FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacman]

Not sure about AIC but Springfield is not the program it was in the 70s or early 80s.
The top NESCAC teams would handle Springfield today but that was not always the case in the 70s.

AIC="Almost In College" (one step below Hartford State)

[Pat Coleman]

Springfield was Division II until the mid-1990s.

[lumbercat]

Pat-
I remember Springfield playing Northeastern and UNH among others in those days along with Amherst and some other NESCAC teams. They were a much stronger program in those days.

[frank uible]

Springfield is currently ranked in top 25 of D3. No Nescac school is. Saw Springfield play against Union about 10-15 years ago. Springfield then appeared competitive with the better Nescac schools.

[Pat Coleman]

Springfield swings wildly depending on how talented and experienced the triple option quarterback is.

[middpantherpride]

Would be wild to see four teams finish 7-2 and tie for a share of the CAC crown...

My Midd boys were one play away from sitting right there at 7-1 going into week 9. Hoping the Williams team can shock Amherst just like they did Midd.

Of course, Midd has to take care of Tufts too. Not going to be easy.

For this week... Go Wesleyan and Go Williams!

Cheer. Boys. Cheer.

[polbear73]

Springfield swings wildly depending on how talented and experienced the triple option quarterback is.

In the 70's, schools like Springfield, Union, AIC, WPI, Coast Guard, Rochester, Norwich, and Union would regularly appear regularly on future NESCAC schools' schedules and, if memory serves, those future NESCAC teams won much more often than they lost.  These were the days when College was divided only in two divisions, College and University.  The lines of distinction were blurred back then (teams like Delaware were in the small college division while the IVYs were large) and coaches like the Darp attracted great athletes (Swift, Scott, Fuget, etc).  One can't really compare the eras, but this was a great one for New England small college football. 

[Nescacman]

Springfield swings wildly depending on how talented and experienced the triple option quarterback is.

In the 70's, schools like Springfield, Union, AIC, WPI, Coast Guard, Rochester, Norwich, and Union would regularly appear regularly on future NESCAC schools' schedules and, if memory serves, those future NESCAC teams won much more often than they lost.  These were the days when College was divided only in two divisions, College and University.  The lines of distinction were blurred back then (teams like Delaware were in the small college division while the IVYs were large) and coaches like the Darp attracted great athletes (Swift, Scott, Fuget, etc).  One can't really compare the eras, but this was a great one for New England small college football.

Until 1991, when the NESCAC schools decided to only play themselves, the current NESCAC teams played an 8-game schedule comprised of 7 "in-league" games against "NESCAC" teams and 1 "out of conference" game against the likes of schools listed above (the other 2 NESCAC schools not on a teams schedule rotated onto it every 2 years). Our recollection is that some of the games were pretty big rivalries, for example, Middlebury/Norwich, Wesleyan/Coast Guard, Williams/Union, Hamilton/U of R (Rochester)...in fact, one of those schools, Union, was a  "NESCAC" school until 1977 (we think the story was that they pulled out because that was when Ned Harkness was the hockey coach there and they went D1 in hockey, the first time around before the big scandal...but that's a story for another day and another Board)....The league did not officially crown sports champions until 1999.

From Wikipedia: "The conference originated with an agreement among Amherst, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Williams in 1955. In 1971, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, and Union College joined on and the NESCAC was officially formed. Union withdrew in 1977 and was replaced by Connecticut College in 1982...."

[PolarCat]

Heading into the final game of the season, I'd like to give a shout-out, and some credit where credit is due.  Over the first half of the season, the Bates coaching staff was roundly derided for their total lack of imagination on offense: run on first, run on second, throw on third, punt, rinse and repeat.  They took a lot of heat, both on this board, and from all the Coach Dad's on the sidelines.

Starting with the Wes game, they showed some imagination with the O, helped in no small part by the emergence of Brendan Costa as QB1.  Suddenly, the team that looked like it would be the doormat of the CAC was leading Wes at halftime!  The Bates OC reverted to form for the second halfg (fear of success?) and the Cards shut down the Cats, but it was a ray of hope.  That offensive creativity continued and accelerated through the next 3 games, and we have a respectable team today.

I was one of the more vocal critics, and I really didn't think old dogs would learn new tricks, but Harriman's team surprised me.  I'm not sure if Harriman or any of his staff will return next year, but they certainly gave the Garnet faithful something to cheer about down the stretch.  Their big challenge this week will be keeping the boys (fresh from their CBB title) fro mailing it in after that LOOOOOOOOOONG bus trip to Hamilton next Saturday.

[Nescacman]

Springfield is currently ranked in top 25 of D3. No Nescac school is. Saw Springfield play against Union about 10-15 years ago. Springfield then appeared competitive with the better Nescac schools.

Frank, you will never see a NESCAC school in the Top 25 in football primarily because we have decided that the D3 football playoffs are either somehow beneath us or the powers that be think football players are too stupid to handle a sport and study for finals. You could have an undefeated NESCAC team beating everyone 100-0 and they still wouldn't be ranked. Occasionally, a NESCAC school will get some votes and be in the "also receiving votes" category, but even that is rare.

We have seen a lot of D3 football over the years and there is no doubt in our mind that there are schools in the Top 25 that NESCAC schools could beat. However, until we are allowed to compete in the playoffs in football as we do in every other sport and prove how good we are, you will not see NESCAC schools ranked.

[413Local]

Observations from the 413:
*  Picture postcard day, should have been an infomercial for NESCAC football. Large excited crowd.  Great tailgating.  Great game.
*  Trinity parents/supporters:  No, your school did not invent nor perfect NESCAC football..tone down the expectations a little.  Parked next to two frosh parents..your boys are beneficiaries of the streak, but DNP-CD means that you may want to tone down the bravado!
* Kudos to Mills..thoroughly outcoached Devaney, and the OL thoroughly outplayed their Bantam counterparts.
* Must have been a bad day for heralded Puzzo..he looked very average, 17-30, lots of overthrows, not much touch at all.
* Bant RB Chipouras..has had a great career, tough, steady, but again, not impressive.  Not as shifty as Figueroa, nor as sturdy as Hickey, yet for three seasons has had 97% of the carries.  Do they ever change pace by using another back?
* Bant DC: Give your CB covering Mammoth WR #5 some help...He was being turned every which way but loose trying to cover him one on one.  WR was open all day, short, long, slants..and Eberth and Foy hit him!
* Wesleyan v. Trinity should be a great game, as should Mammoth-Ephs!

[Jonny Utah]

Not sure about AIC but Springfield is not the program it was in the 70s or early 80s.
The top NESCAC teams would handle Springfield today but that was not always the case in the 70s.

A few things here, like Pat said, Springfield goes up and down, and would probably be in the top 3 if not the best team in the Nescac this year. 

When Springfield was D2, they played teams like Ithaca, Cortland and other area d3 schools, as did AIC.  Not sure if you can even say Springfield was better when they were D2.

Teams like Northeastern, UNH and Maine would be considered "small schools" back in the 1950s right up until the 1970s even.  Before there was a "division 3" those schools (especially Northeastern) would play these small schools.  I think the divisions have separated themselves today, where a local NE team like Trinity or Springfield might give Maine a good football game in 1970, but today would lose by 40 points.

[amh63]

Some more " loose change" comments before "hump day" arrives when serious posts wrt the last games of the season starts.
Appreciate the addition of more historic football rivalries.
Nescacman...your comment on AIC filled a blank...a topic discussed during Homecoming while watching the game.  I remember AIC being called 'American IceCream Company".  AIC is the Alma Mater of Calhoun, the former HC of UConn MBB.  Great Coach.  AIC had some fine looking women students.....Amherst was all-male in my days...until 1976, I believe.
Remember Amherst played a number of Ivies and D1 schools in other sports.  Amherst played UConn in men's soccer...into the 70's.  The Coach dropped UConn off the Amherst schedule.  I will paraphrase his reasoning here.  "I want Amherst'to play against D1 schools for the competition.  However, It is not fair for the players to compete against a National Power team"..
I watched some UConn WBB game yesterday in an exhibition game ...against the reigning DivII champs.  UConn emptied its bench in a 50 plus win.  A game for the fans only, IMO.

[FanOfNescac]

Springfield swings wildly depending on how talented and experienced the triple option quarterback is.

In the 70's, schools like Springfield, Union, AIC, WPI, Coast Guard, Rochester, Norwich, and Union would regularly appear regularly on future NESCAC schools' schedules and, if memory serves, those future NESCAC teams won much more often than they lost.  These were the days when College was divided only in two divisions, College and University.  The lines of distinction were blurred back then (teams like Delaware were in the small college division while the IVYs were large) and coaches like the Darp attracted great athletes (Swift, Scott, Fuget, etc).  One can't really compare the eras, but this was a great one for New England small college football.

Until 1991, when the NESCAC schools decided to only play themselves, the current NESCAC teams played an 8-game schedule comprised of 7 "in-league" games against "NESCAC" teams and 1 "out of conference" game against the likes of schools listed above (the other 2 NESCAC schools not on a teams schedule rotated onto it every 2 years). Our recollection is that some of the games were pretty big rivalries, for example, Middlebury/Norwich, Wesleyan/Coast Guard, Williams/Union, Hamilton/U of R (Rochester)...in fact, one of those schools, Union, was a  "NESCAC" school until 1977 (we think the story was that they pulled out because that was when Ned Harkness was the hockey coach there and they went D1 in hockey, the first time around before the big scandal...but that's a story for another day and another Board)....The league did not officially crown sports champions until 1999.

From Wikipedia: "The conference originated with an agreement among Amherst, Bowdoin, Wesleyan and Williams in 1955. In 1971, Bates, Colby, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, and Union College joined on and the NESCAC was officially formed. Union withdrew in 1977 and was replaced by Connecticut College in 1982...."

NESCACMan.... Hockey hastened Union's departure from NESCAC, but in the early-mid 80s, Union's football program also outgrew NESCAC, first with former Brown assistant Joe Wirth and then with Al Bagnoli (who of course went on to win a bunch of Ivy titles at Penn and now has Columbia winning).Under Bagnoli, and with plenty of institutional support, Union began recruiting de facto I-AA athletes in large quantities (the the type of players that Williams or Amherst has always gotten here and there, but not in bulk) and making the D3 playoffs almost every year, including a couple losses in the national championship game. Union sustained this level for a decade or more. Not sure how they are today. But back then, Union was playing Hamilton, Middiebury and Williams every year and those schools were happy to see Union go elsewhere. As you and others have said, D3 fortunes rise and fall, but for a while Union was among the best programs in the country and had no business in NESCAC.

[Trin9-0]

The Foy TD pass with under 1 minute (?) to play in first half should go down as THE PLAY OF THE NESCAC YEAR!

Agreed. This play, albeit in the first half, really swung the momentum of the game and after the Amherst score to open the 3rd quarter I never really felt like Trinity was in the game.

* Kudos to Mills..thoroughly outcoached Devaney, and the OL thoroughly outplayed their Bantam counterparts.
* Must have been a bad day for heralded Puzzo..he looked very average, 17-30, lots of overthrows, not much touch at all.
* Bant RB Chipouras..has had a great career, tough, steady, but again, not impressive.  Not as shifty as Figueroa, nor as sturdy as Hickey, yet for three seasons has had 97% of the carries.  Do they ever change pace by using another back?

Agree with this as well; Puzzo just seemed off as many of his downfield attempts were significantly overthrown. Trinity repeatedly tried to get Chipouras going but there didn't appear to be much room to run against a stout Mammoth run defense.

Hats off to Amherst. This is now the fifth straight loss at Pratt Field for the Bantams.

Frank, you will never see a NESCAC school in the Top 25 in football primarily because we have decided that the D3 football playoffs are either somehow beneath us or the powers that be think football players are too stupid to handle a sport and study for finals. You could have an undefeated NESCAC team beating everyone 100-0 and they still wouldn't be ranked. Occasionally, a NESCAC school will get some votes and be in the "also receiving votes" category, but even that is rare.

We have seen a lot of D3 football over the years and there is no doubt in our mind that there are schools in the Top 25 that NESCAC schools could beat. However, until we are allowed to compete in the playoffs in football as we do in every other sport and prove how good we are, you will not see NESCAC schools ranked.

Wrong again Nescacman. Trinity finished 25th in the D3football.com poll in 2005 after completing a third consecutive undefeated season: http://d3football.com/top25/2005/final
My guess is that it was your subpar research skills that prevented you from being accepted to Trinity.

Finally, I saw a listing of top NESCAC coaches winning percentages a few pages back. For what it's worth Devanney is currently at .854 (82-14) after almost 12 full seasons. Chuck Priore had a .813 winning percentage (39-9) in his six seasons at Trinity. Eight of Priore's nine total losses were in his first two seasons.