FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[gridiron]

Some interesting W/L data

     1992 - 2012 (NESCAC Era)         
    W   L   T
Williams   136   30   2
Trinity   133   35   
Amherst   114   53   1
Middlebury99   69   
Colby   84   83   1
Wesleyan   80   88   
Tufts   61   106   1
Bowdoin   53   114   1
Hamilton   43   125   
Bates   33   135   

[gridiron]

Since a NESCAC football champion has been named

      2000 - 2012 (Champion Era)      
   W   L
Trinity   88   16
Williams   81   23
Amherst   77   27
Middlebury   64   40
Colby   54   50
Wesleyan   44   60
Tufts   36   68
Bowdoin   30   74
Bates   26   78
Hamilton   20   84

[gridiron]

Combined records over the past five years....

     2008 - 2012 (Five Year)      
   W   L
Trinity   36   4
Amherst   33   7
Williams   29   11
Middlebury   25   15
Colby   17   23
Wesleyan   16   24
Bowdoin   15   25
Bates   13   27
Hamilton   9   31
Tufts   7   33

[gridiron]

As Bill Parcells says, "You are what your record says you are."

Looking forward to comments regarding trends.  Frank???  Others???

[amh63]

Gridiron...here I was settling down to " Inferno" and making arrangements for the annual family madhouse at the beach in a couple of weeks and you put up stats  that include the bad years when my sons were in school.  Amherst had some low win seasons in '92-'95, including a 0-8 season that led to a firing of a HFCS and a hiring of the WPI coach who went on to Yale and is now an assistant at Wesleyan. 
Those years soured football for my sons a little.  Only my daughter joins me at Amherst games since she saw few losses when she was in school. Not truly accurate, but you get the pix.
I know, that is my cross to bear....but what was your goal in selecting and posting the numbers?

[AlDavis]

2013 Win Totals

Middlebury   8        under - 130
Wesleyan     7 1/2  under - 115
Trinity         6 1/2   over -130
Amherst      5 1/2   under - 115
Williams       4        over - 115
Bates           4        under - 125
Bowdoin       3       under - 115
Colby           1 1/2  over  - 120
Tufts             1      over - 120
Hamilton       1/2   over - 130

[gridiron]

Gridiron...here I was settling down to " Inferno" and making arrangements for the annual family madhouse at the beach in a couple of weeks and you put up stats  that include the bad years when my sons were in school.  Amherst had some low win seasons in '92-'95, including a 0-8 season that led to a firing of a HFCS and a hiring of the WPI coach who went on to Yale and is now an assistant at Wesleyan. 
Those years soured football for my sons a little.  Only my daughter joins me at Amherst games since she saw few losses when she was in school. Not truly accurate, but you get the pix.
I know, that is my cross to bear....but what was your goal in selecting and posting the numbers?

Not intended to cause you angst...simply thought it might stimulate conversation.  One of my observations is that the top four and bottom four teams have stayed the same while the two in the middle Colby and Wesleyan have maintained as well.  While there is some shifting among the top and bottom four, I found it interesting the relative positions have been fairly constant.  Not sure what it all means but there it is.

[gridiron]

2013 Win Totals

Middlebury   8        under - 130
Wesleyan     7 1/2  under - 115
Trinity         6 1/2   over -130
Amherst      5 1/2   under - 115
Williams       4        over - 115
Bates           4        under - 125
Bowdoin       3       under - 115
Colby           1 1/2  over  - 120
Tufts             1      over - 120
Hamilton       1/2   over - 130

Tufts--while I agree with most, I still think you have Wesleyan too high and Colby too low.  Wesleyan hasn't had that many wins in years, nor has Colby had that few wins in years.

[AlDavis]

the top 3 games of the year....2 will happen , one will not.....Trinity @ Middlebury  and Wesleyan @ Trinity......and Wesleyan vs Middlebury.....possible 3 way tie for first at 7-1 or possible 2 way tie for first at 8 - 0.

[gridiron]

Ironically, 1997 was the last time Wesleyan won as many as 7 games AND the last time Colby won as few as 1 game.

[gridiron]

Would love to see the undefeated tie if just to bring to a head the ridiculous schedule.

[frank uible]

The administration of any of the NESCAC schools would be indifferent to the undefeated nature of any such tie, among other subjects.

[amh63]

Gridiron....Since you got my attention...I will put up some thoughts that has a serious cynical thread running through it.  In earlier posts I pointed out the number of new Presidents of CAC that have arrived within the past 5 years.  There are presently two vacancies.  My posts were to see if the new heads could lead to a change to a 9 game season so as to have a  Nescac  champion where every football school would play each other. 
Anyway, there is a noticeable growth of support of sports in general and football in particular in the schools that are in the bottom half of the charts you have posted.  Wesleyan, has changed the most in improving the sports environment , in my opinion, jumped started by Coach Whalen's return to Middletown.  I expect that football wins and the arrival of talented players will continue in Middletown.
The engine that pushes the changes for these school is Money...the cynical thread...the common thread.  Sport program wins lead to Alumni support and that means growth in school Endownments.
Durning the period of your Champion years, I believe Trinity, Williams, Tufts and this year, Amherst completed major Capital Campaigns.  Others will start soon.
The overall trends may not be evident as more schools improve and seek wins...but the wins by the present top teams will get harder and fewer...that is my take.
Personally, as Amherst wins increased since '92, more of my football loving classmates have come back to home games and their gifts to the college have increased in amount and number.  Amherst will celebrate this Fall, in a new football complex, and the completion of a record breaking Campaign started in 2008!..when the recession hit.
Maybe " too much data" from a cynical poster.

[nescac1]

As Frank has said before, amh63, the odds of NESCAC agreeing to place MORE emphasis on football are incredibly small.  Not when there is still a lot of hostility among many faculty at the admissions concessions required to field football teams, as well as concern about the sheer number of football players on campus (for the smaller NESCAC schools, more than ten percent of the men in each entering class is composed of football recruits).  Not when it would probably entail more costs (travel, insurance, etc.) to add another game.  Not when there are more and more studies released on the dangers football poses in terms of long-term health issues.  I'd bet on NESCAC eliminating football before it added another game.  I personally would love a nine game season, but I just don't see it happening. 

Regarding setting the over-under on Trinity at 6.5 ... since 2002 Trinity has AVERAGED fewer than one loss per season.  So that seems like a pretty good over. 

I'd say something like this seems more accurate:

Middlebury and Trinity both at 7
Amherst and Wesleyan both at 6
Williams at 4.5
Colby, Bowdoin and Bates at 3
Hamilton and Tufts both at 1

[AlDavis]

Great posts....and Amh63 with your last post maybe your Karma score will go to minus 30.....word is Wesleyan is drooling to get started and has a spectacular group coming in Top Heavy with Skill players along with not losing much on last year's squad to graduation and they are kicking it off what could be an Epic season with the first ever NESCAC night game to build some excitement and hype....could be a possible Wesleyan 7-0 at Trinity 7- 0  matchup with Trinity's 13 year home game winning steak at stake as well....also any truth to a possible future Amherst - Williams game being played at Fenway Park.