FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[EphsML]

New to the board. After viewing some of the previous comments surrounding season power rankings, I find it somewhat laughable to find Wesleyan within the top 4. Not only did they suffer two blowout losses to both Trinity and Tufts, they could barely survive an injury plagued Ephs roster who quite frankly should have won that game by a considerable amount. Football is decided on the line of scrimmage, and seeing that Wesleyan produced lack luster performances on both sides of the line this season it is somewhat remarkable they were able to secure 6 wins. IMHO not good enough to be ranked within the top 4. Pleasure to be apart of the beloved boards as a long time viewer.

[CardiacEphs]

First post on the board! In regards to @Nescacman final rankings, I was surprised to see his picks for OPOY. Richardson above Clapp when Clapp posted better numbers in all statistics? Additionally, Fetter for OPOY is very questionable to me. As much as we'd like this league to be solely about football, it is not. Fetter's reputation and his on-field antics are what will likely keep voters away. I believe Gering takes home ROY over Kurzum. I think Kurzum has a great future ahead of him but was not able to make plays down the stretch whereas we saw Gering making big plays on both sides of the ball for the Ephs, especially in crunch time.

[NESCACFball24/7]

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

Jaden Richardson was just offered by UNH. Could we see them team up in Durham next year?

[Nescacman]

New to the board. After viewing some of the previous comments surrounding season power rankings, I find it somewhat laughable to find Wesleyan within the top 4. Not only did they suffer two blowout losses to both Trinity and Tufts, they could barely survive an injury plagued Ephs roster who quite frankly should have won that game by a considerable amount. Football is decided on the line of scrimmage, and seeing that Wesleyan produced lack luster performances on both sides of the line this season it is somewhat remarkable they were able to secure 6 wins. IMHO not good enough to be ranked within the top 4. Pleasure to be apart of the beloved boards as a long time viewer.

OK, Mr. Third Place in the Little 3, who is your Top 4? Can't wait to hear this....

[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

Jaden Richardson was just offered by UNH. Could we see them team up in Durham next year?

Yes, it's possible, although URI would be a better fit for him, IOO.

[Nescacman]

First post on the board! In regards to @Nescacman final rankings, I was surprised to see his picks for OPOY. Richardson above Clapp when Clapp posted better numbers in all statistics? Additionally, Fetter for OPOY is very questionable to me. As much as we'd like this league to be solely about football, it is not. Fetter's reputation and his on-field antics are what will likely keep voters away. I believe Gering takes home ROY over Kurzum. I think Kurzum has a great future ahead of him but was not able to make plays down the stretch whereas we saw Gering making big plays on both sides of the ball for the Ephs, especially in crunch time.

As previously discussed, the coaches will split the vote and we will not see two players from the same team share the award. The way this works is each coach can put up one player. HCOF Jeff will put up the Senior Fetter and HCOF Jay will put up Richardson, who had a better year than Berlutti (we think Berlutti is the fave for the award heading into 2024).  Although we don't agree with his antics/behavior, Fetter will get half the votes due to his impressive stats (we believe that if you put any of the top 4 QBs behind that 0-line with weapons like Clapp, DiNapoli, et al, they would have put up similar, if not better stats...can you imagine Berlutti playing for Hartford State?). The other voters will go with Richardson. HCOFs can't vote for their own players which is how we will get to a split vote of 4 each. Mark our words, that's how it is going to go down. The rest of the awards are much more straightforward...we think Gering deserves consideration, they'll go with the QB Kurzum...

[Scoops]

It's almost like someone was IN the awards meeting? Either way, NMs rankings are largely accurate. I have been harder on Wesleyan than any regular commenter (with good reason), but they were the 4th best team in the league this year. If we're talking tiers, they're a 2nd tier team along with Williams/Amherst. But they were the 4th best team.

I will say that I agree with the sentiment that has been floated around about Trinity's "championship" season. Sure, by rule they're co-champions, but I would like to think that they would have enough humility and self respect to know to that they aren't the real champions. It's a pretty weak move by their program to claim otherwise. Were they the best team in the league? Yeah without question. But for ONE Saturday they didn't score enough points. Just how it goes.

For all-league awards, I think it's equally weak of Trinity to pad stats against a hapless opponent. Fetter was a deserving candidate for OPOTY. Clapp definitely put up numbers, but they needed to run up the score against Bowdoin to get his numbers around where Richardson's were. If I were a voter, I think that has to play into it. It should really come down to Fetter vs Richardson. And I think Fetter wins it. Regardless of the less than stellar sportsmanship.

Lastly, Coach Mandigo is the clear cut COTY. He won the league in his first year and had to go INTO the coop to do it. He also managed to beat Tufts after losing his top two QBs, and made Berlutti look like a complete dud. No disrespect to the job coach Devanney did, but again, he lost the game that mattered, and Coach Mandigo didn't.

Great year, looking forward to doing it again next fall!

[NESCACFball24/7]

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

Jaden Richardson was just offered by UNH. Could we see them team up in Durham next year?

Yes, it's possible, although URI would be a better fit for him, IOO.

Why uri?

[Back2BackBantam]

For all-league awards, I think it's equally weak of Trinity to pad stats against a hapless opponent. Fetter was a deserving candidate for OPOTY. Clapp definitely put up numbers, but they needed to run up the score against Bowdoin to get his numbers around where Richardson's were. If I were a voter, I think that has to play into it. It should really come down to Fetter vs Richardson. And I think Fetter wins it. Regardless of the less than stellar sportsmanship.

Uhhh Scoops I'm going to have to respectfully ask you to re-examine the Clapp vs. Richardson numbers there.

Clapp:
73 REC
1159 YDS
14 TDs

Richardson:
46 REC
830 YDS
13 TDs

Clapp w/o Bowdoin Game:
59 REC
918 YDS
11 TDs

2 of Clapp's 3 TDs in the Bowdoin game also came in the first half which, I think everyone on this board would agree, is too early to sit starters and call off the dogs anyways. But even without the Bowdoin game (which he went for an unbelievable 14 REC for 241 YDS and 3 TDs) Clapp's numbers are still better.

[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

Jaden Richardson was just offered by UNH. Could we see them team up in Durham next year?

Yes, it's possible, although URI would be a better fit for him, IOO.

Why uri?

URI is a better fit for him vs. UNH, we think. He'd come in perhaps as their #1 receiver. At UNH, he won't come in as #1. With that being said, maybe others will offer that are better fits for him.

[Back2BackBantam]

While we are on the topic of OPOTY as well, although I understand NESCACMAN's point and obvious experience in the outcomes of these awards over the years, it strikes me as odd that coaches cannot put performance on the field over possible antics or personal behavioral issues they may or may not have with a player. Fetter clearly had an absolute all-time statistical season, and whether you want to use the running up the score argument or not, he still had to go out every week and perform. Not only did he perform, but he performed better than any Trinity QB ever has, and in some aspects better than any NESCAC QB ever has. Yes, he has Sean Clapp, but Richardson has last year's OPOTY. And yes, the Trinity O-Line is outstanding, but most on this board were talking about how the Tufts O-Line was better due to sack count only a couple of weeks ago. Each candidate has great players around them that make them better, that is just the way the game works.

I understand the politics of it all, and that NESCACMAN is likely correct in his predictions, but it still boggles my mind that that can play a part in collegiate sports awards that are not dedicated to anything other than performance.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[Nescacman]

It's almost like someone was IN the awards meeting? Either way, NMs rankings are largely accurate. I have been harder on Wesleyan than any regular commenter (with good reason), but they were the 4th best team in the league this year. If we're talking tiers, they're a 2nd tier team along with Williams/Amherst. But they were the 4th best team.

I will say that I agree with the sentiment that has been floated around about Trinity's "championship" season. Sure, by rule they're co-champions, but I would like to think that they would have enough humility and self respect to know to that they aren't the real champions. It's a pretty weak move by their program to claim otherwise. Were they the best team in the league? Yeah without question. But for ONE Saturday they didn't score enough points. Just how it goes.

For all-league awards, I think it's equally weak of Trinity to pad stats against a hapless opponent. Fetter was a deserving candidate for OPOTY. Clapp definitely put up numbers, but they needed to run up the score against Bowdoin to get his numbers around where Richardson's were. If I were a voter, I think that has to play into it. It should really come down to Fetter vs Richardson. And I think Fetter wins it. Regardless of the less than stellar sportsmanship.

Lastly, Coach Mandigo is the clear cut COTY. He won the league in his first year and had to go INTO the coop to do it. He also managed to beat Tufts after losing his top two QBs, and made Berlutti look like a complete dud. No disrespect to the job coach Devanney did, but again, he lost the game that mattered, and Coach Mandigo didn't.

Great year, looking forward to doing it again next fall!

Scoops, doesn't take a rocket scientist (or a Hartford State grad) to understand how the voting works and how things will go down. Just makes sense given the rules of engagement and the personalities. We've been around this league for a long time as students, players, parents, alums, and boosters (40+ years for most of our correspondents) and have a pretty good feeling for the dynamics here. We may end up being wrong, but we think we are at least directionally correct.

[Nescacman]

While we are on the topic of OPOTY as well, although I understand NESCACMAN's point and obvious experience in the outcomes of these awards over the years, it strikes me as odd that coaches cannot put performance on the field over possible antics or personal behavioral issues they may or may not have with a player. Fetter clearly had an absolute all-time statistical season, and whether you want to use the running up the score argument or not, he still had to go out every week and perform. Not only did he perform, but he performed better than any Trinity QB ever has, and in some aspects better than any NESCAC QB ever has. Yes, he has Sean Clapp, but Richardson has last year's OPOTY. And yes, the Trinity O-Line is outstanding, but most on this board were talking about how the Tufts O-Line was better due to sack count only a couple of weeks ago. Each candidate has great players around them that make them better, that is just the way the game works.

I understand the politics of it all, and that NESCACMAN is likely correct in his predictions, but it still boggles my mind that that can play a part in collegiate sports awards that are not dedicated to anything other than performance.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Like Cooperstown? Maybe we should ask Bonds, Palmiero, and Rocket who should be NESCAC OPOTY. 

[Back2BackBantam]

While we are on the topic of OPOTY as well, although I understand NESCACMAN's point and obvious experience in the outcomes of these awards over the years, it strikes me as odd that coaches cannot put performance on the field over possible antics or personal behavioral issues they may or may not have with a player. Fetter clearly had an absolute all-time statistical season, and whether you want to use the running up the score argument or not, he still had to go out every week and perform. Not only did he perform, but he performed better than any Trinity QB ever has, and in some aspects better than any NESCAC QB ever has. Yes, he has Sean Clapp, but Richardson has last year's OPOTY. And yes, the Trinity O-Line is outstanding, but most on this board were talking about how the Tufts O-Line was better due to sack count only a couple of weeks ago. Each candidate has great players around them that make them better, that is just the way the game works.

I understand the politics of it all, and that NESCACMAN is likely correct in his predictions, but it still boggles my mind that that can play a part in collegiate sports awards that are not dedicated to anything other than performance.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Like Cooperstown? Maybe we should ask Bonds, Palmiero, and Rocket who should be NESCAC OPOTY. 

Did Fetter take steroids or cheat the game in some other fashion that I am unaware of? I'm not sure how your response could apply to this situation. Unless you are calling Fetter a cheater of the game. In which case I hope you brought so evidence along with you.

[NESCACFball24/7]

I agree my pick would be clapp based off production. However I will say it seemed like teams had tailored their defensive game plans to stop richardson a lot more than they did for clapp. Partly because trinity had more threats. But it looked to me in the games I watched that richardson was drawing double and triple coverage in every game in a way that clapp was just not attracting and that's a fact. Maybe in part because of the difference in their ability to burn you for a big one.

I'd also be interested to see how many targets the two got compared to each other. My bet would be on almost double for Clapp. Everytime trinity threw it feels like it went to clapp who got 10-15 targets a game where as richardson got maybe 5-6 targets a game that he took full advantage of.

Very different receivers clapp being more of a possession guy but richardson with the big play ability and probably more physical gifts. Another Civetti coaching blunder in not getting him the ball more? My guess would be Richardson projects better as a transfer due to his physical skillset and speed.

With that being said, would still vote clapp OPOY given his crazy productive year regardless of who is qb was. Also would not be surprised if coaches voted for richardson given the way they tailored specific game plans to him every week.