FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[PBPOP20]

An open post to any Bowdoin followers-

Why did the entire Bowdoin team immediately exit the field at the end of the game. Thats the first time in NESCAC history I've ever seen a team not participate in the end of game handshake???

Lumbercat,   that's HCOF Hammer...   he barely lets the boys stop by the tailgate before they load on the bus...

[Nescacman]

Can't believe he picked Wesleyan, who saw that coming.

But on a serious note--it will be very interesting to see how the past history of this rivalry affects today's game. The last two years you probably could've said the Ephs were the favorites and they just got straight up punked--the offense honestly moved the ball better after Maimaron got hurt that day. Two years ago Wesleyan could have scored 100 points if they wanted to (56-14 at the half). Not even remotely exaggerating. I think Williams is the better team of the two again this year, but would not be surprised at all to see the confidence and, quite frankly, hatred of past history play a huge role.

We picked Wes because Coach Dice does not lose to the Ephs...the Cards could be 0-7 coming into the Eph game and they would still give max effort...Wes has now won 7 straight over TTUN and their third Little 3 title since 2013 after not winning win one in the previous 43 years...more on the game and the weekend but it was a great day to be in Middletown for fans of both teams...

[PBPOP20]

An open post to any Bowdoin followers-

Why did the entire Bowdoin team immediately exit the field at the end of the game. Thats the first time in NESCAC history I've ever seen a team not participate in the end of game handshake???

Apparently the Bates fans stormed the field and were celebrating with the Bates players when the game ended, so Bowdoin opted to head into the locker room.  No harm, no foul.

Jeffan

You are correct the Bates fans did storm the field but it took the fans some time to get on the field with Bates Security staff trying to hold them back. I saw the entire Bowdoin team and coaching staff vacate the sideline immediately after the final gun. It didn't look like a spontaneous action. Hammer then turned around and jogged back to shake Coach Halls hand.

Ironically it was an identical set of circumstances to the night game in Brunswick last year. Bowdoin fans stormed the field and the Bates team and coaching staff stuck around and waited to do the traditional handshake.

I've got to say that no JB Wells Bowdoin team ever performed like the Polar Bears did yesterday. They did the same thing all day- totally predictable with no halftime adjustments. Bates HCOF Hall and OC Patterson schooled Hammer and his kid OC. That didn't happen when Wells was there. I shouldn't complain- would much rather face this coaching staff than Wells and Vial.

For the last time I'll say Wells got railroaded at Bowdoin in favor of a young neophyte coaching staff that inherited some very good personnel. 

Maybe Hammer will have them ready next week. The young Bowdoin OC
needs to be more creative with Richam. The Bates defensive game plan was totally centered on #6. Cosgrove will do the same thing next week so maybe the the Polar Bear OC can bring some different wrinkles to get more production out of one of the elite backs in the conference.

Richam and LB Gowetski are two of the very best players in the NESCAC. Both deserve some All conference recognition.

Hammer will not have them ready for next week.   What you are witnessing is "PHASE ONE" of Hammer's plan.. not sure if you read the article in the Orient....   It does not fit his narrative to win any games this year.  They are focused on developing young talent to show marked improvement year over year to solidify his position.  Winning anything this year doesn't fit the narrative.  At the risk of sounding like sour grapes... there are players on the team that started every snap they were available under Wells that rarely touch the field this year.   The Bates game was the first this season that Hammer was actually on the sideline... he is typically in the booth all game.

[lumbercat]

BPPOP20-

I get the picture- too bad for the veteran players at Bowdoin who worked hard for 4 years only to fall victim of another rebuilding process. Wells had a decent nucleus in place but I guess the Hammer blew that up.
I was scratching my head all year looking at Bowdoin lineups and participation reports (which are often inaccurate) and trying to figure out why some quality guys were not getting on the field.

[Nescacman]

An open post to any Bowdoin followers-

Why did the entire Bowdoin team immediately exit the field at the end of the game. Thats the first time in NESCAC history I've ever seen a team not participate in the end of game handshake???

Apparently the Bates fans stormed the field and were celebrating with the Bates players when the game ended, so Bowdoin opted to head into the locker room.  No harm, no foul.

Jeffan

You are correct the Bates fans did storm the field but it took the fans some time to get on the field with Bates Security staff trying to hold them back. I saw the entire Bowdoin team and coaching staff vacate the sideline immediately after the final gun. It didn't look like a spontaneous action. Hammer then turned around and jogged back to shake Coach Halls hand.

Ironically it was an identical set of circumstances to the night game in Brunswick last year. Bowdoin fans stormed the field and the Bates team and coaching staff stuck around and waited to do the traditional handshake.

I've got to say that no JB Wells Bowdoin team ever performed like the Polar Bears did yesterday. They did the same thing all day- totally predictable with no halftime adjustments. Bates HCOF Hall and OC Patterson schooled Hammer and his kid OC. That didn't happen when Wells was there. I shouldn't complain- would much rather face this coaching staff than Wells and Vial.

For the last time I'll say Wells got railroaded at Bowdoin in favor of a young neophyte coaching staff that inherited some very good personnel. 

Maybe Hammer will have them ready next week. The young Bowdoin OC
needs to be more creative with Richam. The Bates defensive game plan was totally centered on #6. Cosgrove will do the same thing next week so maybe the the Polar Bear OC can bring some different wrinkles to get more production out of one of the elite backs in the conference.

Richam and LB Gowetski are two of the very best players in the NESCAC. Both deserve some All conference recognition.

Hammer will not have them ready for next week.   What you are witnessing is "PHASE ONE" of Hammer's plan.. not sure if you read the article in the Orient....   It does not fit his narrative to win any games this year.  They are focused on developing young talent to show marked improvement year over year to solidify his position.  Winning anything this year doesn't fit the narrative.  At the risk of sounding like sour grapes... there are players on the team that started every snap they were available under Wells that rarely touch the field this year.   The Bates game was the first this season that Hammer was actually on the sideline... he is typically in the booth all game.

Our opinion, and time will tell, is MC Hammer will unfortunately fail just as HCOF Caputi, HCOF Wells and pretty much every other HCOF has in Bowdoin's long, uninspiring football history (1 winning season in the last 20 years and a historical .403 winning percentage in 128 seasons through 8 games in 2019)...

Please note, we only know of Hammer through others, and he may be a great person, family man, coach, etc. but we do not think this will end well for him with the Polars...

The reasons are numerous and have all been discussed before on this thread (in semi-order of importance)...lack of institutional historical admissions support for football, the academics at Bowdoin are not supportive of football, location which makes it extremely difficult to recruit from current "hotbeds" for NESCAC recruiting talent (NJ and  PA in particular), other Maine schools stepping up their game (Colby, for example, building/rebuilding their athletic center and hiring HCOF Cos as coach), other NESCAC schools stepping up their game (Tufts over the last 5 years and Hamilton, more recently)..we know there are other reasons, but we think these are the primary issues (and rebuilding the football stadium primarily with alumni funds is like "putting lipstick on a pig" IOO) ...

We do recognize that Bowdoin is a tremendous school, one that we would be proud if our sons or daughters attended....and no doubt they have success in other sports in the NESCAC...however, for competitive balance purposes, we just wish they were a bit more competitive in football in the NESCAC....right now, they are not even competitive in the C-B-B...

The Bowdoin HCOF has an uphill fight...he is facing issues and challenges that he never faced in building/re-building programs in Ohio and PA...at Allegheny, he was located right in the middle of one of the best areas for football in the country in PA (and close to Ohio which he knows well) which was obviously a plus for recruiting...also although Allegheny is a nice school and fine institution (President McKinley went there!) but let's face it, it's not Bowdoin...

We wish HCOF Hammer well, but he has an extremely difficult task in front of him...some might say "Mission Impossible"....

If anyone is up for a wager, we'll take the under for a beer on whether HCOF Hammer makes it to 2025...

[JEFFFAN]

In terms of Bowdoin, the factors that you mentioned aren't very valid on a comparative basis other than lack of institutional support.   Academics are as strong or stronger at other schools (Amherst, Williams) that have very good football history, and the other factors - well, that just makes them like all of the NESCAC schools.   The one common theme seems to be that all of the coaches fail, which is either really bad luck - unlikely - or an administration that isn't wiling to reach to help get a program kick-started.   Amherst did it (somewhat disastrously although the result was fine) after the Darp years, Williams just did it with their new coach.   Every school in the country does it when they need to kickstart a program! Whey Bowdoin's admissions office and administration cannot find a way to support a new coach is a great mystery. I hope that this time they get it right because it will good for the NESCAC if Bowdoin doesn't suck.

[bantamweight]

We do recognize that Bowdoin is a tremendous school, one that we would be proud if our sons or daughters attended....

LOLZ. As if you'll ever climb out of your mom's basement and procreate.

Trinity's D looked strong this week. I liked the aggressive, attack style which resulted in a solid effort. Even when Amherst scored right before the half it didn't feel like they had any momentum on O. The secondary was much better in cover 1.

Offense looked better and some of that may be attributed to better game-to-game play calling adjustments. I didn't see any in-game adjustments but with the outcome never in doubt, none were really necessary. Regardless, I'd like to see better halftime adjustments. OL still showed plenty of weakness with penalties and a couple missed assignments that, fortunately, didn't undo an otherwise solid offensive day. 

Effort was just OK. To win next week Trin will need to amp it up. O playcalling and execution will need to be on point.

[nescac1]

Austin Dehmel, brother of current Eph Alex, commits to Williams.  No big surprise given the family connection. 

https://twitter.com/AustinDehmel/status/1189340962830589952?s=20

What's interesting now about recruiting announcements is that, in an increasing number cases, you can see what schools are beating out the competition for recruits, since more and more recruits are announcing "offers" even on the D3 level via social media.  In Austin's case, he had "offers" at Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Brown, and UChicago, which are probably (outside of Brown) among the most typical Williams overlap schools ...

The Ephs seem to be putting together a very strong group of regional recruits this year, led by QB Colin Schofield, the three Duxbury recruits, TB Will Sheskey, and now Dehmel ...

[NBC93]

This has been a tough season as an Amherst dad but I'm still not buying in to the notion that Amherst won't be a legitimate contender next season. The Mammoths are 2nd in the CAC in rushing, 2nd in trips to the Red Zone(turnovers and missed FGs have loomed large in 3 of 4 losses) and have at least 2 if not 3 young QBs ready to step in next season. If the younger LBs continue to mature and the offense and special teams eliminate back breaking gaffes, I'm willing to allow myself the belief that this can be the 2nd 9-0 team in NESCAC history.

[SpringSt7]

While I wholeheartedly agree that Amherst's record does not reflect their talent and ability, I think it would be nearly impossible to confidently predict the success of a Division III football team without knowing who its quarterback is going to be. With that being said, next year, on paper, looks to be the most stacked the league has been in terms of title contention in quite some time. A way-too-early list of contenders would look like this for me:

1. Middlebury--Jernigan, Maldjian, top 6 tacklers return, including all 4 LBs, two of whom are in contention for DPOY. We'll find out if this season was a fluke or not.
2. Williams--Maimaron, Stola, Rothmann, Wesner, etc.---the stacked Class of 2021 that has led this rebuild will finally be seniors. Graduating 3 OLs and their signal caller on defense will be losses, but the Ephs finally have depth under Coach Raymond.
3. Wesleyan--Ashton Scott is the real deal and will have just about every single weapon back. Loss of leading two tacklers should be offset by the return of Gooden, Banks, and a number of other playmakers.
4. Trinity--Will never not be in contention. Lambert makes the jump to upperclassman, returns Reid, Girard, Harris, and maybe Lockwood. Would imagine the OL play should improve as well.

This is all way too speculative and way too far away to make any real guesses. Let's enjoy this last week while we have it before looking ahead.

[bantamweight]

4. Trinity--Will never not be in contention. Lambert makes the jump to upperclassman, returns Reid, Girard, Harris, and maybe Lockwood.

Where did you hear Lockwood is returning?

[SpringSt7]

4. Trinity--Will never not be in contention. Lambert makes the jump to upperclassman, returns Reid, Girard, Harris, and maybe Lockwood.

Where did you hear Lockwood is returning?

I didn't hear that he was returning--just wasn't sure that he was gone for good?

[bantamweight]

4. Trinity--Will never not be in contention. Lambert makes the jump to upperclassman, returns Reid, Girard, Harris, and maybe Lockwood.

Where did you hear Lockwood is returning?

I didn't hear that he was returning--just wasn't sure that he was gone for good?

Ahh, ok. He left school but I haven't heard if it's permanent. Newcacman claims all the inside information so maybe he will weigh in.

[SpringSt7]

4. Trinity--Will never not be in contention. Lambert makes the jump to upperclassman, returns Reid, Girard, Harris, and maybe Lockwood.

Where did you hear Lockwood is returning?

I didn't hear that he was returning--just wasn't sure that he was gone for good?

Ahh, ok. He left school but I haven't heard if it's permanent. Newcacman claims all the inside information so maybe he will weigh in.

I suppose we often overthink these things on the board because more often than not we don't see guys return after missing a season but I hadn't heard anything that would suggest it is a permanent absence, although it obviously could be.

[maineman]

Does anybody know if Midd QB Jernigan practiced on Monday?