FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[xPolarDadx]

And that is the end of a sloppy one.  Bowdoin can't quite tie it up as Boel throws an INT on the 2 yd line after the Polar Bears recover the onside kick with 1:04 to go.  Middlebury wins 42-35.  Lots of miscues by both teams... there were a combined 5 dropped INTs, Bowdoin had an xp blocked and returned for 2 pts, both teams had several PIs that went uncalled, and not good block protection or eye discipline by either teams' LBs (big holes and/or missed tackles in the backfield that ended up being huge gains). 

Bowdoin had 3 corners go down in the game, including Hugee on the first or second drive, that really made it rough for them to hang with Middlebury's top WR when blitzing. 

[amh63]

Interesting results today both in "football" and soccer in the Nescac...as the wet/rainy conditions impacted the games on wet grassy fields.  Amherst beat Colby about a week ago at Amherst...but "loss" the game today on penalty kicks to Colby in rain/wet grass.  Meanwhile at Homecoming in Middletown, Ct. in very wet /muddy grass..Amherst wins in multi-OTs' against the Cardinals.  Undefeated teams in the Nescac is now ONE.  Presently, planning to be up to see the Amherst vs Williams game on a turf field at Amherst....in the battle for "little three".  Booked rooms.  However, pressure by family members to watch the game on the big screen if weather conditions turns "nasty". 
Remember the last bad weather game a while back when/where the football "floated" in the end zone at Williams.  Game featured by The NY Times over three days.  Result led to the present fine Williams football facility.
Let's see....the NY Times, Sunday, Nov 12,  1995, had the headline on page 3...Amherst wins 0-0 tie from Williams in mud.

[nescac1]

Trinity-Williams highlights:   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pby-jgjfswQ&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Most of the big plays there, but missing the first Nicholas TD which was ridiculous. 

[nescac1]

Incredible stat:

Trinity has not been held to just three points in a game since falling to Middlebury College, 20-3, on October 28, 2000.  This was Trinity's biggest losing margin since a 44-0 loss to Wesleyan in ... 1976.  That's just insane.

[SpringSt7]

Mark Raymond has Jeff Devanney's number. Who could have seen that coming?

[The Mole]

That is right. Cards obviously must beat Ephs and Bants next two weeks (no easy task). IF they do that, they could win outright IF Williams loses to Amherst. If Williams beats the Mammoths, not sure how tie-breakers work, etc. All big IFs.....

Kudos to Amherst for the win today. They had 263 yards of offense. 111 of them (42%) on 3 pass plays! Won with just 42 yards rushing on 28 carries. Cards killed themselves with 12 penalties for over 100 yards. Many in critical third down situations. Field conditions on the grass were almost unplayable in the overtimes.

last two weeks will be fun.....Trick or Treat?!

Am I correct in saying that the Wesleyan loss effectively means nothing as it pertains to the league title? They still control their own destiny right?

[Nescacman]

That is right. Cards obviously must beat Ephs and Bants next two weeks (no easy task). IF they do that, they could win outright IF Williams loses to Amherst. If Williams beats the Mammoths, not sure how tie-breakers work, etc. All big IFs.....

Kudos to Amherst for the win today. They had 263 yards of offense. 111 of them (42%) on 3 pass plays! Won with just 42 yards rushing on 28 carries. Cards killed themselves with 12 penalties for over 100 yards. Many in critical third down situations. Field conditions on the grass were almost unplayable in the overtimes.

last two weeks will be fun.....Trick or Treat?!

Am I correct in saying that the Wesleyan loss effectively means nothing as it pertains to the league title? They still control their own destiny right?

As we discussed a few weeks ago, no more tiebreakers if teams end up with the same record at the top of the NESCAC....we'll have co-champs, period, end of story...

More on today's game in Middletown tomorrow, but for those of you that were either there or watched the game on-line would love to hear some opinions on the officiating today...

Lastly, congrats to the Ephs on a resounding win today in Willyville...we've heard from our friends on-site that it was a pretty good beat down by HCOF Raymond & Co.....two more wins and we'd say that the ghosts of the Kelton-era will pretty much be put to bed... 

[lumbercat]

I saw the Trinity Williams score and thought it was a mistake. Honestly I had the game going the other way. I don't recall a Trinity tean ever getting their butts kicked like that inn a big game in 40 years. Am I missing something-- players out with Covid?

[The Mole]

I (singular) formally request that YOU (consortium/undefined) update handle to nescacthey/them to use some form of plural as I am offended. 

FWIW, the officiating was not good, officials had no control of the game. However, it would be a hollow excuse for why Cards lost. Several chances despite the untimely and lousy calls to put the game away. Can't get a yard? Do not deserve to win.


"As we discussed a few weeks ago, no more tiebreakers if teams end up with the same record at the top of the NESCAC....we'll have co-champs, period, end of story..."

More on today's game in Middletown tomorrow, but for those of you that were either there or watched the game on-line would love to hear some opinions on the officiating today...

[nescac1]

Trinity had all its guys ... and the Ephs were healthiest they have been in awhile.  The three offensive starters out last week were all back, Stola did not look quite 100 percent but the Ephs threw only around two passes to WRs all game so hardly mattered.  Still no Wesner but Hemmer and Scott have done great stepping into the LB rotation, both have a ton of speed.

The game though was won by the line play.  The Eph OL has basically dominated everyone since Pat Watson got healthy, it really shows in the second half of games when guys are routinely blown up by Watson (in particular, on one of the highlights he drove a guy five yards then pancaked him), Rooney, Freeman etc, and the Eph d-line has way more talent than it has had during any time in the Raymond era.  Two new soph starters who both look like they will have huge careers (Vilford's stats are negligible but he's an absolute rock at NG) and both are backed by highly touted frosh will be bigger factors going forward as they add size.  And Devine has to be the best DL in the league this year despite other guys getting more hype coming into the season.  He was killing Trinity even when the Ephs rushed three.

[AmherstStudent05]

Great win for Amherst!

Honestly, I can't recall a game with such a big disparity in penalties called (12-104 for Wesleyan against just 1-5 for Amherst).

I have to say that the Wesleyan webcast was really enjoyable. Nice use of replays, professional sounding play-by-play guy, and Whalen of course provides outstanding color commentary. Others can disagree, but my take on the broadcasters was that while they were critical of the officiating, they were even more critical of Wesleyan's undisciplined play. The offensive holding penalties (and there were several) were driving Whalen (a former OL coach, of course) particularly crazy. He didn't identify a single hold as a bad call — in fact, at least twice during the broadcast the play-by-play guy identified "holds" by Wesleyan offensive lineman that the officials did not end up calling.

Obviously, I wasn't keeping notes or anything, but based on my memory the following were the biggest specific gripes the announcers had with the officials (I could well be forgetting a play or two).

1. In the first quarter, on what would be Amherst's first "sustained" drive of the game, Breckenridge threw a quick seven yard pass to his tight end who took a step and promptly "fumbled" the ball, recovering his own fumble, setting up third and short which Amherst converted. The drive immediately stalled out afterwards and Amherst punted. Whalen was convinced that this should have been ruled an incomplete pass. Based on replays I thought it was a little closer than Whalen suggested — the TE did seem to take a step and a half — but I also tended to think this was an incomplete pass.

2. In the fourth quarter, Amherst faced a fourth and 1 at around midfield. The officials called Wesleyan for offsides. Whalen acknowledged that (multiple) Wes defenders jumped, he simply argued that no flag should have been thrown because no Amherst lineman moved in response and all the offending Wesleyan players returned onside before the flag was thrown. This was an interesting point he made and it was close but I do think the Amherst right tackle moved in response to the interior jump by Wes which is what prompted the flag. In any event, Amherst turned the ball over shortly thereafter.

3. This, I think was the "big" one. Late in the fourth quarter as Wes was attempting a four-minutes drive to put the game away, there was a scrum after the play and a big ref conference. The announcers were convinced that Swope was going to be called for a personal foul. Instead it was called on a Wesleyan player. Whalen and his colleague were quite upset by this, arguing that it should at least be offsetting. To be perfectly honest, even from the replay I couldn't really make what happened on either side. This was certainly a consequential penalty though as it ultimately ended any hopes Wes had of icing what would have been a 14-7 victory without having to give the ball back to Amherst.

Again, obviously a great win for Amherst and a fun game to watch (at least for me) even if the conditions at Andrus were incredibly sloppy. In a way, Amherst's game winning play summed up the day for us. Low shotgun snap that Breckenridge couldn't handle. He bends over to pick up the ball and promptly puts it back on the turf. Then he picks it up again and seemingly blindly shotputs into the end zone into the waiting arms of Ochsenhirt for the winning score. Gotta love it! 

For Wesleyan, Estevez was very impressive.  He punted several times (too many times, which I will get to shortly), returned kick offs and is obviously a handful to deal with on the ground.  McPhee was actually Wesleyan's most impressive runner. I don't know if it was the conditions or something else, but Wes was very conservative on offense.  I recall one drive where Estevez was consistently looking downfield for Tomlinson — that drive ended in a Wes touchdown — otherwise Wes had no downfield passing game to speak of.  I'm not going to run the numbers but there can't have been too many times this year where Amherst outgained an opponent in the air. Again, that does not speak super well of Wesleyan, I am afraid.

I am a huge Amherst homer, but, in all honesty, it would be hard for me to conclude from this game that Amherst is the better team. We certainly deserve the win, but Wesleyan just completely shot themselves in the foot. I will say though, unequivocally, Wesleyan got completely out Coached yesterday. Mills called a masterful game throughout. "Dice" on the other hand seemed totally lost.

1. Penalties. While a lot of these can be blamed on individual miscues, there were simply so many of them that the coaching staff has to bear some responsibility here.

2. Lack of downfield passing game. I discussed this above and maybe the weather had something to do with it but Amherst was able to throw the ball downfield with success in the second half. Wes seemingly never tried it. Tomlinson is supposed to be this great weapon but he was largely kept under wraps.

3. Conservative decisions. Wes punted at least twice from inside the Amherst 30! Even the announcers were puzzled by that one. I know the conditions were tough but if you have a top flight offense (which is what NESCACman had been leading me to believe) than go for it! Or, if you really have an all world kicker, go for a field goal. Punting accomplishes nothing.

4. Punting on third down. Wes did this twice during the game. One time was arguably justifiable. The last one seemed like a massive mistake. Up 14-7 at their own 12 with under 3 minutes to play Wes face a third and 24 (following the personal foul referenced above as well as a delay of game), Wes had Estevez punt! I have never seen this before and I think this was a rare miss by the announcers who were otherwise fair in criticizing Wes. I know getting a first down in that spot is really hard, I know they had a snap-punter exchange problem earlier in the first quarter, but you have to burn clock there! You simply cannot throw a down away giving Amherst 40 seconds or an extra time out.

5. After Amherst converted a Fourth and 1 in the red zone on what would be its game tying drive at the end of the game, Amherst moved to spike the ball. However, Wes inexplicably attempted to change personnel (despite no personnel change for Amherst) and so had to burn a time out and thus saved Amherst a down and a second or two of clock.

Anyway, it was a fun game and would be great to win the Little III this year!

[amh63]

Today it is a bright sunny day...in Md.  Will take a walk with my wife after being inside yesterday in wet weather...watching sports all day and recovering from my cov-9 Moderna booster shot.  Been catching up with a lot of tweets/online comments wrt the 4OT win at Wes yesterday.  One was from a FY defensive lineman, No. 31 from Carolina.  Yes, he was in the game and contributed....a FY player.   Amherst's HC Mills likes to take charge on the defensive side of the game.  No. 31 is example of one of his recruits...won 4 state championships and a honor student.  Big kid too and will only get bigger/stronger in the years ahead.  Oh yes, another Amherst "plug"...my Cov-9 shots was from a company whose President is an Amherst grad..class of '98.  My youngest son in the class of '95 faintly recalls him.

[polbear73]

Who foresaw Amherst going 5-2 with losses to Bowdoin and Colby?

[SpringSt7]

Amherst has locked in a better record this year already than in 2019 somehow, despite the fact that in the 2019 their losses were to Middlebury, Hamilton, Trinity, Wesleyan, and Williams.

I've touched upon them already but they really do deserve a lot of credit for finding a way to win games. They might have the worst QB situation in the league, I can't name more than 1 skill guy off the top of my head and yet here they are, 5-2. If it wasn't for the teams at the top of the league (aka Raymond) I'd probably be making a case for EJ as Coach of the Year.

[maineman]

Does anybody look at the NESCAC scoreboard to pick up other games scores while focusing on one of the games?  I do, but am I dyslexic?  I could have sworn that they showed scores with the incorrect teams playing each other and/or the scores backwards.  Did anyone notice that?