FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacman]

Frank U......surprising post.  Was not aware that you are a betting man.
I know....broke my promise...again...cannot keep my mouth shut.
Long day ahead on line for me.  Williams invade Amherst in other "football" matches, etc.
NEscacman...thanks for the heads up info???.   Wow....no drinking anywhere?  Never was a Woods person myself.  Any restrictions on the size of the drinking containers?

I will report back on the level of enforcement. We will of course be testing the policy.

[nescac1]

Bates at Amherst (-5 1/2)-  I'll take Amherst, but a pretty good line.  With the weapons they lost, I don't see Bates putting up many points today vs. a stout Amherst front seven.  I do note that Amherst's very good returning nose tackle is not on the roster this year; his replacement, however, is ever bigger.  Still, that will hurt Amherst's depth as the nose is critical to stopping the run in the 3-4 scheme. 

Bowdoin at Williams (-8)- I like the Ephs here, counting on a motivated squad to inaugurate the new facility and erase the memory of last year.  And crossing fingers in a BIG way that Lommen gives Ephs, at a minimum, their first really steady play at QB since 2010.  All he needs to do is hit open receivers and let them go to work after the catch, and keep turnovers to a minimum for the Ephs to roll in this game. 

Colby at Trinity (-9)- I'll take Colby and the points.  I expect a low scoring battle that Trinity wins by one score. 

Wesleyan at Middlebury (+10)- Wesleyan fo sho. 

Hamilton at Tufts (-2)- I LOVE Tufts to break the streak today.  Two programs that are finally headed in the right direction, which is good to see. 

I'm very curious to see if the Amherst frosh QB gets some PT today.  Based on his high school film, he is a guy who could make some crazy exciting plays, and also some ill-advised ones.  But he is no doubt an intriguing talent.  There could easily be a three-way QB battle all year in Amherst this season unless one of them distinguishes himself early in the year. 

[frank uible]

Carrie Nation, wherever she may be, is doing handsprings.

[frank uible]

I'll take Wesleyan and minus ten. Wes will get on top of Midd and jump up and down to the tune of an advantage of about 3 TDs.

[amh63]

Amherst last season rotated the nose tackle.  Coach Mills pointed out a knee injury to the "smaller" one in his interview in the podcast.  Mention that it was a few days earlier than when the interview was recorded.  Hope it did not happen during the scrimmage.   Oh by my counting, Williams roster shows 76 players....all following the Cardinal trend?  Surprised at the low number of FYs...freshmen

[nescac1]

Certainly a much better first game, so far, for Williams this year than last year.  Ephs up 19-0, have dominated in every way (outgaining Bowdoin 210-49 yards), and really have left some points on the board.

The good for the Ephs: Austin Lommen looks generally good for Williams, mostly throwing short passes but seems confident and accurate, and has spread the ball around nicely to all his targets, with his high school teammate Steven Kiesel serving as his main target and security blanket -- it's obvious they have some nice chemistry.  Pomella also got a series and looked liked he belonged out there. 

Scyocurka looks really quick, as does his back-up, fellow senior Jean Luc Etienne, who has patiently waited his turn.  On defense, three guys have really stood out.  Tom Cabarle seems to have taken his cryptic omission from NBN's pre-season all-NESCAC team personally, as he has been all over the field, with two tackles in the backfield from the safety position and a big play as a punt returner.  Jack Ryan does, indeed, looks like a guy who will be a playmaker at linebacker, as he has been a beast out there.  Howe also had a good, albeit relatively quiet, half for him -- it's clear he is drawing a lot of attention from the Bowdoin linemen.  Finally, Tae Scott had exactly the game you want from a CB -- no balls seem to have been thrown in his general direction except for one, which he intercepted and returned for a TD.  And best of all after last year, NO TURNOVERS. 

The bad: penalties!!  The Ephs have really hurt themselves with a few very avoidable penalties.  Nine penalties for 67 yards against an outclassed opponent is just not smart football. 

The mixed: The three big WRs have made a few catches when open, but they've also collectively been targeted when guarded one-on-one with a few jump balls, and haven't been able to come down with them.  I imagine it may take some time to build chemistry with Lommen on those sort of timing plays.  Hayes (announcers, his last name is Hayes, FIRST name is Lewis) looks very smooth, and Sime is a big play waiting to happen.  Colin Brown also had one nice downfield catch.  But overall the Ephs have been content to mostly dink and dunk. 

Offensive line play has been inconsistent for the Ephs.  The pass blocking has generally been good.  The run-blocking, only so-so, most of the big gains game off of draw plays and nice moves by the RBs.  Several times in the running game, especially early in the game, it seemed like the Bowdoin d-line was able to jump plays and get the OL on its heels.  They need to be a bit more physical and punishing on the base running plays, taking it to the D.  But in passing situations they have done a great job protecting the QB and opening up holes for draws. 

Finally, Joe Mallock had a great game in terms of kickoffs and punts, including a massive punt that pinned Trinity at its one, but also missed two extra points.  Got to nail those against tougher competition. 

For Bowdoin, it's been a nightmare game for Mac Caputi.  He hasn't had a lot of time to throw but he has also just missed open receivers on very short throws.  I imagine there may be a QB change in the second half.  Bowdoin's offense has done exactly zilch, the DL has played well for the Polar Bears, but overall they are lucky to be down only 19. 

One note on another game: watched a bit of Wesleyan vs. Midd.  Wesleyan seemed to move the ball effectively out of its base offense, but used Carillo in the wildcat quite a bit which seemed not as effective.  But it does add another dimension for a defense to prep for.  Midd seems to have found two new offensive stars in Grant Luna (sophomore WR who seems to have built on a strong frosh campaign) and Drew Jacobs (frosh RB).  Jacobs looks like the best RB to come into NESCAC since at least Ladarius Drew, and the most talented Midd RB in many years. Really shifty and smooth with great vision.  If he stays healthy he is going to be offensive ROY in the conference. 

[P'bearfan]

For Bowdoin, it's been a nightmare game for Mac Caputi.  He hasn't had a lot of time to throw but he has also just missed open receivers on very short throws.  I imagine there may be a QB change in the second half.  Bowdoin's offense has done exactly zilch, the DL has played well for the Polar Bears, but overall they are lucky to be down only 19. 

Completely agree.  Bowdoin's D has been OK but they've been on the field for too long.  You really have to wonder how much longer they'll stick with Caputi.

[Panthernation]

One note on another game: watched a bit of Wesleyan vs. Midd.  Wesleyan seemed to move the ball effectively out of its base offense, but used Carillo in the wildcat quite a bit which seemed not as effective.  But it does add another dimension for a defense to prep for.  Midd seems to have found two new offensive stars in Grant Luna (sophomore WR who seems to have built on a strong frosh campaign) and Drew Jacobs (frosh RB).  Jacobs looks like the best RB to come into NESCAC since at least Ladarius Drew, and the most talented Midd RB in many years. Really shifty and smooth with great vision.  If he stays healthy he is going to be offensive ROY in the conference.

Luna was the top target for Milano, but went down with an injury on the offense's final drive. Middlebury needs him back. Jacobs is a nice replacement for departed sophomore Joey Zelkowitz, who shined before an injury derailed his freshman season.

It's hard to gauge Wesleyan's offense sans Drew, but Middlebury's defense was strong today. On 70 plays, Middlebury limited Wesleyan to 296 yards, 66 of which came on one play: a perfect throw by Warren down the left sideline to Jay Fabien. The tackling of Middlebury's front seven, and of star sophomore cornerback Nate Leedy, stood out. The game-changing play in this one was the Justin Sanchez pick-six in the third quarter, facilitated by an A-gap blitz that led to the pass being tipped. Great play call and execution.

Carillo, a sophomore, saw snaps at RB, QB, KR, LB, and probably elsewhere. He looks like a dynamic building block.

If not for a roughing the kicker penalty, Middlebury would have taken with 1:45 remaining and had a chance to tie the game.

[P'bearfan]

Roughing the kicker when you're down 25-0?  This is not very smart football on Bowdoin's part

[nescac1]

33-0 and it's garbage time in Billsville.  Congrats to the Ephs on inaugurating the home field in style.  And congrats to Austin Lommen on his first of, hopefully, many TDs as an Eph QB.  As an Eph fan, this is exactly what the Ephs needed to build confidence after a nightmarish year.  Obviously Trinity presents a very different sort of test next weekend, but I didn't see anything to suggest that the Ephs won't at least be competitive in that game.

The running game really picked up in the second half for the Ephs, as the O-line found a rhythm and started to wear down the Bowdoin front seven.  Scyocurka looked absolutely nasty at TB, showing a great blend of speed and power.  He just needs to stay healthy to have a REALLY big year.  Connor Harris (his number on the roster indicates Alex Brandeis, but I'm pretty sure that's frosh Connor Harris) looks like he will be an exciting change of pace back capable of some big plays in the open field.  Of the frosh who played for Williams, he made the biggest impression.

Austin Lommen gives the Ephs the steady hand they haven't had a QB in some time.  He looks composed, accurate, and in control, although still yet to see whether he can make the big play down the field. Ephs are going to need to find Sime and Hayes downfield more next week, for sure.  The Ephs have a lot of weapons in the passing game, led by Kiesel.  And I'm VERY happy to see a LOT more offensive creativity this season.  Last year's offense was conservative and very predictable.  Now the Ephs have a much wider variety of plays, and they also run plays at unexpected down and distance.  A long way from the last two years of WR screen after WR screen ...

The Eph defense still looks ahead of the Eph offense, which is a good sign considering the Eph offense played very well.  Tae Scott is a beast and had several great pass break-ups to go along with the INT.  Scott and Davis are an incredibly small pair of CBs, but those guys are great athletes and just make big-time plays.  Scott, Ryan, and Cabarle all looked like potential stars this year.  Ephs will need all three to play well again vs. Trinity, plus Howe to make a bigger impact. 

[P'bearfan]

Congrats to Williams on a dominant win today.  They looked good on both sides of the ball.

The best you can say for Bowdoin is that they have their work cut out for themselves.  The defense made mistakes but it's a bit hard to fault them given how long they were on the field.

The P'bear's offense was simply anemic.  Caputi finished last season with a 51% completion rate and he started the new season off the same way completing 52.7% of his passes - with many of his completions and much his yardage coming in junk time when Bowdoin was running a hurry up offense and Williams was playing prevent defense.

Bowdoin simply won't have enough offensive punch to win many games if they stick with a QB who consistently over throws or throws behind his receivers .  They need to have a credible down field passing game.   

It was disappointing that Bowdoin didn't make a switch at QB in the 2nd half - especially when Bowdoin got the ball back with 3:30 left in the 4th.  At that point the game was out of reach (33-0) and it would have been a good place to give the back up QB some game experience.

Here's hoping for some better play next week.

[quicksilver]

agree, p'bear fan, with regard to the Bowdoin QB situation. Caputi was pressed into duty as a freshman due to injuries to a couple of QBs that were ahead of him on the depth chart. He has improved over the years but just is not a good passer. Unless he is injured, it's a mystery why Bowdoin soph Tim Drakeley has yet to get any reps at QB as he was all-New England (class A) as a senior at Taft and has impressive credentials . . 

[amh63]

Amherst covers the spread...with luck and just barely.....beating Bates 14-6 at home.  It was 7-6 with less than 2 minutes to go.  Bates had scored near the goal...set up by a fine QB keeper play to the 2.  Bates goes for two points and a win.  Throw was intercepted in the back of the end zone on a deflection.  Amherst gets the Bates short kick around midfield.  With everyone..including the announcer expecting knee downs by Amherst to kill the clock, Nick Kelly takes the handoff to the outside for a TD run!.  Amherst gets the back again and takes a knee to end the game.
Too many TOs by both teams....including blocks on field goals by both teams in the first half. 
Both teams played strong defense.  Amherst kept Bates running game in check but was hurt by Bates' new found passing game.
Again....Amherst has a shaky first game...this season against a tough Bates team.  Glad, I had not put down a bet

[P'bearfan]

Unless he is injured, it's a mystery why Bowdoin soph Tim Drakeley has yet to get any reps at QB as he was all-New England (class A) as a senior at Taft and has impressive credentials . .

Drakeley is definitely not injured....so this falls into the mystery category

[gordonmann]

Congrats to my old college friend Jay Civetti and the Jumbos on the win. Hope Tufts wins every game but one this year.