FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Scoops]

Does anyone else find it amusing how the CT teams fans talk the most when they're winning, and have the thinnest skin when they "loose"?   

[BigKat]

After deciphering your poor grammar Chaz, I think what you are saying is road teams are at a huge disadvantage? Results and stats might say differently this year so far.

[The Mole]

Scoops, no thin skin. We lost fair and square. I am simply providing statistical facts to counter opinions. Face the music when your team loses, or play ostrich like many here.

Does anyone else find it amusing how the CT teams fans talk the most when they're winning, and have the thinnest skin when they "loose"?   

[lumbercat]

"Last years team was more talented, significantly. They would not have lost that game."

Again, more blanket statements with no specificity. Last years team lost to Bowdoin and Middlebury (on paper less talented squads). Last years team had perfect weather all season long, this year all 4 games in rainy conditions. Dynamics of each team year by year change. I know you are upset that Bates is 0-4. Does last years team go 0-4? You have no idea.

Could they have played better? Yes. Does Colby deserve credit? Yes. Did they have chances to still win the game? Yes.

Fake News/alternative facts, whatever you want to call it. Stop spewing it.

Ok Mole, I can see you're still bitter over the loss and I understand completely. You have more skin in the game so I know it stings
even more.
My posts are my opinions and I'll "spew it"  all I want.
What fake news did I "spew"?

Again with last years personnel specifically at offensive skill positions Wesleyan wouldn't lose that game.
Give me all the stats you can cook.....I'll take Estevez and Tomlinson alone in the fourth quarter on Saturday and you'd have a W.
My opinion Mole

Not happy with 0-4 at Bates as they rebuild. It's painful but not totally unexpected. I know where the Bates team stands anytime, any year, statistically and otherwise.

[Bucket]

Good clickbait Lumber, and I will bite-you are completely wrong about talent at skill positions. Anyone as individually talented as Tomlinson, no. Has the production dropped off? No, it is actually better considering there are 5 games left. Last year: Simco 36-527-2, Tomlinson 72-979-10. That is a combined 108-1,506-12. Through 4 games this year: Wilson 24-346-7, Elkhoury 27-357-2, Kennedy 6-129-1 for a combined 57-832-10 with 5 games to go. Collectively a more productive WR group.

Last year Estevez: 1,146 pass yards 10 TDs 2 INTs and 372 rushing yards 2 TDs
Last year Candido: 1,235 pass yards, 9 TDs and 5 INTs and 6 yards rushing 1 TD
This year Candido after 4 games: 1093 pass yards 12 TDs 2 INTS and 95 yards rushing

After 4 games Wesleyan offense #3 ppg with 25 and #3 YPG with 380, 5th in rush YPG 105 and #3 pass YPG 274
After 4 games Wesleyan defense #4 ppg with 18 and #2 YPG with 249, 2nd rush YPG 74 and #3 pass YPG 175

Lots of plays being made on both sides of the ball and those shoes are being filled.

Better team last year with more talent at skill positions. Last years team would have put that game away earlier but if they did have to go to OT they would execute a lot better.
Good team this year but not as good as last in terms of playmakers. This years Cards are good team but as I said, tough shoes to fill.

I don't care about stats against Bates, Hamilton, Middlebury and Colby. Lets revisit that after 9 games.
Last years team was more talented, significantly. They would not have lost that game.

Last year's Wes team lost to Middlebury, so . . .

[The Mole]

The players read this board. So, if you want to take shots at them, I will defend the teammates of my son and his team every time. If that is thin skin, so be it. Don't type something you would not say to a players face.

[Nescacman]

Greetings Boardsters....we are back after suffering a "minor" injury during the (very) wet Saturday Maine festivities. No thin skin here, we just literally couldn't type. The only good thing about the day is we were able to see two live, in-person NESCAC games. We are just drying out, btw.

Our two cents having watched the ugly affair in Waterville in person:

1. Hats off to Colby. They played about as well as they could have and it was just enough to beat a Wes team that frankly, did not play their best.
2. Wes is really banged up on the d-line, a position where they could least afford injuries. They already had to replace All-Everything, two-time NESCAC DPOTY Nick Helbig (5th year scholarship player at Power 5 Wake...where he's playing for former Eph Dave Clawson) and All NESCAC DT Keith Henderson. They are playing a lot of youngsters, they are playing great, and Wes will benefit over the next 2-3 years as a result of the experience they are getting. Contrary to what has been written here, we would say that it is because of their seller, national recruiting effort that they have the depth to stay competitive playing the youngsters. Also, kudo's to d-line Coach Q who does an amazing job with his student-athletes. Thank you for all you do Coach!
3. Special teams killed Wes...missed XP, couldn't handle the snap on a game winning 36 yard FG with no time left and a fumble on a return (that ended with no points).
4.Tons of dropped passes by Wes. We'll attribute that to the wet weather. Play on a dry day and many of those are caught. Wes had guys running around open much of the day.
5. Colby QB, who was not good on film, played (unexpectedly) well against us.
6. Game was very similar in a lot of ways (other than the weather) to Bowdoin last year. We believe that Wes was better Team on both days but at the end, didn't get it done and lost. Once again, hats off to former Cardinal and Mule OC Shea Dwyer for devising a solid offensive game plan.
7. Officiating was, as always in Maine, bad. Blew the call on an apperant safety by Wes on a fumbled punt recovered by Colby in the end zone. White hat said the ball was outside the end zone and his body was inside the end zone but it was exact opposite. We know because we were standing right there.
8. Wes needs to run the ball better, especially in bad weather games. And it may rain again this weekend in Medford.
9. If Wes doesn't play better next week against the Jumbo's, they'll get smoked. Only solace is Wes/Tufts night games are usually close, epic games.

In sum, we sucked, and Colby did not and they broke the 10 game losing streak they had to Wes. Congrats to them. BTW, we know the weather was bad, but really poor showing by Colby students and parents. Proud of the Cardinal Nation who made the trip and outnumbered the Mule fans on the road.

More on our experience in Brunswick later. Congratulations to the Jumbo's, on demolishing the Polars. Game was definitely not as close as the score.

[lumbercat]

I don't know if others "took shots"- I don't completely read every post, depends on the poster.

I said in the original discussion I thought Wes lost a lot to transfer/graduation and this years team had big shoes to fill.

I also said I thought last years QB who was first team all conference and WR Tomlinson also first team AC, one of the best we've seen in years in this league and will probably get pro looks would likely have produced a better result on Saturday.
No slam on any Wesleyan player by me, as a matter of fact, I think the kids might agree.

For the record Jr QB Candido is a fine player who has another year and half to make his mark on the Cardinal program. Good things  lie ahead for him but certainly no insult to the kid by saying I'd take the senior Estevez in that game combined with one of the best receivers in Wesleyan history.

Good Luck to Wes this week. Im sure they will be more than ready for a trip to Medford for what will be the game of the week.

[Hawk196]

Watched Bowdoin Tufts game. Tufts dominated the the game but I couldn't believe how Bowdoin left Boel in the game in passing mode when was it raining like hell and Bowdoin had no chance of winning. Tufts was just teeing off on Boel. Didn't think the kid was gonna to get up. No way a coach should leave a kid in the game they cant win and continue to try and throw the ball in those circumstances when his QB is getting lit up. Boel should have been on the bench. He's not a big kid, he will be sore in the morning but hope they didn't get him hurt.

2 score game with 5 minutes left. Time to pull Boel?

Maybe the team in the 1st half....Bowdoin was done in the 4th quarter....at that point Boel was getting hammered (OL tired??)....here comes #7 for Bowdoin, good chance its a run

[Nescacman]

"Last years team was more talented, significantly. They would not have lost that game."

Again, more blanket statements with no specificity. Last years team lost to Bowdoin and Middlebury (on paper less talented squads). Last years team had perfect weather all season long, this year all 4 games in rainy conditions. Dynamics of each team year by year change. I know you are upset that Bates is 0-4. Does last years team go 0-4? You have no idea.

Could they have played better? Yes. Does Colby deserve credit? Yes. Did they have chances to still win the game? Yes.

Fake News/alternative facts, whatever you want to call it. Stop spewing it.

Ok Mole, I can see you're still bitter over the loss and I understand completely. You have more skin in the game so I know it stings
even more.
My posts are my opinions and I'll "spew it"  all I want.
What fake news did I "spew"?

Again with last years personnel specifically at offensive skill positions Wesleyan wouldn't lose that game.
Give me all the stats you can cook.....I'll take Estevez and Tomlinson alone in the fourth quarter on Saturday and you'd have a W.
My opinion Mole

Not happy with 0-4 at Bates as they rebuild. It's painful but not totally unexpected. I know where the Bates team stands anytime, any year, statistically and otherwise.

We've watched a lot of Wesleyan football over the years (we don't think we have last missed a game in person in at least 10 years, home and away...maybe) and even more NESCAC football. Our very educated assessment comparing the 2022 Cards to the 2023 Cards is they are/were both very good teams but in many ways different teams. The 2022 team definitely had more "star power" headlined by All-NESCAC performers Helbig, Tomlinson, Simco, Estevez, Banks et al. It was a very good, Little 3 Championship Team. We think the 2023 Team is good. As good as the 2022 team (that probably under achieved...and the players and coaches would be the first to admit that)? Time will tell but we think they are good but good in different ways. For example, Candido is much more of a drop back, pocket passer than David was (although David was very athletic and killed teams with his legs). We think the 2023 version of the Cards has a ton of talent with Candido, Wilson, Elkhourey, Lockwood, Ezra, Rowan, Carbeau, Edward, Abraham, Nally, et al...good teams bounce back after bad losses so we are looking forward to watch them bounce back and compete hard against the talented Jumbo's this Saturday night.   

[SpringSt7]

Every member of the consortium couldn't type? Damn, hell of an injury. Get healthy soon!

[Nescacman]

Every member of the consortium couldn't type? Damn, hell of an injury. Get healthy soon!

Big consortium, one typist! 

Assume we'll see you for our usual pre-game beverage and smoke in Williamstown this year (hopefully with Coach Farley) and we'll hoist a toast to our friend Renzie!

[Scoops]

Maybe I'm wrong here, but does anyone else think the Trinity/Middlebury game this Saturday will be far more GOTW worthy than Tufts/Wesleyan? Midd is one of two teams left with a realistic (yet somehow still very outside) chance of ending the Bantam's win streak. There's certainly somewhat of a rivalry between the Cards and the Jumbos, but my attention will certainly be focused on the infamous Coop.

[JEFFFAN]

Reporting from the non-CT division ...

I was reasonably happy with how Amherst played against Bates.   QB was decent, offense was not awful which is good progress.   Having watched the Jeffs play for a long, long time, the difference between these teams and those who could periodically compete with Trinity are the lines.  Especially the offensive line.  The teams over the past 4-5 years get zero push for the running game and provide less than stellar protection for the passing game.  This factors more than anything else in this program's demise.

Now ... why?  No clue other than what I have posited in the past - a new admissions director from a school that doesn't care about athletics - a relatively weak athletic director - both working under a president who in the latter years of her too-long tenure took a hard left turn.  EJ did not forget how to coach.   EJ did not forget how to recruit.   There are other factors impacting this program beyond his reach.   Lord Jeff grads can only hope that the new president, an Amherst grad, moves things back to where they were.

NESCAC1 - I have missed your views on the Eph program this year or at least this past week.

[lumbercat]

Maybe I'm wrong here, but does anyone else think the Trinity/Middlebury game this Saturday will be far more GOTW worthy than Tufts/Wesleyan? Midd is one of two teams left with a realistic (yet somehow still very outside) chance of ending the Bantam's win streak. There's certainly somewhat of a rivalry between the Cards and the Jumbos, but my attention will certainly be focused on the infamous Coop.

Good point Scoops- they will both be headline games but I see Trinity as a prohibitive favorite at home against Middlebury.
The Tufts-Wes game is a much closer call. I'd make Tufts a 3 favorite but I'd make the Bants a 2 touchdown favorite in the Coop. However, I'll defer to Nescacman when he releases his forecast later in the week.