FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

mariner75 · August 12, 2011, 05:38:56 PM

The Jumbos used to scrimmage the "off" season team, either Hamilton or Wesleyan" until a few years ago. The Hamilton travel was always an issue though. Recently they've been scrimmaging Bowdoin, which I disagree with since it's the third game of the season. Let's play a full league schedule.

TheHerst2and4 · August 12, 2011, 05:51:39 PM

We were all for the 9th game. Didn't make much sense not to play one of the teams.
There are benefits to the preseason scrimmage. Not sure about the other schools but we used to have an intra-squad scrimmage the week before the scrimmage against the other team (Bates/Hamilton/later Williams). In the intra-squad your first string units usually saw about 20 live snaps (if that). Its good to get back out there full speed, but by the time you are a junior/senior, you really know your own team's offense and offensive players' tendencies, so you really aren't getting much out of the experience. There was that excitement of the two scrimmages being something to look forward to at the end of a "training camp"
Playing against a different team gives you a little more uncertainty and its more of a "game" atmosphere. You approach it like a game, but at the end of the day its risk-free record wise so you may be more apt to take some chances. Even the pros like to get some live snaps in the preseason, to work off some of the dust from the offseason.
The real beneficiaries of these preseason tilts are the young guys, it gives them a chance early to show what they are made of in game-like scenarios. I remember Mark Hannon making some big plays freshman year in our intra-squad and preseason scrimmage that got him some early playing time.

frank uible · August 12, 2011, 06:08:43 PM

A few years ago an effort was made to cause all the NESCAC colleges to incorporate a ninth NESCAC game into their schedules, I was told all the ADs and HFCs were in favor of it, but the Presidents voted it down. I'm not sure whether the Presidens' vote was unanimous, and if not unanimous, how it might have been split.

amh63 · August 12, 2011, 06:31:57 PM

great input nescac1. I started to push for a 9 game season by this board.....when my internet went down. Back on board and read your post Frank U. Maybe it is time to make a grass root push again. Amherst and Williams both have new Presidents. Bates is looking for a new president and Tufts will be looking for a new president soon....this Fall, I believe. How about it guys/women?

iamhuge · August 13, 2011, 03:52:06 PM

Quote from: amh63 on August 12, 2011, 06:31:57 PM
great input nescac1. I started to push for a 9 game season by this board.....when my internet went down. Back on board and read your post Frank U. Maybe it is time to make a grass root push again. Amherst and Williams both have new Presidents. Bates is looking for a new president and Tufts will be looking for a new president soon....this Fall, I believe. How about it guys/women?

I vote for a 9th game. Just curious - how do the teams that scrimmage the Ivy JV's make out in those tilts?

frank uible · August 13, 2011, 06:45:23 PM

Last fall Williams JVs played Dartmouth JVs and, as I recall, lost 1 TD to 3. On 10/9/11 these JV squads are scheduled to play again, of course, with this year's personnel.

amh63 · August 15, 2011, 11:12:51 AM

In contrast to schools in other conferences, here is info on Amherst: Today the FY students are e-mailed their room assignments.
FY orientation starts Aug. 28; other students can get into rooms on Sept. 1; classes start Sept. 6. Do not expect any football previews any earlier than the first week in Sept.
It is interesting that the SID has cited 5 athletic matches to watch in early Fall- one is the football game with Trinity. The Bunker brothers are featured and the 4th quarter put down by Trinity last year at Trinity. Last year's loss to Williams was a second half run by Williams. Hope this year, Amherst will have a defense that doesn't fade in the late quarters of the game. One can always hope here.
Oh yes, hope to talk to the AD during Homecoming about the addition of an 9th game in the future. Feel that Amherst's new President should be for it as she is a football/sports fan.

Yarsan · August 15, 2011, 09:17:20 PM

Hamilton will scrimmage Yale's JV on September 11th.

nescac1 · August 18, 2011, 09:39:57 PM

Trinity has its season preview up. Sounds like they are absolutely loaded with experienced stars on defense and will have a dominating running game, as usual. The big question is in the passing game, where a bunch of untested receivers and tight ends will really need to step up.

Williams has posted some great classic football videos on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/WilliamsEphsSports#p/u/2/rG2K-7EA7ZQ

http://www.youtube.com/user/WilliamsEphsSports#p/u/7/utY-SfPQs3o

And of course, highlights from the legendary 1997 victory over Amherst, still one of the most exciting live sporting events I have ever attended:

http://www.youtube.com/user/WilliamsEphsSports#p/u/8/rmvWwUZ4N7E

Frank Rossi · August 18, 2011, 11:06:46 PM

You probably won't see a game like the '97 game ever again since the NCAA timing rules in the late 2000s really have helped to change the game. Closest thing I've witnessed to that game were the Union/Hobart games of '04 and '10 (both OT games, '10 went 2OTs). Even then, the game was somewhat compacted by the rules. I understand that the games were running very long for television purposes (in the 3:45/4:00 vicinity, which was a problem). However, the rule has, I feel, adversely affected the lower divisions. Games are getting shrunken down to below 2 1/2 hours now with regularity -- that doesn't feel like football to me.

frank uible · August 19, 2011, 12:20:58 AM

It all depends on one's perspective. For one who has been watching football since the mid-1940s 2 1/2 hours seems about right.

amh63 · August 19, 2011, 02:12:47 PM

Thanks nescac1 for all those reminders of games that saw Amherst on the short side of the score!
In today's Wash. Post, John Feinstein has an article on the mess in college sports....in particular football and basketball....where he concludes that the present NCAA needs to "sleep with the fishes". He believes the federal needs to assist in the removal of the present NCAA and break it into three parts....football, mens BB and other sports. Here on this board, we are just talking/pushing for adding a 9th game! Anyway, in the article he does mention Williams and Amherst (as well as Harvard and Yale) in a positive light. The writer has been mentioning Williams often in the last several years. Though a Duke grad., does he have a relative at Williams? Or did Williams' grads in the sport medium "buy him off".

frank uible · August 19, 2011, 02:44:38 PM

It is merely that Williams' excellence is so transcendentally manifest that it impresses friend and foe alike.

mariner75 · August 19, 2011, 05:56:59 PM

Megakarma.

amh63 · August 21, 2011, 04:42:19 PM

Something that may have slipped through the crack on this board.....
Bowdoin's website has recently posted that it has hired three new assistants......two are former head coaches and one a recent grad.
It seems that this year, at least for the early part of the season, many of the teams maybe featuring option QBs. The one at Wes. seems to be the most experienced....having played as a option QB even at Williams before following the head coach to Wes.