FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[PBPOP20]

Bowdoin Orient article w/ BJ Hammer laying out his thoughts/approach.  Interesting motivation techniques....

https://bowdoinorient.com/2019/10/04/faced-with-more-of-the-same-bowdoin-football-takes-the-long-view/

[Jonny Utah]

Bowdoin Orient article w/ BJ Hammer laying out his thoughts/approach.  Interesting motivation techniques....

https://bowdoinorient.com/2019/10/04/faced-with-more-of-the-same-bowdoin-football-takes-the-long-view/

Good stuff:

"We need to become more aggressive. I wouldn't mind a few aggressive penalties, to be honest with you, because we need to start developing a little bit of an edge in the attitude around here," said Hammer. "Don't get [me] wrong, I don't want penalties, but football's not a soft sport. You can't be soft and play on the edge ... in football."

Wondering if he loved Joe Gowestki's facemask where he almost ripped the quarterbacks head off....

[PBPOP20]

Good stuff:

"We need to become more aggressive. I wouldn't mind a few aggressive penalties, to be honest with you, because we need to start developing a little bit of an edge in the attitude around here," said Hammer. "Don't get [me] wrong, I don't want penalties, but football's not a soft sport. You can't be soft and play on the edge ... in football."

Wondering if he loved Joe Gowestki's facemask where he almost ripped the quarterbacks head off....

There are a handful of players that could start for any team... Goewetski is certainly one of them.

[Jonny Utah]

Good stuff:

"We need to become more aggressive. I wouldn't mind a few aggressive penalties, to be honest with you, because we need to start developing a little bit of an edge in the attitude around here," said Hammer. "Don't get [me] wrong, I don't want penalties, but football's not a soft sport. You can't be soft and play on the edge ... in football."

Wondering if he loved Joe Gowestki's facemask where he almost ripped the quarterbacks head off....

There are a handful of players that could start for any team... Goewetski is certainly one of them.

He would start for probably any team in the country.

[SpringSt7]

A couple random stats for everyone's Thursday afternoon. Do with these what you'd like:

-The NESCAC by opponents' records, not including their own games. I.e, When counting Williams' opponents records, Middlebury is 5-0, and not 6-0. This is done to take out the added factor of each team itself. Keep in mind that every team will have the same combined record at the end of the season, so think of this as teams' strength of schedule for the last three weeks: Bates and Colby have the easiest, Trinity and Amherst have the hardest.

Bates (21-9)
Colby (21-9)
Bowdoin (18-12)
Middlebury (18-12)
Tufts (15-15)
Hamilton (15-15)
Williams (11-19)
Wesleyan (11-19)
Trinity (10-18)
Amherst (10-18)

-Home teams are 20-10 this season

-10 games have been decided by 1 score or less
-4 games have been decided by 2 scores or less
-15 games have been decided by 3 or more scores
-10 games have been decided by 4 or more scores

[Heftylefty]

Thanks Spring for the interesting stats. In response to the weekly New England and national d3 football rankings, I have noticed Middlebury is consistently receiving some votes for the top 25. Not nearly enough to break into it, but I wonder if that would change if they finish 9-0. I believe trinity went undefeated in 2016, (and came into this year ranked 30th nationally) does anyone know where they finished in the rankings that year? I do not think a Nescac team could beat any top 15 ranked team, but it would be cool to see some representation nationally.

[Pat Coleman]

Here's the archive of all 17 seasons of the D3football.com Top 25:
https://www.d3football.com/top25/previous

[Inkblot]

Trinity in 2005 is the only NESCAC team to be in the final D3football.com top 25.

[middhoops]

The list of sports at which the NESCAC is not generally near the top of the ratings is relatively few.  Does it make specific sense that football would be an outlier?

[JEFFFAN]

The list of sports at which the NESCAC is not generally near the top of the ratings is relatively few.  Does it make specific sense that football would be an outlier?

I think so for one reason - no playoffs.   I have been part of recruiting a few kids to Amherst for other sports and trust me that one of the first features that is discussed is "you will have a chance to play for a national championship."   Can say that in almost any sport for any NESCAC sport but not football.

[middhoops]

JEFFFAN, makes sense, I guess.
Some two sport athletes can win a pair in a school year.

[NBC93]

The list of sports at which the NESCAC is not generally near the top of the ratings is relatively few.  Does it make specific sense that football would be an outlier?

I would imagine that limiting the rosters to 75 would also play a part in a sport like football where injuries can play such a large part in a season, especially adding a postseason to the grind. I'm not sure what the roster cap is in other conferences but I'm guessing it is much more than 75.

[Pat Coleman]

I'm not sure what the roster cap is in other conferences ...

it's generally nonexistent.

[Nescacman]

The list of sports at which the NESCAC is not generally near the top of the ratings is relatively few.  Does it make specific sense that football would be an outlier?

Here we go again...seems like every few years this topic rears it's ugly head...

Our opinion (and it is just an opinion, obviously) is that if the NESCAC allowed their football teams to be eligible flor the play-offs, they would represent themselves well and possibly win a game or two...Not sure they could compete with the upper echelon of D3 football these days like Mary Hardin and Mount Union, but it would be fun to watch....

Let's not forget, Union College, who used to play many of the NESCAC schools (and at one point was in the NESCAC) before there was an official NESCAC football league, did pretty well at a national level in the '80's....but that was a long time ago (and welcome back to the Top 25 in 2019 Union College)....

As a sort of proxy, it will be interesting to see how Muhlenberg does in the play-offs this year...many of their players were recruited to play at NESCAC schools and the Centential League is similar to the NESCAC in many ways...

BTW, nice to see a resurgence of east coast D3 football...can't remember when so many east coast teams (Muhlenberg, Ithaca, Cortland, Union, Delaware Valley, Salisbury..) were in the Top 25....great to see!

[Nescacman]

2019 NESCAC Weekly Power Rankings-Week 7

Weekly highlights:

-And then there was one...only Middlebury remains as the only undefeated team...crushes Wesleyan on beautiful fall day in Vermont.
-Historic upset by the Conts over the Lord Mammoths.
-We have heard a rumor that the NESCAC champioship tie breaking rules for football no longer apply...we will try to confirm.
-Should be a great last three weeks with the NESCAC title on the line, a potential for the first ever 9-0 team in the NESCAC, the Little 3 title to be decided and of course, the C-B-B title on the line (the greatest pillow fight in America).

Here are the coaches New England rankings for this week:

https://d2o2figo6ddd0g.cloudfront.net/t/m/5nslaf0j5qfjmx/Grinold_Chapter_New_England_Division_III_Football_Poll_Release_-_10-21-19.pdf

And here are this week's NESCAC rankings:

1). Middlebury (2019 record: 6-0; LW Rank: 1-tie):  No one other than Buffy, Muffy and their golden retriever thought that the Pants would hand it to Wes like they did...after they pretty much laid an egg the week before against Colby, we didn't see that coming....the Wes secondary made Jernigan look like the next coming of Jared Leibowitz...unfortunately, it appeared that TE Cosolito may have had a concussion issue and we are not sure of his status for this week...Next game: @Bowdoin.

2). (tie) Wesleyan (2019 record: 5-1; LW Rank: 1-tie):  Not sure what happened last Saturday, but this team is capable of playing a lot better than what they showed on Saturday....usually stout Wes D gave up long pass after long pass, some to wide open MID receivers...Wes had some chances early: dropped pick 6 and a dropped long TD pass that certainly could have changed the momentum of the game....not sure if it would have changed the outcome...Wes still has a chance for a great season, but they have to play a lot better the last three weeks like they did in the second half against Tufts and the entire game against UBates...We are giving them the benefit of the doubt in the ranking since their only loss was to the best team in the league and they have 2 wins against other quality opponents (Tufts and HAM)...Next game: @Amhurst. 

2). (Tie) TTUN (2019 record: 5-1; LW Rank: 4): Maimaron and the Eph rushing attack were firing on all cylinders as expected against UBates...Stola, for some reason, disappeared against the worst pass defense in the conference...big game on the road this week for the Ephs...Next game: @Hartford State.

4). Amhurst (2019 record: 4-2; LW Rank: 3): Very disappointing, unusual loss for the Lord Mammoths against HAM...only their 2nd loss to HAM in 30 meetings and the last since 1992...something tells us they'll come to play against Wes this week in round 1 of the Little 3 championship...Next game: Wesleyan in Blanketville.
   
5). Tufts (2019 record: 3-3; LW Rank: 5): Got it done against the Polars...662 yards of total offense for the Jumbo's....even for Bowdoin, that is a staggering number...interesting game this Saturday...Next game: Hamilton in Medford.

6). Hartford State (2019 record: 4-2; LW Rank: 6): Congrats on destroying another Maine team..HS outscored Maine 155-14 in 3 games...66 points for, 70 points against real football teams...face a real team this week in the Ephs....12 passes last week for 230 yards by Lambert...finally realized Girard still plays for HS....Harris had another big game on the ground for HS....would have been POTW if not for Jernigan's career day in Vermont...Next game: TTUN in Hartford.
 
7). Hamilton (2019 record: 3-3; LW Rank: 7):  Well we picked the HAM upset against the wrong Little 3 team...upset of the year in the NESCAC this year for the Conts (a close first over the Tufts win over Hartford State)...let's see if they can get one on the road this week in Medford...we think that HAM has clearly moved itself out of the bottom tier into the next grouping...is this Tufts in 2014 ready to make the big jump in 2020???...we will see...Next game: @Tufts.

8). Colby (2019 record: 0-6; LW Rank: 8):  The State of Maine goes to 0-18...at least we know one of the Maine teams will get a win this week...Next game: UBates in Waterville.

10. (Tie) University of Bates (Lewiston Campus)(2019 record: 0-6; LW rank: 9): UBates has not won a game since November 4, 2017 and has now lost 16 games in row...Next game: @Colby.

10. (Tie) Bowdoin (2019 record: 0-6; LW Rank: 10): We wish we could say that the Polars could pull off a Hamilton-like upset of Middlebury this week...our Magic 8 Ball says "no chance"..Next game: Middlebury in Brunswick.