FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[nescac1]

A few articles on Eph back-up QB Matt Coyne (a very talented player who received a fair amount of PT last year), who transferred to Wesleyan, where I imagine he'll likely start for the next few years:

http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-state-college-notebook-0617-20100616,0,3076598.story
http://www.courant.com/sports/college/hc-state-college-notebook-0621-20100620,0,7603173.story

Nice Williams shout out by Bob Ryan on PTI:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Williamsathletics

[frank uible]

Good move for Coyne if he starts at Wesleyan (and he probably will). Only (excepting in any event making Wesleyan stronger) substantially damaging to Williams if Moffitt, last year's starter, goes down and maybe not then for Cleary, a junior this season and last year's number three, might fill well. Last year Cleary looked to be a very high quality number three and possibly good enough to start then at some NESCAC colleges.

[nescac1]

Thanks for the info, Frank.  I heard Williams also brought in a very strong group of frosh QB's, but obviously you never want to be in a position of relying on frosh at that spot. 

Once you get some sense into the new coach, Frank, I'll be very curious to hear your thoughts.  I wonder if he will run similar schemes, stick with a 4-3 defense, a no FB / three WR spread offense, etc.  If the schemes change dramatically, given the VERY short preseason at NESCAC, might be tough for Williams to adopt quickly.  I think on paper this is the most talented Eph squad since the last undefeated team -- the entire (already very good) defensive front seven is back, including a few guys who missed a lot of time with injury, several strong returning DB's as well, and loaded at the skill positions.  Lots of new faces on OL but Williams never seems to have a huge problem finding guys to fill in there.  I think it could be a special year for Williams IF they adapt to the new coach's philosophy quickly.  And they better, with an equally experienced Trinity squad awaiting in week two ...

[amh63]

On July 16-17 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Bloomington ID., William Henry Davis will be inducted.  Mr. Davis was a member of the Amherst Class of 1892!  He was the first African-American to be named 1st-team All-American.  He also went on to coach at Harvard and was the US Attorney-General under President Taft.  His profile can be found on the Amherst web-site and on the College Hall of Fame website.

[tmerton]

On July 16-17 at the College Football Hall of Fame in Bloomington ID South Bend, IN, William Henry DavisLewis will be inducted.  Mr. Davis Lewis was a member of the Amherst Class of 1892!  He was the first African-American to be named 1st-team All-American while playing for Harvard (as a student at Harvard Law School).  He also went on to coach at Harvard and was the a US Assistant Attorney-General under President Taft.  His profile can be found on the Amherst web-site and on the College Hall of Fame website.

Fixed.  Lewis was obviusly quite an accomplished man and the honor long overdue.  There is also some good information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Lewis

[LiveforSaturdays]

Any thoughts out there regarding the change in AD at Williams? Would Whalen have stayed if he knew Sheehy was leaving? Impact on the NESCAC?

[redtail]

any serious thoughts on how Hamilton will do this season.  Looks like D will be pretty good again, especially at linebacker and d-back.  what going to happen at QB, looks like going to be 3-4 guys battling it out for top spot - kid that was out medically last year is returning, plus 2 QB from last year.  I know they got a flutie for receiver. Can offense keep d off the field enough.  Any chance of 5-3 this year?

[amh63]

Redtail,
  Nice to have a Hamilton fan (?) join this layback forum!  First, since the conference games do not start  until the end of September, many of us have not even done any serious thoughts on football future games.  A recent check on the Amherst's projected players, minus any new players, shows that Amherst lost one of their freshman backs...the one with the best "name" as someone else stated..O. Mercury.  I must wait for the school's actual team list and coach's initial comments.
There has been some major changes in conference coaches.  William's coach left for Wesleyan and has added a William's assistant and the former Yale's head coach to his staff.  Williams has a new coach.   Checking Hamilton's schedule and comparing it with last year's football results; making the assumption that Wes. will be improved and all other team's stay the same wrt talent, etc., I will say that Hamilton will be fortunate to go 4-4 this year.  This also assumes that Hamilton's team is better than their 2-6 team of '09.  I hope that Hamilton has a good season.  This is a selfish comment since Amherst does not play Hamilton this year.
Best of luck.   More predictions will be made quite soon and will be as hopeful and as crazy as mine (at this time).

[amh63]

Seems the conference football reviews are starting to appear.  Yesterday, the Wes. U. site provided a early review of this year's team.  Two interesting points.  It stated that 26 new players are to arrive this year.  The pre-season roster list 75 olayers!  Seventy-five is the limit in the conference.  It is not clear on the roster list who are freshmen, since some freshmen/first-year players seem to indicate that they are lettermen.  Oh well....Wes. will carry a full limit team this year  it appears and/or will have a JV type squad ?.   Carry-over from William's approach?.    Let the fun predictions begin.

[amh63]

Some conference news to fill the mind before the start of the season.  If one goes to the Amherst web site and look for football news, one can read an USA Today article dated 17 August 2010 on 4 Amherst players that made it to the NFL and have fine careers afterwards.

[nescacsfty]

Thoughts on favorites to win the conference? I'm guessing Amherst will struggle as it had a mediocre offense and virtually the entire defense graduates. Trinity will be strong, Galligan is an excellent wr. I think Colby will surprise a lot of people. Outside of a couple of lineman and 2 linebackers and a safety they return their entire team, which competed with both Amherst and Williams and lost in the final minutes. I'm interested to see if Middlebury does well this year. Thoughts?

[nescac1]

I think Williams and Trinity have the most talent returning, and it's a toss up between those two as the favorite, with Amherst, Middlebury and Wesleyan also in contention.  Sounds like Colby could also do well. 

Williams had virtually no seniors in crucial roles by the end of the year, outside of the kicking game (their top seniors all missed much of the season with injury).  They were REALLY banged up with injuries last year (both all-conference co-captains missed most of the year with injuries / were severely limited the little they did play), yet still were a few plays from being undefeated.  They've had a few absolute heartbreakers against Trinity the last few years, either they are jinxed or due, depending on how you look at it.  

On defense, their entire two-deep returns at LB and DL, and both units are loaded with all-conference caliber players and are much more experienced than last year, when several frosh had to play big minutes.  (Schultz, Cameron, Johnson, all stellar LB's,  and Curzi and Canina at defensive line, are all particularly talented).  Secondary is a bit of a concern with a few holes to fill, but the Ephs do return two starters and always find new stars there; also look out for rising soph Hunter Lent as the next potential star DB.  

On offense, the Ephs have the most talent in the league by far at WR/RB/TE with Ryan Lupo and incoming frosh Alex Scyocurka (plus a few other strong RB recruits) at RB, solid senior tight end Jon Carroll, and tons of good WR's led by all-conference player Bryce Benett and emerging stars J.C. Stickney and B.J. Griffin (Griffin could have a break-out year, looked good vs. Amherst) plus tons of depth, and one potential big-time frosh.  Pat Moffitt is a very solid three year starter at QB, although not a superstar.  The O-line loses a few key guys, but star Kevin Rose plus two more starters return, and the Ephs always reload at that position.

The Ephs do have some questions marks.  They graduate all-conference kicker and punter, so special teams could be a big weakness unless someone emerges there.  The transfer of change-of-pace QB Matt Coyne will hurt some of their creativity / flexibility on offense, and back-up QB will be a question mark.  But really, the biggest question mark is the new coach.  Ephs get Trinity early in the year, week two, and with the short NESCAC pre-season, if there are significant changes in schemes, there might not be time to be performing at 100 percent of their talent level, which they will need to do to compete with the equally-talented Bantams.  Even with the coaching change and the uncertainty that brings, I think anything less than 6-2 would be a let down for the Ephs, and they have a legit shot at running the table.  Definitely the most talented Eph edition since the dominant 2006 squad, and they benefit from getting all the contenders other than Amherst at home.  

Trinity returns most of its key players outside of RB, where it has a huge hole to fill. Assuming they find a few solid RB's, which is likely, they should be the co-favorite with Williams (and I'd say they are the lone favorite if they didn't have to travel to Billsville).  They have the best o-line in the league and probably the best defense in the league, plus Galligan is impossible to cover at WR.  Should be more consistent at QB than last year.  Only real question is at the other skill positions where a few more impact guys need to emerge.  

I agree that Amherst will be a bit down.  Despite being 8-0, they didn't dominate many teams last year in terms of points / yards differential, and had a lot of narrow escapes, and while the offense will be a bit better with a more experienced offensive line, the defense seems to be a lot less experienced / talented, and can't possibly be as dominant again.  They could easily win NESCAC again, but I'd say they are unlikely to have as much good fortune in close games, and combined with a bit less talent, will likely fall back to their more typical 5-3 / 6-2  type of season.  Truly everything broke right for them last year, led by some inspirational clutch play from gutty seniors. 

Midd has the best player in the league at the most important position, and McKillop alone makes them a threat to win any game.  But they do lose a LOT of key offensive players and defense is spotty. Expect them to suprise a few times, and be the most unpredicatable team in the league with lots of high scoring crazy games.  Wesleyan returns almost everyone, plus adds transfer QB Matt Coyne and Coach Whalen.  They should be at worst a 4-4 team and I think they could be as good as 6-2 if they adapt quickly to Whalen.  

I think the other fives teams will be fighting for .500, with Bates and Bowdoin (both with HUGE holes to fill) the most likely choices to end up in the cellar, and Colby the most likely to crack the top five.  

[Pallos]

Congrats are in order for Williams, the powerhouse of D3 sports which was just awarded its 12th consecutive NACDA/Learfield Sports Directors' Cup earlier this summer--and 14th out of the 15 awarded in NCAA Division III history. Unbelievable! And Williams was joined by other NESCAC brethren in the Top 10, showing that NESCAC dominates wherever we choose. As for proving our prowess in it yet another NCAA sport, we have decided that it's simply not prudent to join the herd of academic flunky factories chasing some hollow title long past Thanksgiving. No thanks. For NESCAC schools all the games that matter are played in our own league. We simply don't need or want anything more.
   

It should be another great season in our storied league. No matters who wins out on the field all the kids in this league are winners because they are winners in the only place that truly matters in this day of 50K annual tuition: the classroom. These kids will graduate with sheepskins that will put then far ahead of all the other Podunk U's in D3, and in the meantime, they'll have a chance to play football on their terms. That's as it should be. Congrats to all NESCAC student athletes

[lewdogg11]

Congrats are in order for Williams, the powerhouse of D3 sports which was just awarded its 12th consecutive NACDA/Learfield Sports Directors' Cup earlier this summer--and 14th out of the 15 awarded in NCAA Division III history. Unbelievable! And Williams was joined by other NESCAC brethren in the Top 10, showing that NESCAC dominates wherever we choose. As for proving our prowess in it yet another NCAA sport, we have decided that it's simply not prudent to join the herd of academic flunky factories chasing some hollow title long past Thanksgiving. No thanks. For NESCAC schools all the games that matter are played in our own league. We simply don't need or want anything more.
   

It should be another great season in our storied league. No matters who wins out on the field all the kids in this league are winners because they are winners in the only place that truly matters in this day of 50K annual tuition: the classroom. These kids will graduate with sheepskins that will put then far ahead of all the other Podunk U's in D3, and in the meantime, they'll have a chance to play football on their terms. That's as it should be. Congrats to all NESCAC student athletes

Did someone say academic flunky factory?

[frank uible]

A bunch of kids from Alliance ought to be now confidently and tolerantly suppressing their smiles.