FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Grabowski]

Anyone else besides Nescacman/men see both Wes and Trin up close and personal this year and have a strong opinion?

[PolarCat]

Having seen the Bobcats play them both my strong opinion is:

It's gonna be a hell of a game.

Two outstanding QB's in Puzzo and Piccirillo.  Trinity's Chipouras and Golon may be the best RB tandem in the CAC.  The Cards' Mike Breuler, Andrew Mehr and Devon Carillo may be the best receiving corps in the CAC, but the Bants' Bryan Vieira is also a potent weapon.  Two great kickers in Sachse and Fuchs.  Ike also handles punting, which would normally make me favor Eric, but this is Ike's last game and I expect he will be superb.  Two superb defenses, and lots and lots of depth on both sides.

I'm thinking the game will come down to coaching, reffing, and maybe (I hate to say it) injuries.  One of the posters reported K Ike Fuchs was playing DB last week, which makes me wonder if the Cards' are thin in their secondary.  And the Bates-Bowdoin game reminded me how important a backup QB can be.  If Piccirillo goes down, Gernald Hawkins could step in without missing a beat.  I think Puzzo is more critical to the Bants' success.

Yep.  Gonna be a hell of a game.

[D O.C.]

Hey Trinity, RIP Joe Beidler...


http://wildcatville.blogspot.com/2011/11/linfields-storied-hartford-connection.html

[NESCAC.Football.Observer]

Anyone else besides Nescacman/men see both Wes and Trin up close and personal this year and have a strong opinion?

I saw 3 Trinity games and 2 Wes games.

Trinity by 10.........

Trinity is going to run, run, and run.

Wes hasn't played anyone close to the Bantams caliber this year. 

I will say both teams have occasional penalty issues, especially Wes when the chips are down... so my suspicion is that the team with the most penalty yardage loses.

And I think Trinity is the more disciplined team..........

[lumbercat]

Trinity by at least a touchdown.
Too much size and speed for the Cardinals.

[PolarCat]

Hillary by at least a touchdown.
Too much size and speed for the Donald.

They said that about Hillary, too.

[PolarCat]

Off-topic news out of Brunswick.  Bowdoin professors are cancelling class or making attendance voluntary today "in recognition of the 'mental anguish' and 'existential despair' people are feeling after the election.

The world needs more football players, and fewer snowflakes.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.

[amh63]

Several comments on the Trinity vs Wesleyan upcoming game in Middletown.
The game will be decided by the team with the strongest defense.  Amherst played both teams on their home turf.  Wes held Amherst's offense and committed fewer TO and mistakes-penalties .  Trinity continues to be a team that commits too many penalties...see the stats in the Amherst game.
Wes wanted the Little three Title...se their website.  They now want a piece of the Nescac title.  They are at home.
I see a win for the Cardinals on their historic grass field.  Since, I do not understand betting odds, nor play any fantasy like games...no spread.
It looks like a dry cold day on Sat. In New England.  Enjoy all and eat well too.

[lumbercat]

This week's lines:

Trinity -7 Wesleyan

Colby -6  Bowdoin

Amherst -24 Williams

Bates -7 Hamilton

Middlebury -4 Tufts

[RetiredMule]

My bet for this week is Colby - 1HC

[lumbercat]

Colby Football and Retired Mule-
At Bates the old saying is---we dislike Colby but we hate Bowdoin.......
At the end of the day we respect our CBB opponents. Colby always comes hard and the Black and White hung very tough on Saturday.
It will be a great game up in Waterville this weekend.

[Nescacman]

Week 8 NESCAC Weekly Power Rankings

1. Hartford State (7-0, LW: 1): The Hartford State/Wes game for the NESCAC title is finally upon us. HS leads the 'CAC in nearly every offensive category. Their defense is #2 in team defense. Last week they needed two defensive TDs to beat a stubborn Amhurst squad. They are going to need to play a lot better to beat the hottest team in the league next week in Middletown.
2. Wesleyan (6-1, LW: 2): Wes absolutely crushed an overmatched Williams squad in what may end up being known as the "Whooping in Williamstown". The 59-14 win for the Cards was not even as close as the score would indicate. Wes scored TD's on 8 of their first 9 possessions and led 56-14 AT THE HALF. Our correspondent at the game confirmed that had Wes kept their 1's in the entire game, they easily could have scored 100 points. This was truly an historic game for Wes. It was their largest win ever over the Ephs, it was the largest margin of victory ever for one Little 3 team over another, it was the second Little 3 Championship for Wes in 4 years and the first time they won an outright title in Williamstown since 1970. Wes continues to be near the top in the nation in many defensive catergories. They are #1 in the NESCAC in total defense, scoring defense and turnover differential. We think this team is at least as good as the '13 squad that came within a hair of being undefeated. This is the hottest team in the NESCAC and they should be ready to give the Bants a great game on Saturday.
3. Tufts (6-1, LW: 3): Tufts rolled Colby as they prepared for their week 8 battle against Middlebury. Chance Brady had 174 yards rushing and 3 TDs as Tufts rushed for almost 350 yards and more than 400 yards in total offense. Tufts will battle MID this week for a possible share of the coveted 'CAC title.
4. Middlebury (6-1, LW: 4): Huge day for QB Lebowitz and the Pants offense. Middlebury had almost 500 yards of total offense while holding Hamilton to under 200. 5 interceptions thrown by Hamilton didn't help. Big game this week as they Tufts for a possible share of the 'CAC title.
5. Amhurst (3-4, LW: 4): The FKA LJ's played HS much closer than we thought possible. They were winning late and lost on two defensive TD's by the Bants (one a 92 yard TD on a fumble recovery). Unfortunately, Amhurst couldn't get enough offense going despite their defense once again playing well and only allowing 1 TD by Hartford State's offense. This week they get their turn against the Ephs at home as they play for second place in the Little 3.
6. University of Bates (Lewiston Campus)(3-4, LW: 6): Congrats to UBates on winning the hugely important C-B-B title against Bowdoin. Bates will end the season tied with Amhurst at 4-4.
7. Colby (2-5, LW: 7): The Mules are playing out the string. Rumors os a coaching change are swirling in Waterville.
8. Hamilton (2-5, LW: 8): Will be a long, lonely ride home from Bates this weekend.
9. Bowdoin (0-7, LW: 10): Legit chance for a win this week against Colby.
10. Williams (0-7, LW:9): We watched with interest this team play their rival Wesleyan last week. This is a really terrible football team. One of the worst NESCAC teams we have ever seen play. They are small in stature, small in numbers (they dress a Bowdoin-like 54 players), they are slow, and are not tough. We don't blame Coach Raymond. He came into a mess created by Former HCOF Kelton. This is the last we are going to discuss Kelton. As we have documented over the years, Kelton was a poor defensive coordinator at Columbia and probably never should haver been named the head coach of Williams. At Williams, he was 8-0 in year 1, then 5-3, 4-4, 2-6, and 2-6. Williams is on the cusp of going 0-8 for the first time EVER with his players. Now he is coaching Shorter University, is 0-10 and hasn't scored a point in 4 weeks. Yes we blame Kelton for the mess at Williams and we believe rightfully so. Good luck to Coach Raymond cleaning up this mess. We're looking at 2020 at the earliest.

[frank uible]

Aaron Kelton some time must have defecated in your momma's antique crystalline punch bowl.

[Grabowski]

Cacman, thanks for the write-ups each week.  I think you have the teams ranked exactly right.  Minor oversight on the recent Williams football record:  they had three 2-6 years before this one.

I'll add that Raymond and/or his O-Coordinator showed some creativity last Saturday.  Once they assemble some talent, they could become a PIA to prepare for.

[Nescacman]

Cacman, thanks for the write-ups each week.  I think you have the teams ranked exactly right.  Minor oversight on the recent Williams football record:  they had three 2-6 years before this one.

I'll add that Raymond and/or his O-Coordinator showed some creativity last Saturday.  Once they assemble some talent, they could become a PIA to prepare for.

Thank you for reminding us Grab. Of the 30 or so plays Williams probably ran in the first half last week, we would guess that at least half of them were so-called "trick-plays". Statue of Liberty, reverses, skip passes (that was a pretty cool play even though it ended up as an INT), etc were just a part of the Eph repertoire last Saturday. You would think that trialling by many, many TDs, the Ephs would have kept some of those plays in the bag for this week against the FKA LJ's, but who are we to say.