FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[oldhamfan]

Stanell should be back next week, and Eck should be getting better and more agile each week.

Hamilton really lacks depth, and this single thing needs to be the focus of this coming off-season. They need to get the roster up to 75 players.

Agreed.  many of their players still look too small for DIII. In person, they look thin, as in need to weigh more, and not enough of them. Too many years of losing seasons makes it hard to recruit and keep players,  I think there are only 6 or 7 seniors this season.
They're not without talent, or potential, they've got a giant RT blocking Eck's blindside, and a few passes, or penalties, or turnovers changed, and HC wins the game and they're 3-2.
But that's football, you need to block every play.  By the 4th qtr, their defense looked tired.  Bowdoin managed to shuttle D line  in and out, Hamilton really didn't have the travelling team to do that.  If all are healthy at home next week, the Colby game could be a W, but Williams, Middlebury are going to be tough.

This topic, is NESCAC football a two or three tier result, two at the top, four in the middle, four at the bottom, has been debated many times before here.  And every season one team "surprises" the league with a 7-1 or 6-2 season
Hamilton football went through a drought in the 70s and early 80s, until Steve Stetson turned it around, and handed it off to Steve Frank.
For a while they had 90 player squads, churning out All Americans, Wins, even a few pro prospects. The 1986 64-7 win vs Weslyan was not fun to watch, it was running up the score on a hapless opponent. 

No team in NESCAC is Mount Union, or should expect to be. Williams and Trinity have had great success, but I'd like to see the Continentals thriving, too. That starts with recruiting.
There were  Bates teams in the last two decades that went 0-32.  Bobcats played four years and never won a game. That's brutal for recruiting and expanding the team.  Even a .500 season this year could help Hamilton a great deal. 

[mullethead]

Trinity won ugly today. Their defense is stout, especially the front seven. I worry about their ability to put up points. All signs point to a huge match-up at Amherst. I would be more comfortable if that were a home game. Should be fun.

[amh63]

First thing first.  Amherst meets Wes. this coming weekend and meets a team with a "hot" back so to speak and an emerging QB that gives Wes. a passing game.
Amherst's had a 76 yard TD on a punt return at the end of the first half against Midd.  Didn't know what/how the score was made based on the Colby announcers and the spotty video cast.   
More worry about the status of Amherst's center that left the game.  Should know when the preview of the game is posted by midweek.  Amherst's running game never go on track.

[amh63]

Several random comments on a quiet Monday morning....as I start planning to see a live conference game at last!
The local Wash. Post does it again.  Sunday they had a number of Div3 scores from the midwest.....equal coverage, I guess....but alas no scores from the east except local schools.  One score caught my eye.  The great Mt. Union team lost!....by a huge score.  Looked at it several times and though about posting it.  This morning on the D3football site the score for the game was Mt. Union 56-Heidenburg 7 or something.  Div3 football was right with the world. The Post had reversed the score.
Saw the article on the D3football site wrt to the Colby player out for the season.  Concussion!  Seems Colby has lost at least three players to injuries and seems to be starting many FY players on the D-line.  In the game with Amherst, I thought their defense played well against  the run. 
OK, Banfan...who is the FY player that you stated that had Div 1 talent that plays on the line?   Or was it Iamhuge that mentioned it?

[frank uible]

Spelled - Heidelberg - located in Tiffin, OH not far from Toledo.

[amh63]

Thanks Frank U.  Thought I had spelled it wrong so I just winged it.  Too lazy to check.  Never been to Ohio.  Cannot blame my spelling and lack of midwest travel on my Amherst education.  Actually have not been to too many midwest states except at major airports and that doesn't count.  Business and vacation trips took me to the far western states, southern states and the eastern states.  Oops, did visit Ann Arbor and gawked at the U. of Mich. football stadium.

[banfan]

amh63, that was not me.  I think you are referring to fullbackdad, who I offended by giving him faint praise for his prediction.  He was talking about Wes DL, Ibraheem Khadar, who is very good.  He is not starting and I don't know how much he is on the field.  He is only listed as a DL so the fact that there is a JR and SR starting at DE may or may not matter.

But, since you asked, the only down lineman for the Trinity defense who is not a senior is FY Lyle Baker, #72.  He plays behind Brito.  There is not much drop off when he comes in and all that means is that Herman can rest anytime he needs to.  His statistics are pretty good considering how little he gets in and are comparable to Khadar's.  He has size at 6'2"  and 240, but he can run and some day he will tackle a running back from behind 10 yards down field, never mind sacking QB's.

Could he have played D1 football, sure.  But, why bother?  He will play more football at Trinity than at a D1 school and he will have a "college life".  He also will not be redshirted.  Honestly, the more we talked about it, unless there was a specific Patriot or Ivy school that you really wanted to go to, or you needed the $$$$$, and that is always a big consideration, there was no good reason.  Besides, next year the NESCAC will play a 9 game schedule.  lol

[nescac1]

Well, I guess you wanted to out yourself banfan!  Glad your son is having a successful first year, if he is getting PT as a frosh on the Trinity front seven, which is loaded, he will certainly have a strong career in NESCAC. 

Speaking of defense, still surprising that Williams has struggled so much on that end.  If you look at offense, they have played a little better than I expected, actually, considering they lost the offensive POY QB and a first-team RB to graduation, and have really struggled with injuries on offense, including two top RB's, the starting QB (athough to be fair Marske has been playing as well as you could ask, so that injury hasn't really hurt them), and the starting C missing a good chunk of action.  Despite all that, they have one of the top offenses in the conference statistically, with two of the leading RB's and the top receiver.  They have just struggled with missed opportunities with TO's in the red zone plus of course the kicking game, but they have moved the ball well enough to win each game. 

Defense, which was supposed to carry the team with nine returning starters, has been another story entirely, and the Ephs have been far healthier on that side of the ledger.  Schultz and Canina seem to be playing at an all-conference level again, but some other veteran guys and maybe some younger players need to step up.  Hamilton and Tufts both have terrible offenses this year, so if the Ephs can't dominate the next few weeks and build some confidence defensively, the Wesleyan and Amherst games could require another massive points output from what seems to be improving offensive and special teams units. 

NESCAC-wide, there seems to be a lot of young offensive talent.  Statistically, only one of the top ten RB's is a senior, and 1-2 are a FY and Soph.  The top two QB's are sophs (and it might be top three if Grant White hadn't been injured).  The top few WR's are juniors.  Meanwhile, most of the top defenders seem to be seniors.  We could be seeing another explosive offensive era (much like last year) once some of these guys mature ...       

[banfan]

nescac1, I for one, have never been anonymous.  My son is easy to figure out and my name and address are there for the reading.  Pardon my stepping up to the soap box, anonymity on the internet is, IMHO, contributing to the lack of civility that exists in our culture today.

Boo!

[dahlby]

banfan:
Plus K, I agree with you.

[amh63]

Banfan....will be looking for your son in future games.  Based on your evaluation of him, he looks like the DL from Amherst....pre-season all american Ferber who is about the same size and has speed.  Ferber played as an OLB last year but was moved inside this year and still leads the team in sacks, etc.  Ferber wears his hair a bit longer than your son though...but he is a Sr.
Random comments while awaiting Homecoming preview on Wednesday.
First, found out that the Colby linesmen are Colby BB players mainly.  Didn't wear any special attire though.
An very un-analytical observation.  Before the Colby game, Amherst had the player of the week for offense (E. Bunker) and for special teams (Rawson).  In the Colby game, Bunker had a "bad" day with only 40 net yards and two fumbles, while Rawson missed a "chip" shot FG in the zone.  Colby also missed a red zone FG on the same end and in the same way....wide left......strange.
Anyway, this week, Wes. had two players of the week, one a RB and the other a kicker.  This weekend at Amherst's Homecoming, I thinking that maybe Wes. players will have the same "player of the week" curse.  I know, I starting to think in a strange way.

[iamhuge]

Really commendable effort by the Tufts defense last Saturday.  The team continues to work hard.

[amh63]

The Amherst vs. Wes. game preview is posted on the Amherst website.  The stats to date are close between the QBs', the sacks, and the rushing defense, etc.  The other thing of interest is that Wes. FY running back that leads the conference is not listed as a starter.  A 5'5" scatback, O'Neal at 175 pounds is given that honor.  Wes. also list a fullback, Hughes who is really a TE and is used as a blocker, etc.  Of course the Wes. QB, Coyne is the 2nd leading runner.  Did the fast little RB start in previous games?  Guess part of Wes.' offense is to pound the defensive line with its big offensive line and hope that Amherst cannot find the little runner.  Then bring in the bigger speedster.  Wes. does have a big defensive line.  It will be an interesting game with the weather predicted to be a fine Fall NE day. Here's hoping Wes. is not a good traveling team and Amherst can stop the big plays.  Go Jeffs!.....I know, I am out of character a bit but it is Homecoming.  I need to relax and enjoy the tailgate, my classmates and friends and not worry too much about the outcome of the game.
Forgot to add earlier......Amherst's center is expected to start again.   
Enjoy your games this weekend...all! Won't be posting again until next Tues at the earliest.  Long trip to NE.to also see old friends and the color.  No leaves by the Williams game.

[hamfan88]

After a stellar 2-3 week I am back to look at some of the upcoming games. Were getting into the swing of things in the second half, and it is definitely fall in New England!

Colby@Hamilton: Ham in a close one. Home field advantage is gonna be huge here, and I think with Eck getting into a groove (completed an absurd amount of passes last week) the Ham offense should have success against a Colby D that has struggled to stop the pass.

Wesleyan@Amherst: Matchup of the week. The first leg of the Little Three is going to be as competitive as it has been in recent years. The news about the Wes. RB is concerning, as that offense relies so much on the run, helping them open things up down field in the passing game. Interesting to see how that plays out, anywho Amherst by a TD.

Middlebury@Bates: A real test for the Bobcat defense. Midd has struggled to stop the run in the past, as there cover 2 base D is more geared to stopping big pass plays. Regardless I think the Middies pull of a win, they have a talented QB.

Bowdoin@ Trin: I like the Bantams in again this week. I think that the coaching staff had to have used last week to prove something either to their players or themselves. 4 yards passing? There was definitely a deliberate move to stick to the ground game no matter what. No defense in college, pro, or any other level is good enough to hold another team (albeit one who isnt completely dominating in the run game) to just four yards.

Tufts@Williams: Ephs all the way. They really got on track with a big week on the ground last Saturday. Look for them to try to do the same against a inconsistent Tufts defense.

[banfan]

Hamilton over Colby

Amherst over Wesleyan because it is at Am and because this Wes team is somewhat inexperienced at winning big games.

Bates over Middlebury.  Bates went to Wes last week and as I feared, stubbed their toes.  They also don't know how to win a big game.  Wes was up 21-0 before Bates came back.  I am betting that Bates learned something about winning.  Midd does not have a D and Bates is good at pass D.  And they are at home.

Trinity over Bowdoin.  We SUCK at passing.  I have pointed out the lack of a high percentage passing attack since the Willies game.  It has only become more of a problem.  We benched our starter, going with a better "passer" in Burgess.  I will say that the wind was very strong wither with or against and that did not help.  Burgess was hardly ready to go after not playing a down in the first half.  And, of course, we did not throw the ball much to allow him to get into any rhythm.  Our running game is that good and our run defense is that good, BUT..........there  is no excuse for our passing "attack".

Tufts/Willies.  It is at Willy town so they will win but do not sell Tufts short.  They do not make mistakes and their defense is good.  The game with Bowdoin was a bit of a freak with the two returns from Inside THEIR 10.  Take those back and score int the red zone and Tufts wins.  The team is improving and they have a good QB in Lindquist and Diss did a very good job of kick returning, although I could say our open field tackling was BAD.  The Willies will win but Tufts is better than their record.

Ciao