FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[redtail]

Can't wait for the games to start.  Heard Hamilton is oging w/ a freshman running back & tight end.  Would like to see a little more exprience at the skill postions to get them over the hump

[Trin9-0]

Word on the street up in Hartford is that the injury bug has bitten the Bantams pretty badly.

I've also heard that their kicking game is going to be an adventure this year. That would certainly be a departure from recent years. I can think of numerous games in which excellent special teams decided the outcome in Trinity's favor.

Anyone going to a NESCAC scrimmage this weekend?

[redtail]

who is scrimaging who this weekend?

[cruiser]

colby vs bates, at bates this weekend

[Trin9-0]

Wes @ Trin Saturday

[Col. Partridge]

How long ago did this start?  Out of all the things unique about the NESCAC, scrimmaging an opponent you will play later in the season when there is an available league opponent you will not play is the least defensible to me.  Does Williams scrimmage Amherst?

[frank uible]

Williams scrimmages Amherst @ Amherst on Saturday at 1:00. Until a few years ago each NESCAC team scrimmaged the one other NESCAC team which was not on the team's schedule. This arrangement fell apart because of travel distances and the belief by some teams that it did not produce opponents which would provide  good scrimmage experiences.

[BTEXPRESS]

I still think they should make the scrimmage weekend an official game and let each school play every other team in the conference. I know we beat this issue to death earlier this summer, but it still makes no sense to me at all.

[frank uible]

It must make sense to the Presidents of the NESCAC colleges, but they are not explaining themselves about it.

[BobcatsDad]

In response to Trin 8-0: Yes, the Bobcats should do better than 1-7 and yes, they can win more than 2 games, on the road or at home.

Last year, they lost 2 games in OT, both by a FG; 14-17 to Wes and 7-10 to Colby. They beat Hamilton in 2006 at home, and the previous year beat them at Steuben Field. The 'cats were very competitive with Tufts and Bowdoin last year, and have been suprisingly competitive against Williams the last two years (lost last year 27-7, but were up at the half; lost in 2005 7-8).
So, I think it's fair to predict that the bottom-to-middle of NESCAC is up for grabs, and that Bates has a decent shot at going at least 4-4. They've had great recruiting years the last two years, with some very strong freshman and sophs (receiver Matt Gregg; 6-7 transfer tight end Sean Wirth), and will be playing very close to the 75-man roster limit, compared to recent years wehn they were playing in the mid-50s to mid-60s.

My aggressive prediction for Bobcats Football 07:

5-4, with wins over Hamilton, Wesleyan, Colby, Bowdoin, and Tufts. 

[BobcatsDad]

Whoops. I meant 5-3.

[Trin9-0]

In response to Trin 8-0: Yes, the Bobcats should do better than 1-7 and yes, they can win more than 2 games, on the road or at home.

Last year, they lost 2 games in OT, both by a FG; 14-17 to Wes and 7-10 to Colby. They beat Hamilton in 2006 at home, and the previous year beat them at Steuben Field. The 'cats were very competitive with Tufts and Bowdoin last year, and have been suprisingly competitive against Williams the last two years (lost last year 27-7, but were up at the half; lost in 2005 7-8).
So, I think it's fair to predict that the bottom-to-middle of NESCAC is up for grabs, and that Bates has a decent shot at going at least 4-4. They've had great recruiting years the last two years, with some very strong freshman and sophs (receiver Matt Gregg; 6-7 transfer tight end Sean Wirth), and will be playing very close to the 75-man roster limit, compared to recent years wehn they were playing in the mid-50s to mid-60s.

My aggressive prediction for Bobcats Football 07:

5-3, with wins over Hamilton, Wesleyan, Colby, Bowdoin, and Tufts. 

That's pretty ambitious considering Bates hasn't won more than 4 games in a season since 1981 (that's well before any current Bobcat was even born). In fact they've had a combined 5 wins over the past three seasons, 3 of which were against Hamilton, the other 2 against Wesleyan.

Furthermore, since 1989 the only teams Bates has beaten other than Ham, Wes or another ME school was Williams in '03, Amherst in '99 and '90.

I applaud your optimism but I will be SHOCKED if they can pull off more than 3 wins this year. Wesleyan was 3-5 last year and will be better in '07. If they can't beat the Cards then I predict Bates will be 0-5 heading into their "winnable" games (@ Colby, Bowdoin, @ Hamilton).

With that said I wish the best of luck to the Bobbies (mostly because they don't play Trinity )

[BobcatsDad]

Well, maybe a wee bit optimistic. On the other hand, as the investment literature warns, past performance is no guarantee of future results. We'll see.

 

[BTEXPRESS]

Dad, GOOD ONE. That is the beauty of sports. Right now every team is undefeated, unscored upon etc. I wouldn't expect anything less than from you right now.

[redtail]

Lol - @ 0-0 Hamilton is looking real good right now - roster is up - looks real young again!!