FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[ColbyFootball]

Middlebury taking it to Williams so far.  Winning line of scrimmage on both sides.  Eph defense has been torn to shreds since TJ Rothmann left early on with an injury.  He is critical to everything they do and hopefully is not badly hurt.  Ephs also missing top corner Barber.  If Ephs don't get run game going soon could be a long day for purple.

We've talked about TTUN depth all year...without Rothman and Dozier, the Ephs are average at best....if they are without those two guys for any extended period of time, we will see how much of a miracle worker HCOF Raymond is over the last 4 weeks...

I was able to catch a good part of the second half and at one point I thought the Ephs were going to come back. Then they stalled. In all honesty, I was not very impressed with Williams. Maybe next week I'll feel differently.

[ColbyFootball]

62 points for Hamilton against Bowdoin. I hope that's a sign of things to come. In that I mean, the ability to score and be competitive with most teams. I really like Murray and what he's doing, and love the school.

[polbear73]

After yesterday's action, the CBB is now 0-15 against the rest of NESCAC and are in jeopardy of duplicating last year's 0-21.
I don't have the heart to look at 2016, although I know there were at least a couple of wins, but 0-36 speaks for itself.

[Hamiltonian]

I'm anticipating a good, close game this week, ColbyFootball.  good luck.  and can't wait to sample the Portland foodie life again.  one of the highlights of the season for me. 

[gridiron]

Interesting article regarding Wesleyan and NESCAC football in general. Had not seen it previously. Worth the read if you have not seen it.

https://amp.slate.com/culture/2017/12/wesleyan-university-football-is-good-business.html

[Pat Coleman]

Interesting article regarding Wesleyan and NESCAC football in general. Had not seen it previously. Worth the read if you have not seen it.

https://amp.slate.com/culture/2017/12/wesleyan-university-football-is-good-business.html

There is actually a whole sub-topic around this article. You can definitely discuss it here but you might want to look at the existing discussion as well:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=8753.0

[gridiron]

Thx, Pat. Will look for it. Thought it was interesting, particularly with the current situation in the news regarding Harvard admissions.

[nescac1]

Williams certainly did not look great against Midd (and Midd, which played solid, physical football on both ends, deserves credit as well) but as many of us have noted the program just doesn't have the depth it needs yet and the team is absolutely decimated by injuries right now.  How serious many of them are, who knows, but if Williams gets a few key guys back the Ephs can compete with anyone.  If not, yeah, it could be trouble.  Against Midd, the defense pretty much shut down Midd down early.  Rothmann then went down and it was brutal after that, really night and dday.  Shows just how important he is to the team and its scheme and he is one of the few truly irreplaceable defensive players in NESCAC.  The team also missed Amyrh Barber, who has been a shutdown corner all year.  Safety Ben Anthony moved to corner to take his spot leaving the Ephs without two of their three main playmakers in the middle of the field once Rothmann went out.  So Wesner kind of had to do it alone and there were just massive openings up the middle that Middlebury was able to exploit. 

On offense, Williams has been really hurt by a string of injuries at receiver, and started two frosh vs. Midd.  Both have some speed and evasiveness and have made some very good plays but these are skinny young guys who were not, I imagine, expected to be counted on this season and are still figuring things out.  And of course losing Dozier is absolutely massive. Williams' starting RT is also still out, although his back-up, a senior, has played well. 

Of course, injuries are a big part of football and every team deals with them.  Williams right now still has a thinner roster than most in the league and when so many injuries hit at once, the program isn't where it needs to be to deal with it.  Give Raymond two more years to recruit, and I believe things will be very different (although again no one can lose one of the top three defenders in the league and expect to not fill some sort of impact).  But, if Rothmann, Dozier and a few other guys can come back fairly soon, I would not count this team out vs. anyone. 

[JEFFFAN]

The Lord Jeffs have had the easiest schedule of all the top teams in the NESCAC so far.   Kudos to EJ and the team for taking care of business when needed ... doesnt always happen that way.  It isnt clear, however, what exactly this team is unitl the face stronger competition.   The Middlebury away win now looks a lot stronger after the Mids beat Williams.   Defense remains the strength of the team with Yamin the best defensive player in the league at this point.  Kudos to the other very good defensive players out with Yamin as DPY last year and the Jeffs defense playing as well as they have to date, this is his to win again.


Looking forward to seeing how they do against some stronger competition coming up.

[nescac1]

In other Williams news, they received a commitment from Lincoln-Sudberry dual-threat QB Braden O'Connell.   I'm guessing he may be more of a WR / athlete in college. 

[Nescacman]

Interesting article regarding Wesleyan and NESCAC football in general. Had not seen it previously. Worth the read if you have not seen it.

https://amp.slate.com/culture/2017/12/wesleyan-university-football-is-good-business.html

Old news....discussed at length on this Board when it was released. Enjoy the read, but bad job by the author, IOO, who distorted many of the so called "facts" in the article.

[Nescacman]

Interesting article regarding Wesleyan and NESCAC football in general. Had not seen it previously. Worth the read if you have not seen it.

https://amp.slate.com/culture/2017/12/wesleyan-university-football-is-good-business.html

There is actually a whole sub-topic around this article. You can definitely discuss it here but you might want to look at the existing discussion as well:
http://www.d3boards.com/index.php?topic=8753.0

We read the whole thread...

We will save our fellow NESCAC friends the trouble...most of the thread was spent arguing which conference was more analogous to The Ivy League....NESCAC or UAA. You can read it if you want, but that is pretty much the sum of it.

[Nescacman]

62 points for Hamilton against Bowdoin. I hope that's a sign of things to come. In that I mean, the ability to score and be competitive with most teams. I really like Murray and what he's doing, and love the school.

Before we get too excited about Hamilton scoring 62 points on Bowdoin, let's not lose sight of the fact that Bowdoin is last in the NESCAC in total defense by a long shot giving up over 500 yards per game. In fact, Bowdoin is at or near the bottom in most team defensive categories in the NESCAC as well as being near the bottom nationally in total defense and rushing defense. Hats off to the CONTS on a nice win but let's put their offensive prowess in the proper perspective.

[Nescacman]

After yesterday's action, the CBB is now 0-15 against the rest of NESCAC and are in jeopardy of duplicating last year's 0-21.
I don't have the heart to look at 2016, although I know there were at least a couple of wins, but 0-36 speaks for itself.

Through week 5 in 2016, the C-B-B was 1-14. The only win was by Bates against a Williams squad that would go on to be 0-8.

[Hamiltonian]

[/quote]

Before we get too excited about Hamilton scoring 62 points on Bowdoin, let's not lose sight of the fact that Bowdoin is last in the NESCAC in total defense by a long shot giving up over 500 yards per game. In fact, Bowdoin is at or near the bottom in most team defensive categories in the NESCAC as well as being near the bottom nationally in total defense and rushing defense. Hats off to the CONTS on a nice win but let's put their offensive prowess in the proper perspective.
[/quote]

absolutely correct, and I don't think anyone is getting too excited.  a lot depends on what the defense is offering, and also how sharp the Hamilton O is on any given day.