FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[polbear73]

No, the outcome was never in doubt so why don't you stop using the lame excuse of "looking past" people. Good teams don't use it.

[bantamweight]

No, the outcome was never in doubt so why don't you stop using the lame excuse of "looking past" people. Good teams don't use it.

You seem to confuse me with a player or coach. Or perhaps you're just grouchy from losing?

[polbear73]

Yeah, maybe that's it.

[jmcozenlaw]

Doesn't mean that St Joe's isn't a great talent pool for recruiting.

Sure!! But living in the heart of all of it down here it really is a disgrace from a competitive standpoint...................and the majority of the kids could never sniff the NESCAC (even Trinity........and I chuckle at the NESCAC-on-NESCAC crime, aka pillow fight, pertaining to Trinity) academically. There are a ton of kids from the uber-expensive private schools across the Northeast, who's teams would get pole axed by St. Joe Prep, but they are more the academic ilk of the NESCAC. All "private" schools are not made equal and the Prep is a football factory, not a factory of future nuclear physicists. The NESCAC would be much better served in this SE PA area by the likes of Germantown Academy, Malvern Prep, Episcopal Academy, etc. All of those kids are up to snuff academically..................and a few can actually play the game, at a NESCAC level

[polbear73]

I understand your point and agree wholeheartedly about the InterAc. But if a qualified kid from Prep becomes available,  I'll know he's well grounded in football.

[AmherstStudent05]

And now the Giants lose a heartbreaker on a last second field goal. Definitely not my weekend!

[The Mole]

jmc, I agree on then Inter-Ac, it is under recruited, possibly. About 30 kids playing in NESCAC from SEPA. Heading into 2020, only 6 of those were Inter-Ac  I am surprised there are not more.  I will update. there are more for this season from Inter-Ac in NESCAC

Amherst has a nice pipeline with Amherst. I have seen recruiters at every level fall victim to over recruiting schools/programs instead of kids. Good assumption that a kid from SJP, Don Bosco, Bergen Catholic, etc. are well coached and "college ready".  Some of these kids are oversold or over rated. Also, they play in front of more kids in high school and feel it is a step down and do not assimilate well. Multiple instances. Kid gets a scholarship because he plays for a name program where is in in over his head. No one wins. Happens all the time.

Doesn't mean that St Joe's isn't a great talent pool for recruiting.

Sure!! But living in the heart of all of it down here it really is a disgrace from a competitive standpoint...................and the majority of the kids could never sniff the NESCAC (even Trinity........and I chuckle at the NESCAC-on-NESCAC crime, aka pillow fight, pertaining to Trinity) academically. There are a ton of kids from the uber-expensive private schools across the Northeast, who's teams would get pole axed by St. Joe Prep, but they are more the academic ilk of the NESCAC. All "private" schools are not made equal and the Prep is a football factory, not a factory of future nuclear physicists. The NESCAC would be much better served in this SE PA area by the likes of Germantown Academy, Malvern Prep, Episcopal Academy, etc. All of those kids are up to snuff academically..................and a few can actually play the game, at a NESCAC level

[amh63]

Late reporting in wrt the Colby win over Amherst.  My hat off to the Colby win...on the Amherst's home field.  Several overall comments on the game.  Amherst still looking for a QB...a starter that can finish a game.  Does Amherst have field goal kicker?  Will Amherst develop a solid ground game...in order to improve the passing game?  Two years of no football with hard hitting line play shows. 

[lumbercat]

From a distance, Iv'e always been interested in the Williams-Amherst dynamic.

To drill down on the last 15 years or so in A-W Football I observed the swoon at Williams Football which I thought was impossible.
As suspected this was corrected by the folks in Williamstown who value excellence. They made a decisive move and brought in HC Raymond. They restored the high standard of Ephs Football. Now the Purple are flying high.

In the same timeframe Amherst, mighty Amherst, had been the NESCAC leader guided by EJ Mills who is arguably the best NESCAC coach in the last 25 years......(and if you don't think EJ is a great coach, ask him).

This year, EJ faces his greatest challenge. He's got a QB issue and roster issues which he's never encountered.

I know Raymond brought back most of his class of '21 seniors but not sure how many of the Amherst guys came back for EJ.

From what I can see this Amherst Football team has some issues that are very new to them

[nescac1]

Whatever is ailing Amherst, it's not lack of experience (other than the QB position but even there the starter was the top backup in 2019) ... by my count Amherst has 12 fifth year seniors playing key roles on the team, including most of the top players (Field, Ayyub, Duborow, Goodson, Kelly, etc).  Nearly everyone else who plays are veterans as well.  (Although it's a bit hard to get a read on Amherst given its stats page is FUBAR ... but hey at least there's a roster). Right now, other than Tim Swope, there doesn't seem to be a break out underclassman on the roster and that's what Amherst really could use ... one guy who didn't return who was only a soph in 2019 is Brandon Huff.  He could certainly have helped in the TB rotation as he was solid. 

[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)

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!

Well at least we share a love for the GMen LMStudent05...and maybe we also share a love for the boys from da Bronx....broom anyone?!? Giancarlo Stanton looks like the next coming of Bobby Maimaron for crying out loud!!!

We are not going gloat to about our pick of Colby (other than maybe we have a grasp?!?)...the LMs seemed pretty ripe for the upset and the Mules are definitely improved...HCOF Cos, with the support of the neophyte AD and the President, definitely has Colby moving the right direction...as far as the LMs are concerned, never easy to win with a new QB at any level, D3 NESCAC included...you all watch a lot of football like us and you all know that the sport has increasingly become more and more QB centric over the years...if you don't have a good QB who is experienced, it's going to be hard to win at any level....this applies to the NESCAC as much as it applies to D1 and the NFL..we also believe that HCOF EJ is a great coach, but now that he has to compete with the Ephs (and others) for recruits that would have just signed with EJ in the past sight unseen, it does make it harder for him to win...throw in some of the negative press in recent years, lack of offensive balance, and possibly some issues in the OL and there you have it...still only two weeks in so it's still early but the Jumbo's will be a good test for the LM's this week...

Our assessment of the league two weeks in is that no team is perfect, every team has an Achilles heal, has injuries, and is subject to stubbing their collective toes in any given week...we don't think we've seen the last major upset in 2021..

Just want to provide everyone with a schedule update...the October 16th game between Wesleyan/Tufts in Medford which is traditionally a night game will now be a day game at Ellis Oval...time TBD but we would expect the start time to be 1:00 PM...the reason is issues with the new lights...more color on this later...

NESCACMAN Week 2 Rankings tomorrow...

nescac1....24 points down, 156 to go...

[Nescacman]

No, the outcome was never in doubt so why don't you stop using the lame excuse of "looking past" people. Good teams don't use it.

Hartford State was looking past the Polars to which game...the October 30th game against the Ephs? So silly and we agree with you Polbear, lame...

[nescac1]

NESCACMAN, I am quite confident that Bates will lose (if it does lose) to Trinity, Wesleyan and Williams by less than a combined 52 per game.  Even if they COULD put up, say, 60 points on Bates, they won't -- NESCAC coaches aren't in the business of embarrassing their peers and the third stringers at Trinity, Wesleyan and Williams aren't THAT good anyway. 

Early favorites for POY look like Maimaron, Fetter, and Estevez, in that order.  Wesleyan, Tufts and Trinity WRs are putting up some big numbers but they likely will end up costing one another from considering due to too much balance.  Nicholas playing very well but if healthy Maimaron is obviously the man for the Ephs.  TB overall looks generally unimpressive as a group in NESCAC this year.   Crowley could be a dark horse if he's now the QB for Tufts (as looks likely based on the unfortunate Woodson injury) and the Jumbos go on a bit run in their next seven games, he's gonna put up big numbers.  I can't even think of any other candidate this year. 

ROY looks VERY thin so far is only class of 25 guys are eligible (if class of 24 guys, it would be absolutely loaded of course).  I guess Ivan Shuran and Andre Eden are the leading (only?) candidates right now?  Unless there is some star frosh interior lineman on one of the contenders ....

DPOY looks wide open at this point, but I'd say the leading pre-season contenders ... Rothmann, Casangrande, Nenandovic, and Helbig ... are still the most likely contenders, along with a few dark horses who have emerged, Tim Swope at Amherst, Mark Kassis at Colby, and Ian Devine at Williams. 

[bantamweight]

Hartford State was looking past the Polars to which game...the October 30th game against the Ephs? So silly and we agree with you Polbear, lame...

We took a poll of your game day correspondents, and unanimously, they agreed that Trin was looking ahead to a revenge game with Middlebury. 

[xPolarDadx]

ROY looks VERY thin so far is only class of 25 guys are eligible (if class of 24 guys, it would be absolutely loaded of course).  I guess Ivan Shuran and Andre Eden are the leading (only?) candidates right now?  Unless there is some star frosh interior lineman on one of the contenders ....

Andre Eden is actually c/o 2024, unless he took a gap year in 2020 (I am not positive but I don't think he did).  Definitely a tough year for 2025s to break through with all the older guys that stuck around.