Every week, our Sports staff will take a deeper look at Stony Brook’s football games and what the team did well and where it went wrong.
First Down: New lows
2015 has been the worst season in head coach Chuck Priore’s decade-long tenure with the Stony Brook Football team. The Seawolves have now lost five consecutive games, the longest skid for the team since losing six straight in 2000.
Priore’s squad tied its second-highest total of conference losses since entering the Football Championship Subdivision in 1999 with five. The Seawolves will need to win one of their two remaining conference games if they want to avoid matching the 2000 team for most conference losses.
Stony Brook is currently in last place in the Colonial Athletic Association. If the Seawolves do not win at least one of their last three games, they will be in significant danger of finishing in last place in the conference.
Second Down: Onerous offense
Neither team played a strong game on Saturday, but Stony Brook’s offense was particularly absent on all ends. The team was consistently unable to move the ball into Elon territory, averaging only 2.7 yards per play on the day.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Joe Carbone got the first start of his college career and finished just 18-for-41 passing with 142 yards and four costly interceptions. Carbone consistently missed open receivers, leading to a nonexistent passing game. Stony Brook had only four completions of more than 10 yards on the day.
The Seawolves’ rushing attack was not much better. The team’s two top running backs, junior Stacey Bedell and freshman Isaiah White, are out for the season with shoulder and foot injuries, respectively. Sophomore Donald Liotine, junior Tyler Fredericks and freshman Travis Liburd took their places in the backfield and were largely inefficient. The trio carried the ball 34 times for 80 yards—good for only 2.4 yards per carry.
Third Down: Can’t blame the defense
As is the case just about every week with the Seawolves, the defense played solid football despite offensive struggles. The team allowed only 273 total yards and 11 first downs while forcing two fumbles that they recovered.
Stony Brook was particularly strong on third down, allowing just two Elon conversions in 10 tries. The run defense also had possibly its best game of the season, as Elon rushed for only 71 yards on 28 attempts—and 43 of them came on one run by freshman running back Malcolm Summers. So clearly, this loss was not all on the defense, if at all.
Fourth Down: Ochi offers optimism
Senior defensive lineman Victor Ochi recorded another sack on Saturday, improving his season total to 6.5 and his career total to 26. Ochi is now three sacks away from David Bamiro’s all-time program record.
If there is any reason to keep watching Stony Brook games this season, it will be Ochi’s pursuit of this record. He has averaged just under a sack per game this season, so it is possible that he could notch three in the final three games.
Bamiro, whose record Ochi is chasing, went on to receive a training camp invitation from the Minnesota Vikings after he graduated from Stony Brook. Who knows if Ochi could receive a similar invitation after this season?
Extra Point: Looking ahead
The Seawolves will look to end their five-game losing streak next Saturday with a non-conference home game against Howard University. Howard plays in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and is 1-7 on the season. The team’s only win came last week against Savannah State, with Howard winning 55-9. Stony Brook has a golden opportunity to reverse its fortunes against one of the FCS’ worst teams.
