Quote from: Ralph Turner on September 07, 2019, 06:19:51 PM
Watching the Clemson - Texas A&M game.

The Aggie defensive coordinator Mike Elko started out at Merchant Marine as the defensive coordinator.

The announcer did not know Merchant Marine played football team. He did acknowledge that the big rival for Merchant Marine is Coast Guard.

There was a meme floating around the social medias (https://www.facebook.com/ElCidMemes/photos/a.801210759935568/2693531590703466/?type=3&theater) last weekend stating how, for perhaps the first time ever, all military academies (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard) and all Senior Military Colleges (VMI, Citadel, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, and Norwich) that sponsor football (North Georgia does not) won and went 9-0.

The awkward part was they left out King's Point, who had a bye.

Springfield's OOC schedule certainly helps their credibility. Beating WNE, rather convincingly, will give them a claim to regional superiority that no other team in a new conference can make. It'll take a couple years for the NEWMAC to establish it's bona fides, and Springfield is realistically going to have to be a leader in establishing them.

With that said, being in the top tier of NE and being in the top tier of the East Region are two different discussions. I think Springfield is already in the top tier of NE.

Conference play kicks off this week, with the highlight being (for me anyways, but I think for the league as well) the return of the "Little Army Navy Game" as Norwich and Coast Guard play for the first time since 2005. Having attended Norwich from 2009-2013, I heard countless stories from alumni about this rivalry and it'll certainly be a special atmosphere at homecoming in Vermont. With that said, until the Cadets' offense shows a pulse, I have to pick Coast Guard as a clear favorite. My straight picks:

Coast Guard @
Norwich

Merchant Marine @
Maine Maritime

MIT @
Catholic

WPI @
Springfield

I apologize for missing Sap Bucket Week as I was (and still am) in the middle of a move. But congrats to Castleton on the win. Definitely disappointing as a Norwich fan, as with Castleton losing to Plymouth earlier in the season I fully expected the Cadets to retain the Bucket. But Castleton came in knowing that Norwich has no pass game to speak of and thoroughly shut down the run.

Does that make them favorites for second place in the ECFC? I don't think the question is whether anyone in the league  can best Husson, but whether anyone in the league can even challenge them.

Curry 15
MIT(1-1) 7

Kean 8
Springfield(2-0) 28

Utica 10
Catholic(1-1) 16

Coast Guard(1-1) 13
Union 28

RPI 36
WPI(0-2) 14

St. Lawrence 17
Norwich(0-2) 10

As a Norwich fan, it was a disappointing loss to SLU as that was very much a game the Cadets could've won. A couple unforced errors and, with the benefit of hindsight, some questionable play calls made the difference. But, the defense was much, much improved from last week and the coaches deserve a lot of credit for that improvement.

But, offensively they need to find some sort of a passing game. Their identity is the read-option and they're good at it, but it's hard to really open up the run game when you're only completing 4 passes for 21 yards.

The Hoffman Cup, traditionally played between St. Lawrence and Merchant marine, transfers to between SLU and Norwich this year. NU and SLU have played against each other for 40 straight years, and the move honors the original purpose of the trophy: http://www.norwichathletics.com/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20170907nttu7p

Also, the game marks the start of three straight trophy games for the Cadets, with the Maple Sap Bucket (Castleton) and The Mug (Coast Guard) up next.

There's nothing better in college football than trophy games.

5-3 opening weekend, highlighted by Springfield knocking off WNE:


SUNY Maritime 59
Maine Maritime 13

Morrisville St. 34
Norwich 20

Springfield 35
WNE 20

USMMA 56
Misericordia 35

McDaniel 30
Catholic 10

MIT 28
Becker 0

WPI 48
Anna Maria 0

Coast Guard 34
Alfred St. 7

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 01, 2017, 11:47:09 AM
for

Kickoff would help with that, too.
http://www.d3football.com/notables/2017/08/order-kickoff-2017-now

Looks like it would. Wasn't aware of it. Just purchased!

After following the ECFC for the past few years, I honestly don't know enough about some of these teams to make honest predictions for this week, but I am stoked for the NEWMAC to begin play. What an awesome conference with awesome member institutions. Newmacsports.com has a roughly 2-minute preview for each team that I am going through and finding helpful in trying to get a little more oriented with the new league. This league has a lot of storied rivalries and the potential for some new rivalries as well. Coast Guard v. King's Point being on ESPN at the end of the year is great for league, and for DIII in general!

2017 NEWMAC Football Preseason Poll
Rank (First Place Votes)
1.Springfield (6)
2. Merchant Marine (2)
3. WPI
4. Norwich
5. MIT
T6. Catholic
T6. Coast Guard
8. Maine Maritime

I lived a couple blocks away from CNU for the past few years and it's definitely a great DIII environment, but it's about 2.5 hours from D.C. And that's with good traffic on 95.

However, I made the drive to D.C. twice during ,y time in Newport News to see Norwich play Gallaudet. When you're talking about great DIII football environments it's probably not at the front of most people's minds, but it's definitely a unique experience and worth checking out at least once. Haven't been to Catholic.

Was out of town last week (hence no posts) but I was thrilled to see Norwich reclaim the Sap Bucket. Is was a gutsy, slugfest of a game - the way rivalry games should be. While it will no longer be the final game of the year, I'm thrilled to see the rivalry live on as the Cadets move to the NEWMAC. Speaking of which, the Cadets end the ECFC Era of their program with a 46-10 record in conference, to include 3 championships. Not bad.

And now, all eyes are on Husson. I'll be pulling for them to claim the conference's first NCAA tournament win.

Maritime 17 @ Mount Ida 14
Norwich 13 @ Husson 27
Gallaudet 13 @ Anna Maria 27
Castleton 23 @  Becker 22

Husson wins the 2016 ECFC Championship.

Final:
Norwich 13
Husson 27

With about 3:00 minutes left and the Eagles up by 7, the NU defense got a big stop to force a Husson punt. The punter preceeded to fumble the snap, somehow avoid the swarm of Cadet defenders, and clumsily punted the ball off the bottom of his foot as he stumbled forward. The ball went about 7 yards, bounced off a Norwich blocker, and the Eagles recovered the fumble. On the next set of downs the deflated Cadet defense allowed a 56 yard touchdown pass in what culminated perhaps the most infuriating sequence of plays I have witnessed as a Cadet fan.

Total offense:
Husson 445 (219 passing/226 rushing)
Norwich 199 (71 passing, 128 rushing)

Overall, as a Cadet fan, the team has some obvious flaws but I'm proud of the way they competed. They traveled to Bangor and took the game down to the final minutes. A tip of the cap to the Husson Eagles, though. It's been a fun couple of years watching these teams develop a rivalry while competing for championships and I'm going to miss it next year.

Start of 4th:
Norwich 13
Husson 13

Halftime in Bangor:
Norwich 0
Husson 7

Total yardage is something like 250 for Husson to 62 for Norwich. The Cadets' defense has forced two big turnovers in the Red Zone, one on a fumble and the other on a great play by the defender to to take a ball away from the defender in the end zone. Smith has been able to break free for two big runs, but for the most part the Norwich D has done a pretty good job in bottling him up.

The real story in this game and where the difference is being made is in the passing game. Maybe Husson's QB gets overshadowed by Smith, but he has made some nice passes on third-and-long crossing routes to keep drives alive. This is in contrast to Norwich who, to be blunt about it, have an absolutely pitiful passing game. Horrid. Without double-checking the stats, I believe they've completed one pass for two yards (while exercising a sort of QB platoon). Given this inability and Husson's #1 defense allowing just 27 rushing YPG, Norwich should be pretty happy with getting 60 on the ground in the first half. No doubt the run game would be even more effective if the Eagles were forced to have even a little bit of respect for the passing game.

Weekend Predictions:
Gallaudet 19 @ AMC 12
Castleton 31 @ Becker 20
Maritime 20 @ Mount Ida 14

This last one is a tough one for me. On paper, Husson is the clear favorite. I think a talented Norwich team comes into Bangor with a huge chip on their shoulder as the defending conference champion who has been all but written off in this one. My heart says Norwich and my head says that an upset is a very real possibility this weekend, but in trying to be objective it's hard to pick against the Eagles.

Norwich 20 @ Husson 21