FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[GroundandPound]

Nescacman, when are you publishing your final rankings?  What is the ETA on the all-conference recognition/awards?

[Nescacman]

Nescacman, when are you publishing your final rankings?  What is the ETA on the all-conference recognition/awards?

Final rankings are being proof-read as you speak. They will be out today.

As we said last night, we believe the coaches met yesterday and voted on the POTY, ROTY, COTY and All-League selections. Obviously, delayed a week as a result of the tragedy in Maine. Last year the awards were announced the Tuesday before Thanksgiving but the season ended a week earlier.

We would hope that the announcement happens today or tomorrow but it might not happen until next week based on how quickly NESCAC does things.

[NE Football Fan]

Coaching staff of the year? Could it be Bowdoin? Does Tufts deserve recognition or does the loss to Hamilton do them in?.... Any rumors around HC changes? The one I know of that is swirling is HCOF Jeff Devaney as a top candidate for Columbia.

[GroundandPound]

The Ivy League season ended Saturday.  They just posted their All-Conference awards/recognition.
Hmmmm.

[The truth 101]

It's gotta be Clapp Richardson or Fetter for OPOY, no debate looking forward to the announcement. DPOY has a host of options looking forward to seeing where that goes aswell.

[NE Football Fan]

It's gotta be Clapp Richardson or Fetter for OPOY, no debate looking forward to the announcement. DPOY has a host of options looking forward to seeing where that goes aswell.

I think the DPOY is a one horse race.

[GroundandPound]

I really do not see how it is anyone but Fetter.  8-1 with stats better then all. 
BTW, Trinity OL better than Tufts OL.  Why you say?  Tufts let up 6 sacks with the most athletic and best running QB in NESCAC,
and Trinity let up 4 sacks with a much less mobile QB.   

[GroundandPound]

than

[GroundandPound]

https://bantamsports.com/sports/football
Fetter and Clapp all New England

[Nescacman]

2023 NESCACMAN FINAL Power Rankings and Awards

Congratulations to the 2023 NESCAC Football Champion, your Middlebury Panthers.

Congratulations to NESCACMAN 2023 Award Winners:

Offensive Co-Players of the Year: WR Jaden Richardson (Tufts)/Spencer Fetter (Hartford State). Runners up: QB Michael Berlutti (Tufts), WR Sean Clapp (Hartford State), RB Chartellis Reece (Tufts).
Defensive Player of the Year: DE Tomas Kenary (Middlebury). Runners Up: DT Dave Filias (Middlebury), LB Koy Price (Bowdoin), DB Wesley Abraham (Wesleyan), LB Julian Young (Colby).
Rookie of the Year: QB Luke Kurzum (Hamilton). Runner up: DB/WR Holden Gering (Williams).
Special Teams Player of the Year: K Matthew Jumes (Hartford State). 
Coach of the Year: HCOF Doug Mandigo (Middlebury).
Team of the Year: Middlebury.
Little 3 Champions: Wesleyan.
C-B-B Champions: Bowdoin.

Here are our Final NESCAC rankings for 2023 based on our poll of league wide correspondents:

1). Middlebury Panthers (10 first place votes)(8-1; Last Week Rank: 1): Middlebury wins league title in HCOF Mandigo's first year. Coach Doug will be NESCAC Coach of the Year. Only blemish was loss at Wesleyan. Finish season with NESCAC best 7-game winning streak. Team was anchored by Defensive POTY favorite Tomas Kenary and his linemate, DPOTW finalist Dave Filias, who should be a NESCAC first teamer.

2). Hartford State Roosters (8-1; Last Week Rank: 2): Roosters run it up on the Polars to complete a second place NESCAC finish. Only blemish was week 5 loss to MID, when they failed to score a TD. Not often you consider an 8-1 season a disappointment, but when you suit up 13 graduate students, clearly Hartford State expected to run the table. However, an 8-1 season, second place, and numerous offensive league records is an awesome consolidation prize. Questions for 2024...If Holy Cross HCOF Bob Chesney gets the Syracuse job, will HCOF Jeff head up the road to Worcester to take over the Crusaders program? Will prospective NESCAC first-teamer and Offensive OPOTY candidate Sean Clapp stick around, or will he enter the portal? Who will be the starting QB in 2024?

3). Tufts Jumbo's (6-3; Last Week Rank: 3):  Disappointing 6-3 season for Tufts. Looks like Offensive POTY Candidate Jaden Richardson will be gone having entered the portal, but QB Michael Berlutti will be back leading the Jumbo's in 2024.

4). Wesleyan Cardinals (6-3; Last week Rank: 4): Take away the two blowout losses and the Colby game which they should have won, a moderately successful season for the Cards. Cards won the Little 3 title again and completed their 11th straight winning season. Not much has been discussed about this but one wonders what could have been had two-time NESCAC DPOTY Nick Helbig (now playing at Wake) and All-NESCAC First Teamer Logan Tomlinson (now starring at UNH) stayed in Middletown for 2023. They will return most of the nucleus in 2024 including all their skill players and their entire defense.

5). Amwurst Lord Mammoths (4-5; Last Week Rank: 5): We are sure HCOF Mills, one of the all-time great coaches in the NESCAC, is not happy with (another) losing season. 3rd losing season in the last 4 years. Biggest question marks for the Lord Mammoths heading into 2024 are: 1). How committed is the College to fielding a competitive football team? and 2). Who is going to throw, run and catch the ball for the LMs next year? They definitely need playmakers.

6). Bowdoin Polar Bears (4-5; Last Week Rank: 6): Disappointing end of the season for the Polars. Looked like they were on their way to a winning season but lost 3 of their last 4 to end up with another lost season in Brunswick. Still, incremental improvement for HCOF Hammer as they win four games for the first time since 2011. Losing Andrew Boel at QB hurt them, in particular, against Amwurst in Week #7. We would imagine that is the game they wish they could have back. With the talent they had, we're sure they expected a better year. Now they need to replace numerous All-League performers and starters including Boel, Fahey, King, Eden, etc. We expect this program to take a step back in 2024 as they attempt to reload and regroup.

7). Williams Purple Cows (3-6; Last Week Rank: 7): Second 3-6  season in a row for the Purple Cows. First time they have had back-to-back losing seasons since 2013-2016 when they had 4 losing seasons in a row. Return a bunch of talent including their starting QB, the starting TB, and most of their defense so reason for optimism in 2024 for the Ephs.

8). Colby Mules (3-6; Last Week Rank: 8):  Colby loses their 4th in a row on the way to another losing season. The Mules have not had a winning season since 2005. We expect many changes for 2024 including a new HCOF in Waterville. Besides the new HCOF, they need to figure out the QB position. Feels like Colby hasn't had a top tier QB forever.

9). Hamilton Alexander Hamilton's (3-6; Last Week Rank: 9): There are reasons to be somewhat optimistic in Clinton. They seem to have found a real QB in NESCAC ROY candidate Luke Kurzum, who appears to be a viable successor to Kenny Gray, and a viable runner in RB Nate Wildman. They need to get Kurzum some weapons at WR, but having a QB is big start for the Conts.

10). University of Bates Bobcats (Lewiston Campus)(0-9; Last Week Rank: 10): Tough conclusion to a long, but not unexpected season for the Kitties. Many of the 39 FYs that HCOF Matt brought in saw action, and they will be the key to future success for UBates. We're sure they expected to get at least 1 or 2 wins this year, which unfortunately, did not happen. In 2024, they'll be looking for incremental improvement with an eye towards being a contender in 2025 and beyond. We're bullish on some of their younger players (like QB Seneca Moore and RB Ryan Lynskey) but they will need another deep recruiting class or two to be able to compete for a league title in the future.

NESCACMAN's Picks:
2023 Season: 31-14
2022 Season: 31-14
2021 Season: 33-12
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: 323-107 (.751 winning percentage)

Follow us on Twitter @realnescacman

[NE Football Fan]

Gagliardi Semifinalists fan voting... Middlebury's Kenary made the list of 20. https://d3football.com/notables/2023/11/gagliardi-voting

[Charlie]

Coaching staff of the year? Could it be Bowdoin? Does Tufts deserve recognition or does the loss to Hamilton do them in?.... Any rumors around HC changes? The one I know of that is swirling is HCOF Jeff Devaney as a top candidate for Columbia.

Colby Coach is going to step down after medical procedure and Trinity HC Devanney not going anywhere.

I would have given Bowdoin Coach a vote but the only team they really beat this year that they were not picked to was the inept Williams squad. Other than that they beat whom they were suppose to beat.

The only other Coach worthy of this would be HC Mandigo but hard time picking this because he lost against a weak Wesleyan team and should have lost against a weak Williams squad. In addition if Trinity made the right call would have lost against them. But still have to give him his props for a great season in his first year. He would be only other candidate.

i still think that Trinity broke about every statistical record this year and HCOY should be Devanney but if not Him HC Mindigo from Middlebury

[TheSecondBrother]

Coaching staff of the year? Could it be Bowdoin? Does Tufts deserve recognition or does the loss to Hamilton do them in?.... Any rumors around HC changes? The one I know of that is swirling is HCOF Jeff Devaney as a top candidate for Columbia.

Colby Coach is going to step down after medical procedure and Trinity HC Devanney not going anywhere.

I would have given Bowdoin Coach a vote but the only team they really beat this year that they were not picked to was the inept Williams squad. Other than that they beat whom they were suppose to beat.

The only other Coach worthy of this would be HC Mandigo but hard time picking this because he lost against a weak Wesleyan team and should have lost against a weak Williams squad. In addition if Trinity made the right call would have lost against them. But still have to give him his props for a great season in his first year. He would be only other candidate.

i still think that Trinity broke about every statistical record this year and HCOY should be Devanney but if not Him HC Mindigo from Middlebury

To be fair, Trinity didn't make the right call at the end of the game and if anything that should reflect on Devanney more than anyone. If anything I feel that Mandigo's ability to find a way to win even in the most dire situations (First two string QBs going down against Tufts, putting together a touchdown drive to win against Williams in a monsoon, holding Trinity to zero touchdowns) should give him more credit, especially as a first year HCOF.

[MapleBBQChicken]

The only other Coach worthy of this would be HC Mandigo but hard time picking this because he lost against a weak Wesleyan team and should have lost against a weak Williams squad. In addition if Trinity made the right call would have lost against them. But still have to give him his props for a great season in his first year. He would be only other candidate.

i still think that Trinity broke about every statistical record this year and HCOY should be Devanney but if not Him HC Mindigo from Middlebury

Thank you to TheSecondBrother who already covered some of what I wanted to say... Anyway I think this is a laughable take. Coach Mandigo should be an absolute lock for Coach of the Year. It's his first year in charge and the team won the NESCAC championship, and that alone should be enough to win the award. The loss to a "weak Wesleyan team" was by 3 on the road in a game that was back and forth the whole way. Not to mention Wesleyan was by no means a bad team, finishing 4th in a 10 team league. As far as the Williams and Trinity games go, I think "should have lost" is a huge stretch. Part of being a good coach is that you make the right play calls in big moments. Middlebury executed very well at the end of the Williams game to force a 3 and out and then score the winning touchdown in a torrential downpour, and the game plan against Trinity was excellent. I would also like to highlight how well Middlebury was prepared for Tufts, holding them to a season-low 10 points in Vermont and winning with QB3 Nick Perez, who played most of the second half after both Cole Kennon and Brian Moran got hurt. Hard to make a case for Devanney when he was out game-planned to the point that his immensely talented team couldn't find the end zone at home against Middlebury.

[Nescacman]

Congratulations to Wesleyan Cardinal Alum Logan Tomlinson on making 3rd Team All-CAA as a member of UNH. One more year to go...#rollcards