FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacman]

It's shaping up to be quite the POY race between Maimaron, Estevez, and Fetter.  All three are leading undefeated teams with absolutely tremendous individual performances. Maimaron is now slightly behind the other two statistically, but (1) he's sat out huge chunks of games since Williams has been blowing teams out in the first half, (2) the Ephs are very clearly limiting his runs until late in the season to prevent him from wearing down, and (3) so much of his value lies in his unquantifiable decision making in the option - that kid was born to coach football, he sees everything. 

Back to Estevez, the load he is carrying right now is ridiculous.  I'm just surprised Wesleyan hasn't tried him at safety yet!  Obviously a very tough kid but can he sustain this through the three tough rivalry games ahead? 

Ultimately, the head to head match-ups among those three will decide it but all three will end up having better years than the 2019 POY ...

Another loaded position this year is WR.  The Trinity duo, Tomlinson, Lutz, all having huge years (one of those guys won't make first team which is crazy), Fahey is rising fast, and you can't count out Stola, who is always a threat to explode but has lower stats in a run-dominated offense (Ephs are the only team in Nescac with more rushing than passing yards and no one else is remotely close to that allocation).

Nescac1 our dear friend, although this might be the one year to justify co-winners of the NESCAC OPOTY award since all three of the top players have been so amazing and incredibly important to their teams success, you know that the ultimate winner will come from whichever of those 3 teams run the table and win the league...with all of the games between Wes/Hartford State/Ephs to come in the last 4 weeks of the season, should be an amazing finish to a really interesting 2021 season...

As far as play-offs, any discussion of the NESCAC playing in the NCAA D3 football play-off tourney is naive, incredibly uninformed, and a complete waste of space on this board during the season...save it for February please...and btw, it's never goin g to happen in any of our lifetimes... 

The only play-off we are going to see is the round robin tourney in 2021 for the NESCAC title between Wes/HS/Ephs...

The consolation tourney (like the NIT) is the annual C-B-B fiesta (no longer a pillow fight, so it would appear)...

Lord Mammoths, Jumbo's, Conts, and Pants are on the outside looking in licking their wounds and wondering what happened in 2021... 

[VoodooDoc]

Nescacman

Adding an out of conference game and participating in the Division 3 playoffs may not be as unrealistic as they might seem.  Colleges around the country are facing tight budgets and are competing for a shrinking pool of students wanting a college education.  While many of the schools that are a part of the NESCAC have strong endowments and excellent scholastic reputations, the winds of change will eventually bring these problems to their doors.  Football recruiting does bring students through the door.  There may come a day when a football player (with strong academic credentials) being recruited by Kenyon, Clairmont, and a NESCAC school may be influenced in their decision by the opportunities.  Sometimes economic realities will overtake long standing traditions.   While it may seem unrealistic and naive now, the winds of change are blowing. 

[SpringSt7]

Not for nothing, the 2019 OPOY for Jernigan despite an overwhelming lack of statistical domination is a little more of an outlier than you might think. The only other OPOY to come from the championship team since 2014 was Max Chipouras in 2018, and he actually did share the award with Tufts QB Ryan McDonald. Additionally, QBs Matt Milano and Jesse Warren shared the award in 2014 and neither of them won the league!

While the selection of Jernigan could signal a shift in thinking amongst the coaches, the history does not tell us the same thing. It's important to note that Middlebury was the first team in league history to go 9-0 which certainly makes them standout amongst other league winners, but there is not the precedent for team success that you would think.

With all of that being said, I do ultimately think that one of those 3 manages to go 2-0 against the others and win the league, their performances will be a big reason why and could ultimately be the difference. If I was a coach with a ballot, I don't think I would really place a heavy emphasis on the stats they racked up beating up on the bottom half of the league.

The craziest thing to think about is that there is a real chance Maimaron does not make 1st team all-league this year which would somehow mean that arguably the best QB of all time at the best or second best program in the league would never be named to 1st team.

[xPolarDadx]

Nescacman

Adding an out of conference game and participating in the Division 3 playoffs may not be as unrealistic as they might seem.  Colleges around the country are facing tight budgets and are competing for a shrinking pool of students wanting a college education.  While many of the schools that are a part of the NESCAC have strong endowments and excellent scholastic reputations, the winds of change will eventually bring these problems to their doors.  Football recruiting does bring students through the door.  There may come a day when a football player (with strong academic credentials) being recruited by Kenyon, Clairmont, and a NESCAC school may be influenced in their decision by the opportunities.  Sometimes economic realities will overtake long standing traditions.   While it may seem unrealistic and naive now, the winds of change are blowing.

While I doubt it will change in the next several decades, I see a couple top academic+athletes from our area a year that are being heavily recruited by the NESCAC go Clairmont, Kenyon, Johns Hopkins, or UChicago, all of whom are academically rigorous and make it work to participate in the D3 playoffs.  Anyway, talk for after the season. 

[Nescacman]

Nescacman

Adding an out of conference game and participating in the Division 3 playoffs may not be as unrealistic as they might seem.  Colleges around the country are facing tight budgets and are competing for a shrinking pool of students wanting a college education.  While many of the schools that are a part of the NESCAC have strong endowments and excellent scholastic reputations, the winds of change will eventually bring these problems to their doors.  Football recruiting does bring students through the door.  There may come a day when a football player (with strong academic credentials) being recruited by Kenyon, Clairmont, and a NESCAC school may be influenced in their decision by the opportunities.  Sometimes economic realities will overtake long standing traditions.   While it may seem unrealistic and naive now, the winds of change are blowing.

Most, if not all, of the NESCAC schools have record enrollments and have seen a record number of applications in recent years...they have no issue attracting stellar, well rounded students to these fine institutions of higher learning...if you think football recruiting (and for that matter any sport) is on any NESCAC President's mind from an application standpoint you are on Fantasy Island...the only factor that would possibly change their mind is the all-mighty dollar and from our understanding, unlike the CFP, the D3 play-offs is an expense item for the participants, it does not generate revenue...

[polbear73]

Exactly. With acceptance rates under 10% and endowments going through the roof, athletic recruitment as a means for increasing enrollments are just not a factor and don't register with NESCAC presidents. D3 football playoffs will always be a non starter at NESCAC. NEVER gonna happen.

[SpringSt7]

If the NESCAC cared about revenue from sports at all it would cost more than $0.00 to attend almost all sporting events.

[Nescacman]

If the NESCAC cared about revenue from sports at all it would cost more than $0.00 to attend almost all sporting events.

We think they care about revenue opportunities that move the needle and clearly ticket sales (and football play-offs) don't move the needle...

[D3FLETCH]

After speaking with a few ADs in the league I have come to the realization that playoffs will eventually come to the NESCAC. It may take 10/20 years, but it will happen.

[lumbercat]

If the move to playoff participation is ever going to transpire it can only happen when the NESCAC presidents agree that they should move forward.
I think the projection of 10-20 years you suggest makes sense as it will only happen if there is a change in Football sentiment at the top of NESCAC administrations which that timetable projects.

For the record lets define the position toward Football at each school based on current president and administrations:

Trinity- Overwhelmingly positive
Tufts: Positiive
Wesleyan: Positive
Colby: Positive
Bowdoin: Negative
Bates: Negative
Williams: Neutral
Middlebury: Positive
Hamilton: Negative

[SpringSt7]

Not sure if it was intentional or not but I'm getting a huge kick out of you leaving off the school that hired consultants to determine what would happen if they got rid of sports all together.

[JEFFFAN]

Not sure if it was intentional or not but I'm getting a huge kick out of you leaving off the school that hired consultants to determine what would happen if they got rid of sports all together.

No bigger Amherst fan than me out there but trust me there was zero legs to that rumor.   The trustees who care about sports would never have allowed it to happen in a million years.  It sounds cute, sounds interesting, but there was zero chance of that ever occurring.  So best to just put that one to bed.

[SpringSt7]

Are you saying Biddy didn't look into it?

[lumbercat]

lol- correct- omission on my part- let me correct the record

AMHERST-Negative

[Nescacman]

lol- correct- omission on my part- let me correct the record

AMHERST-Negative

Actually two omissions...