Devanney is a phenomenal coach and no one has more passion for Trinity than he does, RIGHT!!!!? .  I'd imagine that he has left a great impression on many recruits and also their parents.

Congrats to Wesleyan on Mangini.  Quite impressive indeed

The NEC is perenially one of the two weakest conferences in 1-AA (along with the Metro-Atlantic).  They were non-scholarship schools with lesser academic repuations than NESCACs, anyone that could get in to a NESCAC would go d3 instead (the one exception being finances, good student-athletes can be tempted by these schools with full academic scholarships).  In the past these conferences were not as good as some, if not many, d3 conferences.  Trinity's recent teams would have been very competitive in these conferences.  This will change with the introduction of scholarships but it will probably be at least a few years before any teams from the NEC are considered for the playoffs.  But obviously there are different ideas of success.  Winning the conference and knocking off a few out-of-conference opponents is a very successful season in the NEC.  I have no doubt in Chuck's ability to do that at Stony Brook.  I'd also like to point out that he won't be "turning it around" at Stony Brook, they had a solid 6-4 year in which they won a share of the conference at 5-2 and got their first W over a Patriot League team (albeit a horrendous 1-10 Bucknell team).  Also, Coach Kornhauser was named NEC Coach of the Year. Chuck returns to his native Long Island at the right time.  With the introduction of scholarships, he can take Stony Brook and his own career to the next level.  

Congrats to the All-Nescac team.  The Bants got their fair share on defense and rightfully so.  Offensively, they have too many weapons for a lot of them to get the attention they might if they played elsewhere

I can say with total seriousness that I used to frequently attend Trinity squash matches and 2,000 in attendance is believable.  People would sit on the rafters and draw up ESPN style signs if it was a big match against Princeton or Harvard (not sure why since I don't think they were ever televised, maybe once or twice on the Ocho).  I recommend a stop in if anyone is in the Hartford area on a dull winter Saturday because as the PGA would say "These Guys are Good"

Happy Festivus!!

cruiser, I'm on the same page as well.  Not sure if people were knocking Colby, but a one loss season is impressive, even without the Bants on the schedule.  That said, much respect to be won or lost this week againts the P Bears (I can't believe respect will be dished out for a win over Bowdoin, my how things have changed).  A Mules win would set the anticipation for the showdown in the Coop to open next season.   

Everyone should check out Keith's Around the Nation article by the way.  Thanks to Pat, Keith and d3football.com for giving some ink/credit to the snobs from New England

PBN, very astute observation.  I'd imagine it's the best Colby-Bowdoin matchup in a while.  Another interesting standings note is the stark difference between the top half and bottom half of the league.  5-2 to 2-5, nobody breaks even this year

It is true that Rooney is a huffer and that I don't have the patience to read that full an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses.  I think the 2004 team is the best.  Their games never seemed to be in doubt and the combo of Finkledey and Leo was truly overpowering.  2003 does deserve credit for getting the program over the hump to 8-0.  2002 was proud to beat Middlebury and Amherst, who the previous year's class went a combined 0-8 against.  Barring a huge upset next week at the "The World's Largest Little Outdoor Cocktail Party" (aka Trinity Homecoming), congrats to the 2005 group in surviving another season full of wearing the target.  Those seniors have had amazing careers.  Sadly, I'll miss the festivities next week because I'll be in Berkeley, CA cheering for the Golden Bears to end the only winning streak longer than Trinity's.  Go Bants!

HEY ONE-THREE WHAT DAY IS IT?!

ktroutvon, i like your point on the insulation of the league.  Essentially, if NESCAC doesn't care about playing on a national scale (as every other d3 team aspires to), we shouldn't care about being ranked on a national scale.  I can buy that, since, admittedly, a NESCAC championship means most to me as an alum. 

ktroutvon, if you're referring to a national championship, I haven't heard anybody mention Trinity as challenging Linfield or Mount Union, but I think a consistently undefeated NESCAC program can hang with its fair share of teams in the bottom half of the top 25. 

Going back to the "weak conference doesn't deserve a national ranking" argument that others have brought up, I don't buy it.  I played on a USA Today nationally-ranked high school team from Connecticut, not exactly a haven for high school football.  I think there are a lot of parallels between Trinity and that team.  For example, we never played anyone who played anybody else out of state, much like Trinity doesn't play anyone who plays outside the conference.

Also, though I haven't seen Amherst in action this year, I find it hard to believe that they have any speed advantage over the Bants.

I too found Trin4eva's post entertaining

Speedy & TrinCant, the attempts to bash Trinity football via academics are pathetic.  There are always going to be uninformed outsiders who jump to unreasonable conclusions such as the aforementioned alum and yourselves.  You can tell Mr. Barison that I posted a HS GPA of 4.0 (3.8 at Trinity) and scored perfect on the Math SAT (with a disappointing 630 on the verbal) and, believe it or not, was even a 3-year starter on the football team.  WesTech, thanks for giving credit where credit is due.

As for the Polar Bears, an elite team typically demonstrates some semblance of consistency year to year.  The last winning season they saw in Brunswick was 1998, when Mo Vaughn led the Red Sox in batting average and HRs.  

Quote from: frank uible on October 31, 2005, 06:36:17 PM
This board is reflecting a great deal of underrating of the talent and coaching in non-NESCAC DIII.

Frank, I think you are right, but I also think that the challenge of going more than 3 calendar years without a loss, albeit against a NESCAC-only schedule, may be underrated by those outside the conference.  As I'm sure most posters have played on great football teams whether in college or high school, we can all appreciate the difficulty of being at your best week in and week out with a target on your back.  Granted, the 2002 Bants didn't deal much with that target but the 2003, 2004 and 2005 undefeated teams have taken the best shot from every team.

Every week I read an article about Trinity's latest victory and every week it states the opponent's "best chance to score" or chance to "close the lead."  Those statements always finish with "but a [sack/interception/fourth down stop] stalled the drive at Trinity's [10/20/30] yard line."  While the offense may struggle from time to time (and I use "struggle" very loosely), the defense remains dominant; opponents get credit just for coming close to scoring.  Amherst clearly has a strong team hitting its stride right now but no other defense in collegiate football has the stats (and few, if any, in D3 have the talent/coaching) of the Bantam D. "Defense wins championships" and I think this one carries the Bants past Amherst in a hard-fought battle.  

Finally, when is d3football.com gonna give any love to the NESCAC.  How is a team that's won 28 games in a row not even in the Top 25?  Not to stir up the whole "how would Trinity stack up in the playoffs" debate but to not even be recognized in the Top 25 is surprising.  Even teams like the undefeated 1998 Tulane Green Wave who played a cupcake out of conference schedule (along with the finest of Conference USA) cracked the top ten nationally in d1.  That said, as a Bantam alum, I'd much rather see another undefeated season than a national ranking (but you'd think the two would go together).

Panthers prove tough again in Vermont's late October, but the swarming Trinity D is too much.  4 shutouts in 6 games, 9 points in 6 games!  That is absolutely ridiculous.  Amherst has been beating up on people but they will have to top the scoring output of all Trinity opponents to date combined and/or pitch a near shutout to win.  I just don't see either one of those scenarios happening.  Maybe too early for the prediction but i'm going with 14-6 Trinity.  How bout them BANTS!

The Bants have lost some some heartbreakers at Middlebury...1999:  14-10, ran out of time going in to win in the Middlebury red zone and 2001: 14-7, Stalled 5 times inside the 10 and scored only seven points despite running 120 plays.  The Bants may start slow this weekend but they finish strong, 28-3.  Jumbos pull of the upset, 13-7