RPI comes home after dropping two games on the road, faces Buffalo State
TROY, NY >> The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Engineers return to East Campus Stadium for the first time since October 5 as Buffalo State visits for a Liberty League contest.
The meeting between the two will not be their first meeting, but the first with Liberty League implications ever. Buffalo joins the Liberty League from the Empire Eight Athletic Conference.
Rensselaer has played the Bengals three times, all since 2015 and have a 2-1 record against the new conference rival. RPI won the first and third meetings.
In 2018, RPI totaled 501 yards of total offense against the Bengals en route to the 44-14 win over Buffalo State. In 2017, Buffalo State scored 24 unanswered points and limited Rensselaer to 89 total yards in the second half to register a 33-21 comefrom-behind victory. Finally, in
2015,Austin Amery scored the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter and Rensselaer scored 17 unanswered points in defeating Buffalo State 20-13 at Arute Field on the campus of Central Connecticut State.
Since the last time the Engineer’s have been home they have fallen to 4-3 this season and 1-2 in conference. Last week RPI fell to St. Lawrence 35-21 and the week before lost to Hobart College 41-27.
Las week at St. Lawrence, Junior wide receiver Joseph Viscardo matched his own school record with four touchdown catches and sophomore quarterback Tyler Grochot threw five touchdown passes, one shy of the program record, to lead St. Lawrence to a 35-21 win over Rensselaer. The Saints raced out to a 28-0 lead in the first half and scored early in the fourth quarter to build a 35-0 lead before the Engineers scored the final 21 points. RPI quarterback George Marinopoulos threw three touchdown passes in the final 11 minutes with Joe Scaglione (16 yards), Peter Lombardi (22 yards) and Marc Meislahn (2 yards) scoring.
Marinopoulos was 29 for 47 for 286 yards with one interception.
RPI is now 3-4 off of bye weeks under seventh year head coach Ralph Isernia.
For Buffalo State last week, they were unable to overcome an early deficit as No. 25 Union spoiled the Bengals’ homecoming, 28-14. Zak Ciezki had an efficient day for Buffalo State, going 28 for 38 for 284 yards with a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions.
The Bengals have lost their first five games with three coming on the road. They fell to St. John Fisher (23-6), at Utica (26-15), to Brockport (5522), at Cortland (59-21) and at nationally-ranked Ithaca (48-14). Buffalo State then defeated Rochester 13-7 on a 28-yard run by Martin Bailey and a 51-yard touchdown pass from Zak Ciezki to Jordan Evert before being defeated by nationallyranked Union 28-14 last week.
RPI’s offense is still headmanned by Marinopoulos under center, who now has thrown 1565 yards with a completion percentage of 62.45 (148/237). Marinopoulos has thrown 17 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
On the ground, Dylan Burnett leads the charge with 269 yards on 48 carries. Right behind him is Joe Scaglione, who has rushed for 230 yards for 54 attempts.