FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[nescac1]

Raymond has done an incredible job, but at the same time, having a huge tradition of football success and frankly the ability (with the right coaching staff) to instantly win the majority of recruiting battles vs other Nescac schools means not every school can make that type of rapid turnaround.  When Amherst fell on hard times in the early 90s, it did as well, going from worst to first in about four years.  And yeah getting an extra push in that first desperate year helps too. Raymond's ridiculous first recruiting class of Maimaron, Stola, Watson, Wesner, Rothmann, Burke, Rooney, Nelson, Manzella etc is likely one we won't see the likes of again in NESCAC for a long time.  I think realistically Williams, Trinity and Amherst could go 10 to 1/2 in 3-4 years and that's it.  Williams pretty clearly has four of the best ten guys in the league right now and all four are from that group ....

Interesting to see Tufts' hyped back-up QB lead a huge comeback at Trinity.  Woodson is a really strong dual threat guy still but I bet both see time going forward much like how Tufts operated in 2019.  Next week I bet Tufts goes to Crowley much faster because the Ephs do look more vulnerable vs the pass than vs the run.  As pure passers, Crowley and Fetter are the two guys I fear most in the league.  Lots of capable (or much better than capable) running QBs around but not many who can pour in 4-5 TDs through the air vs a good defense, it seems. 

[polbear73]

Raymond has done an incredible job, but at the same time, having a huge tradition of football success and frankly the ability (with the right coaching staff) to instantly win the majority of recruiting battles vs other Nescac schools means not every school can make that type of rapid turnaround.  When Amherst fell on hard times in the early 90s, it did as well, going from worst to first in about four years.  And yeah getting an extra push in that first desperate year helps too. Raymond's ridiculous first recruiting class of Maimaron, Stola, Watson, Wesner, Rothmann, Burke, Rooney, Nelson, Manzella etc is likely one we won't see the likes of again in NESCAC for a long time.  I think realistically Williams, Trinity and Amherst could go 10 to 1/2 in 3-4 years and that's it.  Williams pretty clearly has four of the best ten guys in the league right now and all four are from that group ....

Interesting to see Tufts' hyped back-up QB lead a huge comeback at Trinity.  Woodson is a really strong dual threat guy still but I bet both see time going forward much like how Tufts operated in 2019.  Next week I bet Tufts goes to Crowley much faster because the Ephs do look more vulnerable vs the pass than vs the run.  As pure passers, Crowley and Fetter are the two guys I fear most in the league.  Lots of capable (or much better than capable) running QBs around but not many who can pour in 4-5 TDs through the air vs a good defense, it seems.

nescac1: I wouldn't compare Amherst in the early 90's to Williams' current return to excellence as Amhersr's recovery was a result of an inundation of Union College transfers whose behavior caused big problems
ror Amherst, causing a big fallout that lasted for years.

[amh63]

Some quick comments wrt Amherst football site and game with Bates...and other items.  Youngest son...Amherst'95and wife arrived from the beach in Duck,NC for a stay...resides in Patterson NY....game attention falls.   Amherst's roster site is still "broken".   Amherst missed two field goals from makable distance...FY kicker?.  Both teams piled up the run and passing stats....Amherst higher.  Bates had top QB and receiver returning.  Amherst looking for a QB.  Amherst defense stops Bates top receiver in 2nd half.  First half QB change by Amherst...jr. QB to a soph QB did not work.  Believe Amherst's bigger linemen starts to take control in the 2nd half...both sides.  Amherst's running game better than Bates.
Next game should be more revealing...maybe roster will be available . 

[The Mole]

Wesleyan @ Colby quick hits:
Cards were the more physically impressive and athletic team
Mules were scrappy and it was not an easy win by any measure
Big plays and capitalizing on change of downs/turnovers and those momentum shifts made difference in game--Wes scored two TDs in 17 seconds in 2Q to make it 14-3--bad snap over punters head (why he did not take the safety is beyond me) and Cards scored from 2 yards out 7-3. First play after that was an INT by Wes and then long pass into end zone on first play 14-3. Early 4Q Colby has 3rd and 2 at Wesleyan 16. Two big stops gets ball back for Wes (long stoppage and ambulance taking Mule player off with a leg injury--hope he is OK). First play jet sweep (think counted as a pass b/c forward lateral) 84 yard TD. 21-3. That was the game right there.
Cards defense was pretty stout. Colby nibbled with some nice underneath routes and slants (#0 had 8 catches) but could not really sustain anything consistent. A good rush all day and pretty good tackling and two interceptions.
Wes offense seemed out of sync, give Colby credit. They got some pressure and mixed up coverages. Cards ran ball at end when they had to run out the clock but could not seem to get it going all game. Passing game was off, many long passes, did not recall any underneath throws. Hit some big plays, seems to be the offensive personality. Did not really have a true scoring drive.
A nice win, but expected ragged play on both sides with some dumb penalties and miscues with a 650 day plus layoff and no real scrimmage.
Good to just have them play.

[AmherstStudent05]

I was able to watch the entire Amherst-Bates game yesterday on the webcast. First of all, it was obviously just great to get to watch Amherst football in action after a two year absence.

The game itself was not exactly pretty, however. We started in as dominant a fashion as I maybe have ever seen. Bates received the opening kickoff and promptly went three and out. We then promptly marched down the field again on a 10-play 69-yard drive to take a 7-0 lead. Bates goes three and out again, we block the punt, recover in the end zone and before you know if we are up 14-0. Bates goes three and out yet again and the punter muffs the snap and takes a while to pick the ball back up — at this point Bates looked just downright sad — before ultimately getting an 11 yard punt away. Amherst goes three and out on its ensuing possession before Bates musters its fourth consecutive three-and-out to start the game. A 13-yard punt gives us possession at the Bates 30.  At this point we sub out our starting QB, Chad Peterson, and replace him with Brad Breckenridge (I assume Breckenridge pushed Peterson in camp and the coaching staff wanted to reward him with some run). Brad starts moving us down the field before throwing an inexplicable pick in the end zone with seemingly no Amherst players in sight.

I don't think anyone could have predicted it at the time,  but this is the moment the wheels came off for Amherst. Bates would go on to score 17 straight points in the second quarter to improbably (and improbably is putting it lightly) take a 17-14 lead at half.

We scored on our opening possession of the second half and never trailed again but some missed field goals and Costa magic kept the game close.

The play of the game for Amherst game early in the fourth quarter when Joe Masterson took an innocuous seeming bubble route and miraculously dodged a few Bates tacklers as well as the sideline to produce a 32-yard touchdown that put us ahead 28-20.

After a truly dominant first quarter there wasn't a whole lot of obvious positives for Amherst. The most surprising thing was our defense and in particular our secondary. Despite playing coverage most of the game, Costa really seemed to carve up our defense. I hate to say it but it sometimes seemed that we were playing a match up zone where we were purposefully matching up with empty space (obviously impossible to see what was really going on without coaches film). I recall one third and long Bates converted to the sideline receiver who was wide open running a modest out route.

Our offense didn't seem particularly dynamic itself save for the brilliant Masterson play I referenced above. The offensive line seemed to play well, and Kellen Field ran well save for one brutal fumble.

Anyway, the best part was Amherst was finally back in action and we did manage to get the win. Some sloppiness is to be expected I suppose. I look forward to next week's home opener against Colby.

I try not to comment on sports information matters, but I really can't see any justification for not having a roster posted an hour before kickoff (or even a day after our season opener). A substantive, enlightening season preview would be nice, but perhaps that was too much to ask. A basic roster is not. Frankly, at this point why even employ a SID? I'm sure there are extenuating circumstances and I am just letting my frustrations get the best of me, but it doesn't make it easy to follow my beloved Jeffs.

Finally, at halftime of the Amherst game I flipped on the Williams Midd game and happened to catch one of the brutal calls nescac1 described. Jernigan is scrambling on third and long, makes contact with one Williams defender, seems to escape that and start to dive forward where a second Williams defender lays a hard hit on him. Ball comes loose and Williams recovers. But the refs throw a flag for helmet to helmet contact. So not only is the fumble negated, what should have been fourth and short becomes first down with 15 yards tacked on to boot. Mid would go on to score a TD on that drive. I understand nescac1's frustration. My biggest concern with the call is that it may well have been technically correct. I'm all for player safety of course but what is a defender supposed to do there? The QB is getting redirected by someone else and is coming at you head on lunging for a first down. That seemed like an unbelievable play by the Williams kid and instead turns into a big negative. Tom Brady recently had a nice rant on a related point complaining that NFL QBs now have every incentive to lead their receivers into harms way because of the personal foul yardage.

[SpringSt7]

A couple of additional thoughts on Williams and Middlebury (two woefully underrepresented schools on this board):

-The scoreline was either flattering to Middlebury or flattering to Williams depending on how you want to look at it. For a while early it looked as if Williams was trending towards another flat offensive performance while star OL Patrick Watson watched on from the sideline. Then Will Jernigan took over and starting hitting Eph LBs left and right and a tight one score first half turned into a 28-7 halftime lead for Williams. On the other hand, after a fluke third down conversion on a tipped pass and a Maimaron fumble, it was 28-13 with Middlebury in the red zone. They were unable to convert and eventually the Williams talent level took over for good.

-Despite the numbers, this was not the traditional Williams running offense that we saw in 2019. The line was, in a word, bad, with 3 new starters including Tailon Garelli at center, who was lucky not to turn it over on about 7 different bad snaps. The run blocking wasn't really good that either, as evidenced by Vaughn and Nicholas' rather pedestrian YPA numbers. Rather, Maimaron just willed them to success on the ground with his outstanding decision making and ability to make reads in slow motion at the line of scrimmage. There were several times he turned what should've been a 1 yard gain into a gain of 7 or 8 without even getting touched, just by waiting as long as he could to find the hole and then slide through it into the second level. It was his best performance as a runner in a Williams uniform, with only his 2017 heroics against Amherst as competition.

-It's going to be a struggle for Middlebury. While I think we all collectively forgot that Peter Scibilia was a more than capable deputy RB, I think we also looked the other way on Will Jernigan's ability to throw the ball without the weapons he's had in the past, both pass catchers and offensive linemen. They will have to find their identity in a hurry because their schedule is tough early and by then it will be too late.

[SpringSt7]

Jarrett Wesner (10 tackles, 2 sacks 1 INT) passed over for defensive player of the week for Trinity DB Justin O'Neil-Riley, who had 4 tackles, a pass break up, and a blocked field goal. NESCAC football is officially back!

[nescac1]

SpringSt as for Weaner, you have to consider the level of competition - his pick and two big sacks came against ... oh right, last year's 9-0 POY fifth-year senior QB.

What's kind of amazing about that game is if you traded Maimaron and Wesner for last year's two POYs the game would likely have been roughly even. Or maybe even edge to Midd.  They were that dominant individually.  Maimaron in particular was ridiculous with his reads and agility in the hole.   But yeah Ephs need bigger holes for Nicholas and Vaughn going forward.  Those guys can just punish a defense with a bit more space to operate. 

And Amherst05 good point re the targeting rule. It seemed like a perfect play by the DB, just a textbook hard tackle.  I bet it's not called if that's a TB. But the rules allow for that kind of silliness which in this case took the Ephs' best safety out of the game entirely. 

[SpringSt7]

2021 NESCACMAN PRE-SEASON AWARDS

Offensive Player of the Year: Bobby Maimaron, QB, TTUN; David Estevez, Slash, WES

Defensive Player of the Year: Nick Helbig, DT, WES; Brian Casagrande, LB, HS

Special Teams Player of the Year: Martin Von Jess, K, WES

Can we address the elephant in the room that noted Wesleyan superfan and alleged recruiting consigliere to the HCOF NESCACMAN picked "Martin Von Jess" (not to be confused with Mason) to win STPOY, only for Martin to appear to be beaten out at both the kicker and the punter positions? Tough look!

[xPolarDadx]

Watched Bowdoin / Hamilton.  Some bright and really not so bright
spots for both teams.

Freshman Koy Price (safety) played well for Bowdoin, with an Int, a long return of the opening kickoff (called back), and pretty good pressure in the passing game.

Hamilton receivers made some really nice contested catches on some questionable throws, and did a good job of getting into open space when the QB was scrambling.

Bowdoin made Hamilton's QB look way better than they played by over pursuing on blitzes and creating large lanes for the Hamilton QB to run.  This resulted in some good sack and TFL opportunities for the DL and LBs, but also allowed the Hamilton QB to convert a lot of plays with his legs. Since the best offensive play this weekend for about 70% of the NESCAC was the QB scramble on a pass play or QB draw, that will really need to get cleaned up.

Bowdoin had 9 penalties to Hamilton's 2 that played a huge part in the game.  Holding on the first kickoff return, taunting on a TFL on 3rd and long deep in Hamilton territory that ultimately resulted in a score, holding on a 50 yd TD throw that would have given them the lead, and several other procedural penalties that wiped out good defensive plays.

Bowdoin QB Stalcup threw some absolute darts (like the 50 yd TD), but missed on easier throws near the end of the game (incl a wide open swing pass) that hurt the Polar Bears.

The polar bears played a lot of sophomores at the skill and DB positions, who haven't played since November or December of 2019, and have never played a college game.  I expect some of this will get cleaned up.  The OL got better as the game went on, but the two fumbles (one snap exchange, one fumble by the RB) also hurt.   

[polbear73]

Watched Bowdoin / Hamilton.  Some bright and really not so bright
spots for both teams.

Freshman Koy Price (safety) played well for Bowdoin, with an Int, a long return of the opening kickoff (called back), and pretty good pressure in the passing game.

Hamilton receivers made some really nice contested catches on some questionable throws, and did a good job of getting into open space when the QB was scrambling.

Bowdoin made Hamilton's QB look way better than they played by over pursuing on blitzes and creating large lanes for the Hamilton QB to run.  This resulted in some good sack and TFL opportunities for the DL and LBs, but also allowed the Hamilton QB to convert a lot of plays with his legs. Since the best offensive play this weekend for about 70% of the NESCAC was the QB scramble on a pass play or QB draw, that will really need to get cleaned up.

Bowdoin had 9 penalties to Hamilton's 2 that played a huge part in the game.  Holding on the first kickoff return, taunting on a TFL on 3rd and long deep in Hamilton territory that ultimately resulted in a score, holding on a 50 yd TD throw that would have given them the lead, and several other procedural penalties that wiped out good defensive plays.

Bowdoin QB Stalcup threw some absolute darts (like the 50 yd TD), but missed on easier throws near the end of the game (incl a wide open swing pass) that hurt the Polar Bears.

The polar bears played a lot of sophomores at the skill and DB positions, who haven't played since November or December of 2019, and have never played a college game.  I expect some of this will get cleaned up.  The OL got better as the game went on, but the two fumbles (one snap exchange, one fumble by the RB) also hurt.

Good summary Polar Dad and saw pretty much the same thing. The game was closer than the score as Hamilton kicked a field goal as time ran out. While I think there's been an upgrade in personnel, too many untimely and dumb penalties cost the Polar Bears and contributed to the loss. Hamilton deserves a lot of credit for hanging in there for the win, even though being outlined. Hopefully this was a learning experience for Bowdoin.

[Pat Coleman]

NESCAC site scoreboard currently has Amhest playing Colby and Syracuse playing NC State

It is unbelievably bad as it jumps around with no rhyme or reason. There was nothing wrong with the old scoreboard. Please revert to the old site.

We have one: https://www.d3football.com/scoreboard/2021/NESCAC?date=2021-09-18

[Nescacman]

NESCAC site scoreboard currently has Amhest playing Colby and Syracuse playing NC State

It is unbelievably bad as it jumps around with no rhyme or reason. There was nothing wrong with the old scoreboard. Please revert to the old site.

We have one: https://www.d3football.com/scoreboard/2021/NESCAC?date=2021-09-18

Pat, that's great...thank you!

Is it real time on Saturday?

[Pat Coleman]

Only for schools that choose to feed their live stats to the PrestoSports network. Otherwise, I have one scoreboard person on our gameday team who will post updates at quarters. We also have the links to the live stats and live video, as we have for ... uhm, decades.

[Nescacman]

Only for schools that choose to feed their live stats to the PrestoSports network. Otherwise, I have one scoreboard person on our gameday team who will post updates at quarters. We also have the links to the live stats and live video, as we have for ... uhm, decades.

Knew about the links...did not know about the scores....quarterly is better than what NESCAC seems to be doing so we're good with that. Thanks for all you do!