FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[PolarCat]

Every team is undefeated - even the Continentals.  And based on what I saw this afternoon, any NESCAC team could beat the Philadelphia Eagles.

[lumbercat]

Pep or AU Pep Band?
How do you think Alfred would do against Amherst, Trinity or Middlebury?

[AUPepBand]

Pep or AU Pep Band?
How do you think Alfred would do against Amherst, Trinity or Middlebury?

Now there's a wide open question for which there will never be any evidence to support or dispute my answer!

Given 2014 results, it appears that five of Amherst's eight conference wins appeared to have been close contests. Pep would surmise that the NESCAC has a few teams battling it out at the top of the heap that would find some success in the Empire 8 but none would not get through the E8 gauntlet unscathed.

Were they meeting on the gridiron this weekend, given the Saxons were at full strength, Pep believes that AU could give them each a game, if not win:

Amherst 27, Alfred 24
Alfred 33, Trinity 24
Alfred 30, Middlebury 28

The Saxons had a similar 3-0 start last year but finished just 5-5. While Pep is pleased with the Saxons' results (3-0) to date, there are seven more tests ahead.

On Saxon Warriors!

[Pat Coleman]

Alfred having three games under its belt would certainly help.

[PolarCat]

While we wait for rosters to be posted and the games to begin, here's an interesting story from the Boston area.  It's not directly connected to NESCAC, but the school involved - Tabor Academy - has lots of alumni playing different sports in NESCAC, including 3 currently playing football  (two at Bowdoin, 1 at Bates).

Plus it's a cool story.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/09/20/apple-watch-tim-cook-heart-rate-tabor-academy-marion-massachusetts-paul-houle/

[lumbercat]

Pat-
I wasn't basing my question on a game to be played this week after Alfred has played 3 games while the Nescac teams have not started.....thanks for informing the board from your poopdeck at mission control that a team who has played 3 games may have an advantage on a team that had not yet started their season. My question was who does Pep think is the better Football program.

You are perenially a Nescac detractor and I understand your prejudice based on the Nescac scheduling and playoff philosophy but you should acknowledge the quality of Nescac football.

[westcoastDad]

Rte27Driver....welcome to the board.  If you are aware of the "joint practice", please provide your observations.  I only recently heard that Pratt Field would welcome another group from up North (see earlier post on visitors). Since I am in Maryland, I have zero info on what occurred.  Historically, there is little info reported out on the Amherst side.  Maybe Williams posters will provide some.
Was refreshments provided?  Number of buses parked....color jerseys worn by the QBs (like no-hit neon signs), etc.
Oh yes, interesting handle....any story behind it?

Amherst 4 TDs  Williams 0 is what the feedback was.  Controlled scrimmage.  No others in depth details

[Pat Coleman]

Pat-
I wasn't basing my question on a game to be played this week after Alfred has played 3 games while the Nescac teams have not started.....thanks for informing the board from your poopdeck at mission control that a team who has played 3 games may have an advantage on a team that had not yet started their season. My question was who does Pep think is the better Football program.

Thanks, lumbercat, but to clarify, I was referring to what AUPepBand said: "Were they meeting on the gridiron this weekend ..."

I really wasn't referring to you there, but thanks for jumping in with your criticism.

Now, so there's no mistake, now I am referring to what you said when you said I should acknowledge the quality of NESCAC football -- when it's more measurable, I'll do so, and I have been to NESCAC games in order to try to make an eyeball comparison in the past. I said at that point that the best teams in the NESCAC compare favorably to competition among the best teams in the Liberty League. I think that's a fair comparison.

[hamgrand]

For what it is worth, a few weeks ago I was critical of the talent I saw on the field when I watched RPI scrimmage Hudson Valley.  I thought the NESCAC compared very favorably.

Since the scrimmage, I watched RPI man handle Norwich on 9/5 and MIT just this past Saturday.  From what I saw, Norwich and MIT would not win a game in the NESCAC this year.  (I know MIT was good last year, but this year they were much less than impressive.)  And Alfred beat RPI by a big score last week.  RPI was all around bigger and faster than both MIT and Norwich.

I was also much more impressed with the talent from RPI than from when I saw them scrimmage - which plays to Pat's point about more games, practices, etc. leading to development of players.  I saw some pretty impressive throws and catches in the game.  Watched Middlebury scrimmage Dartmouth yesterday and it is of course tough to tell from a scrimmage, but I still think NESCAC teams would do pretty well in Liberty League.

Looking forward to start of season next week!

[gridiron]

Retiredmule--great insight into the program as always.  Thanks for sharing the video--interesting angles.

[amh63]

PolarCat....thanks for the link!  Shades of Dick Tracy.
Oh yes, my daughter agrees with you wrt to the Eagles...will not relate her comment ....but it is often associated with a black and white animal.
Hamgrand....wow....you do like to drive...and your football.   Up to the Green Mountains...yet.

[gridiron]

Polarcat--great effort summarizing the Bates/Colby scrimmage.  You were correct in assuming you missed some of the players due to your late arrival.  I know some of the Colby offensive starters including the QB only participated in the first ten plays of the scrimmage.  I assume Bates may have done the same thing.

Like everyone else, looking forward to the season finally beginning this weekend.

[gridiron]

With the final addition of Amherst, it looks like all the team season previews are in from the NothingbutNESCAC crew.  Bravo, gents.  Very interesting and informative.

In looking at the projected records when adding them all together, my math calculations say there needs to be one more win and one less loss by some team for the projections to play out perfectly (currently they total 39 and 41 wins and losses respectively).  My guess is this is the result of different preview authors across the ten teams.

Again, awesome job by the crew--thanks for helping make the season fun to anticipate.

[polbear73]

I would like to echo the thanks and congratulations to Adam, Joe and their team for a job well done.  The work is so thorough and well written that it's hard to believe that this isn't their day jobs and that they must deal with intense NESCAC work loads.  Thank you, guys; your labor of love is greatly appreciated.  Best wishes. 

[middhoops]

Can't say enough good stuff about the nothingbutnescac preseason edition.  Just, Wow.