Overall analysis
As expected, No. 8 California (Pa.) dismantled Gannon, 42-24, on Saturday night at Gannon University Field. The Vulcans (7-1, 5-0) limited the Knights (3-5, 1-4) to 58 yards rushing, had the ball for 35 minutes and 47 seconds and turned a 21-14 halftime lead into a large margin by midway through the fourth quarter.
However, Gannon hung in there and actually did some good things. The Knights forced three turnovers, scored a touchdown off one of them and posted three sacks. The most interesting thing about this to seeing is how Gannon continues to use two quarterbacks. Bob Bartley and Zach Boedicker make plays, but the system isn’t always ideal.

Key plays.
1. Down 7-0 in the first quarter, Gannon fumbled the ball away on its opening possession when Jon Richardson was stripped of the ball by Cal linebacker Jake Howell. Brett Diamond recovered the ball for the Knights at the Gannon 18. The Vulcns scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession to take a 14-0 lead.
2. Down 21-14 to start the second half, Gannon decided to go for it on fourth and two from the Cal 27. Richardson was stopped short of a first down. Cal took possession and McCabe ended up throwing his third touchdown to put the Vulcans up, 28-14.
3. After Gannon cut the lead to 28-17 late in the third quarter, Freddie Bacco returned the ensuing kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown to push Cal’s lead to 35-17. Gannon never got any closer for the remainder of the game.

Key statistics
1. Cal had the ball for 35 minutes and 47 seconds while Gannon had the ball for only 24 minutes and 13 seconds.
2. Gannon only had 58 yards rushing while Cal gained 131 on the ground.
3. Gannon sophomore quarterbacks Bob Bartley and Zach Boedicker combined to complete only 11-of-26 passes for 150 yards with no touchdown passes. In contrast, Cal senior Kevin McCabe was 21-of-28 for 230 yards and three touchdowns.

Top players
1. A.J. Jackson (Cal) – The 6-foot, 6-inch, 230-pound junior receiver caught two touchdowns and ended the game with seven receptions for 87 yards.
2. Kevin Minor (Gannon) – The sophomore safety had a game-high 15 total tackles and returned an interception 73 yards for a touchdown to trim Cal’s first-half lead to 14-7.
3. Matt Ward (Gannon) – The senior defensive end made seven tackles with three coming behind the line of scrimmage, forced a fumble, recovered it, had two sacks and broke up a pass on fourth down.

Flop players
1. Gannon’s offensive line – Made little room for Jon Richardson who rushed for only 34 yards on 16 carries. Bob Bartley was sacked three times and the Gannon offense had just 209 yards of total offense.
2. Jon Richardson – His fumble led to Cal’s second touchdown of the game. Was stopped short twice on a key short-yardage situation early in the second half. Just didn’t have big game Gannon needed from him in order to pull off the upset.
3. Levar Goff (Gannon) – Had some key drops. Had only one catch for three yards.

They said it
“We may have lost our focus and then we gave them a couple of plays and they took advantage of it to their credit. I think it came a little easy the first couple of drives and then we throw the interception they took back and mishandled a punt snap (that lead to a Gannon touchdown). Those things do occur. Uh, their kids fought hard and the three blind mice (the officials) helped them out a lot.” – Cal coach John Luckhardt commenting on Gannon and how he thought the referees helped the Knights.

“It was a cluster at first. One of my own men was just sitting there. I pushed him out of the way. I thought the kicker was going to bring me down. I’ve had that happen twice, I think this year. Then I just cut back. I saw everyone overflowing. Almost taxed out before I got in there, but I got in there.” – Cal tailback Freddie Bacco on his 72-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put Cal ahead, 35-17. He also ran for a touchdown to increase Cal’s lead to 42-17.

“I thought we played really good. If this would have been last year, we would have come out and been blown out by 70 points. I’m not happy that we lost. I’m never going to be happy with that. I’m not too complacent about it, but honesty, Cal is a great team. They’re ranked in the Top 10. I believe they’re eighth. I feel good about. It just shows once again that we can play with any team in this conference. I want to win. I’m out here trying to win and that’s what we’re going to continue to do, but I think we played pretty good up until the last two quarters.” Gannon senior defensive end Matt Ward.

“You always think about those things. You look at tonight. We couldn’t get anything going and here comes a guy like Zach (Boedicker) and the next thing you know, he takes off and here you go. Then at the end of the game, you see Bob (Bartley) throw the ball well. Well, we came out trying to throw and we didn’t have that. You put Zach in the game. You can’t defend that kid because he gets running. The problem, I shouldn’t say problem, but you’ve got to have them both doing both of those things for that part to work. Maybe there is a rhythm thing there with both of those guys, but again, I think you see what happens when all the sudden, everything is stalling and you can bring in Zach and he does what he does and he brings you that lift. Then you just ride it for as long as you can ride it. Everybody can second guess it and stuff like that, but it’s worked for us and it certainly kept us in this one for a while.” – Gannon coach Jim Kiernan on using two quarterbacks.

“Last week and this week is my first time being 100 percent. I’ve been injury prone this whole season and I’m just getting my swagger back. Getting open in the red zone is my thing.” – Cal junior receiver A.J. Jackson his two touchdown catches in the first quarter.

“You have to have the same attitude to come out and want to finish. You’ve got to want to win. You’ve got to want to finish the games. One person can bring it down for the whole team. Everybody has got to be on the same page.” – Gannon sophomore Kevin Minor on Gannon’s inability to finish games in the second half.

Next: Gannon plays at Lock Haven (0-8, 0-5) on Oct. 25. The following week, Knights play their homecoming game against No. 23-ranked IUP (5-2, 3-2).