) and rushing defense (11th nationally) last season. Saint Peter’s picked up where it left off in 2000 with a 22-20 season-opening home win over Central Connecticut State last Saturday. The Peacocks totaled five sacks and limited CCSU to 166 net yards in the game that was decided on a 30-yard field goal by freshman
James Galea with seven seconds left.

SAINT PETER’S PROGRESS

last four seasons
YEAR ____________ ALL ___________ MAAC
2000 ______________ 4-7 ______________ 2-5
1999 _____________ 1-10 ______________ 1-6
1998 _____________ 0-10 ______________ 0-7
1997 ______________ 1-9 ______________ 1-6

HOME SWEET HOME

The Dukes enter the Saint Peter’s game with a 13-game home winning streak. DU's last loss at Rooney Field came on October 24, 1998 to Georgetown (28-23). During the current streak the Dukes own home wins over Robert Morris (24-22 in 1998), St. John's (10-3 in 1999), Fairfield (21-20 in 2000), Georgetown (44-20 in 2000), Lafayette (23-14 in 2000) and VMI (41-18 this year). Overall, DU has won its last seven in a row
.
NCAA DIVISION I-AA TOP WINNING PERCENTAGE

Last Six Years (1995-00)

Duquesne began the 2001 season with the best winning percentage – over the last six seasons – of all NCAA Division I-AA schools. Here are the Top Six with their record entering 2001:

DUQUESNE ______ 53-12-0 __ .815
Montana _________ 65-16-0 __ .802
Dayton __________ 49-14-0 __ .778
Georgia Southern __ 63-19-0 __ .768
Southern _________ 55-17-0 __ .764
Florida A&M ______ 57-18-0 __ .760

ANOTHER NJ TEAM vs. NUMBER ONE
A lot of college football fans will be watching Saturday afternoon when a team from New Jersey (Rutgers) visits the Number One team in the nation (Miami, #1 in the AP poll) in the conference (Big East) opener for both teams.

But there’s another game Saturday with a similar, albeit smaller-scale, scenario. A team from New Jersey (Saint Peter’s) visits the Number One team in the nation (Duquesne, #1 in the Division I-AA Mid-Major polls conducted by The Sports Network and small-college expert Don Hansen) in the league (MAACFL) opener for both teams. (Note: the I-AA Mid-Major designation is an unofficial grouping of I-AA schools, most of whom became I-AA in football in 1993 and offer financial based on need or a modified version of that policy. The TSN poll ranks a Top 10 of the 26 schools which play in the
MAAC, NEC and Pioneer leagues. Hansen considers more schools and ranks a weekly top 20).

Duquesne is the two-time defending MAACFL champion and was the preseason pick to repeat by 7 of the league’s 8 head coaches.

EVENING THINGS UP
Taking over a program that hadn’t won more than two games since 1993 and had lost 14 in a row before he took the helm, Rob Stern was on the losing end of 11 of his first 12 games as Saint Peter’s College head coach. But proof of the Peacocks upward move can be found in the recent results--over the last 11 games, Saint Peter’s is 5-6 and two of the losses were by less than a touchdown.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES (Duquesne leads, 7-0)

The series began when Duquesne joined the MAACFL in 1994. These are the scores: 40-21 in 1994; 42-13 in 1995; 48-9 in 1996; 40-0 in 1997; 52-0 in 1998; 51-6 in 1999 and 34-0 in 2000.

2001 MAACFL Coaches Preseason Poll

1. Duquesne (7) 62
2. Fairfield (1) 57
3. Marist 49
4. SAINT PETER’S 33
5. La Salle 32
6. Iona 30
7. Siena 16
8. Canisius 9

PEACOCK HONORS THIS YEAR

Jon Ambrose--Don Hansen’s Preseason I-AA Mid-Major All-America 2nd
team.

Jeran Crawford--MAACFL Preseason co-Defensive Player of the Year;
Don Hansen’s Preseason I-AA Mid-Major All-America 2nd team.

Michael Quarshie--Don Hansen’s Preseason I-AA Mid-Major All-America
1st team.

Jon Wasielewski--Don Hansen’s Preseason I-AA Mid-Major All-America
2nd team.


Head Coach ROB STERN (6-17, 3rd year)

Appointed February 1999 as program’s second full-time head coach. ... Age 32. ... First win was Sept. 18, 1999 (33-22 over Canisius). ... In 2000, SPC was 4-7—the program’s best record since 1993 (3-7, first season in NCAA Division I-AA and the MAAC Football League). ... The 2000 Peacocks led the MAACFL in total defense and in rushing defense. They ranked 7th nationally in total defense (263 ypg) and 11th in rushing defense (103.5 ypg). ... 2001, Stern and his staff have brought in three MAACFL Rookies of the Year (Terrence Murphy, offense, and Jon Ambrose, defense, in 1999; Jon Wasielewski, defense, in 2000). ... Before SPC, Stern took over at Jersey City’s Hudson Catholic HS. Leading Hudson in 1997 and 1998, his two-year record was 9-10 (surpassed the Hawks’ previous combined wins total from 1990-1996). The 5-5 record in 1998, which included a loss in the school’s first-ever New Jersey state playoff appearance, was Hudson Catholic’s best since the late 1970’s. ... A native of Paramus, NJ, Stern played at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, NJ, and began his coaching career as an assistant at St. Joseph’s High School in Montvale, NJ. Working there from 1988 to 1994, he coached on teams that advanced to four state title games and won six league and five Bergen County titles. ... Rob and his wife, Jennifer, were married on November 25, 2000.

• Full release from Duquesne
  
• Full release from St. Peter's