FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[frank uible]

Making excuses for oneself does not make one better; facing the hard reality that one has not been good enough does.

[Trin9-0]

Trinity begins a tough 3 game stretch this weekend with Bowdoin coming to town.  If a handfull of plays had gone differently this season, Bowdoin could be the 4-0 team and the Bantams could be sitting at 2-2.

Bowdoin almost never plays well in Hartford; especially recently, as they've been outscored 128-16 in their last three trips to The Coop.  However, this season the Polar Bears have proven they can move the ball in the air.  Bowdoin is in the top 2 in the league in nearly every significant passing statistic and Oliver Kell and Pat Noone might be the most dangerous combo in the NESCAC. 

Bowdoin leads the league in trips to the redzone but their failure to convert those into touchdowns has cost them 2 games.  Trinity leads the NESCAC in total defense, scoring defense, rushing defense, pass defense and (most importantly for this week's game) redzone defense.

[cottage]

I think winning on the road last week at Tufts was a good sign they can win in a tough place. 4 holding penalties take away the momentum they had on 4 drives with the last one on the Tufts 20 yd line plus Tuggle apparently was out of it after a hit put on him by the Tufts Safety. He had a pass in his hands at the 15 or so yard line and then is out the rest of the game. Kell is solid and experienced QB but if Trinity gets to him like they have with the other QB's he will know it like last year up at Bowdoin. Trinity will score 24-30 points if the rain isn't to bad. Continued mistake free play by the Trinity QB will undoubtedly help the scoring.

[lefrakenstein]

What does Don Faulstick have to do to be replaced as the offensive coordinator? I would think by now Mills would finally have seen enough of the offense lagging far behind his defense. If Amherst were consistently even a little above average in the NESCAC in offense we'd be a much better team.

[LiveforSaturdays]

Colby
Hamilton - Hamilton - Home field

Bowdoin
Trinity - Unbeatable at home -

Wesleyan
Amherst - Amherst in a rout. Cannot see Wes scoring with their offense (defensive TD maybe)

Middlebury - Middlebury easy
Bates

Tufts
Williams - Williams too strong

[nescac1]

That may be the first time I've ever seen a message on this board calling for the head of a NESCAC coordinator!  Wow ... Amherst does seem to always have a stronger defense, but maybe that is because Mills recruits better guys / allocates his best guys to that side of the ball?  Who knows ...

Article on QB choosing between (big surprise) Williams and Amherst ...

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091023/SPORTS01/910239943/-1/sports

Williams brought in no frosh QB's this year so I imagine that is an appealing situation ...

[Trin9-0]

4-1 last week against the spread at www.nescacblog.com (12-8 overall). This week I'm taking all the favorites:

Hamilton (-1.5) at home against Colby. The Continentals are a different team at home and I think Colby will struggle to put up points.

Trinity (-6.5) over Bowdoin in the Coop. The Polar Bears potent offense will struggle against the leagues best defense and the Bants will make some big plays to win by more than a touchdown.

Amherst (-7.5) over Wesleyan. The first Little Three game of the season will be all Jeffs. I like Amherst by at least 2 TDs.

Middlebury (-10.5) over Bates. The Bobcats can hang around with the mediocre teams in the league but they'll be outclassed at home against the Panthers.

Williams (-6.5) over Tufts. I don't think Williams will lose another game all year, especially not at home against a Tufts team that struggles to score points.

Looks like another wet weekend in the NESCAC. Stay dry and enjoy the games. GO BANTS!

[Trin9-0]

Shoot-out in The Coop... 31-31 10:30 left in the 4th quarter.

[cruiser]

i know it was hamilton but the defensive numbers for colby suggest complete domination. hamilton had -14 yards rushing on the game and less than 100 offensive yards. colby still needs to put up more points but a great effort today at hamilton.

[cottage]

Trinity came back hard in the last 7 minutes of the game. In the last 7 minutes both the Offense and Defense played like they did in the 1st half. Kell is good QB who can throw off his back foot pretty well and they had receivers who never stopped running their routes. Drusbosky has won on the road at Tufts and nuetralized Kell TD for TD. 3 more to go. 1 at a time. Next week Middlebury.

[Jonny Utah]

local article on former Nescac kicker Steve Hauschka earlier this month....

http://www.wickedlocal.com/needham/sports/x366045200/Hauschka-gets-his-kicks-with-NFLs-Baltimore-Ravens

[Ephmen1991]

Another downside of the recession: Williams putting its turf field on hold that was supposed to be in use this year.  The drainage at Weston field is not good and getting worse.  One more rainy game on it and the Amherst-Williams game will be very sloppy.

[frank uible]

Rain or no rain, the condition of the field will be that of either a wet plowed field or a dry plowed field. The team with the most and best dray horses wins.

[Ephmen1991]

I guess Frank.  I was just saying that the quality of the field can affect the quality of the game whatever the condition of your "horses".  Think how bad the field was in the 1995 0-0 tie with Amherst.   I will say this about Amherst that makes watching a game there much better than at Williams; 1.  The field always seems to do very well when it's wet; 2.  You can bring your own cocktails there; 3. You can get right up to the edge of the field.

[Trin9-0]

Pratt Field (Amherst) is definitely the best place in the NESCAC for tailgating, though Alumni Stadium (Middlebury) offers the best view, Andrus Field (Wesleyan) has the best location on campus, Whittier (Bowdoin) has the best grandstands and of course Jessee/Miller Field (Trinity) has the best football.

Now for the picks;  I went 3-2 last week against the spreads posted at www.nescacblog.com to move to 15-10 on the season.

I love Bowdoin (-7.5) over Wesleyan.  The Polar Bear offense continues to impress and will score a ton on a Cardinal team that does not play well on the road.

I'll take Williams (10.5) over Hamilton. The Continentals were embarrassed at home by a mediocre Colby squad last week. They'll find playing the Ephs in Williamstown to be even tougher.

Amherst (-6) makes me nervous because they always seem to lose one or two games a year that they shouldn't. Tufts plays well at home and this could be a trap game for Amherst as the Trinity and Williams games loom on the horizon. Despite that I'm going with the Jeffs.

The lock of the week is Colby (-1.5) over Bates.  The Mules are traditionally a good late season team (though this is largely due to their schedule) and as I've said before, I don't think the Bobcats will win a game this year.

Trinity (-9.5) looked vulnerable on defense last week against Bowdoin and 9.5 points is a pretty big spread. Not to mention the possibility that the Bants may be looking toward Amherst.  But I've learned my lesson picking against the Bantams. The Trin secondary will learn from last week and win by two scores setting up a battle of undefeated teams next week.

Happy Halloween and GO TRINITY!