FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[amh63]

WCD....that's for dads to do.  Note that I did not mention NBN pic.
Your son played a SOLID all around game...stripped the ball from Big WR by pulling his arms back...my take/method.
Bowdoin's last TD was fine catch in end zone with receivers toes just in.  Your son was on the sidelines.  Last week, after your son got beat, his teammates come by and gave him their support.  Think Foy was one.....as I watched in the stands.

[lumbercat]

A tough one today in Lewiston for Bates but some signs for optimism following the Trinity slaughter last week when the Bobcats were schooled by a powerful Trinity team. After a rough start they showed some encouraging signs in the second half.

First, credit to a fine Tufts team. Civetti, who will someday coach at a higher level, has it going with the Jumbos.

Been a while since Ive seen one guy dominate a game like Jumbo QB McDonald did today. He was the difference start to finish.

Wish the Jumbos well but believe the Nescac iron will find a way to neutralize McDonald but he was just too much for the Bates D today.

The Bobcat D had their hands full today but there is no quit in that unit. Tufts assistants we spoke with following game shaking their heads and commenting on Bates toughness to the last play...... they expected Cats to mail it in late  but they "kept coming tough".....I respectfully suggested that if anyone expects this Bates team to quit don't hold your damn breath.
Wished them well next week and against Trinity. The Jumbo program is a class operation and a credit to the college.

[toad22]

Very pleased with Williams' performance. Save for two bad special teams plays, they probably beat Trinity. Great job Williams!

[westcoastDad]

He and Foy met at a football camp at Princeton 2011.  They were on same 7 on 7 team.  Helluva 1-2 tandem in that July humidity.  Met his father.  What a super nice man from Hawaii.  Reece was a grade ahead. 
I'm hoping they are just saving him.  He's a great kid.  Thanks for that intel too.  I appreciate those things we can't see from the TV.!  Btw he was beat twice last week.  I didn't hear from all week.  Not even a text until Friday night.
WCD....that's for dads to do.  Note that I did not mention NBN pic.
Your son played a SOLID all around game...stripped the ball from Big WR by pulling his arms back...my take/method.
Bowdoin's last TD was fine catch in end zone with receivers toes just in.  Your son was on the sidelines.  Last week, after your son got beat, his teammates come by and gave him their support.  Think Foy was one.....as I watched in the stands.
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[westcoastDad]

Noticed that Trinity isn't listed anywhere on the D3 Top 25 board which is a slight at our NESCAC league in my opinion.  The 2 undefeated years that Amherst enjoyed recently saw the then LordJeffs listed somewhere on that front page.....usually just outside the top 25 but name recognition at least.

What gives?


How does the board think our top teams would compete against the likes of other D3 programs such as MIT and Johns Hopkins? 

I'm curious if the Nescac has ever dared to venture outside of their comfort zone to test the waters.

[Vandy74]

Noticed that Trinity isn't listed anywhere on the D3 Top 25 board which is a slight at our NESCAC league in my opinion.  The 2 undefeated years that Amherst enjoyed recently saw the then LordJeffs listed somewhere on that front page.....usually just outside the top 25 but name recognition at least.

What gives?



How does the board think our top teams would compete against the likes of other D3 programs such as MIT and Johns Hopkins? 





I'm curious if the Nescac has ever dared to venture outside of their comfort zone to test the waters.

WCD.......I've haven't seen any 8-0 Nescac team go unmentioned among the first of those "also receiving votes," but I haven't paid much attention to it.   I don't know how early in the season those teams have been recognized.  Maybe some Trinity and Amherst fans could tell us.  One rating system I've found doesn't rank us at all.  Maybe none of them do.  Without any out of conference games to use for comparison, they have no real way of knowing how the top Nescac teams would measure up against those in other conferences.  Like it or not, that is a fair point.  If one of us goes 9-0, that team will be ranked, at least by season's end.  Whether co-champions with 8-1 slates be given the same measure of respect, time will tell.

Middhoops and I drove down to Lancaster, PA in 2013 to watch Middlebury play basketball in a season-opening weekend tournament.  Saturday's game didn't start until 4:00 so we decided to kill some time checking out the Franklin & Marshall campus.  What we found was a football game going on between the host school and Gettysburg.  F&M won 36-26 so we saw quite a bit of offense with neither team's defense looking particularly effective.  F&M would go 7-4, losing in the opening round of postseason play.  Gettysburg would end the season at 4-6.  We both left with the feeling we'd seen nothing to which the football we were used to seeing was inferior.  These teams were neither bigger, faster nor more athletic than the better elevens in the Nescac.

Creating that comfort zone was a reason the conference was formed.  Becoming one of the elite DIII conferences in just about every sport except football was never the intention.  With the exception of Hamilton and Middlebury, the other  Nescac schools have quite a bit of football history to share with each other.  From at least the 50s to the early 70s the Panthers played only three future conference members; Williams, Wesleyan and Bates.  Our big rivalry games were in-state rivals UVM and Norwich.  I think we last played the Catamounts in 1969 and Norwich in 1991.  It's been only Nescac opponents ever since.  Another factor against leaving the zone would be the need for a 10 game schedule.  We are only three games into our first ever 9 game slate.  It took 25 years to get that.  We won't be adding a 10th game any time soon.

[amh63]

Nice input Vandy74, especially on this board! . How did the Commodores do last night?
WCD...you picked two good academic schools that I can comment on....MIT and JHU.
One old friend, a graduate of JHU and frat brother of Bloomberg...yes the former mayor of NYC...and I would watch lacrosse..even a National Championship D3 women's event in Baltimore.  There use to be a saying that JHU football players played football to get in shape for their D1 lacrosse team.  Oh yes, my friend's Aunt was the wife of the Syracuse HFC that had Jim Brown on his team.
Now a little perspective on MIT, where I obtained two graduate engineering degrees a long while ago. In those times..no football program at MIT.  More known for its prank to disrupt tha Harvard- Yale  football game.  For whatever reason, MIT decided to fund a football program.  Went out to get the equipment.  Found a school that was dropping its program and bought their equipment.  First season..do not know what conference..they wore uniforms that had colors other than maroon and gray colors of MIT.  MIT may have "recruited" some fine players...BUT...the academic load is very heavy.  MIT has a very competitive basketball program with talented players...check out the MBB board.  However, it is not uncommon to have players drop off the team for school work.  I can only assume that there are players that will also drop off the football team too. 
In your neck of the woods, Cal Tech has a basketball program.  Recently, I hear that their MBB team is improving with better talent...but it is a small enrollment school and numbers and workloads can impact the program. 

[PolarCat]

amh, are you the artist formerly known as Smoot?

In addition to football and basketball,  MIT has a very fine sailing team.  Sailing was my kids'summer sport, and one of their buddies who was on the US National team wound up sailing for MIT. 

[amh63]

PolarCat....answer to your question is No.  Am aware of a unique measuring unit at MIT that has a name that is very similar.  Unit named after a MIT student that used his body length to measure a bridge over the Charles.  Started as a frat event/prank.  Another prank was putting a campus police car on top of the MIT dome by Mass Ave.  I digress.
Yes, MIT has a fine sailing team...much like Tufts' program.  MIT is deeply involved in ship and sail designs.  Their professors have been involved in the America Cup Races..prior to the present designs.
Remember several young assist profs crewing for my advisor who happened to have a large boat.  One crew member became an Air Force Secretary.  That lady and her husband were members of the same Niantic Ct.sail boat club as my best man.  MIT also has fine rowing teams.  Their first crew building...the square one...had indoor practice seats, etc.

[westcoastDad]

He's injured still

Does anybody from Amherst know why Foy is not playing?
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[westcoastDad]

thanks Vandy!

I do remember Amherst being voted amongst the "others mentioned amidst the 20 game winning streak. 

I was just curious as to the eye test observations (amh63) because schools like MIT and JH are also academic schools playing football

They get much more respect in D3 polls. 

[Vandy74]

Nice input Vandy74, especially on this board! . How did the Commodores do last night?

You had to ask amh63.   At least Vandy lost to the Gators by a somewhat respectable 38-24 margin; 17-17 at halftime.  It's good to see they weren't left totally demoralized by that old fashion whuppin' #1 Bama gave them last week.  Next up, #5 Georgia on the road.  I respect what HC Derek Mason has accomplished considering the shoes he had to fill, but trying to win consistently in the SEC as an historically losing program is taking on a brutal assignment.  Anchor Down!

[JEFFFAN]

Despite what are obviously Herculean efforts on the part of the institutions, we remain after three weeks with four teams at 0-3, four teams at 3-0, and two in the middle.   How does this paradigm ever get shifted?

[PolarCat]

Despite what are obviously Herculean efforts on the part of the institutions, we remain after three weeks with four teams at 0-3, four teams at 3-0, and two in the middle.   How does this paradigm ever get shifted?

By changing the scheduling so that the Big Dogs don't get to tune up on the Little Dogs each and every year.  We're a third of the way through the season and there have only been two competitive games scheduled: Midd-Wes and Wes-Tufts.  Trinity and Amherst have gotten a pass.  Amherst doesn't face serious competition till Week 4, and Trinity gets to cruise to Week 5.  Seems to happen every year, and it's hard to pretend it's a level playing field.  It takes a lot of fun out of being a fan.

[nescac1]

Regarding the stickiness of the competitive disparity in NESCAC, is it any different than in the typical college football league, at any division?  Last I checked, Alabama has dominated D1 football for years now.  And the teams that were terrible ten years ago are largely terrible today.  I'm not saying that any of this is a good thing -- but rather that in football, probably more than any other sport, it's really, really difficult to change a program's course dramatically and permanently.  Success, and the lack thereof, are generally self-reinforcing.  Even if you bring in a great coach who does great things for a few years, that usually just leads to a higher-profile program swooping in and stealing him.  (Tufts better keep its fingers crossed in that regard!!!). 

Now of course, Williams is a counter-example but that was an unusual situation attributable to one bad hiring decision.  Even moreso than the first two games, playing Trinity roughly even shows to me that the Ephs are back on the path to excellence.  I still think the BEST case scenario for this season is 4 wins, MAYBE 5 if everything goes right in one of the games vs. the more loaded opponents.  But coming off an 0-8 season, with half the key players on the squad being frosh, I honestly never would have thought that possible at all.  The Williams starting defense is very much for real.  There doesn't appear to be a ton of a depth, but if (huge knock on wood) the starters can stay healthy, the Ephs can compete with anyone on that side of the ball it seems.  The two frosh LBs are huge additions, both all over the field.  Between those two and Apuzzi, for the first time in what seems like forever, Williams actually has real speed throughout its LB core.  And that group is around for awhile, which is exciting to see.   

But most of the credit goes to the returning players.  The entire DL, and 3/4 guys in the secondary, are returning starters.  They collectively made dramatic strides (especially on the DL) in the off-season, something we didn't really see much of before Coach Raymond took over.  The same DL that was mandhandled at times last year has held up brilliantly vs. the run so far this year and done a good job getting heat on the passer, collectively, led by Jameson DeMarco, who is having an all-league year so far. 

Now, the offense is more of a work in progress.  But that is to be expected with so many frosh starters.  (Credit to Conor Harris and C Ellis Eaton for being the dependable veteran lynchpins who have both come up big while all the talented young guys learn on the job).  Maimaron got his first taste of an elite college defense on Saturday and will surely learn from the experience.  If all the young guys on offense can make the same kind of strides in the offseason that the returning defenders did heading into this year, the Ephs could really have something going even as early as next year.  Maimaron has three more years to grow the chemistry with his three frosh targets, who have accounted for nearly all of the Ephs' aerial attack to date.  For now, if the Ephs can get win number 3 vs. Bates, they will have already exceeded expectations for this year ... so hopefully the Ephs can build on what worked vs. Trinity and learn from what didn't.