FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[frank uible]

Let's forfeit the season for all teams with rosters showing a number more than 75 at any time on or after the first game. After all, rules are rules, and breaking them should have consequences.

[amh63]

Frank U.....to be forgiven is a virtue, I believe.  I know you are hurting for your EPHS football team.
There is always the possibility of a win at Amherst to turn the season around.  A very small one presently, IMO.
Question for old timers.....was Coach Whalen a defensive side coach when he was hired at Williams?
Seems that many of today's newer coaches at all levels come from that side.  At WES, Coach Whalen brought his top assistant with him, an Williams man and he hired the former Yale and Amherst head coach as the OC.  Too lazy to check the bio around the league...just know that the Amherst and Williams coaches are former DCs.
This question also maybe a hint towards the next HFC at Bowdoin.
Last coment....I believe that Continentalsman comments have some history in the CAC...in support.  It happened at Amherst in the '90's and recently at WES...not too sure at Tufts.

[frank uible]

While at Williams Mike Whalen was the offensive line coach. He kept that function after he became Williams' HFC. To forgive is a virtue. To be forgiven is a blessing.

[amh63]

Frank U...thanks for the info!   And the correction.  Blame the error on my most forgiving wife.

[amh63]

Amherst has posted a preview of the Big game with WES this Sat.....a game to be btoadcasted on CPTV according to the Cardinals.

[Nescacman]

Frank U.....to be forgiven is a virtue, I believe.  I know you are hurting for your EPHS football team.
There is always the possibility of a win at Amherst to turn the season around.  A very small one presently, IMO.
Question for old timers.....was Coach Whalen a defensive side coach when he was hired at Williams?
Seems that many of today's newer coaches at all levels come from that side.  At WES, Coach Whalen brought his top assistant with him, an Williams man and he hired the former Yale and Amherst head coach as the OC.  Too lazy to check the bio around the league...just know that the Amherst and Williams coaches are former DCs.
This question also maybe a hint towards the next HFC at Bowdoin.
Last coment....I believe that Continentalsman comments have some history in the CAC...in support.  It happened at Amherst in the '90's and recently at WES...not too sure at Tufts.

Coach W has, for the most part, always been on the offensive side of the ball. Early in his career, he spent some time with the defense, but he is an offensive guy, which is what I believe he played during his college days at Wes. In addition, I believe, Coach W was offensive coordinator (and O-line coach) at Williams prior to being named head coach in 2006. I am sure Frank can confirm that fact.

I would also add that the reason some of the teams exceed the 75 man NESCAC roster limit is due to medical exemptions that teams receive (players are injured, not playing, but are still allowed to stay on the roster). I believe that these are allowed and approved by the league and thus not subject to forfeit, like the Williams situation.

[banfan]

AMH63 your write up on the A website has Wes on an 11 game winning streak. Not a big deal but they are on a 4 game streak.

Go getem Saturday. Keep their streak at 4.

[NothingButNESCAC]

Throw some lines out there for this week and have our full preview up tomorrow morning.

Amherst at Wesleyan (-4)- Home field gives Wesleyan the slight edge, but this game will be close. Two great defenses and offenses that have struggled for big stretches. The wildcat with Devon Carillo is the ace in the hole for Whalen.

Trinity at Bowdoin (-15)- Not thinking that the Bantams are looking past the Bears by any means. Bowdoin is looking to prove they are a different team than the one that got shut out at Williams.

Hamilton at Colby (-5)- Somebody is getting onto the winning part of the standings on Saturday. Think Colby comes out fired up but not sure if they physically the have been able to survive the first half of the schedule

Bates at Middlebury (-6)- Seems like both teams have a tendency to play to their opponents abilities somewhat but we think Middlebury is the better team.

Williams at Tufts (+4)- The two darlings of the beginning of the season now meet with one of them about to turn their season around. Tufts is coming off of a "body blow" game against Trinity.


Also, for the more statistically inclined out there, we have updated our statistics page. Some cool nuggets in there though we don't have the nice interface that makes it easier to spot them. http://nothingbutnescac.com/statistics-3/

[PolarCat]

Breaking news from Brunswick.  Campus is flooded.  Water is coming in under the doors of first floor dorm rooms and classrooms.  Friday classes and labs are cancelled.

Saturday is Homecoming.  And they have a grass field.  MUD BOWL!!!!

[mariner75]

Tufts - Williams game preview is up on the Jumbos site:

http://www.gotuftsjumbos.com/sports/fball/2014-15/releases/williams_preview

[P'bearfan]

http://bowdoinorient.com/article/9577

Interesting article regarding HCOF Caputi's departure in today's Bowdoin Orient.  The following quote from AD Ryan sheds some light on how he evaluates a coach's performance:

According to Ryan, the Athletics Department does not solely determine the success of its programs based on their overall win percentages.

"We evaluate the success of our programs in many different ways," Ryan said. "How successful we are against our competition is a component of that, but it's not near the top. The quality of the students that coaches are able to attract to Bowdoin, the character of those students that they bring to campus, the contributions that our programs make in the campus community and the greater Brunswick community—those types of things, as well as the leadership, technical and organizational skills that our coaches have that will position our students to be successful in terms of wins and losses [are more important]."

Again, best of luck to HCOF Caputi as he figures out his future plans.  Hope he lands somewhere great.

[amh63]

Banfan.....thanks for update.....correction made by SID last night.
Being the parent of a CAC player, maybe you can educate me on today's players' footwear.  Others can "educate" me....slow learner these days.
Anyway...Polarcat posted last night that the field at Bowdoin maybe soft and muddy.  Since Trinity plays on a turf field, is there a footwear change for grass and/ or for a possible wet soft muddy surface?  In my days of leather headwear, there would be cleats....remember those posters...changes.
I inquire since there has been heavy rains in NE.  Two seasons ago, I was in Middletown for the game.
Though it was a clear day, the edges of the playing field was soggy still...by the visitor stands and behind the goal posts.  WES had built a fine stone edge behind the goal posts near the food plaza for their new alumni center.  I deduced the wet field edges to be caused by lack of or inadequate drainage holes.....wife side has landscape architects .  Grass field, soft field, etc....led me to the footwear adjustments of today.  Wonder if Amherst's  coaches held some practices on grass this week.
Got a new book and DVDS in the mail and started walking again....so will be busy.  Oh yes, have been "outsourcing " my house chores recently.

[ECoastFootball]

Banfan.....thanks for update.....correction made by SID last night.
Being the parent of a CAC player, maybe you can educate me on today's players' footwear.  Others can "educate" me....slow learner these days.
Anyway...Polarcat posted last night that the field at Bowdoin maybe soft and muddy.  Since Trinity plays on a turf field, is there a footwear change for grass and/ or for a possible wet soft muddy surface?  In my days of leather headwear, there would be cleats....remember those posters...changes.
I inquire since there has been heavy rains in NE.  Two seasons ago, I was in Middletown for the game.
Though it was a clear day, the edges of the playing field was soggy still...by the visitor stands and behind the goal posts.  WES had built a fine stone edge behind the goal posts near the food plaza for their new alumni center.  I deduced the wet field edges to be caused by lack of or inadequate drainage holes.....wife side has landscape architects .  Grass field, soft field, etc....led me to the footwear adjustments of today.  Wonder if Amherst's  coaches held some practices on grass this week.
Got a new book and DVDS in the mail and started walking again....so will be busy.  Oh yes, have been "outsourcing " my house chores recently.

There are different length cleats. All cleats screw out and new ones can be put in whenever the kids change them. Players tend to be lazy about this, but they will usually all change them and screw in brand new ones before playing on grass.

[PolarCat]

Update from Brunswick:  The sun is shining today and the campus is drying out (somewhat).  I misunderstood my source yesterday: Thursday evening classes and labs were cancelled, but the campus is up and running today.

One possibly important clarification on footwear: While football cleats may have replaceable studs, the soccer cleats (or more properly "boots") worn by kickers do not.  So field conditions can have a disproportionate impact on the kicking game.

Serious soccer players (aka "footballers" on the other side of the pond) have multiple pairs of boots in their kit: firm ground, soft ground, turf and indoor.  I imaging DI kickers do as well.  But I am guessing that most NESCAC kickers only have one set of boots.  The plant foot is pretty critical in kicking, so a muddy field can have a big impact.

P'bear Fan, thanks for the link to the article.  Good to know it was HCOF Caputi's decision to take time off, not the AD's.  It was enlightening to read his comments about the time commitment, and the very nice tribute from the former AD who hired him.  Good reading for all on this board, who are overly quick to excoriate a HCOF.

[PolarCat]

Interesting to follow the discussion on that Bowdoin Orient piece.  Folks are arguing that football should be eliminated altogether and the budget reallocated to teams with winning records.