FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

Cross country booty call.  Happy for Mark and his wife, and for all the boys like my son, who had the chance to play for him.  He may not have been the winningest coach in the CAC, but the boys learned a lot of valuable life lessons from him.  In the end, discipline and accountability will serve them much better than a couple of extra W's.  We will never know how much of his record was due to Admissions (non) support, budget restrictions (inability to pay his AC's a competitive wage) or other factors. 

For the sake of future Bobcats (Bates had its Admitted Students Day this weekend) I hope new(ish) AD is up to some big time coaching recruiting in a very short time frame.  Brendan Costa is a very talented young QB, and it would be a shame to lose him and the other great young players if Fein can't land a qualified HC on very short notice.  Tough position for a young AD to be placed in.

I think your point on not being able to pay his AC's is a bigger problem than just Bates.  This is pretty much across D3.  My son is finishing up his 3rd year of being a GA for what could only be described as slave wages.  He poked around at moving on to an AC and I am glad that he ended this hunt and switched to teaching High School and coaching there.

If anyone ever investigated what some of these programs are paying, I am pretty sure there would be a case for unfair practices....

For sports information directors as well.

[Jonny Utah]

Cross country booty call.  Happy for Mark and his wife, and for all the boys like my son, who had the chance to play for him.  He may not have been the winningest coach in the CAC, but the boys learned a lot of valuable life lessons from him.  In the end, discipline and accountability will serve them much better than a couple of extra W's.  We will never know how much of his record was due to Admissions (non) support, budget restrictions (inability to pay his AC's a competitive wage) or other factors. 

For the sake of future Bobcats (Bates had its Admitted Students Day this weekend) I hope new(ish) AD is up to some big time coaching recruiting in a very short time frame.  Brendan Costa is a very talented young QB, and it would be a shame to lose him and the other great young players if Fein can't land a qualified HC on very short notice.  Tough position for a young AD to be placed in.

I think your point on not being able to pay his AC's is a bigger problem than just Bates.  This is pretty much across D3.  My son is finishing up his 3rd year of being a GA for what could only be described as slave wages.  He poked around at moving on to an AC and I am glad that he ended this hunt and switched to teaching High School and coaching there.

If anyone ever investigated what some of these programs are paying, I am pretty sure there would be a case for unfair practices....

For sports information directors as well.

I think like many jobs, if you are good at it, work hard at it, and sacrifice for it, you will find success in the long run.  That being said the football coaching profession is very hard to advance in, and the competition is fierce.  You are probably going to start out making 10K a year for 5-10 years (with small benefits like housing and food for a single person).

SID's also probably only have 1 decent salary per school, and even that isn't going to be much at most d3 institutions.

[frank uible]

Back in the day pay was much more parsimonious - I am reluctant to say how much more.

[PolarCat]

Cross country booty call.  Happy for Mark and his wife, and for all the boys like my son, who had the chance to play for him.  He may not have been the winningest coach in the CAC, but the boys learned a lot of valuable life lessons from him.  In the end, discipline and accountability will serve them much better than a couple of extra W's.  We will never know how much of his record was due to Admissions (non) support, budget restrictions (inability to pay his AC's a competitive wage) or other factors. 

For the sake of future Bobcats (Bates had its Admitted Students Day this weekend) I hope new(ish) AD is up to some big time coaching recruiting in a very short time frame.  Brendan Costa is a very talented young QB, and it would be a shame to lose him and the other great young players if Fein can't land a qualified HC on very short notice.  Tough position for a young AD to be placed in.

The timing is terrible. Do you think that April is the time to recruit a qualified long term Head Coach. With the shortened 2 week training camp before the season starts and the team scattered for the summer how can you even think of changing offense and defense schemes. This is quite unfair to the players for sure. Yes Harriman was a class act. Every Bates player benefitted from him being their coach. This is not going to be a fun few months in Lewiston.

Your comment presupposes they are just starting the process now.  Perhaps they have already identified the next HC, or have whittled down the options to a couple of finalists.  It would be a wily move to give the appearance that Harridan was returning so as not to disrupt the 2022 recruiting class, with both Coach and AD agreeing to make this announcement after the recruits were tied up.

Maybe AD Fein is 2 steps ahead of us all.

[hamgrand]

Former Maine high school standout quarterback Austin McCrum will transfer from Lafayette to Bowdoin this upcoming Fall.


This is one big difference between the NESCAC and the other D3 leagues.  Seems there are many D1 transfers into the NESCAC but i do not see that in the other D3 programs or leagues.

To be clear, I am not talking about Mount Union, Whitewater, etc. ... frankly that league they play in could be considered D1 talent and I am sure most of the teams in that league could beat many of the New England D2 teams.

What I am talking about is the Liberty League and other NY, New England and East Coast D3 teams. My nephew starts for RPI who won the Liberty League and went to the D3 playoffs last year. He was a first team All Liberty League player and 1st team district COSIDA All American.  So he is a very good player and great kid!   But he did not really get recruited in the NESCAC.  Also, RPI's best WR played with my son in HS so Iknow first hand the type of player he is.  Very Good player for sure,  but not recruited in the NESCAC.

I have watched hmy nephew play a couple games in each of the last three years, and now that my sons have both graduated from the NESCAC I will spend next fall watching and supporting him.  I even bought an RPI hat and T-shirt in anticipation of the event.  So In addition to spending the last 7 years watching the NESCAC, I have seen RPI play several times against, Union, MIT, Alfred, WPI, William Patterson, Norwich, Hudson Valley.  I can confidently say that None of these teams (except the Alfred team I saw) would compete in the NESCAC.  The Alfred team reminded me of the big powerful Trinity teams, but the rest of the teams would finish at best ahead of Bowdoin and Colby.  While they do have much larger rosters, they lack size and speed  IMHO.  The roster size hurts the NESCAC, because the Liberty League has so many more "second string" players on their rosters.  But best 11 vs best 11and the NESCAC wins 8 times out of ten.

The biggest differences in my opinion is size of the lineman, and QB play.  The RPI team that won the Liberty League last year did not have any big lineman and was fairly slow in my opinion.  While many of the top NESCAC teams have decent size O-lines and several border line D1 players.  They also get D1 transfers as evidenced many times over. 

And the QB play is much better in the NESCAC in my opinion.  Look at all the good QBs currently on NESCAC rosters fo the last few years. The Liberty league does not have close to that talent.  The RPI team that won the liberty league last year would be competitive with Hamilton.  But would get beat by at least 20 by Trinity, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Tufts and Williams.

Obviously my opinion can be debated to the end of time, but I have watched a lot of college football in person over the last several years, and feel confident that the NESCAC is a very competitive brand of D3 football. 

And it sounds like it is getting more competitive each year.  Certainly 2017 seemed like a nice competitive season.  I hope this transfer helps the Bowdoin team get to the next level.  It will make the NESCAc even more enjoyable to watch in the future.

[Monty]

Cross country booty call.  Happy for Mark and his wife, and for all the boys like my son, who had the chance to play for him.  He may not have been the winningest coach in the CAC, but the boys learned a lot of valuable life lessons from him.  In the end, discipline and accountability will serve them much better than a couple of extra W's.  We will never know how much of his record was due to Admissions (non) support, budget restrictions (inability to pay his AC's a competitive wage) or other factors. 

For the sake of future Bobcats (Bates had its Admitted Students Day this weekend) I hope new(ish) AD is up to some big time coaching recruiting in a very short time frame.  Brendan Costa is a very talented young QB, and it would be a shame to lose him and the other great young players if Fein can't land a qualified HC on very short notice.  Tough position for a young AD to be placed in.

The timing is terrible. Do you think that April is the time to recruit a qualified long term Head Coach. With the shortened 2 week training camp before the season starts and the team scattered for the summer how can you even think of changing offense and defense schemes. This is quite unfair to the players for sure. Yes Harriman was a class act. Every Bates player benefitted from him being their coach. This is not going to be a fun few months in Lewiston.

Your comment presupposes they are just starting the process now.  Perhaps they have already identified the next HC, or have whittled down the options to a couple of finalists.  It would be a wily move to give the appearance that Harridan was returning so as not to disrupt the 2022 recruiting class, with both Coach and AD agreeing to make this announcement after the recruits were tied up.

Maybe AD Fein is 2 steps ahead of us all.

'

Wishful thinking. I suspect that AD Fein is 3 steps behind us all. Making a move like this at this point without being 2 steps ahead is not only foolish but malpractice for an AD. I suspect that we will soon find out.

[Jonny Utah]

Former Maine high school standout quarterback Austin McCrum will transfer from Lafayette to Bowdoin this upcoming Fall.


This is one big difference between the NESCAC and the other D3 leagues.  Seems there are many D1 transfers into the NESCAC but i do not see that in the other D3 programs or leagues.

To be clear, I am not talking about Mount Union, Whitewater, etc. ... frankly that league they play in could be considered D1 talent and I am sure most of the teams in that league could beat many of the New England D2 teams.

What I am talking about is the Liberty League and other NY, New England and East Coast D3 teams. My nephew starts for RPI who won the Liberty League and went to the D3 playoffs last year. He was a first team All Liberty League player and 1st team district COSIDA All American.  So he is a very good player and great kid!   But he did not really get recruited in the NESCAC.  Also, RPI's best WR played with my son in HS so Iknow first hand the type of player he is.  Very Good player for sure,  but not recruited in the NESCAC.

I have watched hmy nephew play a couple games in each of the last three years, and now that my sons have both graduated from the NESCAC I will spend next fall watching and supporting him.  I even bought an RPI hat and T-shirt in anticipation of the event.  So In addition to spending the last 7 years watching the NESCAC, I have seen RPI play several times against, Union, MIT, Alfred, WPI, William Patterson, Norwich, Hudson Valley.  I can confidently say that None of these teams (except the Alfred team I saw) would compete in the NESCAC.  The Alfred team reminded me of the big powerful Trinity teams, but the rest of the teams would finish at best ahead of Bowdoin and Colby.  While they do have much larger rosters, they lack size and speed  IMHO.  The roster size hurts the NESCAC, because the Liberty League has so many more "second string" players on their rosters.  But best 11 vs best 11and the NESCAC wins 8 times out of ten.

The biggest differences in my opinion is size of the lineman, and QB play.  The RPI team that won the Liberty League last year did not have any big lineman and was fairly slow in my opinion.  While many of the top NESCAC teams have decent size O-lines and several border line D1 players.  They also get D1 transfers as evidenced many times over. 

And the QB play is much better in the NESCAC in my opinion.  Look at all the good QBs currently on NESCAC rosters fo the last few years. The Liberty league does not have close to that talent.  The RPI team that won the liberty league last year would be competitive with Hamilton.  But would get beat by at least 20 by Trinity, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Tufts and Williams.

Obviously my opinion can be debated to the end of time, but I have watched a lot of college football in person over the last several years, and feel confident that the NESCAC is a very competitive brand of D3 football. 

And it sounds like it is getting more competitive each year.  Certainly 2017 seemed like a nice competitive season.  I hope this transfer helps the Bowdoin team get to the next level.  It will make the NESCAc even more enjoyable to watch in the future.

A few things: 

First off, I think the opposite is true about the transfers.  The difference is that you hear more about the high profile transfers like QBs or WRs.  But the LL teams probably get more transfers on average than Nescac teams from what I've seen.  And Mt. Union's "league" is very top heavy, probably the most top heavy league in the country.  I'm guessing the bottom 5 teams in the OAC would be the bottom 5 teams in the Nescac as well.  The OAC is far from a d1 conference.

About competing in the NESCAC, that Alfred team you saw is probably not much better than the top LL teams on any given year. The year they went 12-1 they had a great team, but not much greater than Hobart in 2013 or 2014 if you can even say they were better.  And the size of the teams never matter, and if you have ever watched Curry College or some NEFC teams like Framingham, you would realize that.  Those are some big teams with some big lines.  I think the speed of the defenses are some of the biggest differences between top and bottom level d3 teams.  Mt. Unions Oline was pretty much the exact same size as RPI's line last year.

As for recruiting, from my experience as a MA high school coach over the past 20 years, Nescac schools recruit differently depending on the coach.  Tufts and Middlebury are always very aggressive in the Boston area (including ISL schools), while Bowdoin and Bates were not far behind.  But I have seen specific kids choose Union and St. Lawrence over the Maine nescac schools and Trinity, and I've never seen an RPI coach recruit in the MA area, only Hobart and Union really reach out.  RPI seems to recruit the Albany area heavily and most of their roster comes from section 2 schools.

That being said I think the top Nescac teams would be exactly the same as the top LL teams if you merged the leagues.  I do think the LL defenses are better as a whole than Nescac defenses and the special teams and depth aren't even close.  But the top Nescac teams with top quarterbacks and skill players could easily win the LL in any given year I would say that as well.

[Jonny Utah]

Cross country booty call.  Happy for Mark and his wife, and for all the boys like my son, who had the chance to play for him.  He may not have been the winningest coach in the CAC, but the boys learned a lot of valuable life lessons from him.  In the end, discipline and accountability will serve them much better than a couple of extra W's.  We will never know how much of his record was due to Admissions (non) support, budget restrictions (inability to pay his AC's a competitive wage) or other factors. 

For the sake of future Bobcats (Bates had its Admitted Students Day this weekend) I hope new(ish) AD is up to some big time coaching recruiting in a very short time frame.  Brendan Costa is a very talented young QB, and it would be a shame to lose him and the other great young players if Fein can't land a qualified HC on very short notice.  Tough position for a young AD to be placed in.

The timing is terrible. Do you think that April is the time to recruit a qualified long term Head Coach. With the shortened 2 week training camp before the season starts and the team scattered for the summer how can you even think of changing offense and defense schemes. This is quite unfair to the players for sure. Yes Harriman was a class act. Every Bates player benefitted from him being their coach. This is not going to be a fun few months in Lewiston.

Your comment presupposes they are just starting the process now.  Perhaps they have already identified the next HC, or have whittled down the options to a couple of finalists.  It would be a wily move to give the appearance that Harridan was returning so as not to disrupt the 2022 recruiting class, with both Coach and AD agreeing to make this announcement after the recruits were tied up.

Maybe AD Fein is 2 steps ahead of us all.

Sometimes when a HC resigns this late in the year, the school can put in an "interm" coach who they wanted anyway (to avoid the whole interview process).  I'm going to guess the OC/DC will slide into the job?

[Pat Coleman]

About competing in the NESCAC, that Alfred team you saw is probably not much better than the top LL teams on any given year. The year they went 12-1 they had a great team, but not much greater than Hobart in 2013 or 2014 if you can even say they were better. 

Tyler Johnson was the type of quarterback the Hobart teams haven't had.

[Jonny Utah]

About competing in the NESCAC, that Alfred team you saw is probably not much better than the top LL teams on any given year. The year they went 12-1 they had a great team, but not much greater than Hobart in 2013 or 2014 if you can even say they were better. 

Tyler Johnson was the type of quarterback the Hobart teams haven't had.

I would agree.

[D3pc]

Former Maine high school standout quarterback Austin McCrum will transfer from Lafayette to Bowdoin this upcoming Fall.


This is one big difference between the NESCAC and the other D3 leagues.  Seems there are many D1 transfers into the NESCAC but i do not see that in the other D3 programs or leagues.

To be clear, I am not talking about Mount Union, Whitewater, etc. ... frankly that league they play in could be considered D1 talent and I am sure most of the teams in that league could beat many of the New England D2 teams.

What I am talking about is the Liberty League and other NY, New England and East Coast D3 teams. My nephew starts for RPI who won the Liberty League and went to the D3 playoffs last year. He was a first team All Liberty League player and 1st team district COSIDA All American.  So he is a very good player and great kid!   But he did not really get recruited in the NESCAC.  Also, RPI's best WR played with my son in HS so Iknow first hand the type of player he is.  Very Good player for sure,  but not recruited in the NESCAC.

I have watched hmy nephew play a couple games in each of the last three years, and now that my sons have both graduated from the NESCAC I will spend next fall watching and supporting him.  I even bought an RPI hat and T-shirt in anticipation of the event.  So In addition to spending the last 7 years watching the NESCAC, I have seen RPI play several times against, Union, MIT, Alfred, WPI, William Patterson, Norwich, Hudson Valley.  I can confidently say that None of these teams (except the Alfred team I saw) would compete in the NESCAC.  The Alfred team reminded me of the big powerful Trinity teams, but the rest of the teams would finish at best ahead of Bowdoin and Colby.  While they do have much larger rosters, they lack size and speed  IMHO.  The roster size hurts the NESCAC, because the Liberty League has so many more "second string" players on their rosters.  But best 11 vs best 11and the NESCAC wins 8 times out of ten.

The biggest differences in my opinion is size of the lineman, and QB play.  The RPI team that won the Liberty League last year did not have any big lineman and was fairly slow in my opinion.  While many of the top NESCAC teams have decent size O-lines and several border line D1 players.  They also get D1 transfers as evidenced many times over. 

And the QB play is much better in the NESCAC in my opinion.  Look at all the good QBs currently on NESCAC rosters fo the last few years. The Liberty league does not have close to that talent.  The RPI team that won the liberty league last year would be competitive with Hamilton.  But would get beat by at least 20 by Trinity, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Tufts and Williams.

Obviously my opinion can be debated to the end of time, but I have watched a lot of college football in person over the last several years, and feel confident that the NESCAC is a very competitive brand of D3 football. 

And it sounds like it is getting more competitive each year.  Certainly 2017 seemed like a nice competitive season.  I hope this transfer helps the Bowdoin team get to the next level.  It will make the NESCAc even more enjoyable to watch in the future.

A few thoughts...

*Hobart's QB Sweeney was a transfer from UAlbany and was throwing to perhaps the best D3 WR in the country who may or may not be drafted this weekend. If Shed does get drafted, that would be the second player from Hobart and the LL drafted in 4 years. Yes steven hauschka is impressive no doubt, the LL also had Andrew Franks. RPI may have another Kicker make it this year.

*There are plenty of D1 transfers, maybe not so much at RPI because of the nature of the school, and I say that as a major compliment. RPI's engineering program is exquisite. Rosters are littered with kids who 'Were recruited by D1 and D2 schools'. Ivies and Patriot League Schools? Maybe, maybe not. CAA, Northeast, NE-10? You betcha.

*It was a down year for the LL for sure, but moving forward - yikes. Tons of young talent and great rosters coming back, and the traditional bottom-dwelling teams have been dropped. Though you can say that about all leagues.

*Having played and coached/recruited in the Northeast - The E8, LL, MAC, NJAC are stronger conferences. With that being said, the gap is closing and no question the top NESCAC teams could be at the top of any of those conferences.

*I will say that many, not all, but many head coaches and the main assistants are 'better' coaches because budgets are much higher. Those positions are more sought after. The schools can pretty much recruit themselves, but coaches are restricted compared to other leagues as far as recruiting abilities.

*Mount Union, Whitewater (in its prime), and UMHB would beat NE D2 teams. They are getting better football recruits out of high school. Not necessarily better student-atheletes.

*I would agree NESCAC QBs are more talented actually. They are also going up against inferior defenses.

*Practice time, Preseason camp, and (to an extent) roster size make a difference. Of course a smaller roster can beat bigger roster, but sometimes it is a game of numbers.

[Oline89]

Former Maine high school standout quarterback Austin McCrum will transfer from Lafayette to Bowdoin this upcoming Fall.


This is one big difference between the NESCAC and the other D3 leagues.  Seems there are many D1 transfers into the NESCAC but i do not see that in the other D3 programs or leagues.

To be clear, I am not talking about Mount Union, Whitewater, etc. ... frankly that league they play in could be considered D1 talent and I am sure most of the teams in that league could beat many of the New England D2 teams.

What I am talking about is the Liberty League and other NY, New England and East Coast D3 teams. My nephew starts for RPI who won the Liberty League and went to the D3 playoffs last year. He was a first team All Liberty League player and 1st team district COSIDA All American.  So he is a very good player and great kid!   But he did not really get recruited in the NESCAC.  Also, RPI's best WR played with my son in HS so Iknow first hand the type of player he is.  Very Good player for sure,  but not recruited in the NESCAC.

I have watched hmy nephew play a couple games in each of the last three years, and now that my sons have both graduated from the NESCAC I will spend next fall watching and supporting him.  I even bought an RPI hat and T-shirt in anticipation of the event.  So In addition to spending the last 7 years watching the NESCAC, I have seen RPI play several times against, Union, MIT, Alfred, WPI, William Patterson, Norwich, Hudson Valley.  I can confidently say that None of these teams (except the Alfred team I saw) would compete in the NESCAC.  The Alfred team reminded me of the big powerful Trinity teams, but the rest of the teams would finish at best ahead of Bowdoin and Colby.  While they do have much larger rosters, they lack size and speed  IMHO.  The roster size hurts the NESCAC, because the Liberty League has so many more "second string" players on their rosters.  But best 11 vs best 11and the NESCAC wins 8 times out of ten.

The biggest differences in my opinion is size of the lineman, and QB play.  The RPI team that won the Liberty League last year did not have any big lineman and was fairly slow in my opinion.  While many of the top NESCAC teams have decent size O-lines and several border line D1 players.  They also get D1 transfers as evidenced many times over. 

And the QB play is much better in the NESCAC in my opinion.  Look at all the good QBs currently on NESCAC rosters fo the last few years. The Liberty league does not have close to that talent.  The RPI team that won the liberty league last year would be competitive with Hamilton.  But would get beat by at least 20 by Trinity, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Tufts and Williams.

Obviously my opinion can be debated to the end of time, but I have watched a lot of college football in person over the last several years, and feel confident that the NESCAC is a very competitive brand of D3 football. 

And it sounds like it is getting more competitive each year.  Certainly 2017 seemed like a nice competitive season.  I hope this transfer helps the Bowdoin team get to the next level.  It will make the NESCAc even more enjoyable to watch in the future.

WOW, WOW, and again WOW.  I actually had to read this three times to fully believe it.  Take another look at the top of the LL rosters.  Go back and look at some HUDL tapes of the recruits for this past couple of years for Ithaca, Hobart or Union.  Shall we talk size?  Hobart's starting left tackle is 6'7" weighs 275 and runs a sub 5 40.  Their right tackle is 6'10", close to 300 and may not have the quickest feet (he would be at Oklahoma if he did), but is agile enough to play basketball.  Athleticism?  Take a look at Ithaca receiver Will Gladney. 6'3" 225 and can catch anything thrown within 10 yards of him.  QB talent?  The starting QB's at Brockport, Hobart and Ithaca would start on many FCS teams! For the past 5 months every  LL and E8 player has been in the weight room 4 days a week, and working with Strength and Agility coaches at least twice a week.  For the past 6 weeks these teams have been on the field at 530 AM for 2 hour conditioning practices.  As far as I know (and learned on the recruiting trail), NESCAC off season workouts are not mandatory, but the dedicated players do participate.  There is no doubt that the NESCAC rosters are full of top level, talented, athletic, dedicated kids.  However, to say that NESCAC teams would dominate LL/E8 clubs is ludicrous. 
Academically, NESCAC is certainly ranked higher, no argument.  I know, due to NESCAC rules, we will never see an answer on the field, but IMO after playing, coaching and watching football at the collegiate level for the past 30 years, LL/E8 top 7 teams will beat the NESCAC top 5 regularly.

[ColbyFootball]

I have two coaches I believe will apply for the Bates job. One might actually be a good hire.

[lumbercat]

Believe Dave Dunn of Colby will be a candidate for Bates job.

[Bartman]

Former Maine high school standout quarterback Austin McCrum will transfer from Lafayette to Bowdoin this upcoming Fall.


This is one big difference between the NESCAC and the other D3 leagues.  Seems there are many D1 transfers into the NESCAC but i do not see that in the other D3 programs or leagues.

To be clear, I am not talking about Mount Union, Whitewater, etc. ... frankly that league they play in could be considered D1 talent and I am sure most of the teams in that league could beat many of the New England D2 teams.

What I am talking about is the Liberty League and other NY, New England and East Coast D3 teams. My nephew starts for RPI who won the Liberty League and went to the D3 playoffs last year. He was a first team All Liberty League player and 1st team district COSIDA All American.  So he is a very good player and great kid!   But he did not really get recruited in the NESCAC.  Also, RPI's best WR played with my son in HS so Iknow first hand the type of player he is.  Very Good player for sure,  but not recruited in the NESCAC.

I have watched hmy nephew play a couple games in each of the last three years, and now that my sons have both graduated from the NESCAC I will spend next fall watching and supporting him.  I even bought an RPI hat and T-shirt in anticipation of the event.  So In addition to spending the last 7 years watching the NESCAC, I have seen RPI play several times against, Union, MIT, Alfred, WPI, William Patterson, Norwich, Hudson Valley.  I can confidently say that None of these teams (except the Alfred team I saw) would compete in the NESCAC.  The Alfred team reminded me of the big powerful Trinity teams, but the rest of the teams would finish at best ahead of Bowdoin and Colby.  While they do have much larger rosters, they lack size and speed  IMHO.  The roster size hurts the NESCAC, because the Liberty League has so many more "second string" players on their rosters.  But best 11 vs best 11and the NESCAC wins 8 times out of ten.

The biggest differences in my opinion is size of the lineman, and QB play.  The RPI team that won the Liberty League last year did not have any big lineman and was fairly slow in my opinion.  While many of the top NESCAC teams have decent size O-lines and several border line D1 players.  They also get D1 transfers as evidenced many times over. 

And the QB play is much better in the NESCAC in my opinion.  Look at all the good QBs currently on NESCAC rosters fo the last few years. The Liberty league does not have close to that talent.  The RPI team that won the liberty league last year would be competitive with Hamilton.  But would get beat by at least 20 by Trinity, Middlebury, Amherst, Wesleyan, Tufts and Williams.

Obviously my opinion can be debated to the end of time, but I have watched a lot of college football in person over the last several years, and feel confident that the NESCAC is a very competitive brand of D3 football. 

And it sounds like it is getting more competitive each year.  Certainly 2017 seemed like a nice competitive season.  I hope this transfer helps the Bowdoin team get to the next level.  It will make the NESCAc even more enjoyable to watch in the future.

Hamgrand,
     With all due respect this is not a credible post. The NESCAC is a very fine league and the members are some of the best institutions for scholar athletes, but like your football schedule, I think your comments should be limited to the league.  Otherwise open the schedule up, as Hobart would love to play any of the NESCAC teams, we did beat RPI 30-0 last year and only finished third in the league and I don't think we would lose by 20 to anyone in the NESCAC( perhaps in average SAT scores)....heck, in the 2016 post season we were tied with Mount Union late in the third quarter , despite your belief that they have D1 level athletes(you are dead wrong that the OAC as a league does). Of course, it is all hypothetical as NESCAC schedules only within the league, however, it is fun to speculate, and I respect your right to do so, but remember some LL posters are proud of our own league and are realistic about our talent level.