Pierotti entered the portal last year. He then left the portal and announced that he was staying at Bates. He was then injured in the offseason in a non football accident and did not play a down for Bates this year. He is now on rehab and intends to return to Bates next year as a Sophomore.

McClellan is an all conference player but not OPOY. Ryan Lynskey had a better RB year last year before injury this year and he got very little attention for OPOY.
The OPOY should be Fitzsimmons who carried the NESCAC champs all year long. He made their RBs and receivers better. Never saw other skill position guys get so much better as the season advanced than they did at Wes this year. Fitsimmons was the glue, the offensive leader that made that team so good.

Charlie-

On the coaching front Mills is the best coach in the conference hands down in my opinion.
However Dice at Wes did a pretty darn good job this year and capped it off with a monumental win against Trinity in a huge game.

You point out that Devanney has come up short in "big" games but you're not going to win all of those games with the whole conference gunning for you. Still a lot of rings on Bantam fingers.

Conversely, Dice has a pattern of surprising losses in "small" games. Losses to Bowdoin and Bates in recent years.

Interesting contrast between 2 fine coaches.

I think we will see more of this pattern of parity in the conference for the foreseeable future though I believe a bitter loss like this for Trinity will probably bring something in the way of  remedial measures.  They may look to elevate their arsenal even further. This would be bad news for programs in the conference striving to reach that Championship level.

Unquestionably a great Football venue at Andrus. Part of the issue is that the football field is part of the Baseball field in the spring.
Why not Turf the whole thing? It would be a very large Turf project but maybe makes sense in the long run.

Since he came to Williams I"ve watched coach Raymond on the Williams Football TV show, on some other interviews and always observed his sideline demeanor during his early years at Williams. I had him cast as a soft-spoken, more composed guy until the last couple of years when I started to see a pretty intense "edge" including this year at Bates.

I was wrong, this guy has an explosive temper who can fly into a rage. We all know coaches actually should do that at certain times. Everybody loves a fiery, compassionate coach but this guy seems easily driven over the edge. All coaches have their own personality and coaching style but it took me a while to recognize that with Raymond. He's right up their with the Hammer at Bowdoin as the 2 guys most likely to explode on the sidelines when things aren't going well.

Haven't seen the Battle of the Birds tape yet but very impressed with the Wes ground game and the performance of Angelo LaRose. Wes seemed to be a ground attack "by committee" during the year but LaRose really stepped it up in huge game. Can't remember many times over the years when anyone ran the ball like that against Trinity. Very surprising.
Another thing that jumped out to me was the fact that Wes was able to contain O'Brien who I consider the most explosive, dangerous player in the league. If he was at full strength the Cards did a great job containing him.
Looks like the Dante Kelly was the best receiver on the field on Saturday. He is destined to be in O'Briens class in terms of explosiveness if he is not at that level now. He's going to be a huge headache for opponents for the next 3 years.

Don't remind us of that NM- please don't go political on us- we come to this site to escape from that lunacy.
Looking forward to the battle of the Birds this weekend.

"Yeah, not really".......

"These schools have been trying to limit roster sizes forever......based on a more challenging competitive environment"......

Anything else to add Jefffan?
 

How many times can you call it insane.....? It's not insane.

NESAC schools are now eligible for post season play. What is "insane" about about bringing NESCAC roster limits closer to the limits we see at other high level academic institutions like Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and many others.

Increasing Football rosters from 75 to 90 or 100 is not such a radical thought despite all these Purple whines about it. Maybe the Purples should take their ball and go home.....is it getting too hard for them?

I believe the Purple schools want to restrict roster sizes because they believe they have an advantage at lower roster levels given their country wide academic reputation. The Purples fared the best in the old overly restrictive athletic environment in the early NESCAC days where they experienced great success amid all the overt restrictions imposed by the early NESCAC. They love the confined, regulated athletic environment  Those restrictions work best for the "Elite Purple". Increases in roster sizes and removal of old restrictive limits benefit the likes of Trinity and other NESCAC programs that choose to take expansive steps, within the spirit of the rules, to improve their athletic and football programs.

The Elite Purples had a high level of control on NESCAC Footall in the earlier years but they are struggling to deal with the aspirations of other football programs like Trinity, Wesleyan and Middlebury that have been coming after them.

Sometimes, when threatened, the reaction is to impose more regulation on your rivals.

spell check failure......or perhaps intentional.....seems like the latter?

Yes the Tufts broadcasts and productions are very good- the best in the league.

They do a good job at Wesleyan but the play by play guy puts me to sleep with the slow cadence monotone.

The Middlebury cast on Saturday was the worst I've seen in quite some time but they might have been substitutes..... the kid who was doing the play by play was doing his best be he had no idea what was going on with the game.

Bowdoin does a good job with 2 locals in the booth as well.

The Williams balanced attack, with or without the injured players, should be a handful for their opponents down the stretch. If Renzella throws it the way I believe he can to go along with their running game they are in good shape.
As we come to the homestretch I anticipate some very competitive games with more upsets. This shapes up as one of the better years of NESACAC football in quite a while.
Any other year Wesleyan would be counted out with 2 losses at this point but not the case this year. Same goes for Amherst.

Only 3 QBs on Mules roster. Drake, Patrick Miller and a FY.
Last year they recruited a QB from Atlanta that I thought would be a dominant NESCAC QB.
Griffin Marshall 6'2" 200. He's not on the roster this year, would have been a Soph.
Transfer, Injury?......Maybe Muleshoe can fill us in. He would be the guy stepping in now or maybe earlier if he was on roster.

Saw the tape. As I thought, Bowdoin had nothing to lose on Saturday. It was pretty predictable that the undersized 0-5 PBears would go back to their gambling, devil may care defensive scheme in Middletown. Nothing to lose, they pulled huge upset in the past against the Cards with that approach. Why not try it again.
Great coaching job by the Hammer and staff. How could Wes not be prepared for that scenario. Stunts, Blitzes, games on D.
A coaching and preparation victory by an inferior 0-5 Bowdoin team on the road. Cards don't seem to be adept at making adjustments during game. Too many losses to inferior opponents.

NM-
I've got different information on Colby QB situation- I'm told Drake went out with an injury. Do you know for a fact that is not the case?

Other than Johansen I say Williams was pretty healthy coming up to Lewiston on Saturday. Not sure about past years but disagree with you on this one my friend.
I will say I'd like to see a few of the Ephs O linemen complete the battery the post practice sprints that were standard protocol back in the day.  Some guys carrying some unnecessary weight.