FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[amh63]

Nescac1...enjoyed your comments and your viewpoints.  Will like to build on them and provide a somewhat differing viewpoint on several.  Former HFC Whalen at Wesleyan has and continues to do great things for his Alma mater in Middletown which is a big town/small city that had social issues.  Coach, now AD Whalen is the third great coach I have met and chatted with.  I posted earlier wrt to a meeting with him while watching a Amherst soccer game.  I first shook his hand and chatted with him along with a group of other Amherst alums after another Homecoming game.  The other alums from the class of '64 were standing in front of Coolidge Cage.  The area in front were filled with Wes fans, cars and football players. Cookouts and eating were among the parked cars.  The dressing rooms for football opponents are at the Hockey facility...a short walk from Pratt Field.  The buses were pulling up to pick up the players.  HFC Whalen was overlooking the process...but had time to chat with some old Amherst alums and shake our hands. 
Yes, Whalen is a great coach, but a better fundraiser.  Whalen was not only asked to return to Middletown to rebuild the football program but to help "rebuild" Wesleyan.  Wesleyan was financially in danger at the time.  It had a relative small endownment...especially compared to the other Little Three schools....a campus with out of date athletic facilities, etc., etc.  Worst overall, Wesleyan was over spending its Endownment.  It was Not a pretty fiscal picture and position/path.  Whalen righted the ship, was promoted to AD.  Wes has many new facilities and just finished a fine new tennis facility.   Wes with more funds improved student housing choices...many spreading into the downtown area.
Downtown now has more places to eat and shop, etc, etc.and is much safer.   I have attended a
number of Wes Homecoming games and have experienced  the changes.  My best man and I have
Crashed a number of the events for free goodies...also partaked of the downtown places too!  Nah, not really.  Did shop for books.

[Nescacman]

Based on first week performance, NESCAC right now looks something like:
Wesleyan, Trinity, Williams, Tufts, Amherst, Middlebury, Bates, Hamilton, Colby, Bowdoin

But when taking into account talent levels and realistic expectations, the reality is likely more like:
Trinity, Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Middlebury, Hamilton, Bates, Colby, Bowdoin

We shall see! 

As for the Maine programs, no one in NESCAC is ever going to poach other NESCAC coaches via extravagent compensation.  All of these schools are pretty tight with coaches' salaries and if one coach gets a huge raise, the other 30 at the school will complain and demand equitable treatment.  This isn't the SEC -- ain't gonna happen.  The only real way to poach another coach is to go from a worse-performing program to a significantly more desirable one (as opposed to the other way around), or with the promise of an administrative job / some other perk (like Whalen got at Wesleyan), which of course is not something any school can utilize more than once.  Any coach of the Maine programs is still going to have to get around the fact that they are recruiting against schools with much stronger football traditions and with closer proximity to the NESCAC recruiting base of Mass/CT/NY/NJ/PA.  And the Maine schools can't offer superior football facilities as a lure, especially now that Williams, Amherst, Trinity, Wesleyan have all completed major upgrades to previously-stale facilities.  The reality is that SOMEONE has to be last in NESCAC.  The coaching now looks really strong across the league -- but given that, it means that a few good coaches are going to end up at the bottom of the league, no matter how good a job they are doing given the constraints they have to deal with.  I mean, you can be the greatest football coach in the world but if you coach Indiana or Minnesota or Maryland or Rutgers, how often are you gonna beat out Ohio State or Wisconsin or Michigan or Penn State for football recruits?  It takes a perfect storm for the traditional bottom-tier teams in most leagues to rise to the top, and when they do, it is usually very short lived (think Northwestern's fairly short run atop the Big 10 -- and even Northwestern could sell an elite academic reputation, a gorgeous campus, a rich private institution, and an amazing neighborhood right outside Chicago).   Long-ingrained and long-established relative cache is very, very hard to overcome, unless you have some unique attribute to offer relative to your peers (e.g. Tufts and its proximity to Boston).   

I will say though that Bowdoin has the best location of the Maine schools in terms of proximity to recruits, and also the highest academic profile of that trio, plus a strong athletic culture in the aggregate, so it is a bit surprising that it hasn't been able to have more success, at least in the C-B-B.   

Considering you went to TTUN, it kills us that we agree so friggin much...btw, +k to you...(even though you rank MID way too low off of their Saturday performance...as we will discuss later tonight, they are good team that just ran into a better/well coached team with a really good game plan at the wrong time)....

[ColbyFootball]

For the record, and to be very clear, while I was hoping for a better effort from Colby in week one, it would be unfair to lay it all on Cosgrove. He's currently playing the hand he was dealt. He doesn't have a single recruit to call his own. But, he will next year, so that's when you need to see signs of a new direction. And then in year two of his recruits, you have to start showing some results. Otherwise, IMHO, you are wasting your time. Look at the turn around times at Wesleyan and Williams.

[Trin9-0]

ColbyFootball, I hate to do this because I do believe you're trying to move on but I just couldn't resist when I saw your comments about the importance of coaching vs talent. You seemed to have changed your tune from a year ago:

Saying it's conservative is an understatement. And saying it may be the players is off base. Colby had a predictable anemic offense when it had stud playmakers like Hurdle-Price. It's the coaching. They are throwing WR screens to the 2 biggest and slower receivers, when they have a few really fast new guys. The only long pass I saw in 2 games was a long sideline vertical route to the backup QB who's playing slot receiver for some reason. Maybe someone gets it, but I'm at a loss.

Translation: Colby had "stud playmakers" but Michaels just didn't know how to use the talent.

For the record, and to be very clear, while I was hoping for a better effort from Colby in week one, it would be unfair to lay it all on Cosgrove. He's currently playing the hand he was dealt. He doesn't have a single recruit to call his own. But, he will next year, so that's when you need to see signs of a new direction. And then in year two of his recruits, you have to start showing some results. Otherwise, IMHO, you are wasting your time. Look at the turn around times at Wesleyan and Williams.

Translation: Colby can't be expected to win with these players. Cosgrove needs two years to bring in talent.

[PolarCat]

Maybe he was saying, "Michaeles was a dope because he didn't throw to my older son often enough", and "Cosgrove needs to recruit my younger son, in order to achieve greatness"?

Nah.  That can't be it.  Can it? 

[ColbyFootball]

ColbyFootball, I hate to do this because I do believe you're trying to move on but I just couldn't resist when I saw your comments about the importance of coaching vs talent. You seemed to have changed your tune from a year ago:

Saying it's conservative is an understatement. And saying it may be the players is off base. Colby had a predictable anemic offense when it had stud playmakers like Hurdle-Price. It's the coaching. They are throwing WR screens to the 2 biggest and slower receivers, when they have a few really fast new guys. The only long pass I saw in 2 games was a long sideline vertical route to the backup QB who's playing slot receiver for some reason. Maybe someone gets it, but I'm at a loss.

Translation: Colby had "stud playmakers" but Michaels just didn't know how to use the talent.

For the record, and to be very clear, while I was hoping for a better effort from Colby in week one, it would be unfair to lay it all on Cosgrove. He's currently playing the hand he was dealt. He doesn't have a single recruit to call his own. But, he will next year, so that's when you need to see signs of a new direction. And then in year two of his recruits, you have to start showing some results. Otherwise, IMHO, you are wasting your time. Look at the turn around times at Wesleyan and Williams.

Translation: Colby can't be expected to win with these players. Cosgrove needs two years to bring in talent.

I guess when you translated my post you were speaking a different language. A coach should be able to bring in guys that fit his system. That's pretty much a given that I'm sure you've heard many times. Unless he was an insider that helped build the roster and is perpetuating the existing system.  With respect to the talent level on this year's team, they have some nice players, but Hurdle-Price was a special player. I'll leave my comments at that, rather than allow myself to be baited into a historical critique of the former Colby HC. Any person with a morsel of football intelligence can watch the film of the previous HC's years, and the players on the team, and decide for themselves what they think of the offensive job done.

[ColbyFootball]

Maybe he was saying, "Michaeles was a dope because he didn't throw to my older son often enough", and "Cosgrove needs to recruit my younger son, in order to achieve greatness"?

Nah.  That can't be it.  Can it? 

Polarcat needs to shut his mouth and worry about his own son, and not mention my sons. It's low rent and low class, but what I've become accustom to. My sons have more class and integrity in their pinkies, than that grown man has in his entire body. That's why he recently had a former nescac coach get so upset he wanted to do a number on his teeth. And not in a good way.

[PolarCat]

Frank, does that qualify as wagging?

[amh63]

Guys/posters...enough already. 
Need some more analyses of games past or games ahead.  Running out of past memories,etc to post here.  Will start by poking some posters of Hamilton, Trinity, Midd, etc.
Midd does have a passing offense... as usual...with big offensive linemen.  Really needs to find a run game and some defense.  A roster review does not see much among the young recruits. 
Trin8-0....what's up with the QB transfer from D1.  Letting in a Leopard into a Bantam Coop I see . Several other losing teams need some running game to balance the passing game... me thinks.  Just look at the stats of games like I did.
Bottom line...need the promised NescacMEn inputs quick!

[NBC93]

Amh63,
Just finished watching the Hamilton-Tufts game in preparation for this week's matchup. First impressions:

Hamilton looks sloppy/ill-prepared. I know its the first game but didn't look crisp or ready.

O-Line couldn't handle pass rush or blitzes. Did not open any holes between tackles.

RB Bierman is a straight ahead speedster but lacks size and strength to power through tackles in traffic.  Does not appear to change direction/Quick cut well. When they sent him wide he couldn't turn up-field without breaking down and losing speed. I respect his speed but it is lost if line doesn't help him out. He got banged up in the third. Wonder if lingering injury will be an issue this week.

The Hudson injury at LBis huge. Bigger than I thought. LBs need help.

Hamilton played two FY DBs quite a bit. I think they started. Jumbos didn't quite test them enough.

Gray was under constant pressure and was not accurate when hurried. Didn't look comfortable in pocket and not sure he is a threat when running. He got dinged also but may have jist had wind knocked out of him.

Hamilton finished the day with something like -40 yards rushing. Lots of sacks. Lots of defenders in the backfield.

I would like to see Amherst end this early and let some young guys get some game experience. On paper this shouldn't be close.

[Nescacman]

NESCACMAN 2018 NESCAC Weekly Power Rankings-Week #1

Welcome to the 2018 NESCAC Weekly Power Rankings for Week #1 in "the league where they pay to play"!!! Week 1 went as expected with no upsets. Surprises included Wesleyan destroying Middlebury and Bates playing Amhurst tough in a sloppy game in Lewiston. We have now watched every game though some cool software they we acquired and saw some interesting things...

1 (tie). Hartford State (2018 record: 1-0): Good start for the "Staters" against the undermanned Mules...Big day for 'CAC OPOTW RB Max Chipouras rushing for 223 yards and 3 TDs (why does it feel like he's been playing for Hartford State for like 6 years???)...HS put up 668 yards of total offense including 439 yards rushing...new HS QB Vazzano threw for 210 yards and 2 TDs but was only 9 of 26 in the air...HS defense only gave up 167 yards of total O to the Mules...longest play from scrimmage by Colby was 17 yards....next up: UBates in Hartford.   

1 (tie). Wesleyan (1-0): Although many predicted a Panther win on Saturday, most had this game as being a TD or less either way...who saw a 31 point win by either Team (third largest margin of victory ever by the Cards v the Pants)...Stellar game plan by the Cards coaching staff that was well executed by the clearly prepared Cards...Wes' balanced attack worked well (203 rushing and 155 passing)....Wes' 203 yards rushing compared to just 27 for MID...Soph RB Sean Penney ran for 3 TDs and RB Glenn Smith had 71 yards rushing and 2 TDs...efficient day by QB Piccirillo...Wes outgained MID 358 to 293....Wes forced 4 turnovers (3 INTs, 1 fumble) and had 4 sacks...no turnovers by Wes...'CAC DPOTW Ben Thaw had 2 INTs...Wes O line was impressive allowing no sacks to 2017's #1 'CAC Team in sacks...Both Wes O and D lines were dominant....converted RB Dario Highsmith was QB Piccirillo's #1 target catching 6 balls for 87 yards...FY WR David Estevez had a big day for the cards returning punts, including a 59 yarder down to the MID 2 yard line and running the Wes wildcat....next up: at Tufts.

3. Amhurst (1-0): Sloppy game by the LMs fumbling 6 times and losing 3...Amhurst ran the ball 50 times for 226 yards....game manager Ollie Eberth only threw 19 passes all day....RB Hickey had a big day running for 137 yards and 1 TD...game was 0-0 at the half...LMs were only 23% on third down (3 of 13)....Amhurst was minus 2 on turnovers losing 3 fumbles and intercepting UBates once...longest pass by Eberth was 21 yards...Amhurst D only allowed 150 yards of total O and 7 first downs...next up: Hamilton in Amhurst.

4. Middlebury (0-1): This Team will win plenty of games this year...ran into a buzz saw in Middletown on Saturday...minus 4 on turnovers and 4 sacks against is not going to win you many games...MID O line needs to play better...2 of those turnovers led to defensive TDs for Wes...QB Meservy definitely did not look like the next coming of FLB (aka Fawn's Little Brother aka Jared Liebowitz)....3 INTs and a long pass of 18 yds on the day for Meservy...Mid was typically unbalanced on O (293 yds of total O; 266 passing and 27 rushing)...27 rushing yards on 29 attempts may be a new Mid record in running futility...All-NESCAC performers Banky and Cosolito were held in check...12 different Pants caught passes and Pant QBs completed better than 60% of their passes, albeit most of the dink and dunk variety...back-up QB Jernigan looked solid running and passing against the Wes 2nd and 3rd string...Jernigan did look much more mobile than Meservy who had a huge brace on his knee...next up: Bowdoin in Middlebury. 

5 (tie). Tufts (1-0): The OG Elephants are off to a good with a win on the road v Hamilton....323 yards of total O including 189 on the ground...QB McDonald had a big day on the ground for the Jumbo's with 86 yards rushing and 4 TDs...9 other Jumbo's ran the ball...D was the key for Tufts only allowing the Conts 124 yards of total O including negative 39 on the ground (on 27 rushing attempts)....longest run of the day by HAM was 8 yards...Tufts had 6 sacks, 3 INTs and 1 fumble recovery....limited HAM to 21 pass completions on 48 attempts...not a great day for the HAM offense or offensive line against the Jumbo front 7...next up: Wesleyan in Medford.

5 (tie). That Team Up North (aka Williams)(1-0): Nice opening win on the road against the PBers (although not much of a surprise)...TTUN scored early and often leading 31-0 at the half...476 yards of total O for the Ephs including 305 yards rushing...ran 83 plays during the game...dominated TOP 33 mins-27 mins...QB Maimaron threw for 2 TDs and ran for another....RB Dozier had 128 yards rushing and a TD....WR Stola had 2 TD catches....defense limited Bowdoin to 13 first downs, 33% on 3rd down, forced 8 punts, had 2 sacks and an INT...TTUN led 41-0 until midway in the 4th Q...next up: Colby in Willytown.

7. University of Bates (Lewiston Campus)(0-1): Still the Team to beat in the C-B-B-H...good effort by the Bates D as expected...kept UBATES in the game most of the day...problem was the D was on the field most of the day (UBates O only ran 52 plays on offense)...did a nice job containing the LMs on 3rd down and kept the Amhurst passing attack in check...here's the problem: the UBates version of the "Air Raid" is a work in progress...UB only had 150 yards of Total O (90 passing; 60 rushing), only 7 first downs, and did not score a TD through the air...on the bright side, QB Costa only threw one INT, UB only had 3 penalties all day and they were plus 2 on turnovers...next up: at Hartford State.

8 (tie). Colby (0-1): Tough first game for new Coach Cosgrove...Hartford State was up 35-0 at the half and clearly took their foot off the gas...the Mule O only had 167 yards and averaged a paltry 1.6 yards per rush on 45 carries...good news was they were only penalized once and only turned the ball over once...longest play from scrimmage was 17 yards....RB Schwern had a nice day running the ball against a tough HS D gaining 108 yards on 29 carries...Mules D needs to get better giving up 573 yards to the Bants including 344 yards rushing...next up: at Williams.

8 (tie). Hamilton (0-1): Tough day offensively for the Conts...only 10 first downs and 124 yards of total O on 75 plays (1.7 yards per play)...negative 39 yards rushing needs to get better or they are going to get clobbered...QBs only completed 21-48 pass attempts...Kenny Gray threw 3 picks and Tufts sacked him and the other Cont QBs 6 times...Will Buddington had 6 catches for 117 yards...All-'CAC WR Joe Schmidt was pretty much held in check...HAM defense could not contain Tufts QB McDonald who was good for 4 TDs...Conts did a good job against the pass but need to improve against the run...Billy Wagner did a nice job punting average 41.4 yards and 3 inside the 20...next up: at Amhurst.

8 (tie). Bowdoin (0-1): Tough start for the Polars...Offense had 13 first downs and 245 yards of total O, but the QBs completed less than 50% of their passes, they were 6 of 18 on 3rd down, and their longest play from scrimmage 20 yards...need to get better play from the QB position...Defense gave up a ton of yards (476 to be exact) including 305 on the ground...way too many penalties (6) and gave up way too many 3rd down conversions (9 of 15) to the Ephs...Liam Dougherty had 12 tackles for the PBers on D...next up: at Middlebury. 

[Nescacman]

Guys/posters...enough already. 
Need some more analyses of games past or games ahead.  Running out of past memories,etc to post here.  Will start by poking some posters of Hamilton, Trinity, Midd, etc.
Midd does have a passing offense... as usual...with big offensive linemen.  Really needs to find a run game and some defense.  A roster review does not see much among the young recruits. 
Trin8-0....what's up with the QB transfer from D1.  Letting in a Leopard into a Bantam Coop I see . Several other losing teams need some running game to balance the passing game... me thinks.  Just look at the stats of games like I did.
Bottom line...need the promised NescacMEn inputs quick!

Your wish is our command....weekly rankings posted...

[Nescacman]

New England D3 Rankings posted...NESCAC teams hold spots 1, 2, and 4...

https://noontimesports.com/2018/09/17/noontime-sports-top-10-new-england-d3-football-poll-week-four-sept-17th-2018/

[NBC93]

I'm new here so forgive me if this is something that everyone already knows.

But the Bates field runs Southwest to Northeast.

At this time of year and a 1:00 game that means whoever is receiving a punt/kick on the Northeast side of the field is staring directly at the sun shining from between the goalposts.

I noticed the position of the shadows during punts and at least 2 punts and a kick were fumbled by Amherst from that end of the field. It happened to Bates once as well.

Not making excuses, players have to play the sun. Baseball players deal with it all the time. But it does make for a difficult play early in the season.

[lumbercat]

Amh63,
Just finished watching the Hamilton-Tufts game in preparation for this week's matchup. First impressions:

Hamilton looks sloppy/ill-prepared. I know its the first game but didn't look crisp or ready.

O-Line couldn't handle pass rush or blitzes. Did not open any holes between tackles.

RB Bierman is a straight ahead speedster but lacks size and strength to power through tackles in traffic.  Does not appear to change direction/Quick cut well. When they sent him wide he couldn't turn up-field without breaking down and losing speed. I respect his speed but it is lost if line doesn't help him out. He got banged up in the third. Wonder if lingering injury will be an issue this week.

The Hudson injury at LBis huge. Bigger than I thought. LBs need help.

Hamilton played two FY DBs quite a bit. I think they started. Jumbos didn't quite test them enough.

Gray was under constant pressure and was not accurate when hurried. Didn't look comfortable in pocket and not sure he is a threat when running. He got dinged also but may have jist had wind knocked out of him.

Hamilton finished the day with something like -40 yards rushing. Lots of sacks. Lots of defenders in the backfield.

I would like to see Amherst end this early and let some young guys get some game experience. On paper this shouldn't be close.

NBC93
Great analysis- In Vegas they call NBC93 a sharp. Hamilton brings another bowling ball into the RB position at 5'7" but he isn't Guiterraz. Gray is a fine athlete but the Buff n' Blue, despite making great strides',  still don't seem to have success at the line of scrimmage. Its a sure thing Murray is looking to get that big time RB and some OLs who can run block somewhere in the fertile recruiting fields of northwest NY.

The Conts had an old longtime coach (forget his name but he was a psycho on the sidelines) who used to bird dog Cornell, Ithaca and other school in the Empire State for recruits and he did damn well hanging around and taking their rejects last minute.

Believe Murray knows he's all alone up there in terms of Nescac recruiting. It's a damn good football territory so Im sure he will keep working it......he's essentially unopposed in terms of the NESCAC. Assume he's working the Cornell recruiting database and assume he will do well but not sure they added much in this years class.