FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[polbear73]

Was at the Bowdoin v Trinity game this weekend though I spent most of my time at the Basketball team cookout.

Tough game for the Polar Bears as Trinity is an impressive team.  I caught some of the second half and it was nice to see Tim Drakeley get some PT.  He was able to move the team nicely on a few drives.  Still many growing pains as we saw some head scratching situations:

-Early in the 3rd period Bowdoin was driving down the field and Drakeley threw a long fade down the left sideline to one his receivers on first down.  It was a nice match up but the pass was incomplete.  Apparently the coaching staff really liked that match up b/c they ran the same exact play on 2nd and 3rd downs - unfortunately with the same result.

-A little later Bowdoin's defense forced Trinity to punt but the Bowdoin player called for a fair catch - on his own 1 yard line.  Yikes!

The Polar Bears have a number of young players who may help them in the coming years but there is lots of work to be done.

GoUBears!!

One expects Bowdoin to be on the short end of the physical mismatches, especially against a team like Trinity.  It's the mental mistakes and questionable play calling that the Polar Bears can ill afford and make a bad situation much worse.  Hopefully the young talent will benefit from a lot of playing time this year, but it seems that Bowdoin is a "young team' every year.  I have no doubt that Coach Wells has these kids playing hard; they have to start playing smart. 

[JEFFFAN]

Agree Jefffan.  Parents can and will be very biased.  And if you read my posts u should easily see that I stay away from that and stick to the facts.

Before the game versus Wesleyan, I stated that we haven't played anyone as well balanced yet as Wesleyan.  Also stated that if we hadn't made any adjustments to our running game that we will be exposed. 

Those comments have ZERO to do with having breakfast with players.  In fact, I think that the only fact I tried to let on from that interaction was that they were a good group of kids looking forward to their spring semesters abroad. 

Island Time has given u much more insight from a "parent's perspective" than I have lol.  But, what he says is interesting and has nothing to do with the position his kid plays.

Your points about the OL and DBs are spot on.  There's no doubt that also having a 3rd string QB and little running game hurts.   

I don't think anyone on this board has been hard on EJ Mills.  If so, I havent seen it outside of some wondering where the speed is. 

I told my son tonight.....one finds out themselves in adversity.  That winning every game tho a dream isn't really going to help he and his teammates as much as adversity will.  Now the class of 2017 and 2018 get to show what they are made of.

Injuries have hurt them alot though this year.  It is what it is

But, please don't start the bias parent crap.  It's funny because one poster questioned whether I even had a kid playing.  Now,  u question whether I can be unbiased lol.

For my son's sake.....I cannot say anything about his position on this board.  That would be dumb on my part and unfair to him.

But, I can comment about many of the things that u guys discuss.  If u sense bias....please point it out.

Go Pioneers!

Don't take it personal, westcoastdad.  it is a comment directed at all of us who had kids play sports in college.  I am five years removed now from a run of 12 years in a row watching three kids play a sport in which, God bless em, they each played every game during their four years.   Mom's talent.   No matter how hard I tried, or my peer parents tried, objectivity wasn't in the mix.   Just doesn't work that way if we are interested parents.

And to nescacman ...EJ Mills is on my Mt Rushmore of Amherst coaches alongside Darp, Hixon, and the women's basketball coach.  The man has done an outstanding job at Amherst and we are very, very fortunate to have him.

[WesCardPlayer]

Wow!  I must say that I walked right by the soccer game at the start.  Our game had ended.  The rain was coming down pretty good.  I thought to myself....these guys don't even have on raincoats....the ones not playing.  They were so into the game.  It had just started.  I watched for 10 minutes.  Glad to hear we came back and won.  But, also glad to see some of it in person. 

Still doesn't make sense to me tho that it was their Homecoming yet students were on break.

And I don't understand why NESCAC has so many activities at the same time of day? 

Hard to get student support. Smh.

Wesleyan usually has a combined Family + Homecoming Weekend that is scheduled for the home Little 3 game. The break schedule is generated separately, and rarely, fall break falls on that game. In that case, Homecoming is kept on weekend of the Little 3 game, and family weekend is pushed to another home game.

[amh63]

FrankU....Amherst "formal" mascot status alert/update.   Just got an Amherst e-mail from the school to join the alums, students, faculty, staff to help the Designated Amherst Mascot Commitee pick a mascot.  Effort to bring everyone together and "follow the yellow brick road".  Last sentence is my editorial interpretation...not all of it, just the yellow road part.
Good grief!  Yes a Charlie Brown one.  A formal committee directed by the Trustees to get it done...students from the class of '16....now alums.  Faculty???  The faculty has more important things to do and are paid to do, like teaching.  Staff?? Librarians are staff, but are coaches staff.  Aware that caferteria and building crews are staff.  Almost a year and no output from the committee.  Almost like some Congressional committees!  Oops too political for this board.

[nescac1]

Here is the link to the Amherst mascot submission process.  Alas, only those with an Amherst login can participate.  Otherwise, I imagine Williams folks might have a few choice ideas ...

https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/mascot

The best suggestion I've seen here was the Purple Haze.  Lock it down, that will be a finalist ... that would be pretty bad-ass I think. 

A few bright spots in what has been a (predictably) dismal season for the Ephs ...

-- playing behind a patchwork and inexperienced offensive line, two frosh QBs have each had a few bright moments.  It will be interesting to see how Cahill and Dunham perform the rest of the way.  Will Coach Raymond bring in a stud frosh QB to take over the program, or will one or both show enough as frosh to emerge as the Ephs' QB of the future, while Raymond focus on the (many other) holes in the roster?

-- Connor Harris and Noah Sorrento have been a very effective 1-2 punch at RB, each averaging over 4 ypc while splitting nearly every meaningful carry this season, and without a tremendous passing game to help them.  The Ephs badly need some talented depth behind them, but going into next year they could form a very effective TB duo if the blocking up front improves. 

-- WR has not been a position of strength, but in the last two games big TE/WR Tyler Patterson has emerged as a downfield weapon, totalling an impressive 241 receiving yards and 3 TDs.  Only a sophomore, he is a name to watch the next two years.  The Ephs don't have much else in the way of down-the-field threats, just a few possession receivers, and this is an area where a few star incoming frosh could REALLY help right away.  The Ephs need speed speed speed on each side of the ball. 

-- The Ephs' defense has been pretty well shredded by the stronger running attacks in NESCAC.   The DL starts two sophomores and two juniors so hopefully they will improve with age, but the Ephs really need to bolster the defensive front in a major way.  The defensive backfield has a few interesting young players.  Frosh Luke Apuzzi has made a big impact at safety in the two games he has started since returning from injury, and frosh corner Ben Anthony has acquitted himself well for a first-year corner.  Those two guys should be two defensive cornerstones to build around, along with sophomore defensive end Jameson DeMarco, who looks like a talented edge rusher. 

-- The Ephs have only seven seniors playing substantial roles right now, three on offense, four on defense.  It's hard to succeed with such a small and non-impactful senior class.  If Raymond can replace that group with a large and talented frosh class next year, including at least 2-3 guys on each side of the ball who can play and play well immediately, the Ephs should be a far more competitve football team.  That's a big if, but fingers crossed! 

[Pat Coleman]

I have no interest in getting involved in this "who's a football player" imbroglio... but, c'mon, Polarcat; your son is ...

So hey, I don't know how many message boards you're a member of, but it's exceedingly poor form to do that, especially with your first post on the board. Better rethink some things.

[frank uible]

Damned if I would send my child to a college using the Purple Haze as a nickname!

[JEFFFAN]

Damned if I would send my child to a college using the Purple Haze as a nickname!

It has no shot so you are good to go.  Nescac1 (I believe) pointed me to a Wikipedia definition of Purple Haze as being an especially strong brand of marijuana when the idea first surfaced months ago. 

Never mind ....

[Vandy74]

There has been a lot of discussion on this board about coaches and turning noncompetitive programs around.  When James Franklin arrived at Vanderbilt in 2011 the Commodores had gone a typical 2-10 the previous season and were often referred to by their fan base as the Commodes.  Franklin was in Nashville for three seasons before taking the job at Penn St.   His COMMODORES went 6-7, 9-4 and 9-4 playing in three bowl games and winning two of them.  That's the equivalent of a coach taking over at Hamilton and going 4-4, 6-2 and 6-2 in his first three seasons.  I used to enjoy watching his post game press conferences.  Following last Saturday's PSU upset of The Ohio State I decided to watch one again.  Penn State has always been my favorite DI team.  When you are a Vandy alum you need a football safety school. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvT4tIRBN_0   

www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/football/mc-penn-state-football-ohio-state-follow-20161023-story.html

As for the new Amherst mascot I've always liked the anagram idea but not as the Hamsters.  À la Stanford, The Hamster.

[Grabowski]

Not sure I'm the guy that should be doing this, but here are some early lines for this coming weekend (home team in CAPS):

TRIN by 3.5 over midd
WES by 21.5 over bowdoin
BATES by 1 over colby
AMH by 2 over tufts
williams by 4 over HAMILTON

Let's hope we get some tight games Saturday.  For a change, it looks like we should.  Then again, the two that looked good last week did not meet expectations...

[westcoastDad]

WesCardPlayer

Thanks for insight.  But to be clear, are u saying the kids were or were not on break?

I was told that for Homecoming two years ago there were hundress of rowdy students to harass the Amherst team as they came down the hill.  Yesterday, I didn't see many students.  Mostly alumi it seemed.



quote author=WesCardPlayer link=topic=4146.msg1762653#msg1762653 date=1477322787]

Wow!  I must say that I walked right by the soccer game at the start.  Our game had ended.  The rain was coming down pretty good.  I thought to myself....these guys don't even have on raincoats....the ones not playing.  They were so into the game.  It had just started.  I watched for 10 minutes.  Glad to hear we came back and won.  But, also glad to see some of it in person. 

Still doesn't make sense to me tho that it was their Homecoming yet students were on break.

And I don't understand why NESCAC has so many activities at the same time of day? 

Hard to get student support. Smh.

Wesleyan usually has a combined Family + Homecoming Weekend that is scheduled for the home Little 3 game. The break schedule is generated separately, and rarely, fall break falls on that game. In that case, Homecoming is kept on weekend of the Little 3 game, and family weekend is pushed to another home game.
[/quote]

[westcoastDad]

Olepolecat, they cut off your comment directed at PolarCat.  Must have been something that made sense! It's the first censored comment that I've witnessed in 3 quick years lol.

JEFFFAN? I had to take it "personal".  U used words from passage.  Doesn't get more direct than that home skillet.

And please forgive any typos that can lead to grammatical confusion.  A board member inboxed me as if he were my 7th grade English teacher.

Spell check, auto correct and usually responding via a normal sized smartphone  (versus having the time to sit at a laptop) all add to sometimes choppy comments. 

But, in the world (the new world) of 140 characters or less..... we just try to get the message across.

No more SAT/ACT proctoring please!  Lol

Too funny

[IslandTime]

I think I mentioned it previously, but I read a great historical article on the formation of Amherst College and how the students and faculty of Williams College labeled those breaking away and forming Amherst as "The DEFECTORS".

That is my vote....which carries absolutely zero weight. But it is certainly tougher sounding and more historically relevant than the "Frost", "Moose" or "Haze"....

And JeffFan.....if you cant involve personal feelings when discussing football....then why bother at all. Sounds boring otherwise. And just for the record, EJ Mills and his staff were enormous factors in why my son chose Amherst over other NESCAC schools as well as the schools down south that were interested. They have my unwavering support and admiration for the program they run.

However, if this is not a place to play a little arm chair quarterbacking, and hold discussion on the what-ifs of the games that are played, then my time here might be brief.

Go DEFECTORS!!!

[JEFFFAN]

I think I mentioned it previously, but I read a great historical article on the formation of Amherst College and how the students and faculty of Williams College labeled those breaking away and forming Amherst as "The DEFECTORS".

That is my vote....which carries absolutely zero weight. But it is certainly tougher sounding and more historically relevant than the "Frost", "Moose" or "Haze"....

And JeffFan.....if you cant involve personal feelings when discussing football....then why bother at all. Sounds boring otherwise. And just for the record, EJ Mills and his staff were enormous factors in why my son chose Amherst over other NESCAC schools as well as the schools down south that were interested. They have my unwavering support and admiration for the program they run.

However, if this is not a place to play a little arm chair quarterbacking, and hold discussion on the what-ifs of the games that are played, then my time here might be brief.

Go DEFECTORS!!!

No argument at all, IslandTime.  My only comment is that I think all of us parents have a bias that makes true objectivity hard.   So please don't stop posting and same for westcoastdad and others.  It just seems better to admit our bias.   My bias is clear - I am a diehard Jeff fan and always have been!

As to the mascot, how about the Lord Jeffs?

Oh, wait ...

[Nescacman]

Here is the link to the Amherst mascot submission process.  Alas, only those with an Amherst login can participate.  Otherwise, I imagine Williams folks might have a few choice ideas ...

https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/mascot

The best suggestion I've seen here was the Purple Haze.  Lock it down, that will be a finalist ... that would be pretty bad-ass I think. 

A few bright spots in what has been a (predictably) dismal season for the Ephs ...

-- playing behind a patchwork and inexperienced offensive line, two frosh QBs have each had a few bright moments.  It will be interesting to see how Cahill and Dunham perform the rest of the way.  Will Coach Raymond bring in a stud frosh QB to take over the program, or will one or both show enough as frosh to emerge as the Ephs' QB of the future, while Raymond focus on the (many other) holes in the roster?

-- Connor Harris and Noah Sorrento have been a very effective 1-2 punch at RB, each averaging over 4 ypc while splitting nearly every meaningful carry this season, and without a tremendous passing game to help them.  The Ephs badly need some talented depth behind them, but going into next year they could form a very effective TB duo if the blocking up front improves. 

-- WR has not been a position of strength, but in the last two games big TE/WR Tyler Patterson has emerged as a downfield weapon, totalling an impressive 241 receiving yards and 3 TDs.  Only a sophomore, he is a name to watch the next two years.  The Ephs don't have much else in the way of down-the-field threats, just a few possession receivers, and this is an area where a few star incoming frosh could REALLY help right away.  The Ephs need speed speed speed on each side of the ball. 

-- The Ephs' defense has been pretty well shredded by the stronger running attacks in NESCAC.   The DL starts two sophomores and two juniors so hopefully they will improve with age, but the Ephs really need to bolster the defensive front in a major way.  The defensive backfield has a few interesting young players.  Frosh Luke Apuzzi has made a big impact at safety in the two games he has started since returning from injury, and frosh corner Ben Anthony has acquitted himself well for a first-year corner.  Those two guys should be two defensive cornerstones to build around, along with sophomore defensive end Jameson DeMarco, who looks like a talented edge rusher. 

-- The Ephs have only seven seniors playing substantial roles right now, three on offense, four on defense.  It's hard to succeed with such a small and non-impactful senior class.  If Raymond can replace that group with a large and talented frosh class next year, including at least 2-3 guys on each side of the ball who can play and play well immediately, the Ephs should be a far more competitve football team.  That's a big if, but fingers crossed!

Nescac1...two words for you....HCOF KELTON