FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[westcoastDad]

I know that each school has their own alumni/network.  But, is there a NESCAC alumni football  network? Or NESCAC alumni athletes network?

Big advantage in gaining these doggone internships if one has a friendly advocate! 

[WesCardPlayer]

Wesleyan's highlight film from the win over Amherst: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1389640661060352&id=216547155036381&_rdr

Also, regarding Hamilton and the Liberty League, I'd peg the chances of the Continentals leaving the NESCAC at approximately zero. Hamilton would have done so 5 years ago when they made the decision to move all sports to a single conference. They chose the NESCAC, despite longer bus rides and more expense, likely for multiple reasons, including both athletic and academic competition. NESCAC dominates the Director's Cup and academic rankings, and being in the league is a recruiting asset (though the Liberty League is a great league as well, and has many fine institutions under its banner).

[lumbercat]

NESCAC BETTING LINES 10/29:

@Trinity -5 Middlebury

@Wesleyan -21 Bowdoin

@Bates -2 Colby

@Williams -3 Hamilton

Amherst -6 @Tufts

[gridiron]

Polarcat--thanks for kudos on the victory formation...

Expecting/hoping for some closer contests this week.  Here's my take:

Colby -1 @ Bates.  Coach Michaeles returns to his alma mater, where he has difficulty winning.  However, Colby prevails in a close one in the battle for the "Best of the Rest".

Bowdoin +24 @ Wesleyan.  The Cards are feeling their oats right now, and feast on weak teams.  The Polar Bears are no exception.

Middlebury +6 @ Trinity.  The NESCAC champion is decided in Hartford Saturday. The ever pass-happy Panthers are brought down to earth by hard-nosed, in the trenches football. 

Tufts +3 @ Amherst.  In a battle  which will determine the "Bottom of the Best" Amherst squeaks out a close victory—if the game was in Medford, the results would be reversed.

Williams +1 @ Hamilton.  The Ephs know this is their final chance to earn a victory this season.  Ultimately, the Continentals get past the purple in a mistake laden contest.

[gridiron]

Lumbercat---great summation of the tailgating venues. Agreed all three CBB venues ensure a great tailgating experience. Only a couple of comments to add.

Amherst was a MUCH nicer experience for visiting fans prior to the new field completion.
The Williams gestapo approach you reference is very real.  Unfortunate, as it puts a damper on the atmosphere, at least for the visiting fans.
Was worried Middlebury would become the same as Williams, but their more gentile approach affords great tailgating nonetheless.
Hamilton is a nice venue to tailgate and enjoy the game.  Close proximity to the field.

[Grabowski]

NESCAC BETTING LINES 10/29:
@Trinity -5 Middlebury
@Wesleyan -21 Bowdoin
@Bates -2 Colby
@Williams -3 Hamilton
Amherst -6 @Tufts

Well placed Trin-Midd line, came up heads so Bantams.
Wes -21, only slight fear of the back door cover.
Despite Colby's new play calling arrangement, I'll stick with the Bobcats giving two.
The kudos the board has given Raymond combined with a couple weeks in a row of "good losses" lead me to Williams giving three.
While I think Amherst will win, six is too many to ignore:  Jumbos +6

Good lines LC

[JumbosMom]

Regarding the tailgate situation: Tufts is difficult because of parking. Tufts parents recently moved to a different area and it's working well so maybe next year they will cconsider moving visitors up to the area home did use and it's right across from entrance to the stadium.  Trinity is awful attending with some elderly relatives asking them to hike back and forth to that stadium was a challenge! What a great idea for a shuttle for a fee! Amherst is not any better they have you down in front of a gym and you have to walk about a 1/4 mile to the field. There always seems to be plenty of room where the home folks tailgate that they could share the space so it really feels like they do it on purpose. I find it interesting that Williams doesn't allow alcohol in but they sell it. It's a Fix!

Best of luck to all teams this weekend. I think Mid will take Trin and Tufts will take Amherst-

[hamgrand]

Setting the record straight. At the Williams Colby game they did not sell alcohol. More importantly you could bring alcohol and drink in your designated tailgating area. And campus police were great and didn't give anyone a hard time.

The Middlebury/Williams game was my first trip to Williams in 6 years of watching NESCAC football.  When we pulled into the tailgate parking lot, the rental security asked us if we had any alcohol or cans?  I made a rookie mistake.  I told them I had no alcohol but I had a few cans of Diet Coke and seltzer. They made me take some cans of Diet Coke and seltzer out of my cooler.  Luckily they did not look over my shoulder and I only handed over a few cans of each.  They told me I could pick them up on the way out.😳

Plastic bottles are ok - but you can't bring in cans?? 

Reminded of the old Steve Martin move.  "They must hate cans!"

What I learned from the experience - just lie.

[lumbercat]

The Colby discussion of Michaeles calling the plays or not calling the plays is unclear (and overworked) to me. All the talk on the board seems to indicate that the new Mule OC called the plays last week for the first time and the Mule offense had their best game of the year.

Further, all of the problems with the Colby offense have been attributed to the fact that Michales has refused to give up control of the offense and continues to "call the plays".

Does anybody know that for a fact? I wouldn't know first hand -I haven't seen a Mules game in person this year.

However,  from what I can gather from contacts around the league Micheales  has worn a headset all year and the OC has been up in the booth all year. The consensus from posters clad in Hawaiian Blue and Grey must be that the former D1A OC was just identifying schemes and tendencies and not calling plays.

That's nonsense- the new OC has been involved in play calling since day.

That's my take but maybe someone has specific knowledge on the situation which I may have missed. Its pretty standard protocol to have the OC upstairs sending the calls down. In this scenario there can be discussion or changes but the OC upstairs is "calling the plays".

I'm not directly involved, just my 2 cents, maybe somebody will say definitively that this is not the case but doesn't add up for me.

From those with knowledge of the situation in Waterville the bigger issue may be the knee jerk kind of reactions that have taken place within the program after the early spell of blowout losses this year. This may be the greater problem for the program along with the indication that the current staff has been issued a benchmark from the Hll which the program needs to achieve to extend their tenure beyond this year. Situations like this tend to create a lot of tension and pressure.

[lumbercat]

OK, so Michaeles and the OC have been in the same place for every game-    did they stop talking last week?

Can I suggest that the plays are sent in from the sideline but as long as the sideline is connected upstairs they are both involved in the play calling process-but most of the calls come down from the OC.

The only way I would be convinced that Michaeles had nothing to do with play calling last week would be if he took the headphones off and stepped away totally form the process....did you observe that this was the case? I wasn't there.

[UfanBill]

I'd like to thank the NESCAC posters who joined the discussion I started about Hamilton possibly joining the Liberty League. The sole purpose of my post was to get some reaction from people that know the NESCAC, and Hamilton, best and I learned from the replies. I have NO knowledge that either the LL or Hamilton College has entertained any such thoughts. Some of you tend to agree that it makes sense while others insist it won't happen. As a Union fan and LL supporter I would like to see the LL survive and flourish and it occurred to me that maybe Hamilton joining the LL would be mutually beneficial. I'm certainly aware that Hamilton once played Union and other NYS teams. After all they're located smack dab in the middle of the state. I played in and attended some of those games. I've also been reminded that Hamilton was a Liberty League member in many sports until recently and possibly turned down full membership including football to confirm it's status in the NESCAC. As for whether that is a revocable decision only time will tell. The LL will probably figure out a way to survive, quite possibly by merging with the Empire 8 to form a NYS super conference. Hamilton might be the ONLY upstate New York State D3 football team NOT in it. That certainly is their perogative. I wish them success, something they haven't had much of in the NESCAC.

[JumbosMom]

Question for RetiredMule. The OC did the play calling in the last game, and the change was obvious. He seems to be a quality OC. But my limited sources (lol) tell me that he embarrasses the younger coaches in front of the players. He talks disparagingly about one in particular during meetings and on the field. If this true he is bad news for any team. Can you confirm any of this?

Sorry to disagree but Freshman year they confiscated our coolers of alcohol and then sold beer in red cups

[ColbyFootballDad]

Colby has a lack of depth and lots of young players and lose the battle on the line due to youth and lack of depth and limited options  after losing Harrington.  Stacking 8 in the BOX will no longer work but they will have the occasional brain fart but the young QB can play. That is all. The OC and HC Colby lost the starting veteran Quarterback in the 1st game of the season. The OC is new and last week was the first week the offense looked prepared since the loss of the starting qb. They toyed with the better athlete at QB but settled on a promising and healthly freshman. BTW, Freshman won the first game of the season with an impressive drive.  They will get better on offense each of the next 3 weeks and win 2 out of the last 3. If they continue improving the recruited athletes and  add more depth it will pay off. #BTP

Colby has good athletes at the skilled positions but the lines are young and in some cases small, weak or both with no depth.  The new OC and coach have something to work with in the freshman and I predict as I did at the beginning of the season. Colby 4-4 and an outright CBB. I hope they play Tufts closer than Wes, AM, and Mid. They will beat Bates and Bowdoin as they did Hamilton and Williams.

[hamfan88]

I agree that recruiting will alleviate a team's offensive struggles before a genius play caller will.

I've heard on this board that Colby's online has struggled (though they looked like a better match physically against Hamilton). I'd go on a limb to say that it's impossible to cover up a weak offensive line with play calls.

With a struggling o line you can't run the ball. Running the ball sets up play action, which becomes wholly ineffective if you can't get anything done on the ground. Not being able to run on 1st and second down puts teams in predictable 3rd and long situations, making defensive  play calls a breeze.

In terms of the pass game, if the line struggles you can't attack down field with 5-7 step drop route concepts because the line can't give your QB enough time, so you're limited to quick, short throws.

Given those ramblings above I'd challenge someone to come up with a winning game plan given the shortcomings that accompany a struggling o line. Again, it brings us back to the X's and O's v. Jimmy and Joe's convo. I think the guys you have up front are the more important piece here.

[Nescacman]

Week 6 NESCAC Weekly Power Rankings

1. Hartford State (5-0, LW: 1): The Bants continue to roll. HS is on a collision course with Wes for the NESCAC title in two weeks. HS is the top offensive team in the 'CAC averaging 37 PPG (they have scored between 36-38 points in every game this year) and almost 500 yards of total offense. They are the number one rushing team in the conference. Their defense is not too bad either....they are the number 3 team in team defense. Last week they beat down an over matched Bowdoin squad by 38-7. The score was 31-0 before HC Devanney called off the dogs.

2. Wesleyan (4-1, LW: 3): Moves up another spot in the rankings as they win impressively at home against Amherst. This was a statement game for Wes as they pretty much dominated the FKA LJ's...it was Wes' first shutout of the Amherst since 1988, they only allowed Amherst 11 yards rushing, Wes had 5 int's, and they had 5 sacks. The Cards go for another C-B-B title this week against Bowdoin for the title. Wes is #2 in the nation in total defense, #2 in scoring defense, #1 in red zone defense, and #2 in 3rd down percentage defense. They are #1 in the NESCAC in total defense, scoring defense and most importantly, #1 in turnover differential. Wes is #3 in total offense and scoring offense. essentially, they are the mirror image of Hartford State.

3. Middlebury (5-0, LW: 2): Bates made it interesting for a half against Middlebury, only trailing 14-9 at the half (Bates actually led 9-0 at the end of the 1st quarter). It took 56 passes from QB Lebowtiz (completing 6 or more passes to 4 different players) to get the win. Middlebury will have their hands full this week as they travel to Hartford State to face the Bants.

4 (tie). Tufts (4-1, LW: 5): Tufts beat a hapless Eph squad in a game that was much closer than the score would indicate. Chance Brady (IOO the best RB in the league and NESCAC offensive POTW) led the way with 165 yards rushing and 4 TDs. Tufts is 5th in the league in Total O and Total D. Should be interesting to see how Brady does this week against a stout Amherst rushing defense. Tufts has an outside (but not likely) chance at the league title.

4 (tie). Amherst (3-2, LW: 4): Disappointing dismantling at the hands of arch rival Wes last week. The score could have been much worse. We think a lot of the issues this year with the Amherst offense are a result of a very mediocre and not very Amherst like offensive line. They have an excellent defense but the issues on offense are a deal breaker. FKA LJs will not be in the mix for the NESCAC title for the first time since 2012.

6. University of Bates (Lewiston Campus)(1-4, LW: 6): First week of "Battle of the Midgets" this week...aka the C-B-B. We think Bates will be very competitive against the weak sisters of the NESCAC. Bates played Middlebury tough for a half last week.

7. Colby (2-3, LW: 7): Beat up on the second worst team in the league last week only allowing 8 yards rushing to the Conts. Looks like the Mules are committed to O'Brien at QB now and have shifted Sparacio to RB.

8. Williams (0-5, LW:8): Former HCOF Kelton 0-8 at Shorter (they have lost the last 2 weeks by a combined score of 81-0). Current and former Eph HCOF's are 0-13. Meanwhile, St. Lawrence is 7-0. Williams last chance at a win in 2016 will come in this week against Hamilton. Williams is allowing over 30 points a game, nearly 400 yards against, and has thrown the most INTs (10).

9. Hamilton (1-4, LW: 9): Crushing defeat for the Conts last week against Colby. Hamilton needs to hold onto the ball more to be competitive. They are last in the league in turnover differential.

10. Bowdoin (0-5, LW: 10): They are last in the NESCAC in Total D and Total O. This week could be very ugly in Middletown.