FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[amh63]

Gr8ful1...liked your "pavement" comment.  Need to point out out that Frank U. is a most knowledgeable football poster that likes to pull the chain a bit on posters.  Good person in spite of being a Williams grad.  There could be a night game between Williams and Amherst since both schools will have lights by 2014...but such games would be ugly for the 10 thousand plus fans in November in tiny Williamstown...parking, etc.
Gridiron.....It's the weekend, so my pick would be the CT. Schools but not by the values posted by Tufts.  Expect Amherst to win a minimum of 6 games this season with the new turf field helping a bit.
Memory point.  In the City title game posted earlier, there was a fine lineman playing on the Gonzaga team that beat my high school.  He went on to play for Williams....Bennett ? Frank would need to check if Amherst lost during his years.

[frank uible]

Synthetic turf tends to favor over grass the team with the better team speed. Does Amherst 2013 have better team speed than those of its home opponents (if any) which will probably be closely matched against Amherst?

[gridiron]

We now have reports coming from fans/followers of the following schools: Bowdoin, Lumbercat; Williams, Frank; Amherst, Amh; Middlebury, Panthernation; Tufts, Tufts. 

All we need now is someone to cover Hamilton, Wesleyan, Colby and Bates specifically, and should be a great season.  Any takers out there??

[iamhuge]

If Williams loses to Bates again this year ( Bates 68 - Williams 32 the past two years) they might go 3 -5........the Tufts Seniors this year won their very first game as Freshmans and have not won since losing 23 Strait.......does Trinity still have that very long Home Game Winning Streak going ?......any information on incoming recruits or transfers as Rosters are usually not posted until early to mid September.

Tufts,  any word on the starting QB this year?

There are a few really good ones in the fold, including the one who started the season last year.

[iamhuge]

Chance Brady is a fine back who should have immediate impact at Tufts.

Bowdoin and Bates also have couple of very impressive RBs among their incoming recruits:
Bowdoin has Andrew Grant of Exeter NH 6'0" 190 NH player of the year.
Bates landed Ivan Reese of Savannah, Ga. 6'1" 226 who had D1 recruiting interest from Kentucky and So Miss among others.

I think that NESCAC defenses are, in general, smallish and not very physical.  A power running attack is an easy way to take advantage of this.

[amh63]

Gridiron...you forgot Trinity, unless you are one?  Rest assured that more posters will appear as the season draws near.  Iamhuge is a Tufts follower whose son is on the team.  NESCAC1 is a Williams supporter/grad and there will be for sure a Trinity supporter who has a key player on the Team. 
It is fun when there are brothers playing on Amherst and Trinity's squads.  Trinity has the remaining Bunker RB...team captain and pre season All-American pick.  Both Trinity and Amherst have impact wide recievers that are brothers...small fast players from Florida's West coast.
To answer Frank's question on team speed...I do not know the answer.  Amherst plays Bowdoin, Trinity. Wesleyan and Middlebury at home on turf.  Last season. Amherst lost to Trinity away on turf when Trinity rallied in the last quarter.  Bowdoin's quick defensive players gave Amherst trouble last year on grass.  The Middlebury and Wesleyan games will be battles on any field surface.
The key question for Amherst and I guess for all schools is the number and when injuries occur. Does turf surfaces play a part with respect to injury rates?
Last season, Amherst lost a high number of running backs and fast receivers to injuries as the season progressed.  In the last game...Homecoming...a FY backup runner came in and ran for over 100 yards and helped seal a win over Williams.  It was scary at times since Amherst could not contain Hartwell and his speed on returns.
Iamhugeis correct that the conference defenses are pressed to hold back tough running backs. This year may be the year of running backs vice quarterbacks.  I may have put my foot in my mouth with that remark.

[frank uible]

As a very general proposition, for the reason of ease in obtaining good timing it takes fewer practice repetitions to put together an effective passing offense than it does an effective running offense. Thus NESCAC with its absence of spring practice, its short regular season and its absence of non-medical redshirting seems to lend itself to passing offenses relatively speaking - but a good passing offense requires an effective QB, and that fact may be the rub for too many NESCAC colleges.

[Knightstalker]

What type of offenses do the NESCAC teams run? 

[amh63]

Interesting question it would appear this season.  There is only one great passer in Foote of Middlebury.  The majority of the other teams seem to have unproven QBs ...experienced ones for the most part?  There is a flux of fine new backs arriving into the conference.  The coaches will sort it out as they usually do and find the best "offense" for the talent on hand and hope to win the title or enough wins to keep their job.

[frank uible]

In NESCAC it takes a great deal of losing for a HFC to lose his job solely or primarily because of losing.

[frank uible]

Playing QB is more cognitive than instinctive; playing RB is the reverse. One learns to play QB; one is a RB. Consequently the relative supply of each.

[HSCTiger74]

BCS games are so very commercial. If they are played at night, they are so very commercial and so very high school.

Definitely agree with you about the commercial aspects of the BCS games, Frank, but most fans and players in the southeastern quadrant of the country will tell you that night games are a must in August and September (and even early October in some areas). 

[frank uible]

Once upon a time in my lifetime people everywhere (including the deep South) waited until late September for football season to begin - they can do it now.  November, October and late September allow time for a school to squeeze in up to 10 games for the football season, which is plenty games enough for any non-commercial, player oriented regular season schedule. If one insists on sports in the summer, then play summer sports in the summer - like, say, baseball.

[Pat Coleman]

Once upon a time in my lifetime people everywhere (including the deep South) waited until late September for football season to begin - they can do it now.

And they needed an operator to connect them to the person they wanted to talk to on the phone. Doesn't mean it's the best way to do things.

[amh63]

Yes, it is late Summer and America's sport is back In the media!   NFL training camps have started, and the Hall of Fame event is over and soon the exhibition games will start.  On cable, there are days of preseason shows of the BCS conferences with coaches, players , etc. featured.  There are projections of the top 125 college teams!  Of course those are the upper Div. 1 schools.
Here on this board we are discussing the merits of night games..when games go into snowy Nov.  Amherst FY students do not get their room assignments until 15th of August....and we speculate on seasons when we do not know the rosters of teams!!
Personally, I would have it no other way
Karma point to you Frank.   Even thinking of visiting Williamstown  in '14 to see the new football field.
Maybe I will call you on the matter, but my phone operator is on vacation now.