FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[polbear73]

Clayton Rose is the classic definition of the empty suit. I have never him take a stand on anything as he quietly watches over the deterioration of the Bowdoin Athletic Program. I doubt he knows where Whittier Field is.

[Nescacman]

Clayton Rose is the classic definition of the empty suit. I have never him take a stand on anything as he quietly watches over the deterioration of the Bowdoin Athletic Program. I doubt he knows where Whittier Field is.

Wow that really s*cks...kinda got that sense at Bowdoin, but didn't realize it was that bad...having a supportive President who is in sych with the AD is a best practice that works...look at what is going on at Colby (they will be successful), Wes (they are successful...not just in football) and other NESCAC schools where success/excellence in athletics AND academics is important...

[AmherstStudent05]

LumberCat raises a good point here and that is academic and athletic excellence can coexist and that one can promote and support the other. Bowdoin seems to have forgotten its once stated goal of achieving excellence in every pursuit it undertakes. It certainly has the resources.

Exactly. And it is a crock to pretend that Bowdoin's athletes are somehow superior academically than atheletes at other NESCAC schools and that Bowdoin is complying with higher academic standards. The NESCAC releases lists of names of atheletes who are also academic achievers every semester by school. The Bowdoin athletes are, at best, middle-of-the-pack in terms of academic records in comparison to athletes at other NESCAC schools. . Bowdoin is using slots and tips like every other school to assemble teams but those teams are not getting the job done on the field/court/ice. To me, it is more about the administration failing to apply standards of excellence to the Bowdoin sports and accepting mediocrity as an OK outcome. The current dismal situation falls primarily at the feet of current President Clayton Rose (and the board that supports him). While the state of the football program on Rose's watch is appalling even more shocking is the collapse of the hockey program, long the crown jewel of Bowdoin's athletic program, on Rose's watch. The commitment on the part of the current Bowdoin administration to a successful athletic program is simply not there, especially in terms of men's team sports like basketball, football, hockey, and lacrosse. It should not be OK to settle for being at or near the bottom of the NESCAC on a regular basis . .

I've always been fascinated by the "cost-benefit" analysis schools go through in balancing athletics and academics in admissions. My own instinct is most such "analysis" is predicated more on intertia rather than any coherent plan. However, it is interesting how one would judge "success" on the academic side of the ledger (we obviously have scoreboards and standings to rather clearly judge athletic success).

Lumber, you reference academic honors lists, but I am not sure that is really applicable at all. As I understand it — and I am happy to be told I am wrong — the real "battleground" for admissions disputes in NESCAC football (and presumably other sports as well) is on the floor that each school sets for their student athletes. The decades-long criticism of Trinity (which, again, I have never seen any actual evidence of and may be totally unwarranted) is they admit talented football players that other NESCAC schools wouldn't. But, at least in theory, even if true this would have no impact on Trinity's top academic football players or even their median ones. Conversely, Bowdoin's bottom 15% of academic performers on the football team may well be stronger than that same cohort at other schools but that would not be captured by any all conference academic list. Is there any metric that would capture it?  Granted, I am more football mad than most, but if I were running a NESCAC school, my instinct would be to give a massive admissions boost to 6-7 football players a year rather than a (perhaps not so) modest boost to 14 football players.

[quicksilver]

Clayton Rose is the classic definition of the empty suit. I have never him take a stand on anything as he quietly watches over the deterioration of the Bowdoin Athletic Program. I doubt he knows where Whittier Field is.

I did once see a photo of him at Whittier Field!!! Other than that I do believe that he should be held accountable for the dismal state of the Bowdoin athletic program. Improving athetic performance is not hard to do as we watch schools like Wesleyan and Tufts dramatically improve their athletic programs and others maintain their level of excellence, with no drop-off in their academic reputations . . . 

[xPolarDadx]

Granted, I am more football mad than most, but if I were running a NESCAC school, my instinct would be to give a massive admissions boost to 6-7 football players a year rather than a (perhaps not so) modest boost to 14 football players.

This is how the Ivies work.  You get something like 4 admits at the lowest acceptable academic band, 8 at band 2, 14 at band 3, and 10 at band 4 (where there bands 1-9 and relate to the academic profiles of all admitted students)... And you can use a band 2 slot on a band 3 kid.  Band 4 is something like 1 standard deviation from the average admit (band 5).  For most ivies, band 4 is ~1420 SAT + 4.0 GPA, maybe 1380 for Cornell and 1440 for Harvard.

[Nescacman]

2021 Week #2 NESCACMAN Picks

Welcome back NESCAC...it's Week #2 in the league where they "pay to play"...

Hamilton College at Wesleyan University: Home opener for Wes and first away game for HAM...should be a big crowd as Wes honors former long-time Head Baseball Coach and Assistant Football Coach, Pete "Kosty" Kostacapolous (Maine legend, UMaine and Wes HOF, former Bowdoin HCOF)...HAM did not look good against the Polars and it appears that they will be making a change at the QB position...Wes is coming off an impressive defensive effort against Colby last week...we expect the Wes offense to be more in synch this week at home...Wes has way too many weapons for the Conts to handle and the defense will be motivated to shut down the HAM offense...

Wesleyan 41 Hamilton 3 
Point Spread: Hamilton -17
Weather: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers. High of 75.

Colby College at Amhurst College: Interesting game and almost our NESCAC GOTW...we think Colby is improved and this game will determine if they belong in the middle tier of the 'CAC with the Lord Mammoths and the Jumbo's....we like Hersch a lot and think the Mules will move the ball like UBates did the week before on the LMs... we don't think Hersch is as good as Costa but he has a better supporting cast...new RB Kellen Field and QB Chad Peterson will need to have big day's for the LMs to win...LMs need all-league LB Joe Kelly to bounce back after a sub-par game for him last week...Colby hasn't beaten the LM's in the NESCAC championship era going back to '98....we think the streak ends tomorrow in our upset special... 

Colby 24 Amhurst 20
Point Spread: Lord Mammoths -7 
Weather: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers. High of 75.

Hartford State College at Bowdoin College: Yikes...we think this is a complete mis-match...look for HS to completely dominate the Polars and win big...we can not see one single scenario where Bowdoin wins this game (other than HS getting lost on their way to Brunswick and missing the game)...even the rain won't keep this score down...

Hartford State 48 Bowdoin 0
Point Spread: Hartford State -28
Weather: Steady rain. High near 70.

UBates (Lewiston Campus) at Middlebury College: We'll find out this week if UBates is better than we thought...off-course Costa is always the wild card here...UBates O is not bad but can their D hold down Jernigan & Company....home opener for the defending league champs...Pants def missed offensive all-league performers at OL, RB, WR, and TE in week 1...MID needs to run the ball to set-up the pass...we think MID bounces back after an opening day loss to the Ephs on the road...

Middlebury 38 UBates 17
Point Spread: Middlebury -14
Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 72.

NESCAC Game of the Week

TTUN at Tufts University: Ephs definitely had most impressive performance of Week 1...need a bit more structure on offense but Maimaron is one of the best to ever play Q in Williamstown...We are not crazy about two QB system Jumbo's employ but they def give the D two completely different looks...we think this game comes down to turnovers, time of possession and penalties...

TTUN 31 Tufts 24
Point Spread: TTUN -6
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with a few showers later in nthe day. High of 72.

NESCACMAN's Picks (winners):

2021 Season: 5-0
2020 Season: 0-0
2019 Season: 33-12
2018 Season: 36-9
2017 Season: 35-10
2016 Season: 32-8
2015 Season: 30-10
2014 Season: 30-10
2013 Season: 32-8
Career: 233-67 (.777 winning percentage)

[Hawk196]

Granted, I am more football mad than most, but if I were running a NESCAC school, my instinct would be to give a massive admissions boost to 6-7 football players a year rather than a (perhaps not so) modest boost to 14 football players.

This is how the Ivies work.  You get something like 4 admits at the lowest acceptable academic band, 8 at band 2, 14 at band 3, and 10 at band 4 (where there bands 1-9 and relate to the academic profiles of all admitted students)... And you can use a band 2 slot on a band 3 kid.  Band 4 is something like 1 standard deviation from the average admit (band 5).  For most ivies, band 4 is ~1420 SAT + 4.0 GPA, maybe 1380 for Cornell and 1440 for Harvard.

My son must have taken the SAT 7 times, he was on the cusp of getting to the next band which he eventually did

[AmherstStudent05]

2021 Week #2 NESCACMAN Picks

Welcome back NESCAC...it's Week #2 in the league where they "pay to play"...

Hamilton College at Wesleyan University: Home opener for Wes and first away game for HAM...should be a big crowd as Wes honors former long-time Head Baseball Coach and Assistant Football Coach, Pete "Kosty" Kostacapolous (Maine legend, UMaine and Wes HOF, former Bowdoin HCOF)...HAM did not look good against the Polars and it appears that they will be making a change at the QB position...Wes is coming off an impressive defensive effort against Colby last week...we expect the Wes offense to be more in synch this week at home...Wes has way too many weapons for the Conts to handle and the defense will be motivated to shut down the HAM offense...

Wesleyan 41 Hamilton 3 
Point Spread: Hamilton -17
Weather: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers. High of 75.

Colby College at Amhurst College: Interesting game and almost our NESCAC GOTW...we think Colby is improved and this game will determine if they belong in the middle tier of the 'CAC with the Lord Mammoths and the Jumbo's....we like Hersch a lot and think the Mules will move the ball like UBates did the week before on the LMs... we don't think Hersch is as good as Costa but he has a better supporting cast...new RB Kellen Field and QB Chad Peterson will need to have big day's for the LMs to win...LMs need all-league LB Joe Kelly to bounce back after a sub-par game for him last week...Colby hasn't beaten the LM's in the NESCAC championship era going back to '98....we think the streak ends tomorrow in our upset special... 

Colby 24 Amhurst 20
Point Spread: Lord Mammoths -7 
Weather: Partly cloudy with slight chance of showers. High of 75.

Hartford State College at Bowdoin College: Yikes...we think this is a complete mis-match...look for HS to completely dominate the Polars and win big...we can not see one single scenario where Bowdoin wins this game (other than HS getting lost on their way to Brunswick and missing the game)...even the rain won't keep this score down...

Hartford State 48 Bowdoin 0
Point Spread: Hartford State -28
Weather: Steady rain. High near 70.

UBates (Lewiston Campus) at Middlebury College: We'll find out this week if UBates is better than we thought...off-course Costa is always the wild card here...UBates O is not bad but can their D hold down Jernigan & Company....home opener for the defending league champs...Pants def missed offensive all-league performers at OL, RB, WR, and TE in week 1...MID needs to run the ball to set-up the pass...we think MID bounces back after an opening day loss to the Ephs on the road...

Middlebury 38 UBates 17
Point Spread: Middlebury -14
Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 72.

NESCAC Game of the Week

TTUN at Tufts University: Ephs definitely had most impressive performance of Week 1...need a bit more structure on offense but Maimaron is one of the best to ever play Q in Williamstown...We are not crazy about two QB system Jumbo's employ but they def give the D two completely different looks...we think this game comes down to turnovers, time of possession and penalties...

TTUN 31 Tufts 24
Point Spread: TTUN -6
Weather: Mostly cloudy skies with a few showers later in nthe day. High of 72.

NESCACMAN's Picks (winners):

2021 Season: 5-0
2020 Season: 0-0
2019 Season: 33-12
2018 Season: 36-9
2017 Season: 35-10
2016 Season: 32-8
2015 Season: 30-10
2014 Season: 30-10
2013 Season: 32-8
Career: 233-67 (.777 winning percentage)

Needless to say, I don't think Colby will beat Amherst tomorrow. I really don't even expect it to be all that close. We always seem to match up quite well with them, and that was even (early 2000s) when the overall talent level was more comparable.

This will be a good indicator to see if your grasp of NESCAC football is as good as (self) advertised!

[lumbercat]

Amherst Student wrote:


Lumber, you reference academic honors lists, but I am not sure that is really applicable at all. As I understand it............

Not sure what you are referring to- Academic Honors Lists ?

[lumbercat]

Polar Bear Dad wrote:

[/quote]
This is how the Ivies work.  You get something like 4 admits at the lowest acceptable academic band, 8 at band 2, 14 at band 3, and 10 at band 4 (where there bands 1-9 and relate to the academic profiles of all admitted students)... And you can use a band 2 slot on a band 3 kid.  Band 4 is something like 1 standard deviation from the average admit (band 5).  For most ivies, band 4 is ~1420 SAT + 4.0 GPA, maybe 1380 for Cornell and 1440 for Harvard.


Lumbercat wrote:

Many are missing a relatively unknown or unaccepted fact. There is a lot more wiggle room in terms of recruiting within the NESCAC system than in the Ivies. The standards in the Ivies are more uniform from school to school with defined standards and metrics for incoming recruits.  It's easier to bottom fish in the NESCAC. Bottom fishing is way more difficult in the Ivies.
Do you think the Ivy Heavyweights would condone a system which might empower Columbia to push the envelope to the point where they are enrolling students not up to Harvard or Yale standards and then beating H/Y on the gridiron. Never a chance.

[quicksilver]

The NESCAC releases an all-academic team for each school after the season. To qualify, a player must accummulate a GPA of at least 3.5 on a scale of 4.0. It's not a perfect measurement of academic performance as grade inflation may vary from school to school and high GPAs may be harder to achieve in certain majors but it provides a rough sense of how football players perform academically at each school. The Mellon Foundation study that was undertaken in 2001 of how NESCAC athletes performed in the classroom found, among other things, that athletes in the "helmet" sports performed poorly in comparison to other athletes and to the student body at large. That study produced various reforms like reducing the number of slots and closer monitoring of the recruiting process. Looking at the all-academic team for the most recent seasons in which there actually was a season (fall of 2019), you will see Middlebury (16), Amherst (15), Colby (15), Bowdoin (14), and Williams (14) clustered at the top. Serious laggards are Tufts (2), Hamilton (4), and Bates (5). More in the middle are Wesleyan (8) and Trinity (10).

So Bowdoin's academic record is decent but not commensurate with the compromises it has made on the quality of performance front in recent years. There are several schools with similar or better academic records (Amherst, Middlebury, and Williams) but vastly superior outcomes on the football field. Obviously this data is not definitive on the question of compromises made in the admissions process but it does provide a hint as to what is going on at each member institution of the NESCAC.

[lumbercat]

My son must have taken the SAT 7 times, he was on the cusp of getting to the next band which he eventually did
[/quote]

Yikes- helicopter city.

[Nescacman]

My son must have taken the SAT 7 times, he was on the cusp of getting to the next band which he eventually did

Yikes- helicopter city.
[/quote]

"Yikes" is definitely the word of the week!

With 14+ hours until kick-off and about 10 hours until tailgating begins, curious to hear about how the other 5 schools in the league handle tailgating...more importantly, Week 2 should more definitely tell us more about each team...good luck to all tomorrow and be safe out there!.

[xPolarDadx]

My son must have taken the SAT 7 times, he was on the cusp of getting to the next band which he eventually did

Yikes- helicopter city.
[/quote]

Not really.  The Ivy coaches, if they like you, will be pretty clear about what band talent they see in you and what SAT/ACT/senior class schedule you need to be in to be able to be recruited (assuming the kid isn't a band 1 talent, which are the handful of P5 guys they recruit each year).

[DC 53]

If you want to know how weak this slate really is, I looked up Bates and Middlebury's all-time head-to-head because I had this incorrect memory that Bates always played Middlebury close, most likely of the 35-34 Midd win in 2018. The results surprised me so I also looked up the all time head-to-heads of Amherst/Colby, Bowdoin/Trinity, and Wesleyan/Hamilton.

Since 1998 (farthest the archives could go), Amherst, Middlebury, Trinity, and Wesleyan are a combined 70-1 against Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, and Hamilton.

Hamilton hasn't had much success since the early 1990's, but they have beaten Wesleyan twice since 2010, and they beat Amherst as recently as 2019.

The 2021 HAM squad is not on the same level as the Kenny Gray/Joe Schmidt led teams based on what we saw last Saturday...we realize it is only one week but Gray could sling it with the best of them and always gave HAM a shot at a win against anyone...

In a related story, new QB, Junior Nigel Scott, no longer appears on the Hamilton football roster...not sure what that means...did he quit? was he suspended? is he injured (usually injured players names stay on the roster)? is this Hamilton gamesmanship? Another SID snafu (would not surprise us)? We'll keep our eyes on this developing story but if he is indeed no longer on the team, it is certainly never a good thing to lose your starting QB after one game....especially the case since it appeared to us that HCOF Murray put in whole new RPO package to take advantage of his new QBs running abilities...stay tuned...

Unfortunately, I can confirm the QB scoop.Scott was told that the frosh QB would start this week, as he's a better passer. Scott quit on the spot . Who does that? I agree that the Conts don't have the skill position sizzle of Gray/Schmidt teams. They got strong games from 2 frosh RB's last week, and Park may be back soon. They have a good from 7 and the back end played well with the exception of the Bowdoin bomb that was called back. This week is a major step up. Btw, Schmidt is using his final year of eligibility at FCS Wagner in his old neighborhood.