FB: Middle Atlantic Conference

[KingSting999]

WUDLINE

Thanks for clearing up the newsletter thing. Perhaps I was reading more into it than meets the eye, I certainly hope so for the team's sake. Looking forward to the Keystone Cup game later in the season. No matter what the records of the teams they aalways put on a "slobber knocker" of a game!

GO AGGIES !!!!!!

[PBR...]

Another weekend of competitive MAC football coming up. Only went 2 and 2 last week in my picks. Let's have some picks and thoughts on these games!

Lyco at Wilkes
Kings at Albright
Widener at Leb Vall
Del Val at FDU

Will be another tough week to pick four winners out of this group of games!

lyco vs. wilkes  also have to go w/ the upset here. one figures lyco has to stub their toe at some point and this may be it. wilkes has struggled at times this year and this is their chance to make some noise in the mac and take it to lyco. wilkes wins a close game 21-20

kings vs. albright    not much to say about this game imho. kings is having a down year and albright has way too much for them to handle. albright wins going away 28-7.

widener vs. leb val    interesting game on several different levels. leb val coming off a tough game vs. dvc. and widener coming off a less then stellar showing against kings. a game both teams must win to have any chance at the mac championship. something tells me this will be close right down to the end but widener pulls it out 21-17.

dvc vs. fdu     normally would say dvc would win this game rather handily. but fdu is improving and has looked good at times this year. add in the fact that dvc is dinged up a little bit and coming off a tough leb val team last week and this game will be a little closer than some might be inclined to predict. dvc wins it 24-13.

[gordonmann]

Have you noticed that the ECAC  is giving more attention to the southern schools these days

Do you mean in the Lambert poll, which the ECAC administers?  The poll only looks at teams in New York, New Jersey, New England and Pennsylvania plus teams in bordering states (DE, MD, WV, VA, DC) that play half of their games against teams from the core region.  Practically, that means the poll doesn't look much farther south than Salisbury.

If you mean "are south region teams like Muhlenberg, Wesley and Salisbury getting more respect in the poll," I'm not sure.  Maybe those teams are getting more votes, but that could be a reflection of those teams' post season success.   

The poll used to show which teams outside the Top 10 received votes, which often included unusual selections from the NESCAC or NEFC.  That led me to believe the New England region was well represented, but perhaps the geographic representation of the voting body has changed.

[gordonmann]

Programming alert...

FDU-Florham (2-3, 0-2)
vs.
Delaware Valley (4-1, 2-0)

The Aggies will try to get past Bill Winters and the Devils to keep their unblemished Division III record in tact.  FDU-Florham has been in every game this year, so don't let the conference records fool you.

If you can't make it to Madison, click here to listen to the game starting at 1 pm with pregame coverage at 12:40 pm.

Please note the audio link does not work until the broadcast is on the air with the pregame show. The broadcasts also requires Windows Media Player 9.0 or later on your computer.

[Warren Thompson]

This afternoon in Annville: LVC 20, Widener 13 OT.

I'm a bit confused. Was this game not as close as it looked, or was it too close for comfort?

The Dutchmen ran up 269 yards rushing, The Pride a grand total of 10 [when was the last time Widener had a game with such a paltry total on the ground?].

Widener had 10 first downs, LVC 23.

And yet ... the game went to overtime.

Are the times out of joint?

[Warren Thompson]

The times are surely out of joint: both Delaware Valley and Lycoming went down today. (On the other hand, one could say that this was merely another normal Saturday in the MAC.)

[DVCFan11]

the DVC and Lyco losses def make things interesting now in the MAC. Albright coming out of nowhere to take the lead? i cant wait to see how this plays out, and i really cant wait for the DVC-Lyco game this sat. is it safe to say that the loser is out?

[BAK4LVC]

Warren,

I'll help you try to understand the LVC vs. Widener game, because it was hard enough for me to watch and make sense of it.  LVC dominated in almost all facets of the game except for one... red zone offense.  They were a woeful 2 for 7 inside the red zone, with the two scores inside the red zone being field goals and the misses being two missed field goals, two turnovers, and a turnover on downs.  Still, the Dutchmen defense had held the Pride to a total of 88 yards in the game with less than two minutes left to go in the game when Widener got the ball at their own 13 yard line.  They proceeded to send the game into overtime with an 87 yard TD drive.  In the past, that would have been the end of LVC.  But this year's team is different, converting a 4th and 15 in OT on their way to the go-ahead touchdown.  Then on a 4th and 3 at the 6, the D held Widener a half yard shy for the win.

On the plus side for Widener, they may have found a QB (freshmen who played the second half and did pretty well).  But this loss MAY knock them out of the MAC title hunt.  LVC, on the other hand, lost Charlie Parker today to a shoulder injury, but found a way to win a game they tried to give away.  Big step forward for the program and still very much in the hunt for the conference title.

[WU_Joker]

Nice analysis BAK. Seems it was amazing that Widener was even in  a position to steal the game at the end. From what I have seen of Widener, their O is weak (especially the run game), as is their secondary. Missing a few key guys on both sides of the ball, but ya have to have some depth to survive the injury bug. Kudos to LVC for turning things around and having a nice season. Great group of coaches over there.

[Pat Coleman]

Welcome to the board, new posters!

[WUDLINE]

Warren-
Let me try to provide a little different take on todays game. First let me congratulate the LVC team and coaches on a great win. I thought was an extremely physical game.  LVC racked up 200 yards rushing in the first half with over 110 yards of it coming on two carries. A 47 yard run by Parker on the first series and a 62 yard TD run on a fourth and 1 when there back up TB split what looked like a short yardage defense and went the distance. I  agree with BAK4LVC, LVC's red zone struggles enabled Widener to stay in the game. However, I will disagree with WU_joker, look at their previous games and you will see the Widener O is usually very good at running the football.  The Widener O struggled to move the ball in the first half simply because LVC had a good defensive game plan. They packed 8 in the box to stop the run and dared Widener to throw the football. Wideners QB's have struggled to throw all season long and it caught up to them in the first half today.

In the second half both defenses played very well. The Widener defense returned to form, holding LVC to 60 yards rushing and forcing numerous turnovers. The LVC defense continued to stack the box and stop the WU ground game. However, the QB switch for Widener enabled them to begin to move the ball in the air, with Humes throwing for 160 yards in the second half.

It was the first appearance of any air attack for Widener that I have seen this season. Hopefully, this is a sign of some good things to come for the Widener O. They have some very talented young receivers and they may have found a way to get them the football.

Again, congrats to LVC on a great win. Hopefully, Parker can return next week he is a good back and deserves to be a part of such a good season for the dutchmen.

Another crazy week in the MAC. It looks to me like the whole league, and a ncaa playoff berth is completely up for grabs. Good luck to all. It should be a hell of a ride down the stretch.

[WU_Joker]

Thanks for the welcome, Pat.

WUDLINE - 3.3 yds a carry isn't terrible, but certainly nothing to brag about. As far as the LVC gameplan surrounding stopping the run goes - part of the reason it was successful, was the LVC coaches ability to plot against such and exploit a weakness. Unfortunately, other team's D schemes are part of the whole equation and it is up to the coaches to counter and the players to execute. So, with that said, I still stand by my earlier point, also bearing in mind that Widener's best run game you spoke of came against the weakest team in the league, at this point. Take that game out and the numbers are obviously worse.

The O simply needs to step it up in both areas. With an unstable QB situation, you can't rely on getting things done in the air. So, it's imperative the run game steps up to ease the transition with the passing game.

The D has played relatively well, although breakdowns in the secondary have cost them (e.g. 2 big plays in OT today). Hopefully, things can turn around soon.

[KingSting999]

First and foremost...... Congratulations to FDU on beating the Aggies today. You earned it from start to finish as you outplayed them on both sides of the ball. The Aggies fell short on pass protection, tackling, catching passes, ball protection, time of possession and just about were outplayed in every facet of the game. These things happen all of the time on football. Often an underdog will reach down and come up with a stellar performance and get the job done. The Devil's deserve a pat on the back for coming up with a game plan that frustrated the Aggies all day long. I do believe that the Aggies had them outmanned on paper but as you can see, they don't play these games on paper. Hopefully they can get back on track and right the ship before the next game.

I stated earlier in a post that parity has arrived in the MAC and no score will surprise me the rest of the year/ In fact, it would not surprise me to see the MAC Champion have two losses by the end of the season. It seemed that the Aggies never really found a comfort zone during the game today and just seemed a step behind in every aspect of the game. Sometimes a loss like this is just what is needed to get the team reficused for the stretch drive. It will be very interesting to see how the Aggies bounce back from todays effort.

After looking at the final four games for the five teams that are 2 and 1 ( DVC, Albright, LVC, Lyco and Wilkes) it would seem that only Del Val has their destiny still in their own hands by winning out. They would be 6 - 1 and all others would have at least 2 losses except for the possibility of Leb Val winning out and having a 6 - 1 record also but Del Val beat them head to head.  The other four teams could win out for 6 - 1 records but the tie breakers would no be as clear as in the Del Val scenerio with other teams going 6 - 1. This is in no way to say that Widener or FDU are eliminated at this point. They could either run the table and be right in the thick of things.

I would say that if you have a rooting interest in a MAC team, you better tighten your seat belt because it's going to be a bumpy ride and I'm guessing it will come down to the last week of the season to crown the champ. There's going to be a lot of ups and downs between now and that time so strap your helmets on and root your favorite team home to the finish!!!!

Oh yeah, I forgot..... GO AGGIES!!!!! I still love ya!

[Lyco80]

KS,

I am not sure about the accuracy and veracity of your analysis.  My assessment is that if Lyco beats Del Val they are in the driver's seat and there will be no need for tie-breakers, elaborate or otherwise.

The current scramble in the conference again points out the futility of pre-season polls, picks, prognostications as reliable.

While I am in Japan and cannot attend these games I would sure love to be in Williamsport for Saturday's game.

The Warriors were far too generous with the pigskin, turning it over five times today, including an alleged, mid-air, goal-line fumble that I bet instant replay would overturn.  Hard to beat an opponent when you let the air out of your offense five times and get nothing in return.

Saturday should be interesting - both teams have plenty of motivation after losing this week.

Go Warriors!

ATB

[KingSting999]

Lyco80

If Lyco beats DVC they could win out and be 6 - 1. However, if Wilkes would win out also, they would be 6 - 1 and hold a win over Lyco which I believe would make Wilkes the MAC champ. I believe my assessment of the situation is pretty accurate if you take the remaining schedule and do the math.

As of this week, I believe, that DVC is the only team that can take the MAC title for sure by winning out. All other teams could still be tied if certain scenarios play out. Winning out for any team in the conference is going to be a tall order, especially for DVC and Albright who have to play all of the remaining 2 - 1 teams.

The situation may become much clearer after next weekends contests or it could become that much more complicated. This year no team is safe from being upset and at no time is any lead safe in any game. It's going to make for aome interesting football for all of the MAC fans. As stated before, the champ may very well have two losses when the dust settles!

I in no way meant to say that anyone is any better or worst than any other team, just that at this time DVC truly controls their own destiny where as others may need help as of this week. If I am wrong I will gladly retract my statement and admit the errorm but I believ that it is accurate.