Ryan Lynskey have mercy on our souls. Best NESCAC performance since...? And in a loss?

Quote from: GroundandPound on October 22, 2024, 08:44:54 AMTOP 5 NESCAC Kickers from 2000-2024  (based on # of All-NESCAC Teams Made)

1. Sachse (Trin) 2016, 2017, 2018
Jumes (Trin) 2022, 2023,
2. Hauschka (Midd) 2005 (2nd), 2006
3. Cox (Trin) 2007, 2008
4. Rawson (Amh) 2010, 2011
5. Nwosu (Amh) 2013, 2014

I know this is not the ranking but Hauschka is the only one on the list with a Super Bowl.     

Midd puts up the average Trin ACT score and beats the Bants once again. Mike Ahonen (Midd WR #8) must hate poultry cause he can't stop beating Bantams.

Quote from: JEFFFAN on October 12, 2024, 05:17:13 PMNot clear that there are any Lord Jeff fans on this site anymore - no reason to, frankly - but the demise of this program remains staggering to watch.   For five plus years this team has the most ineffective lines in my history with the program, which goes back to the mid 1970s.   It is hard to figure out whether the skill players are any good when they have no time to try to make plays.   Hard pressed to believe that EJ has forgotten how to recruit but the results speak for themselves.   There might also be a correlation to the demise of this program with the new admissions director and the hard, hard left turn by Biddy Martin.  Whatever - this program just stinks right now.

Price is one heck of a player. Played against him twice and he was one of the twitchiest dudes I ever had to block. Loved playing against Bowdoin. A well-coached group that played a hard and executed a complex scheme well. Love to root for the Whispering Pines 8 weeks a year and happy to see them blow the doors off a continually poor Amherst squad.

31-10 projected win for the Cardinals. I think you meant UBates. A talented, young, and hungry Bobcat squad gave Wesleyan their classic random bad loss. Signature win for Coyne in the CAC!

Real 'CACers remember the days of nothingbutnescac.com.

Quote from: Nescacman on September 16, 2024, 11:55:04 PM

Quote from: MapleBBQChicken on September 13, 2024, 03:42:02 PM

Quote from: nescac1 on September 13, 2024, 02:14:35 PMCoach Raymond confirmed that Holden Gering is going to be a two-way starter at WR and CB.  When was the last time that happened in NESCAC?  It's certainly been a LONG time.  He's not a big guy at all, so hopefully he can hold up physically.

I'm kind of surprised we don't see a few other guys around the league pulling at least partial double-duty.  Like Perry, imagine adding him to the middle of the already-nasty Middlebury d-line on a handful of key defensive plays?  Richardson playing as a roaming free safety last year in must-pass situations would have been terrifying, as well.

Agreed that Perry would be a beast in the middle of the Middlebury DL between Kenary and Filias. That would be an immensely hard group to block. Middlebury has partially explored this idea, having Perry in at DT to block field goals and extra points last year.

Maybe Perry should just focus on blocking NESCACers rather than playing defense or playing on Sunday's...which from what we saw on Saturday, is not going to happen. 

I understand that Wesleyan won and agree that it was an unequivocal beatdown. But a leader of this board personally making fun of a college athlete is incredibly childish. Your college football team won, I get it. Frankly, it undermines your takes as an "expert". Also, it seems as if you take great pride in the failure of young men. You're an adult, act like it.

Challenging Week 2 for the Pants this week at the Whispering Pines of Brunswick. Either a convincing get-right game against a difficult opponent they have had consistently competitive games with or a sobering drop to 0-2 in Pantherland. Excited to see how HCOF Mandigo rights the ship.

Quote from: Nescacman on September 11, 2024, 02:14:54 PM

Quote from: MapleBBQChicken on September 11, 2024, 12:50:08 PM

Quote from: Nescacman on September 11, 2024, 01:06:22 AM4). Middlebury (2023 Record: 8-1 NESCACMAN Predicted 2024 Record: 6-3)

Bulletin board material for Midd -- defending champs ranked 4th and behind their week 1 opponent. I'm not sure the team has lost as much talent on offense as the board seems to think, and this might be the best DL group in all of Division III. The beautiful thing is we don't need to argue because we will see on Saturday.

New QB, loss of All-Leaguers (WR Wood, LB McCool, DB Muldoon) and several OL...we stand by our projection. They were very fortunate to have 8 wins a year ago and could have very easily had 3 losses or more. Should be a great game Saturday...that's why they play the games.

"Several Oline" is patently false. Midd returns 7 lineman who started a game last year. Only 1 starter graduated (and he missed most of last season with injury anyway.) Besides, all NESCACMAN does is provide bulletin board material. And we are thankful for his service.

Quote from: Nescacman on September 10, 2024, 07:21:27 AM

Quote from: nescac1 on September 09, 2024, 06:34:53 PMRegarding NFL potential I totally forgot about Perry.  Yeah, he does have the physical profile of a legit prospect. I'll still go under on two though .

Perry and Logan...

One guy with actual NFL buzz, another with actual NESCACMAN buzz

Quote from: nescac1 on September 09, 2024, 02:42:44 AM"Send" to the NFL can mean different things, but if we define it as "have a player drafted, be signed to a contract beyond on a purely non-guaranteed try-out basis, make the roster or be signed to the practice squad," I'll definitely take the under on "2" or even "1."  Only a tiny handful of guys in the last 25 years of NESCAC history have been in this ballpark.  You can completely dominate NESCAC and still barely be able to play for a power NCAA program let alone sniff the NFL. I don't see any athletic freaks of nature like an Ethan Brooks who simply didn't belong in the league after growing very late in life.  Nor a huge-legged dominant kicker like a Hauschka which is the most likely player profile. 

I would say Thomas Perry is about as close to a "how did he get here" conversation as it gets. Stronger than anyone in the league, he has incredible length, feet, and pad level. In terms of freakish-ness, he was actually named to Bruce Feldman's Freak List, which outlines the most incredible athletes in college football. In terms of pro potential, he is one of roughly a half dozen D3 players named to the Senior Bowl Watchlist, and is the only current or former NESCAC player on the list. To "take the under of 2 or 1" NFL prospects is ignorant of this incredibly physically gifted and stoic offensive lineman up in Vermont. Will he ever make an NFL roster or even get a tryout, who knows. But to say that he is not in a nearly singular ilk of NESCAC players, athletes, and prospects is false.

Quote from: MikeJones50 on September 06, 2024, 11:15:33 AMInteresting to see Midd roster and the loss of WR Donovan Wood. Obviously, he was a massive part of that offense and his departure is something that is not being talked about enough. One guy who may step up in a major way is TE Liam High. A transitioned LB, High saw some action on the offensive side of the ball last year, showing a firm schematic understanding of the run game and a strong point of attack while blocking. He will need to drastically improve his receiving abilities - with one of the worst drops I have ever seen in last years game vs Williams - but I hear that he is a very hard worker and beloved within the locker room. If he can piece it all together, he may prove to be greatly important in an offense that is going to need another playmaker to emerge.

Also, great to see CB Teddy Daniel named captain. As one of the premier punt blockers in the entire nation during 2022 (seriously, he was statistically a top 5 punt blocker across all NCAA levels), he finally gets some recognition for his scrappy play and dedication to the little aspects of the game.

To be fair to Liam High, it was one of the rainiest days ever.

Quote from: nescac1 on September 06, 2024, 09:41:55 AMWilliams has its roster posted:

https://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/football/roster?sort=class

The senior class is very strong led by prior all-league players Forth, Scott, Smith, and Shuran, and some other talented seniors who should contend for all-league honors if Williams has a good year, including Fischetti, Vilfort, and Tartaglia. Six of the seniors are returning for an extra COVID semester. So there is definitely some pressure to win now because the Ephs lose a ton of talent who will leave huge roster holes behind them among their 24-man senior class after this year (although the same can pretty much be said for most of the league given that this is the last year of bulging senior classes due to COVID). 

As usual the Ephs generally don't update positions after September of a player's first year, so many of these positions are going to be inaccurate.  For example of the eight listed quarterbacks, I'd say half will be playing other positions (and in fact three already were last year). 

The Ephs look loaded in the trenches and at TB.  Should be tough running the ball and against the run and I expect a very difficult pass rush to deal with.  QB, WR, and DB are the big question marks and are areas where guys need to either make a big leap forward or perhaps some FYs enter into the mix. Last year opposing receivers were way too open, Eph receivers couldn't get open, and the QB's didn't nail enough completions in tight spaces.  The Ephs were also hurt by just a ridiculous spate of serious injuries so fingers crossed this year is a bit better on that front, as well.

The first-year class looks strong and certainly massive ... four linemen between 290 and and 320 pounds, and some real size at receiver and DB as well.  In short, nothing to suggest that Williams is going to be moving away from its four-yards-and-a-cloud of dust approach going forward ... this is the year to prove that approach can succeed when Bobby Maimaron isn't at the helm, or if not, consider something a bit different. 

I think there is a successful middle ground for the Ephs this year. Asking for Maimaron-esque success as an improvement from a team that barely went 3-6 with an anemic offense is a lot in my opinion. Maimaron was a transcendent player who raised a team from basement dweller to the 2nd 9-0 team in league history. I think the Ephs will show marked improvement this year with a healthy Dickinson and Fischetti, more experienced McHugh, and a big, experienced defense. 3-0 against the inconsistent CBB, a win  at home against the Conts, and a win at home vs the Lord Mammoths is a solid 5-4. Picking on lesser to equal competition will allow for the youth to gain experience and the 5th years to lead from the front, as well as improve from last year's fire drill. Improvement, but not reaching Maimaron/Rothman/Stola/Freeman-esque heights.

Quote from: Trin9-0 on September 03, 2024, 12:09:08 PM

Quote from: NescacNewbie on September 03, 2024, 10:22:49 AM

Quote from: Trin9-0 on September 03, 2024, 10:03:08 AM

Quote from: NescacNewbie on September 02, 2024, 06:54:54 PMI think week 1 will tell us a lot.
Wesleyan vs Middlebury could set the tone for the #2 slot for the year. I say this since everyone already blessed Trinity with the #1 position, which they clearly didn't earn last year. (Sorry to bring this "tie" thing up again)
I am not convinced that Tufts can be in the top 4, Williams could be the wildcard to fill that position.

Did I miss where everyone crowned Trinity as the presumptive favorite this season? Middlebury returns twice as many All NESCAC performers while Wesleyan and Tufts both have more all conference talent coming back than Trinity. The Bantams have to go on the road to play the Jumbos and Panthers. Tufts has the top returning QB while Trinity graduated the greatest statistical QB in their program history along with 9 of 11 starters on defense and most of the offensive line.

Sure, Trinity is seemingly always in the running for a league title, but it's hard to call them the favorite this year and I don't recall seeing anyone who has...

Sorry with the "everyone" designation.
Maybe a historical reference/opinion.
And I still believe strongly that they weren't "tied" for #1 last year, that I stand by no matter what the rules are.

Sure, historically Trinity has been the best team in the NESCAC. That won't win them any games this year.  And forget "everyone" has ANYONE gone on record to say the Bantams are the favorite this year?

As for your other point; I think most (myself included) agree with your assessment that they didn't necessarily deserve to be a 2023 co-champion. However, I'm curious if others share my opinion that, even though Midd deserved a solo crown, Trinity was still the best NESCAC team last year.

Statistically the '23 Bantams were one of the top performing NESCAC teams of all time. If they had found a way to punch the ball in from the two yard line against the Panthers they would surely be considered as such. Meanwhile Middlebury had wildly successful season, but their week-to-week performance was somewhat unremarkable. They finished 4th in total offense and 8th in total defense. Midd was 3rd in scoring offense and 2nd in scoring defense. Their rushing numbers were middle of the pack on both sides of the ball and even the historically dominant Midd passing attack finished just 3rd on offense (5th on defense).

Middlebury led the league in only two categories: kickoffs and opponents penalties. Now, they also tied for the league in wins (which I'm not trying to discount). I get it that everyone wants to poke fun at Trinity for winning a share of a title they don't see as legitimate, but I'd like to hear any rationale for those who think Middlebury was actually the best team for the entire season. Keep in mind the Panthers did lose to Wesleyan, whom Trinity dismantled 58-6.

I think that is what makes football, specifically NESCAC football, so great. Any given Saturday afternoon. There is no doubt that Trinity had an incredible team last year and had arguably the best statistical season in NESCAC history. But if its all about statistics, why play the games?

No one ever could've predicted the Conts would take down the Jumbos or that the buzzsaw that was the Bants wouldn't get into the endzone at their own Coop. Thats why we play the games and love the sport.

Quote from: Nescacman on September 03, 2024, 09:27:02 AM

Quote from: ROTMNG on September 02, 2024, 09:33:47 PMNot enough conversation about UCONN-Hartford Campus as a contender for the #2 slot. After all, that is what happened last year. Just saying before we appoint the Nervous Birds as champions on paper.

For the record, it's Hartford State. Not affiliated in anyway with the basketball power in Storrs.

I'm a long-time reader. Just expanding our vernacular. Well aware of the Hartford State lore.