After taking down the Georgetown Hoyas 37-10 in a homecoming battle last weekend, the Bears prepare to travel south again for another road game. But Saturday's trip will be much shorter, as Bruno will face in-state rival University of Rhode Island in Kingston for the Governor's Cup.
Having lost their first four games of the season, the Rams (0-4) will be looking to finally get a victory in the record books. The Bears (2-1, 0-1 Ivy), on the other hand, will fight to remain undefeated in non-conference play and continue building momentum for their return to Ivy League play on Oct. 13.
This weekend's match-up represents the 97th game in the intrastate series that began back in 1909 - one in which the Bears hold a historical advantage, with an overall record of 68-26-2.
"This is the one time you can play a game and have an instant reward," Head Coach Phil Estes said. "It's not just about pride. There's an actual trophy that we'd like to keep here in Providence."
Despite URI's 0-4 start, the Bears said they are gearing up for a competitive game.
"You can't just look at their record and say they're not a good football team," Estes said. "You also have to look at their opponents."
The Rams have fallen to Monmouth University, Villanova University, James Madison and Bowling Green State University by an average of 27.8 points this year.
Quarterback Patrick Donnelly '13 echoed a similar sentiment. "You hear they're 0-4, and you think you have an idea of what kind of team you're going up against," he said. "But then you see them on film. They've just played four very good teams ... by no means are we taking them lightly."
Donnelly spoke highly of the Rams' defense in particular, explaining that URI had "very good athletes on defense" that brought a lot of speed and size up front. "If we're disciplined enough, we'll be fine," he said. "If not, we'll be burned."
On offense, the Rams "run a lot of schemes, a lot of motions, and they do a lot of things with unbalanced lines," Estes said. "It's a lot of smoke and mirrors."
With 363 yards of total offense and a complete shutout of the Hoyas in the second half, the Bears had what appeared to be a solid showing on both offense and defense in the nation's capital last week. But Estes said the team shouldn't be "patting itself on the back," since it still has a lot to improve on.
"Miscues, offsides, holding calls," Estes said. "We've got a lot that we still have to clean up to be a very good football team."
In particular, Bruno had some penalty flag woes in their game against the Hoyas, drawing eight penalties for 79 yards - more than the 62 they racked up in their first two games combined.
"We made a lot of stupid mistakes and weren't executing to our potential," Donnelly said. But the team is working on refining its game and playing mistake-free football in the coming weeks, he said.
In last year's URI match-up, the Bears defeated the Rams 35-21 in Brown Stadium's second-ever night game. Gov. Lincoln Chafee '75 P'14 was in attendance to present the ceremonial cup as a strong crowd of 10,231 cheered on the squad.
"We treat each week as its own separate season," Donnelly said. "We went to D.C. and took care of business, and we're going to try to do that again."
And if they do, the Governor's Cup will stick around College Hill for another year.
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