FB: Conference of New England

bignefcfan15 · October 13, 2006, 02:55:50 PM

I find it funny now when I go to make picks/predictions how much the balance of power has shifted over the years. 4-5 years ago it was Westfield and Worcester in the bogan. Now those two teams have nose dived and Fitchburg was the team the two previous years and they've dropped this year off the map as well. Bridgewater has reemerge and WNEC I believe is the new Fitchburg. WNEC is getting better and better each year (humm, maybe a full time coaching staff could be the reason?). UMD use to be the team to beat with Curry in the boyd but UMD now seems drained and EC is the new beast. My hats off to a team like Curry. They can keep it very consistent year after year.

One other thing, if a team such as Coast Guard can come into the nefc and win the division but go 1-9 in their previous league, that shows something. I doubt they've got that much better or maybe it's the competition they are playing now? Does this make sense to anyone else? Good luck this week to all the teams.-Cheers

footballdad55 · October 13, 2006, 05:19:38 PM

Quote from: 63Center on October 12, 2006, 07:54:16 AM
I think EC had a slightly better team last year when they faced Curry than this year's team.

63center how can you say that? Have you seen EC play at all this year? I saw EC play a few weeks ago and their defense is outstanding, all of the starters have returned along with some new editions. Also I think that EC's offense got better this year. EC's offensive line got a lot better through graduation, and even though when I saw EC play some of their running backs were hurt, their replacements did a good job. Also, all of the running backs who did not play when I saw EC play must be back to full strength by now. If you argument is that they lost a lot of senior leadership I think your wrong again I think what they gained was a lot of senior leadership because most of the seniors this year have been starting since they were freshman, and there are more seniors this year. As for the EC Curry game it will be the best game of the season in the NEFC.

footballfan2005 · October 14, 2006, 02:27:11 AM

One other thing, if a team such as Coast Guard can come into the nefc and win the division but go 1-9 in their previous league, that shows something. I doubt they've got that much better or maybe it's the competition they are playing now? Does this make sense to anyone else? Good luck this week to all the teams.-Cheers

It's pretty simple... the Liberty League is a dominant power in the East... teams like Hobart, Union, RPI... The NEFC is like a club league compared to the Liberty leage. The NEFC will not win a playoff game for a long time.

63Center · October 14, 2006, 05:41:32 PM

FootballDad55,

No I have not seen EC play this year, but certainly follow the NEFC and the stats. I agree with a lot of what you stated, but for the group of players they have this year they should be playing much better by now. They should not have lost to Hartwick and certainly should have played better against Nichols and Curry. They seem to self-destruct, which is an indicator of lack of senior leadership. If EC is better this year, then the rest of the NEFC must have improved even more. Look at the EC games this year at this time of the season versus last year. By this time last year they had played tougher teams (example UMD, WNEC, and Fitchburg) and won all of them. Last year's team was also rated in the top 10 teams in the NorthEast at this time of the seaosn. This team has not made it into the top 10 yet. I realize that they have been playing with a lot of their stars our injured and have had a lot of expectations placed on them. I do not think they have lived upto those expectations. When they are all healthy, this year's team should be a better team, but without the key players, EC is is just an average NEFC team this year and Curry proved that this afternoon.

'gro · October 16, 2006, 11:05:36 AM

Quote from: footballfan2005 on October 14, 2006, 02:27:11 AM
One other thing, if a team such as Coast Guard can come into the nefc and win the division but go 1-9 in their previous league, that shows something. I doubt they've got that much better or maybe it’s the competition they are playing now? Does this make sense to anyone else? Good luck this week to all the teams.-Cheers

It's pretty simple... the Liberty League is a dominant power in the East... teams like Hobart, Union, RPI... The NEFC is like a club league compared to the Liberty leage. The NEFC will not win a playoff game for a long time.

It's been a while but coast guard used to be pretty competitive in the east. They were a playoff team in the late 90's when they only took 16 teams. They get kids from all over the country, although the pool of candidates must be pretty small (I never knew they had a coast guard academy until I played against them.)

Given their recent struggles against the LL, I don't see the NEFC winning a playoff game just yet. But if CGA or Plymouth state can bring in the kids they used to (or if EC/Curry can kick it up a notch) then sure some unlucky team will have the distiction of allowing the NEFC it's 1st win.

Random Task · October 16, 2006, 02:51:14 PM

A question to the Board, Coast Guard Acadamy is 5-1 this year in the NEFC and thier record from thier time in the Liberty League (since 1999) is 14-51. Did something change at Coast Guard or is the competition and team strength that different in the Liberty League vs. the NEFC? Any Thoughts.

63Center · October 16, 2006, 05:03:51 PM

Competition in LL is much better than in NEFC. Only loss for CGA this year is outside the NEFC. There are teams in the LL (e.g., Springfield) ranked nationally and there is no one in the NEFC even close to a national ranking. Also look at the NEFC record in the D3 playoffs (0 wins). Look at the overall record of NEFC teams that dare to play outside the of NEFC. The NEFC has a long way to go to match up with LL teams.

Gr8Day2BaBear · October 16, 2006, 06:29:33 PM

One huge thing no one realizes is that Coast Guard entered the division in a down year. The two best teams BSC and Fitchburg both lost a number of starters, 16 from Bridgewater alone. Coast Guard would not have been able to do this last year nor do I think they will continue it, and the last two wins were late comebacks....it's not like they're dominating. I give them credit for what they've done, but they still have not proved that they are that great in a down year.

waggle09 · October 16, 2006, 07:20:14 PM

Your all have correct imput.....The Liberty league is by far a much better stronger brand of football as we saw in Endicott 2 losses to Hobart and RPI. Also Coast guard did enter the league in a down season and has taken advantage with there offensive production..defense suspect. let me say I give Endicott credit.They scheduled the 2 New york teams to open up with and they actually play Bates this weekend. All the other schools in the NEFC should schedule out of conference games as well. It will only better there programs and bring a better representatve to the playoffs.

Jonny Utah · October 16, 2006, 08:25:03 PM

Quote from: waggle09 on October 16, 2006, 07:20:14 PM
Your all have correct imput.....The Liberty league is by far a much better stronger brand of football as we saw in Endicott 2 losses to Hobart and RPI. Also Coast guard did enter the league in a down season and has taken advantage with there offensive production..defense suspect. let me say I give Endicott credit.They scheduled the 2 New york teams to open up with and they actually play Bates this weekend. All the other schools in the NEFC should schedule out of conference games as well. It will only better there programs and bring a better representatve to the playoffs.

Endicott is not playing Bates this weekend who told you that?

And Endicott lost to Hartwick, not Hobart. And Hartwick is one of the worst (actually the worst) team in upstate New York.

Quote from: 63Center on October 16, 2006, 05:03:51 PM
Competition in LL is much better than in NEFC. Only loss for CGA this year is outside the NEFC. There are teams in the LL (e.g., Springfield) ranked nationally and there is no one in the NEFC even close to a national ranking. Also look at the NEFC record in the D3 playoffs (0 wins). Look at the overall record of NEFC teams that dare to play outside the of NEFC. The NEFC has a long way to go to match up with LL teams.

Springfield is in the Empire 8, not the Liberty League.

chopperj · October 17, 2006, 07:15:56 AM

I think that the NEFC needs to have a JV program to help develop their younger players and be competitive. All of the top DIII schools, including Springfield, have them.

InTheMix · October 17, 2006, 08:32:53 AM

Endicott has developed a JV team starting this year. They have a game scheduled against bates for JV, maybe that is what waggle is thinking

ctgridironmom · October 17, 2006, 11:40:01 AM

I know that Curry played one JV game this year as well.

Gr8Day2BaBear · October 17, 2006, 06:56:29 PM

bridgewater also played dean in a jv game

seahawkpride · October 17, 2006, 07:45:26 PM

I agree that fielding a jv team would help develop and uncover talent for nefc teams. The only problem might be the number of players on the teams. I have one son who plays football at Salve where the total number pf players is 61. My other son plays at Springfield where the total number pf players is 132. Both are freshman but the jv team at Springfield allows one of them to get playing time where he can learn the schemes and calls while developing hopefully into a productive varsity player. Salve on the other hand does not field the numbers to allow them to have a jv team. Well I guess they could but a few injuries would put an end to it. Some of the better teams might get the numbers like Curry,Endicott, Bridgewater etc. but I don't know about the rest. I guess its a catch 22 situation where the successful teams have more players because they win which in turn allows them to develop these players on jv teams or at the very least gives them more of a talent pool to draw from. One more thing I do agree with waggle09 in that nefc teams need to schedule more out of conference games which I think will make the league more competitive down the road.