AUPepBand. Many apologies for the rip at Alfred. It was a cheap and I am sorry for it. What I meant was that it is not the academic school Hamilton is but then again Hamilton is not the athletic school Alfred is.     

It is amazing what one year under a head coaches belt will do but Hamilton is certainly not the same team they have been in the past. While they still need to learn to finish the game and win and could be 2-0 right now instead of 0-2 after an OT loss to Tufts and a five-point loss to Wesleyan, they have become competitive for several reasons.

They have cut down on their mistakes. The team has just two turnovers. Sophomore Brandon Tobin, who started the season at QB and is out with an injury, threw one pick and junior Chase Rosenberg, who has played since the halftime of the Tufts games, has thrown one interception and came on his last pass in the Wesleyan game. They have not put the ball on the ground once.

The keys to the improvement are throughout. The kicking, while they have missed three field goals, has been much better when it comes to kickoffs and punting. The field position for the offense has changed dramatically as well for the defense compared to years past. Defensively, they are getting pressure on the quarterback, coming from senior Nick Sobczyk and freshman Tyler Hudson among others. Against Wesleyan, they played a bend-but-not-break defense which included coming up with a fourth-quarter fumble at their own 1-yard line late in the third quarter. Bigger, stronger, deeper and more talented at some of the skill positions, Wesleyan had a very hard time shaking Hamilton, who stood toe to toe the entire 60 minutes.

The biggest issue for Hamilton right now is trying to get some time of running game. While running against a Wesleyan team is always tough, Hamilton had just 16 net yards rushing. This is not surprising considering head coach Dave Murray came to the program with the task of not only getting more lineman but also improving the strength and size of the team. That takes time and Hamilton has a very capable running back in LaShawn Ware and fullback in Jason Nastovski. While the running game has not been there, the offensive line has done a good job protecting the quarterback. Hamilton is also benefiting from a strong threesome of receivers in senior Nick Caso, junior Charles Ensley and senior Pat Donahue, the latter who has also become a tremendous punter. All three have very good hands and Donahue has quickly turned into one of the best all-around players in the league.

The Continentals have to travel to Trinity Saturday which will be a very difficult game as the Bantams appear to have the best defense in the league and have not been scored on in the first two games. But regardless of outcome, Murray appears to righted the ship when it comes to the effort the players are giving once they hit the field. While the team had to overcome a 21-point deficit against Tufts and could have won the game on a late field goal, they put a huge scare into a very good Wesleyan team that should be in the thick of the conference title hunt by season's end. Also, it appears the support at Hamilton is finally starting to change as for the second straight game, a large number of students showed up. Interestingly, the stands at Steuben Field got overheated Saturday as there is only one set of stands at the school and Hamilton moved their sidelines to the other side of the field. Wesleyan and Hamilton fans were sitting among each other and Wesleyan's players got a mouth full from several Hamilton students and parents from both schools spent the game throwing verbal jabs at each other. Not that there is anything wrong with any of it as college football brings that out in people but down the road it could lead to a problem. An easy fix is to put the opposing fans in a roped off area.

After Trinity, Hamilton travels to Bowdoin and then comes home for a game with Colby and then a trip to Williams. If Hamilton continues to get better, those are all games the Continentals could win. But the biggest takeaway from a 0-2 start is it appears better days are ahead in Clinton.         

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No alcohol at Hamilton tailgates; also school policy states that Kosher meals have to be provided at any sporting tailgates.

The atmosphere at the Hamilton-Tufts game was from what I am told the best in years at Steuben Field. While head coach Dave Murray started turning around the program last season, this was a huge lift for parents, alumni and, most importantly, a good group of students which came out and were ready to rush the field had they won. The new uniforms and helmets reminded those of what Alabama wears but in blue and the team a good decision to move their sideline across the field, away from the parents and fans as Steuben only has stands on one side. While Hamilton has a long ways to go, many of the parents afterwards including first-year parents felt like despite the loss a breath of fresh air has been blown into the program. The other standout was there were a handful of freshman that were able to contribute. The next day, Hamilton hosted Union College for a JV game where we got a chance to see this freshman class, Murray's first at Hamilton, and they looked good. I hope some of the administration was on hand Saturday to see what competitive football can bring to the school and how exciting it can be in Clinton on Saturday afternoons.

Nescacman, great writeup and agree that Hamilton can win at least two games this season. Today, despite you picking them to lose, will be very interesting considering they have Tufts at home and should have beaten  them in Boston last year. The attitude seems to have changed among the players though the school itself still gives the team little or no support and there is little or no confidence in the athletics director. No need to put the number out there but the overall Hamilton sports program has to be among the worst in all of the NCAA. The AD along with the administration has promised for more than a year and a half changes in the entire athletic program but there has been really nothing done except for a new locker room which only came because of a gift of a former football player and replaced a locker room that was disgusting and a health hazard. Head coach Dave Murray, however, has brought in new uniforms, helmets and a new overall look and he is the school's lone hope for a winning program. Lot of players gone from last year's squad though most of the ones that played returned. The key for Hamilton will be finishing, whether it be a play, drive, quarter or game. With games against Wesleyan and Trinity around the corner, the key to the season really is today against Tufts. There is no reason why they can't beat the Jumbos. They have them at home, there is certainly enough talent in Clinton and Tufts hasn't won a road game in what, almost five years. If Tufts wins it will be another setback for a Hamilton program that needs to get the monkey off its back much like Tufts did against them last year. I think we will all get a chance to see what Murray and his staff are made of today at Steuben Field. He won at his last school but came from a poor academic school at Alfred where he could take anyone. These are his coaches and he has a year under his belt and we will get a chance to see today what he can actually do in D3's top academic league. Murray has enough to win four games this season and perhaps even pull up a upset over one of the big four and they don't have to play Amherst. If Hamilton was ever going turn a corner where the players start learning to win, a good start would be today. Hopefully, it's AD and administration will be on hand today to watch and if a win does come see what kind of difference it can make at the school. Hamilton wonders why it is not a top 10 or now even top 15 liberal arts college. It is not just all about academics and or building some fancy theatre and arts building. It is about trying to be the best at everything. Ask Harvard or I like what Mercedes goes by: Best or Nothing!   

Hamilton will scrimmage Cornell Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Ithaca. You can get more info on the team at HamiltonContinentalsFootball.com. The team has not posted their roster yet as for perhaps the first time ever they are trying to get down to 75 players.
 

You can check out the new Hamilton football recruits at HamiltonContinentalsFootball.com.

Rosenberg broke his thrown hand late in the third quarter of the game against Middlebury on a late hit that actually was called. Rosenberg actually tried to practice the following week for the finale against Bates but was finally casted and is back to throwing and lifting. Interestingly, Murray had a banquet for the players after the season and you would have never known this team went 0-8 again. The atmosphere has changed and while Hamilton should have won a few games this past season, it seems to be a similar situation to Tufts where one victory will lead to others. Say this about Murray and his coaching staff, he did an excellent job his first season changing the thinking inside the program. He also has the parents behind him fully and the coaching staff seems to have come together and is very positive about the new recruiting class.     

Hats off to the Hamilton seniors today ... way to hang in there and you will be better for it ... go Continentals ...

I agree with NESCAC man ...
The world sucks
The country is coming to an end
Williams is a horrible place
Hamilton is for losers
Woe is me
It must be great to live in your house!

And by the way, if you are going to use letters like you did in the Williams post, have the balls to post the name of the alumnus ... if not, don't bother us with your dribble ... 

DC53 ... good for you and your wife ... great outlook for life ... Go Continentals ...

Junior? I wish I was a junior ... I would agree that Williams should be able to recruit anyone considering it is the top school in the country which includes the Ivy biggies ...

Here's betting that Murray gets his team off the deck and playing well at home against Williams ... the Colby game was the first time all season Hamilton has not been competitive ... no excuses but to take a shot at a coach .. should be fired for defensive game plan ... is pathetic and comes from a hack that knows zero about football ... yeah, and perhaps the Seattle Seahawks DC should get tossed for their two straight losses ... Hamilton is a program in transition and there are going to be ups and downs before Murray gets some consistency from a team that was competitive in one game last season ... suggestion ... if you are going to take personal shots at people then have some actual facts to back it up ... Colby played well, Hamilton played poorly ... period ... it happens every week on every level ...   

To survive these days, no matter what conference you play in, you have to win or at the very least, be competitive ... The only conference in America at any level in football that compares to the NESCAC academically is the Ivy League and you can make a good case that when it comes to the full-school/academic experience the NESCAC stands up right beside their big brother ...  I can only speak about my experience with Hamilton but last season it became very apparent that there were alumni and current players that had come to the end of their rope with the school's football program ... At first, it appeared AD Jon Hind was going to take over the program and perhaps work with one of the young coaches and transition them over time into a HC ... but the Board pf Trustees wanted a head coach with experience and a good track record and they went to Dave Murray at Alfred, who they had gone to previously and offered the job before they went with Andrew Cohn ... This time Murray accepted and brought two coaches with him to be his OC and DC and it is very apparent that despite the team's 0-4 record, Hamilton has been very competitive in every game and with a break or two here, a mistake less there, they easily could be 2-2 or even 3-1 with a win over a Wesleyan or Trinity M... My point here is that the alumni of the NESCAC schools want their teams to win ... Period ... Does that mean that they will take a group of kids with a 2.5 average and 1,000 SAT score? ... Perhaps not but anyone that doesn't think that many of these schools are not relaxing their admission policies for football players are crazy ... Here's my point ... You would not have believed the turnout and excitement for Hamilton's homecoming (they school calls it Fallcoming) game last week against Bowdoin ... The alumni, the administration, the teachers, the students, could sense that this football team is different than in year's past, that something had changed and was new and exciting ... So they showed up in a big way ... And here is something else that has changed for the better in Clinton ... The close loss to Bowdoin Saturday was a tough one, a very emotional loss for players that haven't won a game in two years ... But Murray and his staff didn't hide afterwards and put on their best game face ... The wins will come, perhaps not this year but they will come ... For me, I see this happening all across the league and Bowdoin is sending a strong statement that it wants to win ... What has happened at the D1 level has slowly dripped all the way down to the Little Ivie Conference ... The days of lasting more than a few years for HC's and not winning is over ... Like it or not, college football has become that important, even at its smallest level ... And don't laugh but some day you will see The NESCAC Network, just like the SEC and Big Ten ... It won't won't come close to those others in size but some day you are going to be able to watch every NESCAC football game digitally under one network and will see more than Williams-Amherst on TV ... Some 14 years ago they laughed when the SEC commissioner said his conference would have a network all to themselves ... Wouldn't it be great every Saturday to go to one place online and get every NESCAC game and why wouldn't TV stations in the New England area run a game of the week ... It's going to happen ...   

HUGE NEWS FOR HAMILTON ... Suspended Georgia running back and former Heisman Trophy frontrunner Todd Gurley will be suiting up for the Continentals on Saturday ... he will be selling autograph footballs before the game ...