So it begins.

After a spring of practices and a summer of training, all the work that the Georgetown football team has put in during the off-season will finally be put to use.

Tomorrow the Hoyas will travel to Lewisburg, Pa. to face the Bucknell Bison in the season opener, looking to put last season behind them and start 2005 off with a win.

“We are just trying to take care of Georgetown,” Head Coach Bob Benson said. “We are getting ready for an option offense that we’ve been preparing for since April. We’re looking forward to it. It’s time to play somebody.”

Last year the Hoyas fell to the Bison 35-19 in a sloppy game. Bucknell committed six turnovers and Georgetown allowed two kickoffs to be returned for touchdowns in a mistake-filled contest. Georgetown got on the board first after the defense recovered a fumble and held the lead at 13-7 after defensive back Matt Barbiasz returned an interception 99 yards for a touchdown, but Bucknell standout Dante Ross – the 2005 preseason special teams player of the year – immediately erased the lead with a 97-yard touchdown run on the ensuing kickoff. Ross went on to run back another kickoff for an 85-yard touchdown, giving the Bison a lead they would never relinquish. Despite a solid effort from the defense, Georgetown’s special teams and offense – which was ranked 115 out of 119 teams in Division I-AA at the time – could not produce. The Hoyas’ inability to capitalize on the Bison’s mistakes cost them a win that was in their reach.

Overall, Bucknell holds the edge, 9-7-1, in the all-time series. The Hoyas last defeated the Bison in 2002 by a score of 32-31, but Georgetown has not won at Bucknell since 1939.

This year Georgetown was selected to finish last in the Patriot League coming off a 3-8 campaign last year that saw the Hoyas go winless in six conference matches. Bucknell was voted to finish fifth in the conference despite a third place finish in the Patriot League the last two years. The Bison went 7-4 on the year, including 4-2 in league games, but losing their top passer, rusher and receiver will require young Bison to step up if their team looks to remain at the top of the conference.

“We are trying to be a more efficient unit, productive unit, a better business, so I think we are on the right track,” Benson said.

Both Bucknell and Georgetown will test new quarterbacks in the season opener. With the graduation of star Daris Wilson, the Bison will look to sophomore Terrance Wilson to lead the team in 2005. Wilson has never played in a varsity game, so tomorrow will be a test for a Bison offense that averaged 353.5 total yards and 26.9 points per game last year.

Junior Nick Cangelosi will take the snaps for Georgetown after being named the starter late last week. A transfer from the University of North Carolina, Cangelosi has seen minutes in only one contest – the Hoyas’ 45-7 loss to Duquense last September – so he will be nearly as inexperienced as Wilson.

The players to watch in tomorrow’s contest, however, will not be the quarterbacks. The players who will look to open their season with a bang will be the defensive backs, seniors Sean Conover and Michael Ononibaku for Bucknell and Georgetown, respectively. Both Conover and Ononibaku had 10.5 sacks last year to lead the Patriot League – sharing the top spot with another Hoya, Alex Buzbee, as well – and both earned a myriad of preseason honors this fall, including being named to numerous All-American lists. Conover and Ononibaku will both be looking to take advantage of inexperienced offenses and new quarterbacks to start their seasons off with a sack or two.

Injuries had been a problem for the Hoyas this preseason, but according to Benson there are no scratches for tomorrow’s game. Tailbacks senior Marcus Slayton and sophomore Emir Davis are both healthy after missing both pre-season scrimmages, as are senior captain and defensive back Maurice Banks and senior offensive lineman Robert LaHayne who also sat out practices recently.

“We’re going to go up fairly healthy,” Benson said.

The Bison enter tomorrow’s game on a four game win streak and with an 82-36-1 record in season openers, although they did fall to Villanova in last year’s debut. The Hoyas, conversely, won their season opener last year with a 36-7 victory over St. Francis (Pa.) but have not won a season opener on the road since 1999. They will look to snap that streak tomorrow.

“You’ve got to win early,” Benson said. “There’s no margin of error anyway, but for us, we’ve got a conference game at Bucknell and we have to win . We’ll have a shot if we take care of ourselves.”

Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. tomorrow evening in Chrsity Mathewson emorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Pa.