FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[oldhamfan]

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.
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Colby 13, Hamilton 7.  Ugly game.  First win and nice bus ride back to Waterville for the Mules.  7-7 at half, 13-7 (missed xp), HC missed FG would've made it 13-10, within late FG.  Reminded me of Bowdoin game last week.  With a lead, Bowdoin ran down the clock, Colby did same.  HC has no real running game (last week had negative yards rushing) . had FOUR yds this week.  I've said before, when HC has the lead and time of poss doesn't matter, Eck is deadly, best QB in NESCAC at the five yd pass.  Today he was only 26-46, with 3 ints.
The game did come down to the final play, with only seconds left, Colby sacked Eck, prevented possible game winning TD pass.  If HC wants better than 2-6 this season, they need to improve. Schedule doesn't favor them.    

[oldhamfan]

Middlebury QB Foote has huge day, 39-53 for 412 yds and 5 tds in 49-43 win over Bates.  Note to Hamilton offense: Middlebury only 42 yds rushing, but WHEN QB passes  like he did, you can win w/out running the ball. Foote's already been plyr of the week once, I'm guessing this will be week two for him. Kid's only a soph. 
Off topic, but the Bates streaming web cast has far more professional announcers.  Hamilton kids kept saying nuggets like "well, I think it's first down, or maybe second, oh I don't know"  and "hey, he lives in my dorm"

[frank uible]

An ancient saying: one does not gain an enviable reputation by beating up on drunks and old men.

[nescac1]

I had a chance to watch some of the game online and Williams looked good / opportunistic, although there is still plenty of room for improvement (were not as dominant as the score suggested).

The kicking game is night and day from the start of the year.  Mallock was great hitting all XP's and a long field goal, and Payton has turned into a weapon at punter after a shaky start to the year.

On the plus side defensively, Emmanuel Whyte had a break-out game at LB in his first game playing starter minutes.  He was seemingly all over the field and while he made a few mistakes, he made up for it with his aggressive play.  The Eph LB's Whyte, Schultz and Cameron were all in the Tufts backfield all day, the QB got killed a number of times although to his credit in many cases he managed to complete a pass while being hit.  Williams with Whyte has a different look with a lot more speed and I imagine he'll play more from now on.  Dan O'Mara also had a huge game on D, very athletic at safety.  Williams is going to have a very different look on D next year, a lot smaller but a lot quicker based on the second unit guys I've seen play so far and the few starters who will return.

The Ephs defense was very, very good in the second half, but not so great in the first half.  The two big issues were penalties, several costly personal fouls that kept the TD drives alive (two obvious calls, a horse collar and a facemask, plus a third penalty after a play was over that I did not see), and I also felt that Tufts took advantage of their overpursuit at times with misdirection plays, draws and quick-hitting passing over the middle.  Williams has the athletes on D up front, but sometimes the blitzing LB's left defensive backs on an island, and that has been costly at times for the Ephs this year.  Williams needs to clean up the penalties and be a bit more disciplined against the better offensive teams, which they did in the second half vs. Tufts.

Offense wasn't dominant but made a lot of big plays.  Hartwell continues to be by far the most dangerous weapon on the team both on special teams and O, I can't imagine many teams will be punting to him the rest of the year.  Kearney had some great catches as well.  Marske continues to be a work in progress.  The Ephs love to go deep to the big receivers who are often open down the field, but Marske missed what should have been a few TD throws (and certainly would have been last year).  On the other hand, he connected for some big plays down the field, and was victimized by a few dropped passes, and overall played as well as you can ask at this point, just needs to keep working and improving.  He benefited from fantastic pass protection all game, the Tufts defense barely breathed on him.  I do wish the Ephs would employ more passes to the tight ends and RB's as well as more quick slants and timing patterns and other such high-percentage plays.  They seem to have two pass plays: the WR screen to Hartwell, and the long-developing deep ball, which is obviously a play that isn't going to work a high percentage of the time because a lot of things have to go right, especially vs. a team like Amherst which has a nasty pass rush.  If they mix it up and integrate some more high-percentage passing plays, I think the offense will be harder to defend.

Running game was solid though Tufts did a good job closing up holes.  Lapointe looked great on his one carry and deserves more touches.  Hernandez seems to be emerging as the feature back and is playing well.  I wonder if Scyocurka is done for the year, at this point, with only three games left and him not having played all year, may just not be enough time to get reintegrated into the RB rotation (and perhaps he could essentially redshirt and take a semester off school, if interested, the way other injured NESCAC players have done in the past).  Too bad as I think he was primed for a big year this season, but on the plus side the other backs have done a great job.

In other NESCAC news, every Midd game this year is gonna be a crazy shoot-out it seems.  I see that Amherst's original projected starting QB is back, which should make them even tougher.  Amherst has a great run D and limited Wesleyan's star RB, but he still managed to grind out over 100 yards.  He and Foote are going to be putting up dominant stats for the next 3-4 years, two of the top offensive newcomers to enter the league in some time.  Looks like Trinity-Amherst will decide the NESCAC at this point, with a two game lead over everyone heading into the home stretch.    I'd love to see Williams have the chance to play the role of spoiler at least in the final game vs. Amherst ...

[creekboy]

Watched the Ham/Colby game...and what can a person say.  A team can rarely overcome 6 turnovers. Plus not scoring when it's get 1st and goal from the 2, missed opportunity after opportunity...it's heart-wrenching if you are a fan and parent. I feel most for QB Jordan Eck, who must feel absolutely sick today.  He's trying to do too much, which results in him forcing things, and that rarely has a good outcome. Please, team, stay behind this young man and continue to show your confidence in him - he has the skills, but just needs to learn to play within himself and trust those around him.  The O-line lost a starter last week, and folks often overlook how much that can throw an offense off.

The Defense played darn well. If you hold a team to 13, you usually win. However, a blown coverage on the 1st series gave the Mules 7 points. So everyone needs to share in this loss.

Hats off to Colby for getting their first win of the season. Keep your heads up Conts, you can finish the season strong, but most importantly STAY TOGETHER!

[banfan]

First, happy for Colby unhappy for Bates.  Bates, I don't like this phrase, "should have won."

Willies no surprise.  Thank God for Amherst.

This is my first year of closely watching NESCAC football so feel free to straighten me out.  Bowdoin came to town using its #3 QB due to injuries.  In the first series, maybe second, Bowdoin's left tackle goes down and out.  Now we are playing a Freshman QB with no college experience "protected" by a Freshman LT with no experience.  GAME OVER.

Are the second tier teams usually this thin in NESCAC?  It is difficult to watch.  Bowdoin had less than 100 yds of total offense.  No depth.

Trin has three shutouts in a row.  I am sure that a lot of you cannot wait for the seniors on the D line to graduate but, there may not be a drop off overall next year on the D.

I am looking forward to the Midd game for the excitement that their offense will bring, however, I kinda view it as "nice to have a challenge".  They do not have a defense.  They don't/can't run so three man rushes and nickel packages will probably be the case with an occasional blitz.  Or a 4 man front with attack from the edge causing a collapse up the middle.

I expect a balanced attack from Trin.  That means 70% run and 30% pass.  They can pass and showed some against the teddy bears.  We will need it against Amherst.

Now, I am not a coach or a player so I can look ahead and see Amherst as a good D and a good team.  This appears to be the game of the year, not only because of presumed records of both teams but because it will be a good close well contested game.  The willies were ok and Wes looks like they should be a good year end spirited contest....

The question is, "is football competitive in the nescac?"  I thought it was becoming more so but depth seems to be a serious issue and an injury here or there should not tank your team.

[ephfan1]

Banfan, you are killing me with these "Willies" references.  We're the EPHS!  Please. Anything other than the Willies.

Agreed that Trinity-Amherst will be the game of the year.  I'm planning to be there.   Williams seems to have gotten its act together a bit since the Trinity game;  I am hoping the Ephs can push Amherst hard in the last game.

[frank uible]

Many (perhaps all) NESCAC squads fail to be two deep with high quality, experienced DIII athletes at all 24 positions - it is very difficult to be so when an institution's male enrollment is about 750 to about 1250 (more but not infinitely more for Tufts), there are no athletic scholarships and there are numerous institutional demands to be served in selecting a student body in addition to (some deemed to be of a more pressing nature than) attempting to field a "good" football team.

[quicksilver]

. . . .

This is my first year of closely watching NESCAC football so feel free to straighten me out.  Bowdoin came to town using its #3 QB due to injuries.  In the first series, maybe second, Bowdoin's left tackle goes down and out.  Now we are playing a Freshman QB with no college experience "protected" by a Freshman LT with no experience.  GAME OVER.

Are the second tier teams usually this thin in NESCAC?  It is difficult to watch.  Bowdoin had less than 100 yds of total offense.  No depth.

. . . .

Yes on the depth question. Bowdoin, Colby, Bates, and Hamilton always suffer on the depth front. Season over for Bowdoin when it reached the third QB (who is actually the 4th QB as the no. 1 QB this year should have been the experienced senior, RJ Shea, who is not playing fball this year for reasons unknown). I had to laugh at the Hamilton poster last week who thought that Bowdoin had great depth in comparison to Hamilton!!!!

[banfan]

OK Ephfan, I'll call the Willies something else on occasion.  Is it F's or Eef's?  I'm not even going to ask what one is.

RE: quicksilver depth observation, maybe Bowdoin does have great depth compared to Hamilton.

RE: The Frank numbers, it's a matter of choice, isn't it?  If I implied that high quality depth was what I was looking for, I'm sorry.  But the #2 left tackle for Bowdoin was a freshman.  The poor kid had multiple penalties as he has to face the best D line in conference.  They had no one else?  It's the left tackle.  What does "deemed of a more pressing nature" mean?  The Midd hockey team?  The Williams swimming team?  The Tufts baseball team?  By the way, the Tufts baseball team played 37 games last year.  GO BASEBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The F's, Amherst and Trinity seem to have no trouble.  I think Wes is trying hard and Bates could have two more wins (Wes and Midd) and be 4-1.  Hell, they could have won at the Eef's and they SHOULD ( I hate that word) win out.  Tufts will be back.

I'm just trying to sort out 8 games, only in conference, no ncaa, no Thanksgiving game (just threw that in) etc.  Is all that helping or hurting schools fielding a team?  And should (there is that word again) I feel bad about beating the snot out of teams week after week, year after year?

I think  MLB sucks because 80% of the teams have no chance and I believe that the numbers indicate that a lot of you agree with me.  It hurts MLB and the NESCAC.  But hey, maybe we are going to finish up 5-3.  Maybe the wifes' Midd kidds will put up 50 on Saturday and I'll be eating Panther poop all the way home.

I am hoping that decisions in Lewiston and Middletown will affect Clinton and Brunswick.

[nescac1]

First, BanFan, it is pronounced Ephs but is not a tangible object, the mascot is the purple cow and is unrelated to the team name (which derives from the school founder's name). 

As for football, the playing field has actually leveled a bit (theoretically and, I think, in actuality) in recent years.  That was in part why rosters were capped at 75 -- so that the top three football schools couldn't monopolize all the talent, and, supposedly, lower tier teams would have a chance.  And I think that actually NESCAC is more competitive now than it was a decade ago.  Remember, Bates once went something like five years without winning a single game.  Trinity and Williams spent years taking turns going 8 and 0 and putting up huge win streaks, culminated by Trinity not losing a game for three or four years.  I don't think we will see that type of dominance or that type of putrid performance any time soon thanks to the changes NESCAC has instituted to even things up.  There haven't really been THAT many blow-outs this year, far few than (in my memory) there were in, say, the early 1990's. 

In regards to Bowdoin, well, come on, virtually ANY football team at ANY level will struggle when they are down to the fourth guy on the projected depth chart at QB.  And as for the O-line, even at Williams, 4/5 back-ups on the o-line depth chart are first years.  Guys get hurt, leave the program, focus on academics, etc., and every school will have a few thin positions in any given year. 

And yeah, football is not the most important school on virtually any NESCAC campus.  At Williams, other than the Amherst game, the stands are usually pretty empty, maybe a few hundred people, mostly alums or family of players or local residents.  Meanwhile, for major basketball games, Williams packs Chandler to capacity, 1600 plus people multiple times per year (any Amherst game plus NESCAC / NCAA championship games), the student body is a LOT more engaged in basketball.  At Amherst basketball is number one as well.  Middlebury, hockey is clearly number one, and basketball, lacrosse, maybe soccer all rank above football.  Tufts recently won a national title in lacrosse.  Wesleyan they don't care much about any sport.  And so on.  Trinity is probably the only NESCAC school where football is the biggest deal, and heck, you could make an argument that squash and football are 1 and 1A at Trinity!  NESCAC schools would rather be fairly dominant across the board in D-III than put all their eggs in the football basket.  Moreover, the admissions concessions required to field a competitive football team are very different than what is required for, say, tennis, so that will also always be an issue.  It's simply not D-1 where football is king above all else and the rest of the athletic program, except MAYBE men's hoops, takes a back-seat.  If anything, it's the opposite at NESCAC schools, which are more interested in being strong across all athletic programs than in focusing primarily on football.   

[banfan]

I hear you nescac1 but from where I sit, football is less than equal, and far from dominant.

[ephfan1]

banfan, it's the EEEphs (rhymes with beefs), in honor of the school founder Ephraim Williams.  Sometimes also known as the Purple Cows.  Not the F's. 

[banfan]

OKaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy!     lol

Now that we have that out of the way....

Am I the only poster here that thinks 37 baseball games with an NCAA bid is good for baseball and 8 games with no outside conference play and no chance of an ncaa bid (and no Thanksgiving game) is not so good for football?

I know this is nescac but it is still football.  I bet the tennis parents/fans get more fired up than this.

peace

[frank uible]

The battle of normalizing NESCAC football has been fought and lost long ago.