FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[frank uible]

In the wonderful world of football sometimes one undeservedly steals a game, and at other times one almost undeservedly steals a game. But after all it is only a game and, in the case of NESCAC, is only D3 football which, one should remind oneself, is on the bottom rung of college football excepting, of course, the infrequently occurring club college football.

[lumbercat]

Got a chance to attend Bates Tufts game- final score is deceiving. Bates pretty much dominated the game running the ball at will. They really didn't need to throw. Game seemed over in the third quarter but Tufts hung in there to to get within 15 in the fourth. they picked up a late TD before Bates ran out the clock with a final possession.

Tufts is young all the way around but certainly no quit in them. Civetti will rebuild it but it will take time. Receiver Dylan Haas is a big time NESCAC player who combined nicely with QB Dodds for some nice gains but they simply could not run the ball. I think the Tufts Bowdoin game will be a good one. The Black and White may see 70 pass attempts against them next week up in Brnswick. Dodds can throw it and has some decent receivers other than Haas who is a Wes Welker type beyongd that their offense was completely shut down by Bates. Polar Bear followers should hope fo heavy rains next week. If Tufts can't throw the Bears may prevail.

Sadly for the Jumbos more fans on the Bates side and it was homecoming weekend.


Bates has a strong O line that got a key player back in senior left tackle Weston #74 after missing Trinity game. They opened up some huge holes. Right tackle #75 O'Neil is another all NESCAC type. A real horse at 6'4'' and a solid, athletic 305 was dominant all day. Listed as a junior- moves extremely well.
Bates ran the option very effectively but did not execute when they did throw the ball. Smith is a good QB but threw a bad intercecption from the Tufts 10 in the first half that would have made it 28-3. Bates will need to throw effectively against stronger opponents.....like Williams next week.
The Bates D evidently lost a lot of key seniors and will give up some points but they have some real offensive skill in terms of good execution with the option from multiple looks with very few mistakes.

Banfan- Couldn't agree more on the Trinity game- I did not see the game but was following on my Iphone. I couldnt figure out how Williams was leading into the 4th quarter given the numbers I was seeing and no Trin turnovers that I could determine.  If you showed me those final stats without revealing the score  I would guess that Trin won something like 28 or 31 to 14.... However as Frank points out stats can be misleaading.

I look for a big Trinity romp against the Buff n Blue next week.

[maineman]

In the Midd-Colby game, Panther turnovers in the first half should have resulted in a 16-7 lead for the Mules, but a blocked field goal with 8 seconds left run back 80 yards for at TD by Joel Blockowitz as the half expired gave Midd a 14-13 advantage.  The second half was all Midd with 4 TDs and relatively error free play. Colby lost Luke Duncklee to injury, I heard a broken leg.

[madzillagd]

Just saw this tweet...  hoping everything is alright... prayers.


sarah t‏@sbrolins @inthecac "Thoughts + prayers go out to Troy Pappas '16, member of Bates Football team, who is in intensive care after accident last night."

[madzillagd]

Well done video by the Trinity folks of Saturday's game. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcCZqn_wqK4

[PistachioX]

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121001/NEWS/121009984/-1/NEWSMAP

Limited information about Troy Pappas' accidental fall.  Prayers for him and his family.

[madzillagd]

Troy Pappas update...

"According to an email sent out by Marshwood High School principal Paul Melhorn to the Marshwood community, Pappas incurred fractures to his skull and vertebrae. He later underwent surgery to relieve swelling in his brain and is currently in an induced coma."

http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121002/GJNEWS_01/121009951

[Knightstalker]

Good point Frank and ironically I think Ostendarp and Landry were teammates with the NY Giants. Some great coaches came from those old Giant teams, most notably Don Shula and Tom Landry, two of the greatest Pro coaches of all time. Overlooked in that group is Ostendarp who was just as great at the unknown D3 level.

Lumbercat, Don Shula never played or coached for the Giants.  He was a product of the Browns and a Paul Brown assistant before going to Baltimore.  The big two that came from the Giants were Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi.

[iamhuge]

How the heck can anyone really know without any OOC games?  They are just making it up when they rank based on no information.  How many of these speculators have seen all these conferences play?  They are not on tv so somebody is going around the country watching games and comparing rosters and interviewing coaches?  You know that is not happening, right?

You might be underestimating the amount of football Keith and I watch. However, yes, it's really difficult to to compare the NESCAC to other conferences nationally. It's basically an eyeball test. Keith and I have both been to see NESCAC games in person and I generally watch Amherst/Williams on NESN. That's about all we can do, which is exactly why we do not include the NESCAC in our conference rankings.

My son has a pretty good perspective.  He has played for both a Centennial Conference and a NESCAC team.

[nescac1]

First and most importantly, I hope Troy Pappas has a speedy and full recovery.

As for Williams-Trinity, I didn't see the game, obviously, so I have limited insight.  It seems like statistically it was a pretty even game through three quarters, and Trinity did clearly dominate the fourth quarter, not a terrible surprise given Trinity's advantage in size, depth, and experience on the front lines.  Would have been nice to see Williams pull it out, but it's a long season left to go.  I am not sure I would just assume Trinity will shut every team down based on that performance, however.  Williams was able to score 13 playing without its top two RB's, its second best receiver, and I think its projected senior starter at left tackle.  Those are big losses, especially at tailback, which clearly has affected the effectiveness of the run game early in the season.  Williams if it can just get healthy should still have a lot of weapons on offense to help Hartwell out.  I'm more concerned with how the Williams D, based on the stats, seemed to wear down a bit as the game wore on.  I think the Williams starting defense is solid but I'm not sure there is quite enough depth up front vs. teams with powerful running attacks, and of course Amherst and Wesleyan, the biggest rivals, qualify in that regard (although prob. a half notch behind Trinity).  I hope that Williams can bring some younger players to rotate more into the mix as the season wears on.  At least in the first half vs. Colby (before game got out of hand), I noticed very few plays off for most of the starters up front.   

[lumbercat]

Knightstalker- thanks for the clarification on Shula, sometimes memories fade with time- you are correct.

However, there was a conncection between Shula and Amherst coach Ostendarp though I was not correct in my thought that they had played together.
I remember Shula drafting, and/or signing, an Amherst Linebacker around 1978 named Sean Clancy. He went on to play for the Dolphins and I remember the story that it was a referral or discussion bewtween old firends, Ostendarp and Shula that led to Clancy's tenure with the Dolphins. He may have played with another NFL team also but don't quote me on that one.

[Knightstalker]

Lumbercat, perhaps from Doug Swift who played for the Dolphins and Shula for six seasons?

[lumbercat]

Knightstalker-
I know all about Swift, maybe the longest tenured NESCAC player in the NFL but Clancy was a different guy who came after Swift at Amherst and had a shorter less celebrated NFL run.

[frank uible]

Jean Fugett, Freddie Scott and Ethan Brooks all played longer in the NFL than Swift. There may be others.

[amh63]

Lumbercat.....your error was also mine.  Coach DARP was a DB on the Giants and somewhere he and Shula became friends.  Doug Swift was given a chance to tryout for the Dolphins during the players strike by Shula on a recommendation by Coach DARP.  Dough Swift was the starting MLB on the undefeated Dolphins. He left the team soon after that season to go to medical school and practice at the U. of Penn, I believe.