Great day in the 'Cac!!

Mules looked played as complete a game as I've seen in a long while, truly firing on all cylinders. Drake was fantastic with 4 TDs and getting 9 different receivers involved. O-line did just enough in the run game to keep the LMs defense honest.

Defense held Amherst to just 131 yards total (-3 on the ground!) including 3 sacks and not allowing a single 3rd down conversion.

Fantastic day on the Hill.


Was also able to catch the last drive of the game in VT - what a finish! But what was Trinity doing on defense that drive? It looked like the safety's were at 10 yards, when all they couldn't do was give up a TD. Giving up that post on 3rd down at the 35 was rough. Wish I could have seen the TD catch but camera angle got cut off.

Not sure if Midd can keep playing with fire like this and run the table for another title, but they seem to have a habit of pulling these ones out. Kudos to them.

The winning catch on IG.  Great angle.  Considering game situation, opponent, significance of the play and degree of difficulty, one of the best ever in the league:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBUblMhPP7U/?igsh=anNsY3hiaXE4Z2d4

Ahonen a/k/a Bantam slayer

The "Beasts of the northeast"
The "Rulers of the Roost"
The "Bama of the 'CAC"
no match for Bantam Slayer et al

Quote from: muleshoe on October 19, 2024, 07:18:24 PMGreat day in the 'Cac!!



Was also able to catch the last drive of the game in VT - what a finish! But what was Trinity doing on defense that drive? It looked like the safety's were at 10 yards, when all they couldn't do was give up a TD. Giving up that post on 3rd down at the 35 was rough. Wish I could have seen the TD catch but camera angle got cut off.

Muleshoe-

Your comments on the Trinity D scheme echo my pre game post
....Why don't they respect the Middlebury passing arsenal and bring different looks, stunts and pressure....maybe they did, I'll watch the tape tomorrow.

Wish I could have seen the game live but let's give a huge tip of the hat to this Middlebury team. Nobody predicted a win last year in Hartford and less than nobody predicted a win at Middlebury this year. Highest kudos to a great achievement by a fine Middlebury Football Program.

Much happiness in the Panther Football community tonight after a great Football victory. This includes those who are timid and silent in advance of a game but jump in after the result is in.

A truly great day for Middleburuy Football- congratulations on a great win!

Quote from: MapleBBQChicken on October 19, 2024, 03:46:33 PMPanthers even money

Congrats to the Pants and their faithful on the double win yesterday. Very happy for HCOF Doug and the Middlebury student-athletes. As we said earlier in the week, if we were going to lose our wager, we would be very happy with a MID win. Chicken, looking forward to enjoying the fruits of your win next year on Andrus. Please message us in advance with drink/smoke preferences.

Thank you MID for placing the Cards in sole possession of first place in the NESCAC through 6 games (based on the true NESCAC tie breaker formula). Makes the last 3 weeks of the season really interesting with 5 teams mathematically still with a shot at the coveted NESCAC Football Championship.

Despite a sluggish offensive day for the Cards, the defense stepped up and the offense got it done when it mattered. Great to see the Polar faithful show up for a football game. Excellent game day atmosphere. Kudos to the "all gas, no brakes" Bowdoin D who created havoc for the Wes O all day. Much more to follow on this game and the rest of the very interesting day in the 'CAC.

And for those keeping track, we went 4-1 (not 3-2 as some of you said we were going to go) with our picks yesterday and picked up another game on the almighty computer (who obviously was spending way too much computing and not watching the Lord Mammoths offense actually play). 

NM

Trinity Fans and The Anti-Middlebury Deep State,

I think it's time we start the discussion around Michael Ahonen being the most clutch player in 'CAC history. Despite being a perennial 2nd option for the Panthers and a fairly tame stat line, he has shown up and made plays in the biggest game. Last year vs the Bantams he went for 9 catches / 175 yards / 1 TD (Game Winner). He went back to his more normal stat line on Saturday, but still got the game winner, 3 catches / 24 yards / 1 TD (Game Winner). Ahonen was MIA for most of the game, but he showed up when his team needed him. This is also back to back years he outperformed Trinity's #82. The Panthers Defense is legit. This was very obvious to me in my film study, so it was no surprise how they shut down the Trinity offense.

I am rarely wrong, but when I make a mistake I can admit it. My weather projections and modeling must've had an error, because it ended up being a nice day in Middlebury. I am currently debugging my weather system to find the breach, and I hope it will result in more accurate forecasts for the future.

- Honcho, NESCAC Legend

Quote from: mhoncho123 on October 20, 2024, 12:43:49 PMTrinity Fans and The Anti-Middlebury Deep State,

I think it's time we start the discussion around Michael Ahonen being the most clutch player in 'CAC history. Despite being a perennial 2nd option for the Panthers and a fairly tame stat line, he has shown up and made plays in the biggest game. Last year vs the Bantams he went for 9 catches / 175 yards / 1 TD (Game Winner). He went back to his more normal stat line on Saturday, but still got the game winner, 3 catches / 24 yards / 1 TD (Game Winner). Ahonen was MIA for most of the game, but he showed up when his team needed him. This is also back to back years he outperformed Trinity's #82. The Panthers Defense is legit. This was very obvious to me in my film study, so it was no surprise how they shut down the Trinity offense.

I am rarely wrong, but when I make a mistake I can admit it. My weather projections and modeling must've had an error, because it ended up being a nice day in Middlebury. I am currently debugging my weather system to find the breach, and I hope it will result in more accurate forecasts for the future.

- Honcho, NESCAC Legend

Mr. JV Legend, please leave the weather forecasts to NESCACMAN and our league-wide consortium. We are rarely wrong on the weather (and our picks...27-3 thus far in 2024 btw).

NM

NM,

Whose offense is worse, the Lord Jeffs or our Giants?

To Whom It May Concern,

I just wanted to aggregate the statements on this board that demonstrate the least knowledge of ball.

"The more I look at the Trinity-Middlebury game from last year the more confident I am about tomorrow. " - Trin 9-0

"Midd is fighting for the lives " - Trin 9-0

"Trinity will dominate Middlebury." - lumbercat

"Not in relation to the unfortunate beatdown the Pants will incur on Saturday" - Nescacman

"this game won't be close." - Nescacman

"He won't be able to post after Saturday. Will be working overtime to pay up that panthers gamble!" - Gray Fox

"If the panthers are even money I have a farm or 3 I want to sell. Bantams by a lot." - BantChamps

Still not sure why Trinity fans have been so quiet on the board since Saturday. Might have something to do with BantChamps having his Camry repoed. Don't even want to guess the interest rate he was paying on that thing. North of 15% if I had to guess.

- Honcho, NESCAC Legend

AmherstStudent05, while not addressed to me, I'll go with the Giants, who at least have one healthy elite talent on offense vs zero for Amherst.  But it's close.

Not to say Amherst can't beat Williams late in the season.  The Ephs are clearly the better team with the brighter future, but the D, which continues to start only two seniors and five (very talented but still) FY players, can look stellar or porous on alternating possessions, as one would expect for such a young unit, and the coaches have gotten very conservative with the offense. 

The biggest issue for the Ephs is only forcing four turnovers on the season and zero in the last two games. The Ephs seem to just miss on some, so maybe bad luck in part, but also need to make more aggressive plays on the ball when hitting the QB and in pass coverage.

The Ephs' elite special teams has helped make up for that in creating good field position, but Williams needs to create some turnovers in these last three games. 

Trin D gave up about 285 yds per game Midd O got 425 yards

Trin O got about 400 yds per game and Midd D allowed 350 yds

Trin D yielded 14 pts per game Midd got 24 pts
Trin O averaged 31 pts per game Midd D held to 21 pts

Turnover margin neutral midd one pick v trin dropping rock once

Quote from: AmherstStudent05 on October 20, 2024, 03:57:58 PMNM,

Whose offense is worse, the Lord Jeffs or our Giants?

Great question. We'll go with the Lord Mammoths, but barely.

Frankly, Amherst has a more promising future at QB...we'll take Marek Hall over Danny Dimes, hands down. Actually, we'd take anyone over Danny Dimes, especially Tommy Cutlets, at this point. Fortunately, we have the Yankees...and the Knicks and Rangers seasons look bright.

Not sure we've ever predicted a shut-out in all of our years predicting NESCAC games, but this week might be the week...stay tuned!

Quote from: muleshoe on October 19, 2024, 07:18:24 PMGreat day in the 'Cac!!

Mules looked played as complete a game as I've seen in a long while, truly firing on all cylinders. Drake was fantastic with 4 TDs and getting 9 different receivers involved. O-line did just enough in the run game to keep the LMs defense honest.

Defense held Amherst to just 131 yards total (-3 on the ground!) including 3 sacks and not allowing a single 3rd down conversion.

Fantastic day on the Hill.


Was also able to catch the last drive of the game in VT - what a finish! But what was Trinity doing on defense that drive? It looked like the safety's were at 10 yards, when all they couldn't do was give up a TD. Giving up that post on 3rd down at the 35 was rough. Wish I could have seen the TD catch but camera angle got cut off.

Not sure if Midd can keep playing with fire like this and run the table for another title, but they seem to have a habit of pulling these ones out. Kudos to them.

It was nice to see a complete game for the Mules on both sides of the ball. Minimal penalties certainly helped.
372 yards of offense on the Amherst defense? Mules starting to click or is Amherst that bad?