FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Ephmen1991]

Tailgate information for anyone thinking of going to Williamstown - I'm not sure about the alcohol rules but for the last few years they don't allow any in.

Procedures for Tailgating at Williams Football Games:

    * Weston Field gates open at 8am.
    * The number of vehicles entering the field will be limited to 150.
    * RVs, buses, and other oversized vehicles may not park on the field or elsewhere on campus.

[TheHerst2and4]

A bit off topic,
I don't know how many players check this board, I didn't get into it until after my playing days, but if any senior is looking to potentially continue his playing career in Europe let me know and I'd be happy to give some information on how to go about it. Its not that easy to land on a team but if you are interested let me know.

MichaelASalerno@gmail.com

[nescac1]

Williams-Amherst should be a battle to the wire on Saturday.  Game preview (and on Saturday, live blog) site here.  Additional previews coming out tomorrow (inevitably) will be added in links:

http://www.ephblog.com/2009/11/11/biggest-little-game-preview-live-blog/

Williams is playing very well a year ahead of schedule ... excited to see what they can do next year, considering they return their entire starting front seven (and other than one guy, the entire depth chart up front) and two out of four defensive back starters (plus two others who got a fair amount of PT), as well as all but one skill guys on offense.   Amherst has the stronger senior class, especially on defense where they have at least four seniors who are all-conference locks, so this represents their best shot at beating the Ephs in the next few years, most likely.   Go Ephs!!!

Trinity fans unusually quiet after their rare two game losing streak ...

[cottage]

As a Trinity fan it is really Amherst's and William's show right now. 2 or 3 plays total in the Middlebury - Amherst games is all that separated them from going into Saturday unbeaten. For losing the NESCAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the year (both Captains and 3 year starters) along with a ALL NESCAC LB and D-Back not returning for this year's eligibility playing time they were in both games right thru the 4th quarter with the QB at about 50% mobility. When he threw for 200 yards in the 4th quarter against Williams with 2 td's to Galligan and then 381 and 4 td's against Bowdoin he didn't miss most of the week in practice like he did against Amherst along with playing hurt most of the 2nd half against Middlebury. With the exception of Starnes the whole Trinity offense is coming back. The defense has replacements to make on the line, an LB and 2 DB's

[nescac1]

Injuries, of course, are a big part of football -- Trinity might have suffered against Midd and Amherst, but they BARELY beat Williams, in fairly miraculous fashion, at home, when Williams was fairly decimated by serious injuries, including 2/3 starting linebackers out, among several other important players missing or limited.  So what comes around goes around ... isn't Tuggle also a senior for Trinity, by the way?  Starnes is a big loss but Trinity always seems to find a star RB ...


Speaking of injuries, one thing that has helped Amherst to its best year in ages is it has been remarkably healthy this year ... other than one guy (who was replaced by a frosh who has proven to be better), I think every single starter has pretty much been the same for the entire year, or just about ... very unusual ...

[TheHerst2and4]

You're right the starters have pretty much remained the same except for a few replacements due to injuries. I think the difference this year is the fact that Amherst has bought into a rotation. In years past they wouldn't rotate and wouldn't have as many packages with other guys on the field. This year they pretty much rotate guys in at every position.
Looking forward to The Biggest Little Game, they are predicting rain which should (more of a guess here) favor the Ephs. Might be a low scoring defensive battle. We'll see

[cottage]

So in the context of "barely" what does Williams "barely" beating Colby mean and Amhesrt "barely" beating Bowdoin mean? Florida, Alabama and Texas all "barely" won games this year and two of the three will play for the National Championship. A few years ago Texas "barely" beat USC because USC "barely" beat Notre Dame. If Trinity would have gotten the "Safety" that was called and put on board then "taken away" with "NO INSTANT REPLAY" then the 1st TD pass makes it 22-21 without the on-side kick. But in all honesty there will be hundreds of on-side kicks recovered between this past August and January so a recovered on-side kick is not miraculous by any stretch of the imagination at any level of football competition. Quite simply the Trinity QB dropped back, scrambled and rolled out in the last quarter which was something he just physically could not do
the last 5 1/2 quaters that he played in against Middlebury and Amherst. Against Amhesrt there were no rollouts, bootlegs or QB draws that he ran all year. Mistakes happen in games every minute of the game. Critical injuries to 1st team QB's don't. For three years I have heard that Williams lost to Bowdoin when Pat Lucy (great QB) threw 5 or 6 interceptions because he couldn't thow off a bad leg.  If I recall Bowdoin "barely" won that one. As for Tuggle he has one year of eligibility left and my bet is he comes back along with two 6' 4/5" WR's who should be mature and ready to go opposite of Galligan, Grombala and Hunt. I wil take Amhesrt tomorrow based on their "D". They didn't break all year.

[nescac1]

Cottage, you are being a hypocrite.  Trinity beat Williams, and that is that, I will grant that.  (If you really want to star pointing at odd reffing, you can start with an apparent fumble recovery by Williams that was cryptically reversed well after the fact as well, by the way, so those breaks evened out).  But you HAVE to then grant that Amherst and Midd beat Trinity (both in more convincing fashion than Trinity defedated Williams, but we don't even need to go there), and that is that.  They were the better teams, simple as that, just like Trinity was the better team when they played Williams, even if Williams would KILL to play them again with their roster much healthier.  Williams was missing a large portion of its defensive front seven against Trinity including several top-notch starting linebackers.  Williams' star receiver, coming back from a gruesome injury, was unable to perform down the stretch.  That may have also been the game, I believe, that the Ephs' all-conference DB went down.  Williams' all-conference kicker was out, as well as, I believe, at least one top DL.  You REALLY think the effects of ALL that, combined, are less than a QB (who was hardly the star of the team) operating at less than 100 percent?  Come on, give me a break.  Trinity beat Williams because they got it done down the stretch.  Midd and Amherst beat Trinity because they got it done down the stretch.  It's as simple as that.  Trinity is a 6-2 team, nothing better, nothing worse.  If ifs and buts were candies and nuts ... well, then Trinity wouldn't have finished 8-0 last year, right?  Sometimes the breaks go your way, including injuries, sometimes they don't.  I'm not saying Williams deserved to beat Trinity.  But I AM saying if you start counting up breaks, including injury-related breaks, Trinity has been the beneficiary just as often as they've been the victim.  I guarantee the Trinity PLAYERS wouldn't claim they are anything other than a 6-2 team. 

[cottage]

Nescac1 - I think if you reread two of my posts I took my hat off to Middlebury moving the football and scoring and then Amherst taking  it to Trinity in 2nd half. I doubt the Trinity players would guarantee they are a 6-2 team just like I doubt the Williams players would guarantee they are just a 6-1 team right now and I would venture to say Trinity would KILL to play Middlebury and Amherst again. Lets move on from this and let the players finish their seasons. Whether you played football or not our opinions are meaningless. I have been around long enough to know when one person needs to end something so figuring you are a Williams fan good luck tomorrow 7-1 will look better than 6-2. Catch you next year in Williams and may the best team win.

[fpc85]

amherst 26
williams 21

[Ephmen1991]

Congrats to Amherst on a well-deserved victory.  They made the plays when they needed to and took advantage of Williams special teams mistakes.

[mariner75]

Congrats Ephs...great season.  Shock of the day/season/decade?  Wes over Trin.  What happened?

[mariner75]

Whoa!!  Sorry bout that!  Had bad info...congrats to Trin for their OT win.

[sumfun]

This is probably answered somewhere on this thread, but why don't the NESCAC schools participate in post season D3 Football?

[lewdogg11]

This is probably answered somewhere on this thread, but why don't the NESCAC schools participate in post season D3 Football?

Run along now child...