WALTHAM, Mass. – After a season-opening win over Mercyhurst University, the rest of September was a frustrating one for the Bentley University Falcons.  Potential game-tying or game-winning drives were denied in the final minute by both Stonehill and Saint Anselm, and the University of New Haven used a final-minute drive this past Saturday to stun the Falcons on Homecoming, scoring on a fourth-and-four with 1.3 seconds left.

September is now gone and the Falcons will be looking for better results during the month of October, beginning Saturday when they take on Northeast-10 defending champion and current co-leader American International on the road. Kickoff at Abdow Field in Springfield is set for 1 pm.

While the Yellow Jackets are at the top of the conference standings (3-1, 3-0 NE-10), Bentley (1-3 overall) will make the trek out the Mass Pike looking for its first NE-10 victory of the season.

Coach Bill Kavanaugh's club will be looking to rebound from the stunning 38-35 loss to New Haven, a game that featured ten lead changes and saw the Bentley defense come up with two interceptions in the final 4:10.

The second was followed by Bentley's first three-and-out of the afternoon, giving the visitors the ball back on their own 18 with 54 seconds and no timeouts remaining. New Haven crammed ten snaps into that short time and converted two fourth downs in the process, the second being a game-winning 19-yard pass from Joey Bradley to Ty Headen.

Bentley amassed 553 yards of total offense against New Haven with quarterback Danny Guadagnoli (Framingham/Framingham HS) turning in a performance that resulted in NE-10 Offensive Player of the Week honors. The graduate student matched his career-best with five touchdowns while completing 28 of 42 passes for 485 yards, a season best in the conference and the third most prolific passing total in Falcon history.

All five TD passes came with the Falcons trailing by three at the time, and gave Guadagnoli 49 for his career, moving him from seventh to fourth on Bentley's all-time list. Senior Jeff Hill (Mansfield/ Mansfield HS) was on the receiving end of two of the five, and the other TDs were scored by graduate student Alex Farkes (Boston/BB&N), senior Jet Kollie (Lowell/New Hampton School) and junior Sean Myers (Foxboro/Roxbury Latin School).

Guadagnoli, one of four NE-10 QBs currently averaging at least 300 passing yards a game, has thrown 11 scoring strikes this season, tying for the conference lead. He's completed 64 percent of his passes and spread the ball around to at least seven different players in every game. The three-year starter and captain will enter Saturday's game 30 shy of 7,000 career passing yards.

Hill, coming off his 12th career 100-yard game, leads the receiving corps with 24 for 324 yards and three TDs, and junior Chris Calvanese (Norfolk/Xaverian Bros. HS) follows with 17 for 274 and two scores. Farkes has averaged nearly five receptions a game over the last three weeks, including a career-best six for 106 yards against New Haven.

The passing game will be tested this week as AIC has been the conference's best defensive team, particularly in stopping the pass. The Yellow Jackets have not allowed an offensive TD the last two weeks and are number one in the NE-10 in scoring defense (15.0), fewest passing yards allowed (119.5) and turnovers gained (14).

Opposing QBs have completed only 43 percent of their pass attempts against the Jackets while throwing for eight interceptions and only two scores. AIC junior safety Daquan Holmes leads the conference in interceptions with five, two of which were pick-sixes against Stonehiill in a 33-5 victory.

AIC's offense features quarterback Kevin Arduino, a 2013 second-team All-Northeast-10 honoree who is the only active Division II player who has at least 6,000 passing yards and 2,000 receiving yards. This season, he's thrown for 572 yards and rushed for 124 in three games, missing one with a knee injury.

Stephan Davis has been a deep threat for AIC, averaging 22 yards on 15 receptions, with two TDs. The Jackets' leading rusher has been Maurice Easterling with 143 yards and a 4.0 per-carry average.

Three of the NE-10's top eight tacklers will be on the field Saturday. AIC's Jacquawne Simpkins is third with 39, Bentley senior Kyle Young (Ellicott City, Md./Centennial HS) is tied for fourth with 38 and Falcon sophomore Bryan Hardy (Barnstable/Barnstable HS) is tied for eighth with 35.

Over the years, the Bentley-AIC series has largely been controlled by the home team.  The Falcons have not won in Springfield since 2004, and last year's Yellow Jacket win, 42-14, was AIC's first in Waltham since 1999.

Last year's victory, which gave AIC a 10-9 lead in the all-time series, saw Arduino run for four touchdowns and throw for another.

Bentley will be back at home a week from Saturday with Merrimack College providing the opposition.

BENTLEY BRIEFS: The Falcon defense is still looking for its first red zone stop of 2014 with the opponents 16 of 16 when penetrating the 20 (13 touchdowns, three field goals) ... The Bentley offense has the best red zone scoring rate in the NE-10, scoring nearly 90 percent of the time with 12 TDs and five FG in 19 trips … AIC had more penalties in last week's 31-10 win over Southern Connecticut (16) than Bentley has all season (14) … While AIC had the better September record, Bentley was much more effective in terms of third down conversions. The Falcons lead the conference in that category with a 48 percent success rate, including 29 of 50 (58 percent) after the opening quarter. AIC converts only 29 percent of the time … Sophomore Tyler Ford (Amherst, N.H./Souhegan HS) punted four times against New Haven for a 41.5 average, putting all four inside the 20. For the season, he's averaging 41.3 … Guadagnoli completed 13 passes of 15 yards or more against New Haven, with seven different players catching a pass of at least 20 yards … Junior Michael Baron (Medfield/Roxbury Latin School) was one of 24 placekickers from around the country selected by the Fred Mitchell Award for excellence in September. He's perfect on 14 extra point attempts and is fourth in the NE-10 with 29 points … Links for live stats and video will be posted at www.bentleyfalcons.com.