FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[ColbyFootball]

While Jake S. was certainly deserving, the Nescac coaches kinda dropped the ball not naming Maimaron co-offesive player of the week after that performance.

Jake set the all time single game rushing record for Colby. I love the play of Maimaron, but if the doesn't deserve sole offensive player of the week, I don'y know what does. And Jake was the reason Colby won this game, together with a great second half defense. Tremendous coaching job by DC Tom Dexter.

[nescac1]

Sorry, but what Maimaron did, playing most of the game without a traditional TB, vs one of the two best teams in the league is as least as impressive as even a historic performance vs a winless team.  Between running and passing, he was responsible for 74 (!!) out of the Ephs 95 plays, and his four TD runs speaks for itself.  If ever there was a week for co-POW ... Maimaron put up more yards and points on his own than Amherst surrenders on average.  And Jake's gaudy rushing total, while eye-popping, is only 30 more yards than Bowdoin's porous run D typically surrenders. 

[JEFFFAN]

Pathetic to see some guy who has attacked me publicly and privately (yes, privately too) point the finger at a kid, a "special teams blocker who was mailing it in" on Bates who apparently allowed a FG attempt to be blocked. Whether he was or he wasn't "mailing it in", why dump on a kid at this point in a disappointing season. Who knows what he's been through, or why he's down. I guess all the education and money in the would can't get or buy you class.

As for Colby's only win against a terrible Bowdoin team, who had the slowest overall defense faced this year, I'm happy for the boys. Not happy for Michaeles. Michaeles has not earned the right to continue, but the AD can decide that.

And, every person in the Colby stands that follows the team somewhat closely was rooting for John Baron to be given a shot to set the Colby FG record. And, with a reasonable FG possible on the final play of the game, Michaeles took a Knee. Everyone wanted the kid to kick the ball, and nobody with half a brain would have accused Michaeles of running the score up. The guy is clueless and should not be the HC of young men.

Your point is 100% valid on all counts.   That a coach wouldn't do that either because he didn't realize it or didn't want to is bush league   Give the kid a chance to set a lifetime record.

[ColbyFootball]

Sorry, but what Maimaron did, playing most of the game without a traditional TB, vs one of the two best teams in the league is as least as impressive as even a historic performance vs a winless team.  Between running and passing, he was responsible for 74 (!!) out of the Ephs 95 plays, and his four TD runs speaks for itself.  If ever there was a week for co-POW ... Maimaron put up more yards and points on his own than Amherst surrenders on average.  And Jake's gaudy rushing total, while eye-popping, is only 30 more yards than Bowdoin's porous run D typically surrenders.

Didn't know all the numbers Maimaron. And it was in the biggest NESCAC game, on the biggest stage, with more at stake.

So you have convinced me. I agree.

[maineman]

Sorry, but what Maimaron did, playing most of the game without a traditional TB, vs one of the two best teams in the league is as least as impressive as even a historic performance vs a winless team.

The third best team in the league.

[nescac1]

Thanks, ColbyFootball -- and no disrespect to Jake S., he had an amazing week and also richly deserved honors.  I imagine he will be on all-NESCAC RB, certainly.

Yeah, I guess by virtue of a tie-breaker Midd is in second place.  It's interesting, in hindsight, while Trinity was certainly the top squad, it's clear that on any given day, any team in the top six could beat any of the other six.  Williams, for example, got blown out by Wesleyan, beaten in close games by Tufts and Trinity (although I'd say they played basically even with Trinity but were beaten pretty soundly by Tufts), and defeated Amherst and Midd in close games (and they clearly outplayed Amherst, while the Midd game was dead even).  Even though Tufts lost to Trinity, Amherst, and Wesleyan, the Jumbos could very easily have won any of those games.  Tufts is one of the better 5-4 NESCAC teams I've seen, certainly.  The week after blowing out Williams, Wesleyan was blown out by Trinity, who had just lost to Amherst, who then went on to lose to Williams.  Had Lebowitz not gotten hurt, it's certainly possible that Midd could have beaten Trinity -- at the very least, that game is a lot more competitive.  And so on ... Hamilton/Tufts was the lone competitive game between the first and second tier, but in the top tier, anything was possible and if you played all those games again, the results certainly would be very different. 

[amh63]

It is fitting that this board hit page 900 at the close of the first 9 game season!  Well done posters all.

[BantamMom]

if you played all those games again, the results certainly would be very different.

I would say, if you played all those games again, the results certainly COULD be very different.

Found the message left by the Wesleyan team in the Trinity visitor's locker room - you be the judge which is worse, this or the photo of the kids in front of the scoreboard...

[All NESCAC]

After watching a good chunk of the game, my heroes of the day for the Ephs:

Maimaron (obviously)

Adam Regensburg: went out in style, making several critical, very difficult catches and converting the huge faked punt (more on that later). 

Chris Hattar and Sam Gowen: the Eph senior DT tackle duo have won the battle in the trenches most of the year, and yesterday was no exception.  The Ephs' rushing defense was typically stout, and Amherst's elite rushing attack had very few running lanes, as those two dudes held strong in the middle.  They also combined for a sack and forced fumble.  I never in a million years would have given the Ephs the edge in the trenches vs Amherst but in the trenches is where the game was won.

An aside: DT is by far the biggest question mark on next year's squad. Those two guys are both top-flight starters and the Ephs also graduate their top two back-ups, including Lloyd Campbell who had a great, unsung senior year.  There are no guys who seem like natural DTs returning, so a combo of position switches, guys bulking up, and likely some frosh will have to fill in those holes.  It helps that the second level of the defense figures to be much improved, with the top four LBs and top five DBs — four of whom, combined, were frosh — all returning.  But the veteran DT group, who were the core of this year's D, will be tough to replace. 

Ryan Pruss: the Ephs' seldom-used second tight end got the bulk of action at TB, and he was a workhorse, at times limping around back there but soldiering on.  The Ephs were hurt all year by injuries at TB, so this may have been in part by necessity, but it ended up being a brilliant move.  He picked up 50 very tough, physical yards, putting a beating on the defense with each yard he gained.  He served as a one-man wrecking crew for Maimaron to run behind. And he did a great job keeping blitzers / LBs running free — a big issue in recent weeks — off Maimaron in the passing game.  For a guy mostly new to that role to have that kind of impact in such a big situation is amazing.  Hopefully the Ephs add some more TB depth in recruiting to help Dozier out next year.  But I do expect Williams to keep defenses off balance by mixing in Pruss as a different sort of look going forward. 

The coaching staff: the fake punt was the ballsiest call I've ever seen.  Up 14 with the ball deep in your own territory, on 4th and nine?  Had it failed, the staff would have been crucified.  But it was also, oddly, about as safe a fake punt as you will see.  It was Regensburg's only carry of the year and especially in that situation no one would ever expect it.  He's got tremendous speed, rare for a punter.  And it looked to me like he may have had an option to punt it away if things looked dicey after rolling out.  Brilliant call that they were obviously waiting all season to unleash.  Also, the double reverse flea flicker — using not one but TWO tight ends to handle the ball — was brilliantly executed by all involved in a key situation.  Both of those plays ultimately led to Ephs TDs in a game where every point was critical. 

One Mammoth shout-out: Craig Carmilani was awesome for Amherst in his last game, single-handedly making it a contest late.  Neither of these squads was remotely senior-dominated, but it was, appropriately, several seniors (Foy also for Amherst) who made a big impact for both. 

Midd does seem to have yet another great gunslinger in its arsenal.  Williams and Amherst should both be much-improved next year.  Midd and Trinity will just keep on rolling as both bring back loads of key dudes and tremendous systems.  Tufts loses some great defenders but has pretty much the whole offense back.  Of the top tier, Wesleyan loses the most but returns enough to be right in the mix again.  Even Hamilton looks like a team on the rise.   Gonna be fun!

Great points and observations of the Ephs vs Amherst game.  Truly an instant classic of the Biggest Little Game.  Coach Raymond and his staff have done an amazing job turning the football program and culture around in such a short period of time.  Truly 1 to 2 years ahead of time for most Eph fans.  Of course having Maimaron certainly does help.  Maimaron was truly spectacular as was Regansburg.  Maimaron's composure even after the pick 6 was amazing for a frosh.  Williams use of the up-tempo/racecar offense had Amherst off balance for the entire first half.  Gutsy call on the fake punt.  Amherst seniors Foye and Carmilani both played tremendous in 2nd half in the comeback, but have to salute the way the young Ephs kept their cool and found a way to win.  Go Ephs!

[Trin9-0]

I had a feeling this was the case, but I wasn't sure so I went back and checked to confirm that Nescacman has never picked Trinity to beat Wesleyan:

Wesleyan 17 Trinity 14
Weather: Not a factor.

Wesleyan 24 Trinity 14 
Weather: Not a factor.

Wesleyan 24 Hartford State 21
Weather: Not a factor.

Wesleyan 24 Hartford State 21
Weather: Not a factor.

Wesleyan 28 Hartford State 24
Weather: Sunny and cold. High around 40.

His bias (inferiority complex) has never been more apparent, especially considering three of those games were in The Coop where Trinity is now 61-2 since 2001. Granted, Wesleyan actually won one of those games. A one point victory in Middletown in 2014 over the only Trinity team with more than two losses since 2003. But given that you pride yourself on correctly picking NESCAC football games (without a spread) I'm somewhat surprised that you'd let your pride continually get in the way of common sense.

Trin has now won 15 out of the last 16 over Wes with the Bantams average margin of victory being 21 points.

But enough gloating about Wesleyan's ineptitude against Trinity and Nescacman's blind spot for the Cardinals; how about those Ephs?! I'm stunned (and thrilled) that they were able to pull off the upset and clearly Raymond has the Williams rebuild well ahead of schedule. I think the past few years of irrelevance by Williams has helped some of the traditional middle-of-the-pack teams gain traction. It will be interesting to see how the balance of power shifts if the Ephs, do in fact, return to their status as a perennial contender.

Sorry, but what Maimaron did, playing most of the game without a traditional TB, vs one of the two best teams in the league is as least as impressive as even a historic performance vs a winless team.

The third best team in the league.

Excellent point maineman; as west coast dad was eager to point out last week: head-to-head matters.
I'm glad we don't need to worry about semantics and we can all acknowledge that Trinity is the undisputed champion (again). I look forward to Nescacman's year-end "power rankings"... I'm sure he'll find a way to explain how Wesleyan should really be tied for second, maybe even first!

[nescac1]

Question for the off-season: if the three Maine teams combined forces to take on Trinity, what would the betting line be? 

[ColbyFootball]

Question for the off-season: if the three Maine teams combined forces to take on Trinity, what would the betting line be?

If the Bates or Bowdoin coaches had the team it would be CBB as 7 1/2 point favorite. If Michaeles coached the CBB it would be Trinity as 24 point favorite. Only half kidding. Actually, Michaeles probably wouldn't coach the game because he'd assume his team would lose, just as he did this year. No expectation or attempt at winning this year. Treated it as a scrimmage. But, I digress.

[FanOfNescac]

if you played all those games again, the results certainly would be very different.

I would say, if you played all those games again, the results certainly COULD be very different.

Found the message left by the Wesleyan team in the Trinity visitor's locker room - you be the judge which is worse, this or the photo of the kids in front of the scoreboard...

BantanMom -- I have no dog in this fight (neither a Trinity nor Wesleyan alumnus), and I'm not even certain if that's the actual, famous, offending chalkboard (or if you just scribbled on your own chalkboard to troll NescacMan). Assuming that's the real famous, offending chalkboard, it doesn't strike me as the work of the ``Wesleyan Team.'' It looks something the last guy out the door, maybe a walk-on who hardly ever plays, might do. Or maybe a handful of people, right after the adults leave. It certainly shouldn't pass into NESCAC football lore as representative of the entire Wesleyan program. Nor should a few Trinity players posing in front of a blowout scoreboard be considered representative of the entire Trinity program. My guess is all of these teams have a few knuckleheads in their ranks, who will eventually outgrow their knuckleheaded-ness, but shouldn't be emblematic of their team or their college.

[Grabowski]

Some bad ass quote function usage right there.  Went back to 2013!  Finding stuff on this board? That would have taken me close to an entire work week. 

[BantamMom]

if you played all those games again, the results certainly would be very different.

I would say, if you played all those games again, the results certainly COULD be very different.

Found the message left by the Wesleyan team in the Trinity visitor's locker room - you be the judge which is worse, this or the photo of the kids in front of the scoreboard...

BantanMom -- I have no dog in this fight (neither a Trinity nor Wesleyan alumnus), and I'm not even certain if that's the actual, famous, offending chalkboard (or if you just scribbled on your own chalkboard to troll NescacMan). Assuming that's the real famous, offending chalkboard, it doesn't strike me as the work of the ``Wesleyan Team.'' It looks something the last guy out the door, maybe a walk-on who hardly ever plays, might do. Or maybe a handful of people, right after the adults leave. It certainly shouldn't pass into NESCAC football lore as representative of the entire Wesleyan program. Nor should a few Trinity players posing in front of a blowout scoreboard be considered representative of the entire Trinity program. My guess is all of these teams have a few knuckleheads in their ranks, who will eventually outgrow their knuckleheaded-ness, but shouldn't be emblematic of their team or their college.

I agree completely and I think I remember that the offensive photo was taken by a Trinity player who never got in the game - yet everyone determined that "Trinity had no class" because of it.  There are bound to be at least one or two knuckleheads on every team.  As for me scribbling it on my chalkboard (who has a chalkboard anymore?) ...if only it were that easy!  I had to figure out, for the first time ever, how to access my photos in the cloud since I have replaced my old phone since.  I think Trinity 8-0 saw the photo a few years back so maybe he can attest to it's authenticity?   As for "NescacCHILD", I don't troll him and am enjoying his radio silence as he licks his wounds!