FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[lumbercat]

Greetings fellow boardsters...we made the trip to the town that Ali made famous...a few thoughts on yesterday:

1. Hats off to UBates players, in particular QB Costa, LB Hooks, Returner/WR Diawara, WRs Bryan and Marino...entire team played very hard on UBates version of homecoming...
2. Stat of the day for UBates...9 penalties for 132 yards including some crucially bad penalties at key times of the game....2 long returns (inc. One for a TD) by Diawara called back (he did a great job returning the ball all day)...some bad personal fouls and a roughing the kicker when UBates was going to get the ball back at the end of the game with time left for a Hail Mary...we're sure some of you will disagree with this but that is just not good coaching...
3. Wes pulled it out despite numerous injuries to key players including all-league players Simco and Johnson...game reminded us of Colby/Middlebury in 2019....championship teams win those kind of games...not sure if Wes year will end the same way as MIDs, but we will see...
4. Congrats to QB/WR/RB David Estevez and K/P Daniel Yoon for winning NESCAC players of the week...remember, Yoon wouldn't even be playing if Von Jess didn't get hurt in week 1...definitely a luxury having two good kickers...
5. Catch by Wes WR Elkhoury rivaled the Odell Beckham one handed catch....pretty amazing stuff...maybe best catch we ever saw...
6. Too bad UBates can't run the ball...Costa tried to do way too much...turned the ball over twice in the last 4 mins trying to will the team to win...
7. Tailgating at UBates was pre-pandemic-like...no restrictions....and they did not enforce the mask requirement...great job by UBates...
8. Wes was very flat...with that being said, they have their two long Maine road trips done...we think this will be a wake up call for the Cards..
9. ephs1...we'll settle up later in the season...we think Ephs and Hartford State will beat UBates but nowhere near number of points we need to win...
10. We had a great breakfast at Fran's...highlight of the day...

More on other games later...

Good summary NMan - Geez, I couldn't agree more. Some of the Garnet faithful said you would slam everything you got your hands on during the weekend.... from Lewiston, to the campus covid measures, all the way down to the Bates Game uniforms. I said, lets wait and see.

You make very accurate, objective points. Total class post. I agree almost 100%. Let me weigh in-

-Bates outplayed the Birds.
-Penalties killed Bates and were the difference in the game.
-Whoever posted the fake news post about mandatory masks at Bates was talking ragtime.
-Bates cannot run the ball for sure.
-The injury rolls on the Bates 68 man roster far surpass your lament of Wes injuries depleting their 92 man roster. Bates limping way more coming into that game and after. Their playmaker Diawara popped a hamstring in the 3rd and is probably done for some time.
-Saturdays game ended the 2 dreaded road trips to Maine and it should bode well for the Cards. While I'm really not qualified to comment on this based on one game, I think Wes needs to designate one QB and ride him for the foreseeable future. Both are great athletes but neither is an accurate passer. The very athletic Wes WRs made these QBs look good despite displaced passes. They need to find one guy at QB and let him develop some rhythm with those great WRs and they might have a chance against Trinity.
-Glad you enjoyed your breakfast at Frans.
-I watched the whole Wesleyan entourage, parents, players, coaches, alums, Good Luck to a first class Football Program.

[The Mole]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1444417152644177925

Is there a video of the catch someone can link to?

Regarding the protest, I was kind of hoping the deposed Hamilton QB who left the team was staging a protest.  Oh well.  Speaking of which, impressive statistical game for the Hamilton frosh QB vs a solid Colby D.  We have our ROY front runner (only b/c the Bowdoin TB is not eligible, a bummer for him but he will settle for first team all NESCAC I'm sure).

[nescac1]

Thanks.  Ridiculous catch indeed, truly unreal.  And made by a guy who I assume was playing as an injury replacement for Simco, to boot?  Also bailed his QB out who threw that to a guy blanketed by defenders on all sides.  Gonna be hard to top that for play of the year in NESCAC.

[Trin9-0]

It was good to finally be back in The Coop, and the Bants did not disappoint. Middlebury isn't shutout often; it's only happened three times in the past 14 seasons (the most recent was a 48-0 loss to Trinity in 2018). The Bantams' 28 point margin of victory is even more impressive when you consider that Trin had another two long touchdown receptions called back on penalties. It's worth noting that Jernigan missed the second half with an injury but he wasn't exactly shredding the Trin defense as he completed just 7 of 17 passes for 59 yards and two interceptions through two quarters.

A big shout out to John Girard who broke the Trinity record for all-time receiving yard (2,423) set by Tom McDavitt in 1993.
Brian Casagrande's 86 yard pick-six certainly helped his case for DPOY, but keep an eye on Trinity's Noah Glantz who leads the league in sacks (3), forced fumbles (2), and is second in tackles for loss (5) and fumble recoveries (1).

It will be fascinating to see the mental gymnastics Nescacman performs to keep Wesleyan atop his "Power Rankings" this week.

[The Mole]

yes, Simco was out. Elk had the 84 yard shovel pass from Estevez vs Colby in the opener. He is no slouch, getting his chnace ot make some plays.

Thanks.  Ridiculous catch indeed, truly unreal.  And made by a guy who I assume was playing as an injury replacement for Simco, to boot?  Also bailed his QB out who threw that to a guy blanketed by defenders on all sides.  Gonna be hard to top that for play of the year in NESCAC.

[nescac1]

After the top three, the rest of NESCAC seems like a big mess without very clear tiers of teams at all.  2-1 Hamilton beat Colby, which beat Amherst, which beat Tufts, but would Hamilton be favored over either Amherst or Tufts?  Bates and Tufts are both 0-3 but certainly do not look like the worst teams in the league.  Whether due to injury (not sure how serious the Jernigan injury is) or performance, Amherst, Wesleyan, Tufts, Hamilton, Bowdoin and Midd all had dudes who were not their season-opening QBs playing at the end of last week's games.  Amherst and Tufts have each played THREE QBs on the season.  Many of those changes look likely to stick going forward.  In short, just total chaos throughout the league this year, outside of a few teams. 

[Trin9-0]

Your Week 3 NESCAC Football Uniform Report:

Hamilton at Colby
Grade C
Too much blue. Too much white. This one looked a bit like an intra-squad scrimmage. Hamilton is sneaky one of the best looking teams in the NESCAC, but I'd love to see them add a set of Buff pants to their rotation. Likewise, the Mules need to switch back to their grey pants permanently. I'll add that I like their block C helmet logo more every time I see it.


Williams at Bowdoin
Grade B-
Neither the Ephs nor the Polar Bears have a top tier uniform set, but here the whole is greater than the sum of their parts and the black/white contrast with just a pop of color (albeit mismatched purple) makes for a somewhat pleasing aesthetic.


Wesleyan at Bates
Grade B
Wes looked great in their all white combo and while the monochrome look for Bates continues to disappoint, the color contrast made for a decent looking match-up. 


Middlebury at Trinity
Grade B+
Two of the NESCAC's best dressed programs; but there was just too much navy blue and white on the field today. You won't find me saying anything negative about Midd's all white road look, but I would have liked to see Trin in their gold pants to provide a little more color.


Tufts at Amherst
Grade Incomplete
I've been unable to find any pictures from this game. The Amherst athletics information operation really is a disaster. Anyways, below is what I hope they wore. If so, the grade would be a solid "A". Vibrant colors with clean white contrast; sharp all around. Sadly, it's entirely possible that the either or both the Mammoths and/or Jumbos wore one of their dingy grey pants or jerseys to ruin what could be an otherwise beautiful look. If that's the case they'd get knocked all the way down to a C.  I'll update this post if I can track down a photo (or feel free to share one if you've found it). In the meantime enjoy their look from 2018 below.

[SpringSt7]

I didn't see any mention of it anywhere which is throwing me off, but I believe Bobby Maimaron broke Pat Moffitt's record of 45 career touchdown passes. By my count he is now at 46. Between their combination of starting from day 1, 9 game schedules (somewhat negated by injuries), and stellar play, Maimaron and Stola--who broke the receiving records for yards and TDs halfway through his junior year and also holds the record for catches--are rewriting the Williams record books.

[Hawk196]

Big loss by Colby to Hamilton by allowing 27 points in second quarter only a week after their huge win over Amherst. Bottom of league could be very unpredictable this year.

At one point I looked at the scoreboard for this game and it said "game delayed due to protest." Any idea what was going on there?

Same stupidity that happened at the Yale vs harvard game in '19. A bunch of uptight cry babies "storming" the field, the best part..they were protesting for divesting all fossil fuel investments....you know the investments that a great many of those students use for their free/greatly reduced tuition. The hypocrisy.... you'd think these idiots would grab a beer and enjoy their college years.....Saw some good house parties around Amherst....college kids being college kids 

[AmherstStudent05]

Your Week 3 NESCAC Football Uniform Report:

Hamilton at Colby
Grade C
Too much blue. Too much white. This one looked a bit like an intra-squad scrimmage. Hamilton is sneaky one of the best looking teams in the NESCAC, but I'd love to see them add a set of Buff pants to their rotation. Likewise, the Mules need to switch back to their grey pants permanently. I'll add that I like their block C helmet logo more every time I see it.


Williams at Bowdoin
Grade B-
Neither the Ephs nor the Polar Bears have a top tier uniform set, but here the whole is greater than the sum of their parts and the black/white contrast with just a pop of color (albeit mismatched purple) makes for a somewhat pleasing aesthetic.


Wesleyan at Bates
Grade B
Wes looked great in their all white combo and while the monochrome look for Bates continues to disappoint, the color contrast made for a decent looking match-up. 


Middlebury at Trinity
Grade B+
Two of the NESCAC's best dressed programs; but there was just too much navy blue and white on the field today. You won't find me saying anything negative about Midd's all white road look, but I would have liked to see Trin in their gold pants to provide a little more color.


Tufts at Amherst
Grade Incomplete
I've been unable to find any pictures from this game. The Amherst athletics information operation really is a disaster. Anyways, below is what I hope they wore. If so, the grade would be a solid "A". Vibrant colors with clean white contrast; sharp all around. Sadly, it's entirely possible that the either or both the Mammoths and/or Jumbos wore one of their dingy grey pants or jerseys to ruin what could be an otherwise beautiful look. If that's the case they'd get knocked all the way down to a C.  I'll update this post if I can track down a photo (or feel free to share one if you've found it). In the meantime enjoy their look from 2018 below.

Tufts was in all white. I thought it looked good, actually. Sadly, we were in fact in our grey pants.

[BigKat]

Your Week 3 NESCAC Football Uniform Report:

Hamilton at Colby
Grade C
Too much blue. Too much white. This one looked a bit like an intra-squad scrimmage. Hamilton is sneaky one of the best looking teams in the NESCAC, but I'd love to see them add a set of Buff pants to their rotation. Likewise, the Mules need to switch back to their grey pants permanently. I'll add that I like their block C helmet logo more every time I see it.


Williams at Bowdoin
Grade B-
Neither the Ephs nor the Polar Bears have a top tier uniform set, but here the whole is greater than the sum of their parts and the black/white contrast with just a pop of color (albeit mismatched purple) makes for a somewhat pleasing aesthetic.


Wesleyan at Bates
Grade B
Wes looked great in their all white combo and while the monochrome look for Bates continues to disappoint, the color contrast made for a decent looking match-up. 


Middlebury at Trinity
Grade B+
Two of the NESCAC's best dressed programs; but there was just too much navy blue and white on the field today. You won't find me saying anything negative about Midd's all white road look, but I would have liked to see Trin in their gold pants to provide a little more color.


Tufts at Amherst
Grade Incomplete
I've been unable to find any pictures from this game. The Amherst athletics information operation really is a disaster. Anyways, below is what I hope they wore. If so, the grade would be a solid "A". Vibrant colors with clean white contrast; sharp all around. Sadly, it's entirely possible that the either or both the Mammoths and/or Jumbos wore one of their dingy grey pants or jerseys to ruin what could be an otherwise beautiful look. If that's the case they'd get knocked all the way down to a C.  I'll update this post if I can track down a photo (or feel free to share one if you've found it). In the meantime enjoy their look from 2018 below.

[BigKat]

Amherst wore grey pants and Tufts was all white unis.

[Hawk196]

Tufts special teams/kicker problem.....

5 point left on the field against Williams (2 extra pts, 1 field goal)

3 pts left on the field against Amherst (key field goal, as someone pointed out missed, fielded with a run back to set up an Amherst TD)

Whether its the kicker(too low) or the line(collapsing), it is killing this team.

I think they may have found a solution to the kicker #98, but watching the line (outside) collapse and allow a defender to block a kick is unacceptable.

[Trin9-0]

Tufts at Amherst
Grade Incomplete
I've been unable to find any pictures from this game. The Amherst athletics information operation really is a disaster. Anyways, below is what I hope they wore. If so, the grade would be a solid "A". Vibrant colors with clean white contrast; sharp all around. Sadly, it's entirely possible that the either or both the Mammoths and/or Jumbos wore one of their dingy grey pants or jerseys to ruin what could be an otherwise beautiful look. If that's the case they'd get knocked all the way down to a C.  I'll update this post if I can track down a photo (or feel free to share one if you've found it). In the meantime enjoy their look from 2018 below.

Tufts was in all white. I thought it looked good, actually. Sadly, we were in fact in our grey pants.

Thanks for the intel AmherstStudent05 & BigKat. Sounds to me like a downgrade from the '18 game look on both sides (certainly more so on the part of the Mammoths). Without seeing it, I'll go with a grade of C-. Amherst's grey pants are just that bad and while I like the Tufts all white look, it's just too much especially when both teams have white helmets.

[Charlie]

Has anyone else noticed a drop on football attendance this year. I was at the Tufts V. Williams home game for the unveiling of the New stadium and perplexed at the sparce turnout of fans.

I was at the Trinity game this past weekend and it was Trinity homecoming against Middlebury. While I dont totally understand the scheduling conflict of having other athletic events played on Sunday versus Saturday there was definitely a lack of student support it seemed. It felt like kids were on vacation or something else was taking place. More adults it seemed than students.

Lastly at the Tufts/Williams game I loved the student band section. I think every NESCAC program should have student bands really creates a great atmosphere.