FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[banfan]

"Man, you would have thought that Trinity blew Colby out of the water (instead of it being a one score game at halftime) and totally dominated all aspects of play (instead of only having a four yard advantage in ball control) based on banfan's gushing analysis.  It sounds like Trinity's defense played well in the red zone, but Colby was certainly able to move the ball.  From how banfan describes Trinity, you'd think that they were wasting their time in NESCAC, and should be playing D-1 ball!  Of course, it's been three years since Trinity even won the NESCAC, so it might make sense to at least wait a few more weeks before annointing them as unbeatable ... "  nescac1

Just the facts son, just the facts.  It was the most one sided game of the weekend.  The half time score is the half time score.  If there is anyone who was at the game that finds my analysis is "gushing" or intended to diss the conference let him now speak.  If your misreading of my posts lead you to conclude that Trinity will walk over the conference, that says more about you than me.  What I wrote was that we did what we wanted to.  We won the game and did not have to show anything on offense.  I for one NEVER thought this game was in doubt no matter the score.  Did you hear differently?

A four yard advantage in ball control?  Trin total offense 278 yds  Colby 274 yds.  Ball control?

Number of plays
Trin 49
Colby 73

Rushing yds
Trin 185
Colby 75

Passing yds
Trin 93
Colby 199

Passes attempted
Trin 12
Colby 41

Teams who are behind throw the ball a lot.  Teams that don't have to throw the ball are usually ahead at the half and at the end of the game.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that Colby's only TD was scored on a "trick"play.
 
Now, don't let nescac1 make you think that I am puting Colby down because I am not now and I have not in previous posts.  On the contrary I praise their school spirit.  My son has three former HS buddies playing for Colby and I have a niece and nephew who are recent grads.

[Trin9-0]

Here's my week 2 picks (in bold) against my own imaginary spread:

Bowdoin (+6)
@ Amherst

Colby (-1.5)
@ Middlebury

Tufts (-2.5)
@ Bates

Wesleyan (-4)
@ Hamilton

Williams (+3)
@ Trinity

Go Bantams! PROTECT THE COOP!

[amh63]

Been out of touch for awhile....traveling and then loosing my internet connection.  Posted earlier, and lost that post somehow.  Oh well, trying again.
Interesting post Trin 8-0.  See that you take it that all the games will be nailbitters. 
In response to a number of posters that this board is a little quiet.....it is still early in the season and there are a number of critical games this week.  The Trinity vs. Williams game is huge as it often determines who wins the conference.  Do not want to arose the opponents' posters.
My take is that many of us are still trying to figure out our teams with the injuries and changing lineups, etc.  For example, Amherst had expected to start a new QB and expected to have a passing game with experienced WRs'.  When the posted QB does not play and the back-up QB throws 3 INT's and the passing game is poor....one is puzzled and one worries.  The Amherst vs. Bowdoin preview is up on the Amherst website.  The back up Sr. QB is listed as the starter.  I hope the game plan is to run and run until the opponent stops you.  Bowdoin's featured WR....Noone ....is a threat against any team in the conference.  I hope the Amherst defense is up to it.
Many of the teams in the conferense have questions about their QB's.  Like most college divisions, our conference is dominated by the QB's.  With the large turnovers in QB's, there are many questions wrt to the teams and when one adds early injuries and line-up changes....I would expect quiet times for now,
Did any of the Tufts vs. Hamilton watchers see any student "cavemen linesmen" working the game?  I hope the tradition did not go with the departure of the MBB coach.

[amh63]

Forgot several items.....real chatterbox here.
The Amherst website has a short video of the upcoming game with the coach providing analyses/comments.  No number 6 Sr QB in the video running plays.....injury is my guess.  The Bowdoin website also gives a preview.  It points out that for the second week, there are brothers playing against each other.  It was the Clearys in the first game and now there are the O'Malleys in this week's game at Amherst.  The conference is becoming a real close "family".....since we also have the Bunker brothers, both outstanding RB's, at Trinity and Amherst.  Come to think about it, there have been a number of sisters, brothers and sisters, etc. in other sports and when you consider just students....the NESCAC is really a tight community in a way.

[oldhamfan]

Did any of the Tufts vs. Hamilton watchers see any student "cavemen linesmen" working the game?  I hope the tradition did not go with the departure of the MBB coach.

Linesman tradition seems gone, at least for the first two games.  Watching Wes-Ham on ipad [video great, audio terrible]. Ham up 7-6 with 7 min left, Wes kicker missed CP and had blocked FG. 

[oldhamfan]

Ham up 7-6 with 7 min left, Wes kicker missed CP and had blocked FG.

meant missed XP. 

[met_fan]

Did any of the Tufts vs. Hamilton watchers see any student "cavemen linesmen" working the game?  I hope the tradition did not go with the departure of the MBB coach.

I think the school squashed that some time ago, but I'm not sure when.  I think the problem was not the outfits, but the pre-game and half time imbibing by the chain gang.  It's too bad...they had some good costumes.

[amh63]

The games today seem to be impacted a bit by the weather.  The Amherst game was scoreless almost the entire first half.  Bowdoin scored first on a field goal for a 3-0 lead with 4 minutes to go.  Amherst scored a touchdown to make it 7-3, even after missing a 42 yard field goal....wide left though the distance was ok.  Amherst had the better of the stats.   The second half the bigger line started to wear down the Polar Bear much smaller...but quick defensive line.  Bunker starter to pile up the yardage.  Amherst scored on two  field goals to make it 13-3 and with the turnovers favoring Amherst, Amherst scored a touchdown from the 4 yard line after an interception and runback by safety K. Heller for 28 yards to the Bowdoin's 4.  Amherst began to make numerous subs in the last 5 minutes and the game ended another turnover by Bowdoin.  The last quarter, the rain was light.  Amherst's QB played better but it was still an ugly passing game.  The QB was "slow" in making his decisions and made several passes that should have been picked off.  Luck went to Amherst a bit.  Amherst's first touchdown was aided by two straight 15 yard penalties by Bowdoin.....one was a late hit out of bounds.
   Looked up the "surprising" Hamilton win over Wes. 7 to 6.  Great start for Hamilton!.  Found it on the Wes. website.  Based on the stats, Wes. should have won.  Wes. had little passing game and out gained Hamilton by over 2 to one on the ground.  The turnovers and penalties were the same.  Was it just the XP?.  Both teams didn't have much of a passing game.  Can't wait to read the writeups.
   The Ephs had a good news and bad news game it seems at Trinity.  Trinity went ahead of Williams by 21-6.  The good news is that Williams outscored Trinity in the 2nd half....after being shut out by Bowdoin in the 2nd half last week.  The bad news is that Trinity won the game 21-13.
   Amherst takes on Midd next week and it seems that Midd's QB had a great game today. 
The season is becoming quite interesting.

[NESCACInsider]

About the Wesleyan-Hamilton game, Wesleyan missed a field goal from 34 yards and had a 27-yarder blocked in the fourth quarter.

Cardinals defense forced two three-and-outs in the final period (drives of minus-3 and minus-2 yards for the Continentals) and Wesleyan put together two pretty productive drives (both 12 plays long) but couldn't finish at the end. On the first drive of the fourth, they got the ball down to the Hamilton 6 but a holding penalty forced the 27-yarder that got blocked.

Certainly seems like Wes. will be ruing missed opportunities this week. Could very well be 2-0 at this point.

[Trin9-0]

40-0 in The Coop since 2001.
Any way you slice it that's impressive... at any level. GO BANTS!

p.s. When's the last time Hamilton was 2-0?!?

[met_fan]

40-0 in The Coop since 2001.
Any way you slice it that's impressive... at any level. GO BANTS!

p.s. When's the last time Hamilton was 2-0?!?

1992 I believe

[banfan]

Good morning all.

Trin8-0, my wife is in a "told ya so" mood after her Midds kicked Colby's patooti. (I have no idea how that is spelled)

amh63 I love your graciousness praising the Willies for out scoring Trin in the second half while unfortunately losing the game.  Looking ahead aren't you?

Ham beats Wes, BATES beats Tufts.  Great stuff.

[nescac1]

Another tough loss for Williams at Trinity, one of these years they will finally break through on the road vs. Trinity.  Gutty showing by the Ephs, who should hold their head high staying within one score despite playing without their starting QB, top two RB's, starting center and top CB for much of the game.  Hopefully the Ephs will heal up soon so they can reach their offensive potential.  One silver living to a tough day for the Ephs, Adam Marske announced himself as a future star in NESCAC: hard to top, in his first ever varsity action, coming in off the bench to go 20-33 and 2 TD's on the road vs. the top defense in NESCAC, without much help from an anemic running game.  I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of Marske at QB this year, with (if he is OK) hopefully Cleary returning to kicker where he can potentially help a kicking game that struggled again vs. the Bants, a missed short FG and XP for the second week in a row ...

At this point Trinity is the favorite in the conference, but it is a long year ahead and it is pretty clear that this year is the most wide open / unpredictable season we've seen in NESCAC in some time, been a long time since Hamilton was 2-0 as previously noted, not to mention Bates blowing another team out!

[frank uible]

How does the old saying go? Blaming Williams' loss solely on the injuries to its player personnel is like blaming the Johnstown flood on a leaky toilet in Altoona.

[ephfan1]

Yeah I wouldn't blame the Williams loss on injuries. Trinity had a couple of injuries too, that's just part of the game.  (And I'd note that the substitute QB was far more effective than the starter).  The Williams kicking game is an issue.  What's with punting on third down twice in the game?  Bottom line, while Williams made it more of a game in the second half (they were very lucky not to be down by more than 7-0 at the half), Trinity won this game - their soph QB was effective (and also quite a punter) and their defense came up with the plays when needed.  Congrats to the Bantams.  I look forward to seeing more of Marske at QB.