SCOUTING THE RED DRAGONS: Cortland has clinched the program's first winning record in six years and can wrap up the program's first eight-win season since the 8-2 1997 team that reached the NCAA playoffs. Quarterback J.J. Tutwiler has thrown for 1,652 yards and 12 touchdowns, completing 124 of 207 passes. Four Red Dragons have caught at least 20 passes, with Joe Marzullo (43 catches) and Neal Heaton, Jr. (36 catches, seven TD's) leading the way. Tight end Tony Romano has four touchdown catches. Steve Davis has rushed for 637 yards and four scores, with Ryan Tranchida picking up 246 yards and four touchdowns. George Oostmeyer has converted 33 of 34 extra-point attempts and nine of 16 field goal tries. Linebacker Micah Kurtz leads the defense with 58 tackles and five fumble recoveries. Tackle John Longo (38 tackles) has 23 tackles for loss and seven sacks.

LAST WEEK: Junior Caleb Greer-Carney (Concord/Cushing Academy/Concord, N.H.) rushed for career-high totals of 107 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Bombers past visiting Buffalo State 39-7.

OFFENSIVE RECAP: Ithaca scored at least one touchdown in each quarter for the third time this season. Greer-Carney's first touchdown came on Ithaca's first possession of the second quarter and put the Bombers up for good. He closed out Ithaca's scoring with a 52-yard run on the Bombers' first play of the fourth quarter. Freshman quarterback Josh Felicetti (Central Bucks East/Doylestown, Pa.) completed 17 of 27 passes for 223 yards. He threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to junior Pete McCaffrey (Ithaca/Ithaca) on the Bombers' opening drive. McCaffrey finished with three receptions for a career-best 84 yards. Junior Pete Celebre (Strath Haven/Wallingford, Pa.) ran for 48 yards on 11 carries, rushing for his 10th touchdown of the season (a four-yard run in the second quarter). Sophomore wide receiver Jeff Welch (Ithaca/Ithaca) caught a career-high four passes; senior Michael Marks (Elmira Southside/Canterbury Prep [Conn.]/Pine City) also made four receptions. Senior wide receiver Ryan Erbe (Sidney/Sidney) caught his first career pass. Freshman quarterback Jeff O'Hara (Wyomissing Area/Wyomissing, Pa.) competed his only pass attempt and led Ithaca's final scoring drive. Sophomore quarterbacks Ryan Steenberg (Jamesville-DeWitt/DeWitt) and Pete Ambrose (George Washington/Charleston, W. Va.) split time in the fourth quarter. Ithaca's offensive line -- left tackle Tariq Ahmad (Holmdel/Holmdel, N.J.), junior left guard Josh Sydney (New Hampton/Manchester, N.H.), junior center Matt McMahon (Chenango Valley/Binghamton), junior right guard Alex Hill (Bridgton Academy/Gloucester, Mass.)and senior right tackle Eric Fedrizzi (Warners/West Genesee) -- did not allow a sack (for the second straight week) in 29 pass attempts. Sydney was making his first career start.

DEFENSIVE NOTES: Ithaca held the Bengals to minus three yards rushing. Sophomore middle linebacker Jose Colon (Proctor/Utica) led the Bombers with 10 tackles, including two for loss. Junior linebacker Brett Campbell (Oswego/Oswego), sophomore defensive tackle Alex Shafiro (New Rochelle/New Rochelle) and junior defensive lineman Kyle McMann (West Seneca West/West Seneca) added two tackles for loss apiece. Sophomore cornerback Bob Williams (Westfield/Westfield, Mass.) recorded the first two interceptions of his career. Sophomore Matt Tosh (Clarks Summit/Abington Heights, Pa.) also intercepted a pass, setting up a Bomber field goal. Shafiro forced a Bengal fumble and recovered it himself to set up Ithaca's final touchdown. Williams and junior free safety Peter Mayer (Hamilton/Hubbardsville) each broke up two passes. Campbell, McMann, Shafiro and junior defensive end Cory Coady (Tupper Lake/Tupper Lake) each recorded a sack; Campbell's was the first of his career. Campbell and senior Jeff Newton (Norwich/Norwich) each finished with a career-best three tackles.

SPECIAL TEAMS REPORT:Tosh scored his first career touchdown, returning the second-half kickoff 90 yards for a score. He also set up Ithaca's first touchdown by returning a Bengal punt 45 yards to the Buffalo State 34. Senior Brian Bicher (Montclair Kimberly Academy/Paramus, N.J.) kicked a pair of field goals (improving to four for four in his career) and converted one of three extra-point attempts. He averaged 37.0 yards per kick on a pair of punts; neither one was returned. Marks caught a two-point conversion pass from Felicetti after Ithaca's second touchdown. Sophomore linebacker Anthony Mucurio (Proctor/Utica) led Ithaca with two special teams tackles.

ITHACA ITEMS: Ithaca's win over Utica clinched the program's 32nd consecutive winning season. The Bombers own the nation's eighth-longest active streak of winning seasons (sixth-best among Division III schools.
_____In the past 12 years, the Bombers are 29-16 (.644) in November (23-13 in the regular-season), including 17-10 under Mike Welch.
_____The Bombers have won 19 of their last 22 regular-season games.
_____Ithaca now owns a 10-7 series lead over the Bengals, thanks to wins in the last three meetings. The Bombers have won seven of the 10 games played in Ithaca.
_____The Bombers have lost 60 games since 1977; in the games following those losses Ithaca has posted a record of 49-11. The Bombers have lost consecutive games just 11 times in the past 25 years.
_____Felicetti's two-point conversion pass to Marks marked Ithaca's first successful two-point conversion attempt since Oct. 16, 1999, when long-snapper Jeff Erne caught a deflected kick and carried it into the end zone in a 43-14 win against St. Lawrence. The last time the Bombers passed for a two-point conversion was Oct. 31, 1998, when Keith Bonser caught a pass from Mike O'Donovan in a 30-17 win at Hobart. Ithaca had attempted 11 unsuccessful two-point conversions since then.
_____Tosh's 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown marked Ithaca's first score on a kickoff return since Matt Buddenhagen returned the second-half kickoff 75 yards against Hartwick in Ithaca's 40-6 ECAC Northwest Championship victory on Nov. 21, 1998. The last regular-season kickoff return for a touchdown by a Bomber came on Sept. 19, 1998, when Troy Canada scored on a 91-yard return against Mansfield in a 45-31 Ithaca win.
_____The Bombers won all four of their regular-season home games this fall. The last time Ithaca finished with an unbeaten record at Butterfield Stadium was 1993, when the Bombers recorded a 4-0 record at home.
_____The Bombers have won 10 straight regular-season games played on artificial turf, including wins at St. John Fisher, Alfred and Utica this fall.
_____This week's game marks the 16th time since 1972 (and the second time this fall) that the Bombers face a team coming off a bye; Ithaca now 12-3 in those games (after beating Hartwick 19-18 this season), with a streak of 12 wins in 13 tries. This marks the fourth time in five years that Ithaca faced two teams coming off a bye in a season (the 1998 team beat St. Lawrence 60-0 and lost to Buffalo State 28-21; in 2000 the Bombers topped Buffalo State 27-20 and Cortland 19-14; last fall Ithaca lost 24-22 to Brockport and beat Buffalo State 31-14).

RECORD WATCH: Senior wide receiver Michael Marks has caught 93 career passes, sixth on Ithaca's career list. His four catches on Saturday put him ahead of all-American Joe Palumbo (90 catches from 1991 to 1993) for sixth place. With two more catches, Marks will move into fourth place, passing Jeff Higgins (1994-96) and all-American George Mack (1982-83, 85-86), who each caught 94 career passes.
_____Junior running back Pete Celebre has gained 869 yards in his career, averaging 82.0 yards per game this fall. With 131 more yards he'll become the program's 23rd 1,000-yard rusher.
_____Senior Brian Bicher, who has been scouted by the NFL's Arizona Cardinals, has raised his career totals to 191 punts and 6,980 yards, extending his school records in both categories. His 36.4 career average is third on Ithaca's career list. Bicher has scored 25 points as a placekicker, good for 18th among Ithaca kickers.

MAKING THE GRADE: Three Bombers have been named to the ballot for the GTE District I College Division All-Academic Team: McMann, Welch and senior cornerback Justin Daly (Warwick Valley/Warwick). The District I All-Academic Team honors student-athletes with a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.20 from NCAA Division II and III and NAIA Division II schools in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. First-team selections to the nation's eight all-district teams are eligible for academic all-America honors. Last year, defensive lineman TJ Jalbert and defensive back Anthony Melville earned academic all-district honors.

EMPIRE 8 UPDATE: This season marks the first year of Empire 8-sponsored football. The conference will choose players of the week and a postseason all-star team and crown a champion. Because the conference will not meet the NCAA's minimum of seven football-playing members until 2004 (when affiliate members Norwich and Springfield join the Empire 8), the league's champion will not receive an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs. Ithaca and the other four current conference members (Alfred, Hartwick, St. John Fisher and Utica) will be considered for one of the seven berths in the NCAA playoffs reserved for schools that are independents or members of conferences that do not get automatic bids.
_____The Bombers clinched the Empire 8 title. Ithaca owns a 42-15 (.737) advantage against the conference's current members and have won 13 straight games against the other members of the Empire 8. The Bombers have not lost to an Empire 8 opponent since September 23, 1995 when host Alfred defeated the Bombers 13-12.

NATIONAL RANKING: In the latest national statistics released by the NCAA (through games of Nov. 2), sophomore Matt Tosh was fourth in punt return average (16.3 yards per return), junior Seth Molisani was tied for 24th in passes broken up (averaging 1.8 per game) and senior Brian Bicher ranked 27th in punting (38.1 yards per punt).
_____As a team the Bombers were tied for 31st in scoring defense (14.3 ppg).

UPSTATE UPDATE: Ithaca is ranked sixth in the 10th Upstate New York poll of the regular season, as voted on by the region's sports information directors.

WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS: Award winners for the Buffalo State game, as chosen by the coaching staff, were: Outstanding Back: Felicetti; Outstanding Lineman: Ahmad; Hustler of the Week: Sydney; Honorary Offensive Captain: Fedrizzi; and Honorary Defensive Captain: Dan Puckhaber (St. Francis/Eden). The Play of the Game awards were given to sophomore fullback Jamie Free (The Gunnery School/Brookfield, Conn.) for offense; Puckhaber for defense; and Newton for special teams.

BROADCAST NEWS: The Cortland game will be broadcast by WICB-FM (91.7) in Ithaca. Seniors Seth Cantor and J.P. Wright will call the game, beginning at 11:30 a.m. with the Countdown to Kickoff pregame show. WICB's coverage can also be heard through TEAMLINE, a pay-per-listen service, by calling 800/846-7000. Ithaca's access code is 3945.
_____Saturday's game will be televised live by Time Warner Cable; the broadcast will be available in the Cortland, Ithaca and Syracuse areas.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please contact Ithaca sports information director Mike Warwick in the sports information office at (607/274-1401) or mwarwick@ithaca.edu, or at home (607/257-9720) or Cortland SID Fran Elia (607/753-5673).