FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[oldhamfan]

and nice bus ride back to Waterville for the Mules. 

I've gotta stop you right there. There is no such thing as a "nice bus ride" from Hamilton to Colby. Just not possible. Especially sober.

Snowstorm (sorry, meant Williams) 14, Hamilton 7.  Eck fumbled in the snow at the end, Ephs recovered, game over.  Williamstown to Clinton in the snow, ok, you're right, not a nice ride. 

[mullethead]

Is it too soon to start hyping Amherst at Trinity? Bantams look real good (although playing against Middlebury's back-up QB didn't hurt).


Moderator's note: Typo corrected as per poster's request. Thanks for the post.

[FourMoreYears]

Kudos to the defense at Bowdoin, guess the hire of a new defensive co-ordinator has really paid off.  Saturday they held Ladarius Drew to 48 yards on 18 carries (2.7 per) and the Wesleyan to less than 200 yards total offense, and two FGs.  Wesleyan was forced to punt 9 times.  This was only the 3rd win for the Polar Bears in the last 15 contests versus Wesleyan.  It also enabled Bowdoin to go 2-1 since being forced to utilize their 4th string, freshman QB.  If Bowdoin can beat Bates and Colby, it will mark only the 3rd winning campaign in the last 24 seasons.  With a pretty young team, only seven(?) Senior starters on O and D, perhaps the Polar Bears are moving in the right direction.

Can anybody shed light on Bates and Colby?  Not only the game last Saturday, which Colby won rather easily, but also what has happened to Bates since beating Williams three weeks ago.

[cruiser]

Complete destruction in Waterville. Colby finally played a complete game. Bates probably isn't quite as strong as we thought and Colby may be a bit better than we thought. Walsh, Colby tri captain caught 4 passes for 164 yards and a td, ran a td in and threw for one. Bates just couldn't do too much. That said, expect them to rebound some against bowdoin.

[amh63]

Hope all the NE posters survived the snowstorm.  It started to snow heavy after all the sporting events ended on the Amherst campus.  No visual cams are working today.  Also hoping all the players at all the sporting events around the conference made it back to their schools.
Is the 4th string QB related to the head football coach?...like his son?  Seems that the FY LT that BanFan noted did well against Wes.  Cannot figure out Wes.  Are they a poor traveling team?  Anyway, congrats. to the Polar Bears.  The CBB title should be interesting.  I guess the Trinity posting will begin in earnest this week.  It will be Family day on Sat. and the Bunker parents will have to move from one side to the other after halftime.....maybe not since the Amherst Bunker is a senior and maybe his mom will be treated with flowers.

[quicksilver]

Yes - Mac Caputi is the coach's son but I doubt he had any expectation that he would be throwing his son into the fire this year. The kid has not yet developed much of passing game but he has done a good job in running the offense under difficult circumstances. The first back-up QB, Tommy Romero, may return prior to the end of the season. 

[amh63]

Thanks Quicksilver for the response.  The quick snowstorm has even closed down Amherst for two days.....seems that there is limited power to some of the dorms.  Accordingly to my daughter with her facebook connection, there is a request for the students to join in in removing broken tree branches, etc.  In my days, the school never closed..but we lived in caves then.  Any other schools closed?  Guess there will be delayed sports reports, etc.

[PistachioX]

The Trinity team stayed an extra night in VT after the game, rather than risk heading back to Hartford in the storm.  I haven't confirmed with my son yet, if they have power back at school.  We are without power here ...possibly until end of week.  Grateful to have a generator.

[mullethead]

My son has confirmed Trinity has power. Even cable TV!

[NESCACInsider]

Thanks for the insight on the Amherst-Tufts game, amh63. Here's a quick update on the QB situation at Tufts.

The starter, Lindquist, got hurt against Williams in the third series and played the rest of the game hurt. He ended up not playing at all against Amherst. Dodds, the backup, practiced once this week after getting concussed but passed his IMPACT test and started vs. the Lord Jeffs. He struggled early on, and the plan was to rotate Johnson and Doll (went to Mater Dei, backed up Matt Barkley) if things didn't move with Dodds, which they didn't for most of the game. Not sure what the situation is moving forward, but they were kind of behind the eight-ball with a depleted/inexperienced lineup. I'll be here to keep everyone posted.

It was about as far a cry as you could get from last year's shootout. Tufts is very thin on offense, and Amherst's defense is among the best in the league. You're absolutely right about the lack of running game at Tufts. Really the only thing keeping them from being last in the NESCAC in rushing is Hamilton, who has -30, 4 and -34 in its past three games on the ground. The only time both Tufts and Hamilton have topped 100 yards rushing in a game was in the season-opener against each other.

[creekboy]

Those rushing statistics for Hamilton are hard to believe and even harder to watch.  From where I am sitting, they need more balance...and to run the ball, they need more blockers at the point of attack (fullback, wingback in motion, etc) Once the run starts working, the passing game will improve a lot. I was at Williamstown, and that game was very winnable for Hamilton thanks to the defense. Offensive woes continue to derail their efforts.  Two more games to see if they can pull it together. 

[FourMoreYears]

Question for those with more years watching NESCAC football than myself:

Is the league-wide offense that anemic or the defenses just better?  What other factors (injuries, weather etc) do you see?
The numbers show a huge dropoff in scoring in 2011 ... 18.2% as a league.

Scoring By Team 

Team    2011    2010       Diff.    %Change

AMHR   28.83    35.75    -06.92    -19%
MIDD   28.00     25.38    +02.62   +10%
TRIN    27.67    29.13     -01.46    -5%
WILL    27.17    36.63     -09.46    -26%
BATE    23.33    13.00    +10.33    +80%
COLB    17.17    21.88    -04.71     -22%
WESL   14.50    23.50     +9.00     -38%
BOWD  13.83    15.25     -01.42    -9%
HAML   08.67    15.88     -07.21    -45%
TUFT    08.00    24.63     -16.63    -68%

[amh63]

FourMoreYears.....hope that is correct.....anyway, my answer to your question wrt to offense/defense is simple (or simple minded?).  In 2010, Amherst, Williams, Midd., Tufts, and I believe Colby had experienced multiyear starting QBs.  Amherst's QB holds most of the school's passing records.  William's QB was the conference player of the year and set the offensive tone of the team. Midd.'s QB was a gunner.  This year, Midd.'s new QB is quite a passer and leads the league in passing yardage, I believe.  He did not play against Trinity and that along with Trinity's defense held the score down for Midd.  Last year's game with Tufts vs. Amherst saw 17 touchdowns made in a 70-49 shootout.  This year, Tufts had no offense and punted over 12 times.  Bate's and Colby's offense this year are better at times, but they have new QB's playing now.....as does Tufts.  Wes.'s QB is the same, but he less of a passer now then he was in his Sophmore year at Williams.....can't figure out what is going on at Wes.  Hamilton and Bowdoin's offense seems to be hit by injuries, etc.  I forgot, Amherst and Williams started the year with inexperienced QB's.  There have been QB changes at both schools.
On the defensive side, Trinity and Williams returned strong defenses....and Amherst's defense,IMO, has improved from last year.
In short, you are seeing a drop off in at least three schools due to a "changing of the guard" of QBs' that have resulted in the % of drop off of the offense at those schools....Amherst, Williams, and Tufts.  Midd.'s % is less due to the arrival of Foote.
That is my quick answer.  Better football posters can give you better answers and reasons.

[FourMoreYears]

Amh63,

Not simple-minded at all and very helpful.
Everything you said makes complete sense.
Thanks.

[iamhuge]

Thanks for the insight on the Amherst-Tufts game, amh63. Here's a quick update on the QB situation at Tufts.

The starter, Lindquist, got hurt against Williams in the third series and played the rest of the game hurt. He ended up not playing at all against Amherst. Dodds, the backup, practiced once this week after getting concussed but passed his IMPACT test and started vs. the Lord Jeffs. He struggled early on, and the plan was to rotate Johnson and Doll (went to Mater Dei, backed up Matt Barkley) if things didn't move with Dodds, which they didn't for most of the game. Not sure what the situation is moving forward, but they were kind of behind the eight-ball with a depleted/inexperienced lineup. I'll be here to keep everyone posted.

It was about as far a cry as you could get from last year's shootout. Tufts is very thin on offense, and Amherst's defense is among the best in the league. You're absolutely right about the lack of running game at Tufts. Really the only thing keeping them from being last in the NESCAC in rushing is Hamilton, who has -30, 4 and -34 in its past three games on the ground. The only time both Tufts and Hamilton have topped 100 yards rushing in a game was in the season-opener against each other.

Tufts is playing hard despite many very critical injuries, and some notable players from last year who were not able to suit up this year.

Also, Civetti had the "Interim" tag removed and is now officially Head Coach.  I think this will be helpful in getting the program re-established.