FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[FourMoreYears]

Tufts' woes continue with a 17-10 loss in Brunswick to Bowdoin. 
If my math is correct, that's 18 losses in a row for the Jumbos.

Tufts could not get any offense going today, managing just 197 total yards.
Their only TD was set up by a questionable pass interference call, though they would have come away with 3 pts instead.

Polar Bear Zach Donnarumma returned for the first time in 2012 to rush for 137 yards.

Bowdoin travels to Hamilton next week looking to get to 2-2.
Tufts travels to Trinity looking to avoid an 0-4 start.

From my eye, I think Bowdoin executed fairly well and their QB looked good completing some long passes over the middle to sustain some drives.  Tufts had a hard time converting on 3rd downs which was a problem they hadn't experienced in the previous week against Bates. 

Bowdoin's pass coverage was pretty good all day and their game winning drive showed a great deal of determination and poise. 

Tufts had some injuries and was playing a number of freshmen, but clearly this experience will pay dividends for the Jumbos in the future.    The Tufts coaches and players continue to work really hard to get that "W".

Good analysis.  It was a game that could have gone either way ... I was surprised that Tufts did not throw the ball more.  The key (as pointed out by iamhuge) was the 3rd down conversions.  It seemed when Bowdoin needed one they got it ... especially on that game-winning drive ... and when Tufts needed one they fell short.  The Tufts kids battled hard and you can see they are building for the future.  Actually, Bowdoin is pretty young too with (I think) 3 Seniors starting on offense and 2 Seniors starting on defense.  Tufts schedule doesn't get any easier, that's for sure. 

[nescac1]

I agree with iamhuge, wonderful post lumbercat.  Sounds like an emotional day indeed. 

I did not see the Williams-Bates game, and obviously football outcome is secondary to an emotional day, and congrats to Bates for honoring their teammate and clearly playing at a tremendously high level.  Of course, I was surprised by both the score and by just how much the Eph offense struggled.  Williams is still without two RBs which hurts a bit in terms of the ground game, but the passing game was at full strength and apparently just performed awfully.  Hopefully it was just an off day for Marske -- who has played pretty solidly for the most part other than on Saturday -- and he will rebound, but Williams just HAS to find a way to get the ball into Hartwell's hands more often.  As for defense, teams have run down the Ephs' throat two weeks in a row after they managed to totally stymie the Colby running game.  Williams just may not have the horses up front on defense to be a great run defense (seem very thin in particular at DL), but they will have to find a way to play better the rest of the year. 

In terms of other NESCAC action, I've been kind of wondering why Amherst has been so conservative in its game planning and now it is clear why -- they don't trust their new and very inexperienced QB and receivers just yet.  The Middlebury defense is obviously dramatically improved, but still, Amherst's passing offense appears to be a long way from what it was the past few years.  With Trinity, Williams, and Wesleyan still left to play, Amherst will need to diversify its offense a bit. 

Midd will be favored vs. Williams for the first time I remember.  Ephs will need to play much, much better on both offense and defense than they have the last two weeks to win this one.  Seems like Midd is the biggest challenger to the Bants at this point, they certainly have the offensive firepower to cause Trinity to worry, with Williams, Wesleyan, Amherst, and Bates fighting for third place.  (Wesleyan is 3-0, but vs. a very easy schedule, they still need to play all the good teams save for Midd (who they are lucky to avoid this year)). 

Speaking of Bates and Midd vs. Williams, even though Midd has typically been a far stronger team than Bates, for whatever reason, Williams has always played well vs. Midd and struggled (relative to what you'd expect) vs. Bates, at least in recent memory.  Bates has defeated Williams three times (twice easily) since 2000, and also has 1 and 5 point losses during that interval.  Meanwhile, Midd, despite often having a strong team, has not beaten Williams since 2000.  The Ephs can only hope that pattern continues next week, but boy, will they have to do a total 180 from the last five quarters of football they have played, which have been pretty awful on both offense and defense, it seems.   

[amh63]

Some observations reading over the writeups of the past weekend.
Hamilton had to change its QB during the game and brought back an experienced QB.  Seems that Williams made a game change at QB and so did Amherst.  I had posted earlier that it is necessary to have two "starting" QBs because of possible injuries and/or one just having a bad day.  Amherst won last year by sharing the OB position with two senior QBs that sat on the bench with Vetras playing.  Both QBs each started 4 games and won 4 games each.  Lippe may have had a bad day and it is important to give the back-up QB experience in a game that was out of reach, imo.  Did notice that in the Midd. game, Amherst was missing two starters.  RG Silver, the new OL to the front 5,,,last year's RG moved to RT to replace a graduated player...did not play.  His replacement was #75, a fine player that played last year at the tackle position as a FY.   More important, was the missing ILB starter.  An all-conference starter that has led Amherst in tackles the past two years.  Last year in the Midd. game, that ILB led the team in tackles against the Panthers.  I see these missing starters as providing some reasons for the level of play by Amherst.  Injuries are expected and are not excuses for the lost.  Midd. played to well last Sat.  I just hope that the missing players will be able to return by the time Amherst meets, Trinity, Williams and Wes.  I plan to be at two of those games and prefer to see contests when all impact players are back for both sides.

[amh63]

Wow.....I'm surprised to be the person to state that the Williams vs. Midd. preview posted on the Williams website.   If you go there, there is another football story about the NESN crews hanging around the college.  The Amherst vs. Colby game preview should be out on Thursday.  Anxious to hear what the coach has to say about the beating by Midd.  Expect to hear that it was a learning experience.
Amherst's SID out did himself....This week's game preview is POSTED!    Also there is another story about two senior OL starters.

[Panthernation]

Some leftover pieces from Middlebury's win over Amherst, after talking to players and coaches (taken from full game summary available here: http://blogs.middlebury.edu/panthernation/2012/10/11/panthers-move-to-3-0-with-dominant-win-over-amherst/):

-The offense got off to a slow start — a recurring problem that will eventually catch up with this team if it can't figure out how to put points on the board early in the game. I've asked head coach Bob Ritter, Zach Driscoll and Foote all the same question — why is the offense out of sync early? — and I've gotten three different answers. The concern is there, however, and if I had to guess I would say that this is a "small sample size problem."

-The defense forced Amherst into six three-and-outs on just eight first half possessions. The Lord Jeffs had just four first downs in the first half, crossing into Middlebury territory only on the second possession of the game. Defensive coordinator Doug Mandigo's unit put forward a superlative effort, consistently making plays on third and fourth down as well as on the rare occasions when Amherst found its way into scoring position.

-On the Foote rushing touchdown, Foote said that he considered throwing the ball up for Driscoll, but that the Amherst defense overplayed Driscoll, leaving no one to spy on Foote who stepped out of a desperate arm tackle in the backfield and dove across the plane with 8 seconds left in the half. The scramble was made possible by a leaping 20-yard grab over the middle by first-year wide receiver Harrison Goodkind. Goodkind, who's listed at just 5'10", displayed tremendous athleticism and great hands to bring the ball in.

-On his fourth quarter interception, Tim Patricia (freshman who won NESCAC defensive player of the week) said that DJ Petropolous, who replaced Lippe midway through the fourth quarter, had gone to his first option on consecutive passes on the drive. Figuring he'd be forced to go to his second option, Patricia sat on the route and stepped in to make the play. On a general note, Patricia said Friday that the transition from high school to college was made easier because the defensive system is the same.

[gridiron]

Now for a truly substantitive NESCAC football topic.  How about taking a stab at ranking the NESCAC football teams by uniforms (a suggestion from a previous post-er)?  Here's my take in reverse order.

10.  Williams---Way too much purple, not enough contrast with same color pants, uniform trim and design are not sleek, the helmet decal is about all you can do with the "Eph" I suppose, but all I can say is it is a good thing they perform on the field, because their uniforms are like halloween costumes

9.  Bowdoin---Dark colors are drab.  Nothing exciting about the style either.  Helmets are boring too.

8.  Tufts---For a world class university (really not a true NESCAC as we all know) to be unable to settle on a consistent uniform and logo is a shame.  Of course, brown and powder blue is a hideous combo to begin with.

7.  Amherst---Purple and gold/yellow is a tough place to start, but a better design is possible.  As if there isn't enough purple, the pants are too....

6.  Middlebury---Home uniforms are nice blue and white with sleek contrast but away are very plain.  Always been a fan of the helmet design.

5.  Wesleyan---Like Middlebury home uniforms are nice but away are very boring.

4.  Trinity---Nice uniforms overall but a mascot that looks like a chicken?

3.  Bates---Garnett color and contrasts on the uniform trim are a nice compliment.  Helmet logo looks good too.

2.  Hamilton---Nice colors (continental blue and "buff"--goldish) and sharp looking uniform design.  Basic helmet logo works well.

1.  Colby---Royal blue and gray look sharp both home and away, very close resemblence to Dallas Cowboys, especially the away uniforms.

Anyone else??

[amh63]

Grid....nice effort on my proposal.  One correction though....it is Williams that uses purple and gold/yellow.  Amherst's colors are purple and white.  Guess, I will see the #1 outfit this weekend.
Panther.......thanks for the update.  You should go to the interview by the Amherst coach on the Amherst website contained in the Amherst vs Colby preview.  The coach started out by stating that Amherst got its butt kicked.  Talked a bit about the Foote touchdown at the end of the 1st half as being a KEY play.  Admitted that Amherst's special team play is a problem.  Also mentioned  the Bates game and the Colby lost.  Stated that Amherst's thoughts and prayers went out to the Bates and the football team's lost.

[gridiron]

Amh63, thanks for the correction.  Got sidetracked and lost my focus.  Be interested in your take after the weekend.  Very subjective, as you know.  And yes, what happened at Bates is truly tragic.

[lumbercat]

Gridiron: thats a fun post on the NESCAC uniforms. I think it was Amh73 who first suggested that so I thought I would weigh in.

Any commentary on uniforms in this conference starts with Trinity. While I put their uniform in the middle of the pack currently they have been the leader since inception of NESCAC in terms of multiple looks, designs and certainly in terms of dollars expended.

Not sure anyone remembers "tear away" jerseys worn by skill position players in big time college football teams in the SEC, SWC etc. in the early 70's...........Trinity had em.

Remeber the fishnet mesh jerseys that were cut off above the waist, routinely worn by LSU, Alabama etc .... Trinity had em.

Names on the back, third jerseys...........yes....... Trinity.

Helluva Football budget down there. You name it, they had it, multiple designs, colors etc. year in and year out they spend a ton of money, compared with other NESCAC programs on uni's.

Today Trinity is just OK on their uni's but that will probably change because they change their look constantly which does not hurt recruiting. At the end of the day they should go back to the Blue Jerseys at home with the Gold pants and gold helmest but they always evolve to a new look which is currently not as nice as their older looks from the past.

Never forget the 70's when Pitt was the powerhouse with Tony Dorsett. They have the same the same colors as Trinity. Pittsburgh used to have "Pitt" on their helmets in a script format. The next fall Trinity shows up with the identical uniform with "Trin", yes Trin on their helmet. It was amusing.

That being said the great traditional look at Amherst is gone and they have joined Williams as a collective Purple blur. OK, I know one is trimmed in gold but they need to bring back the old looks.

Many teams have stayed with their traditions and others have not but these 2 venerable rivals need to come back to tradition.......... ah la Notre Dame, USC, LSU, Alabama.....if you are great you don't change (Celtics).


OK here are my uniform picks for the NESCAC form the top:  (I'm actually pretty close with Gridirons' choices)

#1- Colby---Hawaiian Blue and Silver- match with Detroit Lions. Classic. Great Helmet with Chicago Bears "C". Colby seldom changes the classic look. In the seventies they had the Baltimore Colts horseshoe on the silver helmet which was cool.

#2- Bates---The Garnet with Black trim is a great color scheme and Bates seems have stayed with this look since the 70's. Great Helmet.

#3- Hamilton---Currently a great look but the Buff has turned to Gold which is a deviation. Classic helmet.

#4- Wesleyan---Whelan takes over and the jersey and helmet both go from red to black. Trying to bring an imposing look. Mistake on the jersey, should have kept the red shirts but new helmet is nice.

#5- Trinity---Always have the great look but the Blue on Blue at home looks lousy- the all white on the road is ok but lose the blue pants and bring back the gold. Disagree with Grid on the Bantam logo, think it's one of the best.

#6- Tufts--- The Tufts Blue has evolved to a much lighter Powder blue color. Make it a little darker or better yet go back to the brown jerseys. Copy the Cleveland Browns--- brown jerseys, white numbers and substitute the light blue for the orange on the Browns jersey-- they did that at one point in the past and it looked good.

#7- Williams--- The Gold trim is a nice touch which gives a nice contrast to the Purple. The helmet needs some work. Need white pants at home to interrupt the purple blur.

#8- Middlebury---Nice helmet. Basic blue and white jersey and pants with modern trim. Go with white pants at home.

#9- Amherst---Uniform fluccuates between Purple and Royal Blue--bring back the Princeton stripes. Helmet is a good one.

#10- Bowdoin---Black and White are tough colors to deal with but the Polar Bears lack creavity.....Black Helmet, Black Jersey, Black pants and Black hose....are these guys undertakers??? In the old days they mixed in a little silver for an Oakland Raiders look. They can stick to Black and white colors but give the uniform and helmet a little trim.

[iamhuge]

Gridiron: thats a fun post on the NESCAC uniforms. I think it was Amh73 who first suggested that so I thought I would weigh in.

Any commentary on uniforms in this conference starts with Trinity. While I put their uniform in the middle of the pack currently they have been the leader since inception of NESCAC in terms of multiple looks, designs and certainly in terms of dollars expended.

Not sure anyone remembers "tear away" jerseys worn by skill position players in big time college football teams in the SEC, SWC etc. in the early 70's...........Trinity had em.

Remeber the fishnet mesh jerseys that were cut off above the waist, routinely worn by LSU, Alabama etc .... Trinity had em.

Names on the back, third jerseys...........yes....... Trinity.

Helluva Football budget down there. You name it, they had it, multiple designs, colors etc. year in and year out they spend a ton of money, compared with other NESCAC programs on uni's.

Today Trinity is just OK on their uni's but that will probably change because they change their look constantly which does not hurt recruiting. At the end of the day they should go back to the Blue Jerseys at home with the Gold pants and gold helmest but they always evolve to a new look which is currently not as nice as their older looks from the past.

Never forget the 70's when Pitt was the powerhouse with Tony Dorsett. They have the same the same colors as Trinity. Pittsburgh used to have "Pitt" on their helmets in a script format. The next fall Trinity shows up with the identical uniform with "Trin", yes Trin on their helmet. It was amusing.

That being said the great traditional look at Amherst is gone and they have joined Williams as a collective Purple blur. OK, I know one is trimmed in gold but they need to bring back the old looks.

Many teams have stayed with their traditions and others have not but these 2 venerable rivals need to come back to tradition.......... ah la Notre Dame, USC, LSU, Alabama.....if you are great you don't change (Celtics).


OK here are my uniform picks for the NESCAC form the top:  (I'm actually pretty close with Gridirons' choices)

#1- Colby---Hawaiian Blue and Silver- match with Detroit Lions. Classic. Great Helmet with Chicago Bears "C". Colby seldom changes the classic look. In the seventies they had the Baltimore Colts horseshoe on the silver helmet which was cool.

#2- Bates---The Garnet with Black trim is a great color scheme and Bates seems have stayed with this look since the 70's. Great Helmet.

#3- Hamilton---Currently a great look but the Buff has turned to Gold which is a deviation. Classic helmet.

#4- Wesleyan---Whelan takes over and the jersey and helmet both go from red to black. Trying to bring an imposing look. Mistake on the jersey, should have kept the red shirts but new helmet is nice.

#5- Trinity---Always have the great look but the Blue on Blue at home looks lousy- the all white on the road is ok but lose the blue pants and bring back the gold. Disagree with Grid on the Bantam logo, think it's one of the best.

#6- Tufts--- The Tufts Blue has evolved to a much lighter Powder blue color. Make it a little darker or better yet go back to the brown jerseys. Copy the Cleveland Browns--- brown jerseys, white numbers and substitute the light blue for the orange on the Browns jersey-- they did that at one point in the past and it looked good.

#7- Williams--- The Gold trim is a nice touch which gives a nice contrast to the Purple. The helmet needs some work. Need white pants at home to interrupt the purple blur.

#8- Middlebury---Nice helmet. Basic blue and white jersey and pants with modern trim. Go with white pants at home.

#9- Amherst---Uniform fluccuates between Purple and Royal Blue--bring back the Princeton stripes. Helmet is a good one.

#10- Bowdoin---Black and White are tough colors to deal with but the Polar Bears lack creavity.....Black Helmet, Black Jersey, Black pants and Black hose....are these guys undertakers??? In the old days they mixed in a little silver for an Oakland Raiders look. They can stick to Black and white colors but give the uniform and helmet a little trim.

My only critique of the Tufts uniforms is that it is really difficult to pick out the white numbers on the light blue jerseys.

Why teams feel the need to have Heinz 57 different styles of uniforms I don't know.    To me, your uniform was what defined you as a school and a team..why the heck would you want to change that every week???

[lumbercat]

iamhuge-
I agree with your thoughts. Look at a team like Oregon with all those different uniforms and combinations, seems crazy and most of them look silly anyway. At that level there is a marketing perspective to consider but I think there are other reasons as well.

Last week Notre Dame wore a new radical helmet design and a different "third jersey" and pants. When asked about the deviation from the traditional ND look Coach Brian Kelly repsonded that they were not changing their great traditional uniform but indicated they would continue to have a different uniform for one game every year into the future. He came right out and said it is a recruiting tool for them when he came under some criticism from some of the old ND purists.

Evidently the kids enjoy the alternate uniforms with the trendy new looks and I can understand that. Maybe some of the changes at the NESCAC level are driven by the same thinking on a smaller level though budgets are restrictive. No doubt every kid wants to wear a nice uniform and from a coaches perspective maybe there is some truth in the thought that if you look good it may have a positive overall effect.

either way the Nikes, Addidas and Under Armours of the world are loving it.

[oldhamfan]

Hamilton picks up first win,14-13 over Bowdoin.  Strange end to game, Eck started at QB, his backup (Trinity transfer) came in late, threw a TD, defense held on downs, then for the "final;" play, Ham QB ran around the field for 15 seconds,  trying to run out the clock.  Lots of flags and confusion, (yes, thought of the replacement NFL refs) teams finally ordered back on the field for one more knee down play, and Continentals won.  Sets up interesting Colby-Hamilton game next week.

[lumbercat]

Geez- somebody correct this if it's inaccurate but the attendence in Willimstown today was logged at- "Six hundred and Thirty Two"......hope there were no broken bones jumping off the bandwagon.... Hell, there were more people than that trying to get on camera during the walk down Mainstreet (or whatever it is) when ESPN was in Williamstown a couple of years ago.
Hard to believe a couple of losses would compromise the Mighty Williams Tradition....this attendance figure must be a mistake?? Never thought the Ephs fans were frontrunners like that.

[nescac1]

First, Lumbercat, I imagine the attendance figure was correct, but that has nothing to do with bandwagon fans -- for students, football games are largely an excuse to tailgate, regardless of the team's level of play.  Williams football never gets huge attendance figures (even during undefeated seasons) for any game save for Amherst, Trinity, or Wesleyan.  Amherst or Wesleyan will always draw the largest crowd, since that is homecoming and a ton of alums return to campus, and Trinity sometimes has fairly large attendance as that is a big rivalry game, but in my memory it's pretty rare to get over 1000 fans for any other game, period.  The school has only 2000 students after all, a large portion of whom won't ever have any interest in football, and it's a very small town.  It takes a lot of alumni coming back to amp up attendance, and that really only happens at homecoming and, to a MUCH lesser extent, the Trinity game.  Basketball I feel generates a lot more excitement among the student body than football (and of course, doesn't have to compete during home games with beautiful fall weather / hiking / men's and women's soccer / field hockey / etc. for student attention).

As for the game itself, another disaster for both the Williams passing game and the defense.  I can't recall the last time Williams lost three straight games, I'm guessing it was either Coach Farley's first year or before the Farley era.  The defense was a big question mark coming into the season, so I'm not surprised to see it struggle -- just doesn't seem to have size, depth, or overall talent that it had in past years and didn't really restock after losing a slew of seniors who had been on multiple all-NESCAC teams.  The offense though is more of a mystery, there are a lot of very talented receivers on the roster, I haven't seen enough to know if it is just Marske struggling a bit (he certainly hasn't moved forward the way you'd expect after a solid sophomore year), play calling, inadequate protection from the offensive line, WRs not playing to their level, or some combination. the ONLY silver lining for Williams was that it finally had a full RB core playing, and they put up some good numbers on the ground.  But the passing game will have to find its groove in a BIG hurry because Williams is going to have to outscore teams this year, and I don't see Williams stopping the Wesleyan or Amherst ground attacks in particular.  Midd-Trinity should be a fun battle of styles and for the NESCAC title, I expect.   

[amh63]

Have to agree with nescac 1 on the question of game attendance.  I will be up in Middletown next weekend for Wes.'s Homecoming & Family weekend.  I have seen a gradual increase on the Cardinals' stands the last few years at the football game.  There is always some soccer games or lectures going on at the same time.  Wes. even had a town related food fest on campus for a time to increase the attendance. In short, it has been improving but never like an Amh-Willie meeting.  Was not surprised to see Williams passing numbers down.  Midd. has a fine pass defense....they shut down "improving" Amherst pass offense and therefore allowed Midd to put 8 players in the box to stop the run.
Oh yes, my thoughts with respect to the Amherst-Colby game.  First, I was watching the game on an IPad, while entertaining some house guests, during some garden tours in D.C.  Reception was off and on....slow/poor downloading. With that excuse affecting my impressions.....here goes.
The Amherst offense sputtered again.  Offensive line allowed the QBs to be sacked and both QBs threw interceptions.  Lippe threw one early and FY J. Pieterse..came in for awhile and had an interception and was sacked.  Pieterse's older brother, ILB Matt, was not in the game again.  Silvia, Amherst's top runner is injured and did not play.  Good news on the offensive side is that the big RB Jellison and a FY RB, Monroe, were featured and did well to keep some drives going.  There were several new WRs, Garay was one, were used and they performed well. 
The defense played well and kept Amherst in the game until the offense could figure it out.  Robbie Heflin, the senior "new" starting CB had three interceptions and ran one back for a TD!  The defense had 4 sacks.....and a safety.  Travis Dickerson, a senior who has taking over for the graduated All-Conf. DL, Ferber, is stepping up big time.   Amherst loss all conference CB and returner, Lewis, early in the game and his replacement played well.
What is encouraging is the fact the coaches started to insert new players, even FY's on the defensive side, in the 2nd half...and they filled in very well.
Actually, as the the game ended, both sides had a high percentage of new players on the field.  The announcers kept pointing out how well Colby's FY players/starters were performing and how young they are.  Colby is indeed building for the future and may even win a game this season.
Leaving the details to the recap/box on the website, I can say that I felt I was watching the rebuilding of both teams...the future so to speak...for Colby and Amherst.
Maybe it was the sunny day...sitting on a bench surrounded by flowers and curious people looking at an old man staring at a video screen.  I was content about the results and my worries about the Wes. game were kicked down the road.
Oh yes, on the subject of uniforms....the U. of Washington has fine garb for Williams to copy.   I know, Williams prefer to lead and not follow.  However, on this subject the Ephs should.