The 2011 Stony Brook Seawolves football team represented Stony Brook University as a member of the Big South Conference during the 2011 NCAA Division I FCS football season. Led by sixth-year head coach Chuck Priore, the Seawolves compiled an overall record of 9–4 with mark of 6–0 conference play, winning the Big South title for the third consecutive season. Stony Brook advanced to the NCAA Division I Football Championship playoffs for the first time in program history, where the Seawolves defeated against Albany in the first round before falling in the second round to top-ranked Sam Houston State. Stony Brook was ranked No. 18 the final Sports Network Poll and No. 16 in the final FCS Coaches Poll. The team played home games at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, New York.
Schedule For the second straight year in the program history Stony Brook will face an FBS school after facing South Florida the previous year. This year it will face Buffalo and UTEP increasing the strength of schedule. It will have six home games and it will close the season at LaValle against the conference rivals Liberty. All games will be in the Big South Network and broadcast in local radio by WUSB FM with a live stream on the web. Additionally, the Buffalo game will be regionally aired by TWCS and nationally broadcast in ESPN3 the Coastal Carolina game will also be broadcast by ESPN3, a first for Stony Brook football.
Rankings
Before the season Losses The Seawolves had several losses due to graduation. The Seawolves lost Edwin Gowins who earned first-team All-Big South honors in each of his first two seasons, and he was named the College Sporting News’ national freshman of the year in 2008 but experienced injuries late in the 2009 season and widely affected his performance in 2010. Gowins left to play at the Division III level. Paul Fenaroli graduated and signed a three-year contract with the NFL Atlanta Falcons.
Spring Game The Seawolves played their annual spring game on April 10, 2011 at LaValle in front of a small crowd in which the offense beat the Defense 51-15.
Rankings and polls The Seawolves were ranked top 15 among FCS teams by the "Phil Steele's College Football Review" ahead of their conference rivals, Liberty, which was placed in the 31st position. This is the highest ranking spot ever achieved by the Seawolves program. Stony Brook was picked second in the Big South Coaches' Preseason-Poll receiving 2 first-place votes behind the Liberty Flames. Stony Brook also received vote in The Sports Network FCS Preseason Poll.
Honors Five Stony Brook football athletes were named preseason All-Big South. Junior Miguel Maysonet and seniors Brock Jackolski and Matt Brevi represented the team in offense while senior Ryan Haber, and junior Craiq Richardson were the defensive honorees.
Recruitment The Seawolves have landed FBS recruit Fernando Diaz from the University of Pittsburgh eligible to play for the upcoming season. The Seawolves added 25 recruits in total for the upcoming 2011-12 season.
Game summaries UTEP
Recap: The Seawolves travelled to UTEP for their first game ever in Texas and their second game against an FBS school in history. With an improved team, the Seawolves held command for most of the game and by the end of the 1st quarter the Seawolves found themselves leading 7-0. In the second quarter both teams traded field goals as the Seawolves entered halftime with a 10-3 lead. It was however in the third quarter where the Seawolves offense exploded and scored two touchdowns nine second apart as UTEP fumbled the ball and allowed Jonathan Coats to run for a 14-yard return. At this point the Seawolves led 24-10 but it wasn't too long before Miners scored to put the game back into single possession. In the fourth quarter, the Seawolves defense was noticeably weakening allowing the Miners to tie the game at 24 with 4:04 left in regulation. As the teams continued into Overtime, UTEP scored a touchdown taking the lead for the first time and the Seawolves lost their chance to tie with an intercepted throw ending the game in UTEP's favor.
In the game Junior Miguel Maysonet and senior Brock Jackolski combined for 199 rushing yards as Stony Brook gained 232 yards on the ground. The defense, led by senior Donald Porter's two interceptions, recovered two fumbles, including one for a touchdown. Coach Priore later said “I think we have a lot of talent that this crowd witnessed tonight” and added “We made a few mistakes that ultimately hurt us. I was proud of the effort, and we'll build off this game”.
Buffalo
Recap: The Seawolves traveled to Amherst to face off against Buffalo for their first time ever, and only the third football game in program history against an FBS football program. This was the first time Stony Brook played another SUNY rival since it last played Albany in the 2007 season.
Buffalo started the offense quickly scoring on a 57-yard pass after 19 seconds of regulation to take the lead. While the Defense held the Bulls scoreless for the rest of the first quarter Stony Brook was unable to tie the game until 1:46 minute into the second quarter. However, it wasn't long before Buffalo exploded with two back-to-back runs by Branden Oliver to put the Bulls up 21-7 by halftime taking the lead for good. Buffalo kept the Seawolves scoreless for the rest of the game capping their lead with two more touchdowns for an eventual 35-7 win.
Despite the loss, the Seawolves were able to dominate ball possession holding the ball for over 39 minutes of regulation but being held out of Buffalo's territory for most of the game. Stony Brook also rushed the ball for a total of 184 yards against Buffalo's 165 yards. The Seawolves, however, fumbled the ball twice (one while at 2nd and Goal) and allowed one interception for a total of three turnovers and passed the ball for only 114 yards against Buffalo's 177. After the game Coach Priore commented on the game saying "We didn't execute, but I think we realized that we can compete physically at this level. There are certain things you take out of these games, and one of those is building confidence going forward". Stony Brook dropped to 0-2 overall while Buffalo gets its first win of the season.
Brown
Recap: The Seawolves opened their 2011 home season against Brown in front 5,732 fans. After a slow start from both sides, the Seawolves’ Skiffington kicked for a 38-yard field goal to put Stony Brook ahead late in the 1st Quarter. The lead didn't last long as Brown stepped up their passing game with Alex Tounkara-Kone receiving a 38-yard pass from Kyle Newhall-Caballero to score the game's first touchdown, putting Brown ahead 7-3 by the end of the quarter. Stony Brook opened the second quarter with an 18-yard scoring run by Essington and a conversion by Skiffington to put the Seawolves ahead 10-7. Stony Brook's defense kept Brown scoreless through the quarter and held on to the lead entering halftime. In the third quarter, Stony Brook kept control of the offense and increased their lead with the help of Miguel Maysonet which rushed 26 yards to put the Seawolves ahead by 10. However, momentum switched in Brown's favor as they scored with a 46-yard reception by Tounkara-Kone to put Brown back into the game, 14-17. In the middle of the fourth quarter Stony Brook kicked for a field goal to make the game 20-14. As the game came close to an ending a late Brown rally and a series of personal penalties (two 15 yard penalties) concluded with a touchdown by Tellef Lundevall (conversion by Alexander Norocea) allowing Brown to regain a one-point lead (21-20). Stony Brook rushed the ball and made a 56-yard field goal which was replayed due to a time-out called by Brown. A second attempt came up empty as Brown took away the game by a score of 21-20, and took the four-year series 3-1.
The Seawolves offense rushed for 246 yards (Maysonet-Jackolski pair rushed for a combined 227 yardage) against Brown's 28 and passed for a total of 78 yards against Brown's 292. Stony Brook allowed only a single turnover while Brown allowed a pair. The time of possession was fairly even throughout the game with a Stony Brook holding for 30:47 minutes. After the game, Coach Priore commented saying “If you're a good football team, those things don't happen to you, or the game isn't close enough where they become that much of an issue in the game” and added "The problem was, it happened in a one-score game...at the end of the day, those things happen to all teams". Stony Brook fell to 0-3 after week three while Brown won its first game of the season.
Lafayette
Recap: The Seawolves opened their second home game of the season looking to get their first win of the season after a heartbreaking loss to Brown the prior week. They faced off against Lafayette for the second time ever in front of a sold-out crowd of 8,278 celebrating Wolfstock, the homecoming tradition, at LaValle Stadium. Lafayette was able to put up points early in the game with a 30-yard field goal by O’Brien to put the Leopards on top 3-0. Another field goal in the second quarter allowed the leopard to take a 6-0 lead, however, the Seawolves defense proved to be tough and kept Lafayette scoreless until the mid-third quarter while the Seawolves put up two field goals to leave the game tied at six by halftime. Early in the third quarter the Seawolves unleashed a powerful running offense taking a 20-6 lead on two running touchdowns by Maysonet. The Defense kept the Leopard to a single touchdown and the Seawolves later added another field goal in a 46-yard kick by Skiffintong to extend their lead to 23-13 by the end of the third quarter. The Seawolves continued their strong offense throughout the fourth quarter outscoring the Leopards 14-7 to capture their first win 37-20.
A good defensive effort by the Seawolves produced five turnovers by the Leopards, all of them deep in Seawolves territory. Stony Brook only turned the ball over once, a season low. Junior Miguel Maysonet rushed for a career-high 194 yards, and tied his own LaValle Stadium and school record with four touchdowns. The rushing game proved important as the Seawolves rushed for 300 of their 335 total yards of offense. Junior Wesley Skiffington connected on three field goals and all four extra points, becoming Stony Brook's all-time leading scorer among kickers with 164 points. He broke Mike Soto's record of 156, set in 2003. Dan Mulrooney led a strong Stony Brook defense with eight tackles, a fumble recovery, a forced fumble and an interception. Coach Priore commented on the game saying "We talked about playing four quarters of football tonight," and added "I really liked our effort tonight. We started to gain some momentum in the second quarter. We talked about going for some big plays at halftime, and I thought we played our best third quarter of the night" [Sic]. The Seawolves will enjoy a bye-week and their continue the four game series at home.
Presbyterian
Recap:After the loss of starting senior quarterback, Michael Coulter, for the rest of the season to a persistent injury (Torn ACL) Stony Brook placed backup Kyle Essington to fill in the starting role for the team. Priore reported that Essington was ready and that for the month of August he received about 85% of the snaps in preparation for the possible starting role.