FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacfan05]

Colby went 7-1 back in 2000 Tied with Amherst and Middlebury...They are known mostly as a team with good chemistry, who play hard and smart. They have good players, but never have had guys like a Keenan. Stepka had been there 'marquee' player, but other than that they are well coached and play hard. Since 2000 they were 7-1, 4-4, 4-4, 5-3, 6-2, 7-1.....over that six years. They play Trinity 1st game, and I am not saying they will win, but they will play there asses off and give them every thing they have....And with football, you never know what can happen....as the cliche goes that is why they play the game..........

I will say this about Trin....great players and depth, plus great coaching equals 30 wins in a row, and maybe more

[bant551]

Well it is clear that Colby has a very solid program.  If Trinity gets knocked off this year, I see no reason why it would be less likely to be Colby as opposed to Williams or Amherst.

New coach, new QB at Trin, and Colby has a very solid program, playing Trin in its first game with the new regime.  I gotta catch that game.

One thing is for sure: if one of these teams is going to end the streak, I'd rather it be Colby than the usual suspects in the NESCAC.  Always good to see a shift of the balance of power.   Trinity and Colby becoming extremely solid programs is probably the only shift in power in the history of the NESCAC that even approached being this drastic (especially when you consider it hasn't been only a year or two, but consistent over a decent period of time).

[Trin9-0]

With all due respect to Colby, there is a reason they are not thought of as one of the dominant teams in the NESCAC. They almost never beat any good teams. I completely agree that their program is head and shoulders above Bowdoin. However, it doesn't seems fair to include them among the ranks of Trinity, Williams and Amherst just yet.

Colby won the equivalent of a NESCAC football scheduling lottery. Each year they play either Trinity or Williams, NEVER both. Their record against Trin, Wlms, Herst since 2000 is 2-10! Trinity is 9-5 against the other three schools since 2000. Williams is 9-7, and Amherst is 11-7.

If Colby wants to be considered one of the elite programs in the NESCAC they need to do more than just beat up the Maine teams, split with the middle tier teams, and hope for a win against the big three. They have a big opportunity to make a statement and put their program on the map if they can knock off the Bants week 1.

It will be interesting to see whether they step up to the challenge or continue to fall short of the top tier status.

[tmerton]

Colby won the equivalent of a NESCAC football scheduling lottery. Each year they play either Trinity or Williams, NEVER both.

Lottery indeed; wonder what the other schools would give for that arrangement.   BTW, what holds the NESCAC back from adding an extra game to the schedule so that each team would get to play all the others?  Is there concern with having to start the season a week earlier or having the season run a week longer?  Or something else?   With the existing schedule do football players have to start practice before school starts?  What about the other fall sports teams - do any of them have to start practice before school starts?

[bant551]

As a former player, my only concern would be the team playing like comlete garbage in the first game, if it was a real game.

Of course, the remedy would be adding a week as you said and scrimmaging some other team.  The NESCAC might make the 1st game a real game, but I can't see it adding another week.  And there really is no reason I can think of... they just seem to hate change.  I guess they could even set it up so teams scrimmage against the team they play in the last week of the season if they didn't want to bring in teams from other leagues.

Regardless, I still think Colby can say it has become a top-tier team.  If by "top tier", we mean the best few teams, I don't see how you could argue with that.  Williams is always -- always -- a threat to win the league, but they've also been losing or almost losing to the league's perennial worst teams the past few years.  So while Colby's schedule certainly makes things easier on them, history aside -- I would say they've probably been at or better than Williams recently.

[speedy]

. .   BTW, what holds the NESCAC back from adding an extra game to the schedule so that each team would get to play all the others?  Is there concern with having to start the season a week earlier or having the season run a week longer?  Or something else?   With the existing schedule do football players have to start practice before school starts?  What about the other fall sports teams - do any of them have to start practice before school starts?

Football practice starts before classes begin at a number of NESCAC schools so that's not the reason. Actually soccer season starts well before football sothere is no logical reason for football season not to begin a week earlier other than the NESCAC schools have always done it this way, perhaps dating way back to pre-NESCAC when classes began in mid- to late-September at a number of NESCAC schools.

[Trin9-0]

Is there concern with having to start the season a week earlier or having the season run a week longer?  Or something else?

There may be concern that an extra game at the end of the season would negatively affect 2 sport NESCAC athletes (i.e. football players who play basketball, hockey, indoor track etc). The most likely scenario would be to turn the preseason scrimmage into the 1st game and play the rest of the schedule as is, thus creating a 9 game season. However, the likelihood of that happening is about as good as a NESCAC school being allowed to compete in the playoffs.

Regardless, I still think Colby can say it has become a top-tier team. If by "top tier", we mean the best few teams, I don't see how you could argue with that. Williams is always -- always -- a threat to win the league, but they've also been losing or almost losing to the league's perennial worst teams the past few years. So while Colby's schedule certainly makes things easier on them, history aside -- I would say they've probably been at or better than Williams recently.

Williams has slipped a little and Colby has made up ground (Colby-Williams have split their last 4 meetings 2 games apiece) but I still think the Mules need to be more consistent against the top teams in the league if they wish to be considered among the best in the NESCAC. Colby is 0-8 versus Trinity and Amherst since 2000.

[LinemenRathletes2]

As I understood it, playing 9 games would qualify NESCAC teams for D3 playoffs, so they keep it at 8 games because they are afraid that once teams are eligible for playoffs, the next natural step would be to actually play in the playoffs (its hard to think of a team receiving a bid and turning it down, or however that works). They don't want the football teams going to playoffs apparently because of the amount of travelling involved, time away from studies, etc... however every other sport is eligible and does compete and win (and they do travel all over the country doing it) so I still don't really understand why not football.

[Pat Coleman]

Number of games is not the reason why the NESCAC is not in the playoffs. The NESCAC is not in the playoffs because it chooses not to be.

Another conference, by the way, the Midwest Conference, does not permit a preseason scrimmage. Those teams open with a non-conference game right away.

[LinemenRathletes2]

i stand corrected

[cacsen09]

With all due respect to Colby, there is a reason they are not thought of as one of the dominant teams in the NESCAC. They almost never beat any good teams. I completely agree that their program is head and shoulders above Bowdoin.

Now I wouldn't go quite that far... I don't think you guys are giving Bowdoin the credit that it's due. Going 6-2, their best record since 1970, was a huge step for Bowdoin this year. They had some pretty great wins this season (beating Amherst and Middlebury and making an incredible come-from-behind victory against Bates) and I think the score they put up against Trinity isn't very telling of the kind of game they played. Bowdoin had a great chance to go into halftime against Trinity with a 10-10 score, but their lack of confidence (being a team who has rarely been in the midst of a winning season) against a powerhouse like Trinity got the best of them as they made a terrible turnover and a few more damning mistakes. The point is, Bowdoin very well in the past could have been one of Trinity's 64-0 victims, but they came in this year and actually made Trinity play. I think having had a season where they did well and built up a bit of confidence, its quite possible that they will be a force to be reckoned with this fall. They could have done a whole lot better against Colby in the last meeting of the season, but don't think that's not on their minds. They may not have been ready for that matchup last season, but they will be next season. I don't think Colby is "head and shoulders" above Bowdoin. Colby easily could have had a 8-0 season last year but they fell to Amherst, a team Bowdoin beat. Bowdoin's first game of the season versus Williams will be very telling. However, regardless of that outcome, they'll be coming to prove that they have staying power and that they are not the "fluke" that so many of you guys are making them out to be.

Go bears.

[Nescacfan05]

I can understand the arguement for not beating Amherst since 95' in Colby's case, and Trinity they have played only twice, and split with Williams, but to call Williams and Amherst top tier and not Colby doesn't make that much sense since the league with the exception of Trinity has more parody than it did in previous years. Colby has finished above amherst or tied with them (2004) each of the past three years...Amherst lost to a Tufts, and Bowdoin over that span (games they should have won by the aformentioned arguement) Williams lost to Bates at Williams 2 years ago.....The Patsies of the league are not what they were, Does Amherst have Colby's number sure......but then again it is a 8 game season not 1 game....The league schedule is set up for the next millenium and you should not blame Colby for getting the luck of the draw.....They deserve the respect they earned, and I think they will give Trinity a game....the outcome....who knows......but they will play hard....

[tmerton]

We visited some of the NESCAC schools last summer, including recruiting days at Middlebury and Williams.  I liked all the coaches a lot, but I really liked Dave Caputi.  Bowdoin doesn't have the facilities that some of the other schools have, but Caputi certainly seems to have turned the program around.  And I love the stadium - reminds me of Churchill Downs.

[LinemenRathletes2]

nice stadium, sucks to play at because of the ridiculous nature hike through the woods from the locker room.

[LinemenRathletes2]

by the way, there is an interesting article on the boston globe website today (boston.com) entitled "Tufts gets creative on admissions," about how Tufts is trying to break away from using only the traditional SAT/GPA as a measurement of capability and designing new questions on their application that would enable Tufts to analyze their potential for creativity and leadership: " 'If you want to admit people who are going to be leaders in tomorrow's world, which every university says it does, focusing on [grade point average] and SATs does not get you very far,' said Robert J. Sternberg, Tufts' new dean of arts and sciences and a psychologist who is directing the pilot project, based on research he did as a Yale professor."

Basically they will still be drawing from a pool of high SAT's and GPA's but recognize that those alone don't translate into success after school and are looking for new ways to predict that. Also, the article says that Dr. Sternberg's research has indicated that this method of evaluation is more inclusive of all socioeconomic backgrounds than the SAT.