FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[JEFFFAN]

I agree with your sentiment, but not sure I would use "start up" to describe the Bowdoin program.  Bowdoin has played football since 1889 (120 seasons), and the Bowdoin-Colby rivalry is the third oldest in Division 3, dating back to 1892, while the Bowdoin-Bates rivalry is the 10th longest, dating back to 1889.  (And no, I don't have any idea how a rivalry dating to 1892 can be "longer" than one dating to 1889.  But then I didn't have the advantage of Common Core growing up).   http://athletics.bowdoin.edu/sports/fball/about

My mistake on the language and appreciate the clarification/correction.  More referring to a start-up in terms of only a few winning seasons over a pretty long period of time.   Even though I am an Amherst fan, I have also respected Bowdoin and would love to see them get better.  Williams?  Not so much!

[PolarCat]

Dear Mr. CAPS LOCK:  There's a big difference between 63-14 and 43-14.  A YUGE difference as WCD's buddy #45 would say.

And instead of Panthers taking selfies of themselves gloating under the scoreboard, they were out at the 50, taking selfies with their Bobcats counterparts. 

One team shows respect and class.  The other doesn't.  Simple as that.  Cheer, boys, cheer.

[Hamiltonian]

Here's a perspective from a team on the short end of blowouts.  Based on my experience at the games Hamilton has played so far, I would rank the teams with the worst behavior (i.e. disrespecting and showing up the losing team, coach behavior etc.) as follows:

1.  Amherst. By far.

2.  Wesleyan.

3.  Trinity. Well below the other two.

[PolarCat]

I didn't think Hamilton had been blown out this year?

[Hamiltonian]

I don't know. Maybe you're right.  36-6, 31-9, 41-13.  Do they qualify?

[Vandy74]

Dear Mr. CAPS LOCK:  There's a big difference between 63-14 and 43-14.  A YUGE difference as WCD's buddy #45 would say.

And instead of Panthers taking selfies of themselves gloating under the scoreboard, they were out at the 50, taking selfies with their Bobcats counterparts. 

One team shows respect and class.  The other doesn't.  Simple as that.  Cheer, boys, cheer.

Thanks PolarCat.  I've been too busy to respond to this malarky.  Flockster, fyi, Middlebury not only gave their #2 QB plenty of playing time after Lebowitz left the game, but did the same for QBs 3 and 4 as well.  Lebowitz left, because of injury, about three minutes into the 2nd Q.  QB #4 scored the only TD of the 4th Q with 5:18 remaining.  He did it on a 55 yard run from scrimmage.  In fact, the last TD the Panthers scored through the air was at the 11:27 mark of the 2nd Q.  Jack Meservy was the QB.  The last time the Panthers played airball was with about 10 minutes remaining in the game.  They had the ball for the final 1:31.  Starting from their own 30 yard line they ran it four times.  Each time it was the #3 RB on the depth chart who carried it.  Get your facts straight.   

[PolarCat]

Compared to 51-0 or 63-14, I'd say "no".  But maybe there's an official definition of a blowout and 36-6 qualifies. 
TB12 just took a knee up 23-7, but that felt like a solid win, not an embarrassment for the opponent.

[Hamiltonian]

Although the Falcons should be and probably are embarrassed.  And especially their coach who went for it on 4th and 7 at the end of the first half and gave Brady a chance for another score before the half ended. 

[P'bearfan]

The Bowdoin President should refuse Bowdoin's future participation in football games with Trinity.

I think the Bowdoin President should wake up and recognize that his College has a football program and provide it with the necessary support and resources to enable it to be competitive within a league of its peers. This is embarrassing and unacceptable.

Agreed , +K.  Hopefully Bowdoin will be able to field a competitive team soon.  A winning program can create a terrific sense of community for the student body and alumni.

[amh63]

Heading home in a few hours.  Had a warm but enjoyable weekend in NY, in the Berkshire and in Amherst.  Nice Fall colors, dining with old friends....emphasis on old....family and classmates.
The sporting events turned out well for Amherst's teams....saw a few and chatted with a few coaches too!  Some particular comments.
PolarCat....met the Special team/ DL coach at breakfest.  Talked about Lax, Wresting and Kicking.  He thinks highly of the Bates' Kicker.  Me, wished we had him in the Wes game!  Wes blocked TWO field goals!
At the Women's soccer field...early in the game with the score tied, I saw former Wes HFC Whalen and a former Wes asst. coach who was also a former HC at Amherst and Yale. Shook hands with them and chatted a little Wes=Amherst football.  Seems the last two times Wes won at Amherst was the last time I shook Wahlen's hand and congratulated him and the first season of the former HC of Amherst.
Luckily, I soon left for Pratt Field.
At the game I looked early and at halftime for WCD...missed him.  Sat at the end zone area with several classmates with feet on the wall watching the game and talking about games past and football injuries.  Both classmates played football...starters...HB and OL.  Not me!,..only Frat touch football.
JEFFFAN....thanks for your response to a particular poster's faulty analysis. 
WCD...did hear from a number of Amherst's fans wrt the pass interference calls in the last quarter.  Total agreement.  Learned that one of the criteria for such a call is that the pass has to be catchable.
Appeared the Wes QB was throwing to the sidelines and hoping for a call.

[NESCAC.Football.Observer]

JEFFFAN....thanks for your response to a particular poster's faulty analysis. 

You guys are too much.  The LJ running game s*cks right now, and if you think getting 49 yards on 35 carries against Wesleyan (who gave up about 257 rushing yards to Bates) is making Tufts, Trinity, and Williams quake in their boots...  then you guys are delusional.

I'm calling it here.... the LJ's lose to Tufts and Trnity, and fail to rush for 100 yards in either game.  (Unless, of course, they give it to Hickey 25 times, then all bets are off.) 

Eph game is TBD as a healthy Williams teams would overwhelm the LJ's... but the Ephs have no depth, so it'll be interesting to see how healthy Williams is going into the last game.

Healthy Williams team... LJ's have no shot.  Too much Eph team speed on both sides of the ball.

[ColbyFootball]

Dear Mr. CAPS LOCK:  There's a big difference between 63-14 and 43-14.  A YUGE difference as WCD's buddy #45 would say.

And instead of Panthers taking selfies of themselves gloating under the scoreboard, they were out at the 50, taking selfies with their Bobcats counterparts. 

One team shows respect and class.  The other doesn't.  Simple as that.  Cheer, boys, cheer.

Thanks PolarCat.  I've been too busy to respond to this malarky.  Flockster, fyi, Middlebury not only gave their #2 QB plenty of playing time after Lebowitz left the game, but did the same for QBs 3 and 4 as well.  Lebowitz left, because of injury, about three minutes into the 2nd Q.  QB #4 scored the only TD of the 4th Q with 5:18 remaining.  He did it on a 55 yard run from scrimmage.  In fact, the last TD the Panthers scored through the air was at the 11:27 mark of the 2nd Q.  Jack Meservy was the QB.  The last time the Panthers played airball was with about 10 minutes remaining in the game.  They had the ball for the final 1:31.  Starting from their own 30 yard line they ran it four times.  Each time it was the #3 RB on the depth chart who carried it.  Get your facts straight.

I will again come to the defense of the Trinity coach. They were blowing out Colby in game 1 and took a knee around Colby's 5 yard line with little time left. I will say it again. That is a Fact. It seems the last Trinity score against Bates was payback for something before or during the game.

And what I find ironic is that I get bashed endlessly for pointing out the shortcomings (no pun intended) of Michaeles as a coach, when I have solid facts of lack of offensive production and wins and losses. That is a fact.

And as for Saturday's Hamilton game, close isn't good enough. Here's a fact about Saturday's 2 HCs, Murray's team went down 17-0 yet found a way to come back and win, and Michaeles' team went up 17-0 and found a way to lose.

Final facts, Colby is 0-6, and has scored 51 points the entire season.

So when you call me a Michaeles hater, look in the mirror when you trash Trinity's coach without knowing all of the facts.

[BantamMom]

Here's a perspective from a team on the short end of blowouts.  Based on my experience at the games Hamilton has played so far, I would rank the teams with the worst behavior (i.e. disrespecting and showing up the losing team, coach behavior etc.) as follows:

1.  Amherst. By far.

2.  Wesleyan.

3.  Trinity. Well below the other two.

Thank you!  My son has graduated(15), but the things the Wesleyan team wrote on the chalkboard in the visiting locker room were extremely classless.  The board was actually photographed and used for fodder the next season.. Not sure if it's still around, but I am pretty sure I have a digital copy in the cloud somewhere. 

People have to remember the depth that Trinity has on their bench - when these former high school all-stars finally get in a game they want to play hard and prove themselves so they get noticed.  It's tough to ask them to not try - and yeah, maybe they shouldn't score, but when they get to the 3 yard line...  Most of these kids are very competitive or they would not have wound up on the roster at TRINITY.  (plus, mom & dad come to every game and never see them on the field - they probably want to make em' proud).  Other than that scoreboard photo, I have always been very proud of how the team conducts themselves and interacts with the opposing team.

[JEFFFAN]

JEFFFAN....thanks for your response to a particular poster's faulty analysis. 

You guys are too much.  The LJ running game s*cks right now, and if you think getting 49 yards on 35 carries against Wesleyan (who gave up about 257 rushing yards to Bates) is making Tufts, Trinity, and Williams quake in their boots...  then you guys are delusional.

I'm calling it here.... the LJ's lose to Tufts and Trnity, and fail to rush for 100 yards in either game.  (Unless, of course, they give it to Hickey 25 times, then all bets are off.) 

Eph game is TBD as a healthy Williams teams would overwhelm the LJ's... but the Ephs have no depth, so it'll be interesting to see how healthy Williams is going into the last game.

Healthy Williams team... LJ's have no shot.  Too much Eph team speed on both sides of the ball.

Let's not let the facts get in the way of a good storyline!   Amherst is second in the league in rushing at 188 yards, behind still undefeated Trinity which is cranking in at 212 yards per game.   But second in the league in rushing isn't too bad.

But they haven't played anyone!  Well ...

In the two games that Trinity played with a winning record (Williams and Tufts), they rushed for 314 yards in total.   In the two games that Amherst played with a winning record (Middlebury and Wesleyan), the Jeffs ran for ... wait for it, wait for it ... 350 yards in total.

But it we take out the long Amherst runs then maybe your point is valid!

[nescac1]

A few things to comment on:

(1) I think a fully healthy Williams team would be closely competitive with Amherst, but frankly still an underdog, even at home.  Would they overwhelm them?  Nah, no way, that is nuts.  They'd have to win by forcing a few turnovers and getting a few really big plays in the passing game.  Amherst is bigger, more physical, and far more experienced on both sides of the ball.  Wiliams still struggles to give Maimaron time vs. the better defenses.  Tufts was all over him on Saturday.  His escapability enables him to make plays that many other QBs would not, obscuring that deficiency a bit, but Saturday he showed he was human and took a lot of costly, big-yardage sacks.  Amherst's front seven is, as usual, very very strong and generates a lot of heat, and I think Williams (who is still missing the big frosh starter from the OL) will have a lot of trouble protecting the QB, and also generating big running lanes, in that game.  It remains to be seen if Williams gets a few key guys back for the Little 3 action, but the reality is they are clear underdogs no matter what in those games, and a win in either would be a very pleasant surprise.   

(2) In all events, injuries continue to be an issue for the Ephs.  WR Justin Nelson was back from injury, which was great to see, but he had a limited impact vs. Tufts.  Hopefully he makes a bigger impact over the next three weeks.  TB Connor Harris was out vs. Tufts, and he is an enormous loss if he is done for the season.  Frosh TJ Dozier filled in admirably but he was the only RB to carry the ball vs. Tufts -- the TB position is perilously thin right now.  Also out of commission was star frosh LB Jarrett Wesner, who is a key player for the Ephs (more than twice as many TFLs as any other Eph, he's made a lot of big plays). 

(3) Tufts and Middlebury both shredded Williams through the air in back-to-back weeks.  The Ephs' run defense has been mostly solid all year long but receivers are getting a bit too much room to operate right now and the pass rush hasn't been strong enough to help out.  That is a troubling sign heading into two straight games with team who like to light it up through the air (Hamilton and Wesleyan).  The Ephs will need to figure something out to win either of those games.  Hamilton obviously is a huge game since a win would lock down a winning season for the Ephs, which frankly would have been inconceivable in August.  But Hamilton seems to be playing better and that looks now like a toss-up game, with the Ephs a slight favorite playing at home.  On the ground, Tufts' frosh RB Pedrini was very impressive and will only get better.  Tough runner.  He's going to have a really good career in NESCAC, and should live up to his hype as a recruit.  McDonald is absolutely a stud QB.  One of many in NESCAC this season ... almost every week this year you are gonna be facing someone who is really dynamic with their arm, with their legs, or both. 

(4) Kudos to Kyle Horihan who played iron man football for the Ephs and was clearly the player of the game for Williams -- filling in for injured Wesner, he led the Ephs in tackles and secured a key INT, and on offense, he continued to play occasionally as sort of a FB / HB hybrid and scored a TD on a nicely-designed passing play.  Speaking of which, I'm impressed, in general, with the offensive creativity the Ephs' have shown.  They do a lot of shifting and moving guys around to try to create mismatches.  They aren't yet to the point where they are going to overpower very many teams, so they need to be crafty, and kudos to the coaching staff for putting guys in good positions to make plays. 

(5) West Coast Dad, I have no idea where you heard that the biggest difference for Williams is returning players who were benched last year, but that is clearly erronous.  The biggest difference from last year is without any doubt that Williams now has an emerging star at QB in Maimaron who wasn't on the team last year.  But even beyond that, the top rusher on the team was a starter last year, and the next three guys are all frosh.  The top four receivers are three frosh and last year's leading WR, senior Regensburg.  The top four tacklers are two frosh and two sophomores who were starters by the end of the season last year.  All four defensive linemen are returning starters.  The starting FS is a frosh.  Two of the top six offensive linemen (one frosh and one soph) weren't on last year's roster, and one or two of the others saw significant time last season.  There are really only a small handful of players making ANY sort of impact this year who are not either (1) new to the roster this year, (2) returning starters, or (3) guys who were injured much of last season.  I can't even think of who the impact players who are NOT frosh and who DIDN'T see extensive time last year could even really be, or at least there couldn't possibly be more than 2-3 such players.