FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[iamhuge]

iamhugh...nice to hear from you again.  To answer your question.....yes.  The team limit is 75 players.
When the team limit was imposed by the "CAC" presidents...it was an attempt, I believe, to try to make a more "even playing field".  Up to then, over the years, Trinity, Williams and Amherst were the only schools that consistently had rosters over 90 players.  Last year, Hamilton had a small roster.  Hopefully, the new coach at Hamilton can up the roster and the talent level.  Wes. it seems and predicted is getting quite serious about football again.  Last year Wes. had a talented QB that had followed the coach from Williams.  However, his passing talents did not follow him to the Cardinals offense....lack of receivers?
Any inputs on the Tufts' team at this time?

Tufts team is working hard.  They are a spirited group with a hard working coaching staff.  They are losing 16 seniors so there will be a lot of young kids playing.  They will be fun to watch.

[frank uible]

The 2012 transfer from Maine to Wesleyan appears to be one Jackson Taylor. In 2010 as a freshman he was redshirted. In 2011 he was moved to fullback and had no carries and no receptions,  threw no passws and had no tackles or interceptions.. Your correspondent's forecast for Wes in 2012 remains 5-3 or 6-2 depending.

[amh63]

Frank......please ..do not mince or hold back your words/opinions...LOL!

[frank uible]

We calls 'em as we sees 'em. Your correspondent is not running for office this year.

[Trin9-0]

Trinity football preview is up:
http://athletics.trincoll.edu/sports/fball/2012-13/releases/Football_11213

If the Bantams can, once again, reload the front 7 and finally get some consistency at QB I like their chances to get 8 wins. However, those are two pretty big "ifs".

[nescac1]

Thanks Trin 8-0.  I noticed that Hedley Jennings is not mentioned in that preview, I guess he is no longer on the team?  A very talented athlete, but maybe not the right fit for the offense they want to run.  Trinity's offense should be very, very tough to stop this year, especially the running attack.  The d-line, which has been so dominant in recent years, will indeed be a big question mark with basically an entirely new group in there.  They do seem to have a lot of proven guys back at lb, so they should be fine in that unit.  Despite the one big question mark on Trinity, Amherst loses a lot more key players, overall, than Trinity, and Trinity gets Amherst at home, where they are virtually unbeatable.  If their defensive front can coallesce in time for the early test at Williams (which has plenty of defensive front seven question marks of its own, although should have a more explosive offense this year with an experienced QB and tb Scyorcuka back from injury), I think Trinity will indeed be in very good shape. 

[lumbercat]

Trinity seems to be the favorite in the conference this year. They have a dominant running game with 2 of the premier backs in the NESCAC running behind a strong, experienced O line.
Last year the Bantams said "we're gonna run the ball and run it down your throat" ---for the most part they were sucessfull with that philosophy. Why throw it when you don't have to. They threw no more than 16 times in every game except one when they threw it something like 25 times in their only loss to Amherst. Their philosophy worked in all games but one.
In their perrennial quest for the 8-0 season last years performance will lead them to seek a little more balanced attack this year. They may be able to go 7-1 with the old school smash mouth approach but as good as they are they will need to throw the ball more when they come up against Amherst and possibly an upstart Wesleyan team this year.

Heres saying that Wesleyan is not in Trinity's class yet but they will be in the next few years-- mark the Trinity- Wesleyan as rivarly as approaching the status of being reborn as one of the great conference rivalries.

I'm working on my pre-season predictions and hope others will be submitting theirs to the board as well.

[iamhuge]

Trinity seems to be the favorite in the conference this year. They have a dominant running game with 2 of the premier backs in the NESCAC running behind a strong, experienced O line.
Last year the Bantams said "we're gonna run the ball and run it down your throat" ---for the most part they were sucessfull with that philosophy. Why throw it when you don't have to. They threw no more than 16 times in every game except one when they threw it something like 25 times in their only loss to Amherst. Their philosophy worked in all games but one.
In their perrennial quest for the 8-0 season last years performance will lead them to seek a little more balanced attack this year. They may be able to go 7-1 with the old school smash mouth approach but as good as they are they will need to throw the ball more when they come up against Amherst and possibly an upstart Wesleyan team this year.

Heres saying that Wesleyan is not in Trinity's class yet but they will be in the next few years-- mark the Trinity- Wesleyan as rivarly as approaching the status of being reborn as one of the great conference rivalries.

I'm working on my pre-season predictions and hope others will be submitting theirs to the board as well.

It's hard to imagine why Trinity would ever want to throw the ball.  NESCAC defenses are kind of smallish, and with Trinity's experienced and talented O-Line and dynamic running backs, why would you ever risk an air attack?  Their wide receivers and quarterbacks are probably pretty good...but no one may ever get to know that! 

[FourMoreYears]

I'm working on my pre-season predictions and hope others will be submitting theirs to the board as well.

I'll take a stab, keeping in mind that others are far more "in the know" than myself:

8-0   Trinity ... until somebody beats them I am a believer
7-1   Amherst ... some graduation losses but still plenty deep
6-2   Williams ... traditional power but might have an off year?
5-3   Middlebury ... will go as far as their offense takes them
4-4   Bowdoin ... will go as far as their defense takes them
4-4   Wesleyan ... up and coming but another year or two away
3-5   Bates ... hard to predict first winning season since 1981
3-5   Colby ... ended 2011 in turmoil will be tough to regroup
0-8   Hamilton ... new coach not enough, very tough home schedule
0-8   Tufts ... too young this year, wishes hamilton as on schedule

This prognosticator welcomes your comments. 

[nescac1]

That looks like a pretty good prediction, although I think Wesleyan might squeeze out another win and I don't see Colby winning three games this fall. 

I think I need to read the season previews from the rest of the teams ... too many question marks in terms of transfers, first year players, injuries, defections to have a really clear bead.  I do think the only credible contenders are Trinity, which looks absolutely loaded other than defensive line, and you know they will bring in some impact frosh there, Amherst, as defending champion but I want to hear more about who will be playing QB and the skill positions there, Williams, which like Trinity has a lot of holes to fill on the defensive front seven but unlike Trinity did not get a dominant performance from that group last year, and Wesleyan, which is definitely on the rise and if the transfer QB is for real, could surprise.  Williams does benefit from a favorable schedule with Midd, Trinity and Wesleyan all at home, and for some reason, home field advantage has meant little in the Amherst game of late, with the road team winning the last four games I believe. 

Middlebury will light it up but loses most of the top players from a defense that was already incredibly porous, I don't see them outscoring all the other top teams. 

I think Bates and Bowdoin will both be credible middle-of-the-pack teams.  Colby, Hamilton, and Tufts are all teams in transition and each will likely be in for a LONG year while the new coaches rebuild the programs with fresh recruits. 

[nescac1]

Another very impressive transfer on the Wesleyan roster, this guy Zach Vinci put up good numbers as a frosh at a D-1 program, and seems to have packed on a lot of weight since that time.  He was looking to transfer UP, but somehow ended up at Wesleyan.  Figures to be an absolute beast in the NESCAC.  Based on the types of coaches Wesleyan is investing in, as well as the impact recruits and transfers they have been bringing in, it is clear that the school is sick and tired of losing to Williams, Amherst and Trinity.  It may take one more year, but Wesleyan will be competitive with that group sooner rather than later, almost for certain.

http://gocolgateraiders.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=3787

[lumbercat]

Agree totally. Wesleyan seems to be approaching the threshold of "administrative support" and commitment to a winning program that for the most part has only been evident at Trinity within the NESCAC. The Wesleyan President and adminstration have made no bones about their desire to win and clearly do not see a compromise to their academic commitment in doing so. I agree, strive for academic and athletic excellence. Good for them and game on with Trinity and the Little three.

It was very evident from their initial press conference at the time of the Whelan coaching hiring that The Cardinals were headed in this direction and they seem to be executing that plan. They evidently will challenge Trinity in terms of "flexibility" within the Football program which will empower the program. This should be intersting.

Other coaches throughout the conference covet that kind of adminstrative support. At most NESCAC schools admission support is a clear path out of the futility of competing with the 2 most prestigious D3 schools in the land who can recruit from a beach chair but it's  nonexistent in programs other than Trinity..... and now maybe Wesleyan??

"if we can only get some flexibilty from admissions"........thats the unified cry of the football programs in the conference other than Trinity, Amherst and Williams. Trinity can and does go and get 'em. Middlebury can aslo recruit somewhat agressively but won't be as flexible as Trinity.  At  Amherst and Williams many top recruits choose them.

At the end of day most schools in the conference can only challenge the status quo with adminstrative flexibility like we have seen at Trinity and may be seeing at Wesleyan. The problem for many of the lower level Football programs is that they will never have those concessions.

Thus the NESCAC competitive profile will remain in place for the most part with the exception of Wesleyan which is in the process of of a commendable plan to upgrade their program.

Good Luck to the Cardinals.

[Mr. Ypsi]

At great risk to my karma, I will state the obvious:

We in the rest of d3 have no way of knowing if your top teams are Stagg Bowl worthy or would get rolled by UMAC teams.  You compete in every other d3 tournament; why do your Presidents have a thing about football?  And why can't they have ANY non-conference games?

I just don't understand.

[frank uible]

It is confidently surmised that the Presidents consciously choose to avoid explanation for public consumption of their joint attitude and by attribution that of their respective institutions. It is also surmised that the attitude will not change certainly in the foreseeable future and probably well into the unforeseeable future.

[nescac1]

Mr. Ypsi, if you read back through the old posts in this room, you'll find about 1,000 on this topic.  Needless to say, while unpopular among the few die-hard posters in this room, as Frank says, it is extremely unliklely that the NESCAC Presidents will ever move in the direction of more football.  I'd bet good money, in fact, that we will see a NESCAC school eliminate football prior to any expansion of the season, via playoffs, or any other avenue.  I am surprised that the Maine schools in particular haven't moved in that direction already, actually, but there are probably enough alums still around who would get angry that they are afraid to. 

On a different note, nice article about incoming Eph offensive tackle Charlie Grossnickle, who seems like a very well-rounded scholar athlete in addition to already weighing in at 6'5, 255.  They play some serious football in Georgia, so I imagine that Charlie will likely be an important lineman for Williams in a year or two. 

http://iredeem.org/2012/07/04/stratfords-grossnickle-prepared-for-new-england-journey/messages/uncategorized/