FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[AlDavis]

...Does Trinity 48 game home winning streak end this year and if so who beats them....Does Hamilton or Tufts win a game this year besides against each other....

[gridiron]

Pat C.--those 6 AM activities are a real joy I'm sure for the boys.  While they try not to overlap too much, there are a few practices and meetings missed by the freshmen at several of the schools.

[middhoops]

I apologize if I'm very late to the party with this, but as a Panther fan, I certainly enjoyed the first minute of this pre season D3 All America team video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ngEck6lluM

[amh63]

Midhoops....one thing is for sure....Foote seems to be the top QB on the various pre-season polls coming out.  question in my mind is if he has an offensive line to protect him....his huge RT? Has graduated.  Still needs time to make his reads.  The early game with Williams should provide some answers.

[AlDavis]

Trinity doesn't seem so impressed with Middlebury and their passing offense the past 2 years....87 - 14.

[middhoops]

Midhoops....one thing is for sure....Foote seems to be the top QB on the various pre-season polls coming out.  question in my mind is if he has an offensive line to protect him....his huge RT? Has graduated.  Still needs time to make his reads.  The early game with Williams should provide some answers.

Totally agree.  Perhaps more worrying is the loss of his great receivers, Chapman and Driscoll.  I don't know what to expect from the Ephs this season.  Not overly optimistic about hosting Trinity but I wouldn't miss the game.

[Ephparent]

I see Williams having a very surprising season this year. From what I hear, their is a different feeling around this team than teams in the past. Whether it is the pressure from the past two seasons or not, they certainly have a chip on their shoulder

[Panthernation]

Trinity doesn't seem so impressed with Middlebury and their passing offense the past 2 years....87 - 14.

The former game (42-7 loss in Middlebury) was against Middlebury's backup quarterback, for what it's worth. Foote was injured. In regard to an earlier post, Trinity's win streak actually stands at 47.

[frank uible]

Ephparent: Chip or no chip, talking about it produces nothing. The Ephs need to perform on the field of play. The Smart Money says for 2013 4-4, give or take one. Any other result will amount to a surprise for the Smart Money.

[Ephparent]

Couldn't agree more. Actions speak louder than words. Hopefully they can turn the past failures into motivation to succeed (which I would love to see!).

[AlDavis]

Williams could get upset Week 1 at Colby , and if so be looking at an 0 -4 possible start....Coach Whalen leaving 4 years ago has been under estimated in value.

[nescac1]

The jury is still out on the coaching change at Williams.  Coach Whalen is getting a lot more support from admissions at Wesleyan than he (or Coach Kelton) received at Williams.   I know he inherited a lot of talent but Coach Kelton did manage an 8-0 record his first season (one of the most dominant by any team in recent NESCAC history), followed by a very respectable 5-3 season featuring a bunch of bad breaks.  Last year, the Ephs lost their top TB and second-best receiver for nearly all of the season, and received unexpectedly poor QB play.  They still managed, by the way, to defeat Wesleyan.  I'm not sure that a difference in coaching is necessarily to blame for what amounts to a single very down year, even if, sure the team underacheived a bit -- the coach can't tackle and the coach can't throw the ball.  (I would like to see a bit more offensive creativity at times, but the same could be said for the Ephs under Coach Whalen). 

If they have another non-winning season this year, than yeah, the coaching seat will grow a bit hotter, but the Ephs still have plenty of talent and as Ephparent noted should be uber-motivated. Of course, that won't mean much without good QB play but let's see how that position shapes up in pre-season before dooming the Ephs to failure and waving a white flag on the Kelton era.  Hopefully the burn of two consecutive Amherst losses pushed the players to complete a very successful off-season. 

[frank uible]

Williams will not be playing with Kelton's recruits as seniors until 2014.

[nescac1]

That's a good point, Frank.  And I have no idea which way that cuts, since NESCAC teams tend to be upperclassmen-dominanted.  This is probably the first season in which the majority of guys playing major roles on the field will be Kelton recruits, and I have no idea whether the classes of, for example, 2015 and 16 had more or less talent than the last few classes of Whalen recruits (hopefully more).  The class of 2011 was certainly loaded with talent, but Williams had only two seniors (Hartwell and Cameron) with elite talent on last year's roster, and the rising senior class has only one returning first-team all-NESCAC guy, and he is a kicker. 

[Jonny Utah]

I don't see George McCormick listed as a football coach on the 2013 Williams roster.  Is he still coaching football there?