FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[lumbercat]

Like you too NM and I really enjoy and appreciate all your great contributions to this board.
I've consistently pointed out that you make this board go. Merely pointing out there was little or no evaluation of discussion of the Academics of NESCAC schools prior to your characterization of Trinity as Hartford State. You were outspoken and always called it they way you see it and that has been entertaining to all. I like the edge to your commentary and have always thought it stimulated and carried things here.
You've brought some stimulating controversy and a healthy edge but no sense copping the Shirley Temple routine now....Im pretty sure most on the boardsters here really enjoy it. Keep it going!

[Charlie]

So as not go into the topics which were indicated as boring.  I havetwo observations at this stage of the season.

Why do coaches formulate a game plan have success with plan then constantly get away from it. I will look at Tufts this past week. Tufts had a great plan of attack against Trinity. Tufts ran directly at the tackle and ends and were able to run outside and inside effectively. Trinity seems exposed at least the past two weeks against Williams as well on the run. While Trinity is young at the DL position they play of their LB inside is suspect. They appear to have a hard time getting of blocks and attacking the LOS.

However both Williams & Tufts had success and then got away from this. Why I have no idea both seemed tp panic and want to start throwing. I am not saying Tufts or Williams would have won the games but certainly would have been more competitive. I think the in game decisions this year in the NESCAC leave many questions. Wesleyan had all week to prepare against Bates and played way below there level. However Wesleyan tends to do this once a year.

I have also noticed a great deal of Special teams opportunities from blocked Punts to bad snaps which have had an impact in games. You would think at these levels Special teams would be a priority every week. I have not seen any plays brought back for returning touchdowns which I would have thought would have been up for the year.

[BantChamps]

Let me add on to the entering the field speculation at the end of the Trinity @ Tufts Game.

Most of what was said was correct, both from Charlie and the other poster. Many Trinity Parents and Alumnus were on the field, as entry to the field post game was easy as walking through a gate. Some of course were hopping the field boundary fence, but that was not particularly needed.

However, at one gate in particular, there was a security guard not allowing people through. This upset some people as it is tradition for the Bantams faithful. If they did not want people on the field that is understandable. However it should have been enforced across the entire field. I think half the fans seeing the other half on the field while actively being prevented made some unhappy.

FWIW, I personally agree that it should not matter what Trinity has for "traditions", if Tufts wants nobody on the field, then no one should be.

One detail that WAS left out was one of the tufts coaches coming over and actively instigating those trying to get in. One Trinity Fan crossed the gate, to which the Tufts coach confronted him, and they shared their unpleasantries with each other. Mostly verbally, but a shove or two may have been exchanged... this was quickly broken up by onlookers. To prevent any escalation, the security pretty much just stopped enforcing the boundary.

Was very fun to watch unfold.

[Nescacman]

Like you too NM and I really enjoy and appreciate all your great contributions to this board.
I've consistently pointed out that you make this board go. Merely pointing out there was little or no evaluation of discussion of the Academics of NESCAC schools prior to your characterization of Trinity as Hartford State. You were outspoken and always called it they way you see it and that has been entertaining to all. I like the edge to your commentary and have always thought it stimulated and carried things here.
You've brought some stimulating controversy and a healthy edge but no sense copping the Shirley Temple routine now....Im pretty sure most on the boardsters here really enjoy it. Keep it going!

Thanks Lumber...we ❤️ you too!

[SpringSt7]

Interesting timing for Alabama vs. Vanderbilt metaphors

[Trin9-0]

...the fact that at this point Hartford State vs. the rest of the NESCAC is Alabama playing a bunch of Vanderbilt's on a weekly basis...

This comparison made me curious about the two programs' relative dominance over their respective leagues. It turns out, since 2000, Trinity has actually been more dominant in the NESCAC than the Tide has been in the SEC.
               
         

	TRINITY	ALABAMA
League Win Percentage	84.5%	75.6%
League Champions	11	9
League Runner-Up	7	1
Losing Seasons	0	5
Longest Winning Streak	31	24

Just for fun, here's my take on the other NESCAC - SEC equivalents:

Middlebury - Georgia: The biggest threat in recent years with championship hardware.
Amherst - LSU: Fallen off as the top threat but the second most championships.
Williams - Florida: Used to battle for league supremacy but no longer a true contender.
Wesleyan - Tennessee: Can never seem to get over the hump.
Tufts - Missouri: A solid program but an also-ran as far as contender status.
Colby - Arkansas: Any win over a top team in the league is a pretty huge upset.
Bowdoin - Mississippi State: Can't compete with the top teams.
Bates - Kentucky: Can't compete with the top teams.
Hamilton - Vanderbilt: Can't compete with the top teams.

[NescacNewbie]

Omg, Trinity compared to Alabama?
I get the point about intra-division comparison, but really?

Make it stop, I can't take it anymore!

[Brady12]

What are chances NESCA allows teams participate in playoffs by 2030?

I don't follow the NESCAC very much but I have to ask this one question. If bates is a team which beat a team which beat a team which were conference co-champions, is it indicative of this being the most random conference in d3 football?

In my opinion it's quite the opposite; I think the NESCAC is wildly predictable (at least over the last 20+ years). Trinity has been pretty much a lock to either win it all or finish in second place, which they've done for 18 of the last 21 seasons (winning the NESCAC championships 11 times and finishing as runner-up 7 times); all while winning 86% of their games over that span.

A second tier of Amherst, Williams, and Middlebury have all taken turns as the most likely challenger. Amherst has 6 titles and 3 runner-up finishes. Williams and Middlebury have won five championships apiece and claim 5 and 3 second place finishes respectively. Their win percentages are 72% for Amherst, 64% for Williams, and 70% for Middlebury.

Wesleyan has recently risen to contender status, but a 57% win percentage with one co-title and a pair of runner-up finishes puts them closer to Colby who has the same hardware but a win percentage of only 43%. The high mark for Tufts is a lone second place finish and a 46% win percentage. Then there's Bates, Bowdoin, and Hamilton who are the clear bottom third with win percentages of 26%, 25% and 23% respectively and just six winning records between the three programs since at least 2000.

Sure, there are the occasional shocking upsets like the Bates win in Middletown on Saturday (more on that in a moment) but overall the league is very predictable on an annual basis and has been for decades.


The Bates win over the Cards is truly a shocking upset (even by recent Wes standards). Sure, as many posters have noted, Wesleyan always seems to lose a head-scratcher. Indeed, unless the frisky kitties go on a run, it's likely to be Wesleyan's fourth loss in the past 6 seasons to a team who finishes with a losing record.

2024 - Loss 24-13 to Bates who is currently 1-2.
2023 - Lost 20-13 at Colby who finished 3-6.
2022 - Lost 28-26 at Bowdoin who finished 3-6.
2018 - Loss 33-29 to Hamilton who finished 3-5.

However, Bates was riding an 11 game losing streak and hadn't scored more than a touchdown in their any of their past six contests. Not to mention the game being in Middletown, where the Cards have played well in recent memory, and the fact that Wes had already disposed of Midd and Tufts. Add in that it was a double digit margin of victory for the Bobcats and I'm left just as dumbfounded as the computer model which predicted Wesleyan would win 40-0.

Great post Hs9-o and congratulations on the success of the Hartford State Football Program, really amazing. No doubt something that you all should be very proud of. We're sure many of our fellow Boardsters are very envious of the Bantam's success. We also appreciate how humble the Hartford State universe is. Obviously, this success should not at all be surprising to NESCAC fans given Hartford State's almost exclusive focus on their football program compared to other sports.

The Directors Cup is awarded annually to the top collegiate athletic programs by division and has been awarded since 1995. The "Cup" has been awarded for 27 years (no awards in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 due to COVID). In those 27 years, Hartford State's highest finish was 34th and in the last 10 years, they have perpetually finished near the bottom of the NESCAC Directors Cup standings and finished dead last in the league as recently as 2021-2022.

Meanwhile, 3 NESCAC schools have won the Directors Cup nationally: Williams an amazing 22 times, Middlebury once, and Tufts once. In last year's national rankings Willams was 2nd, Tufts was 4th, and Middlebury was 6th. The NESCAC has historically been one of, if not the top-rated overall D3 athletic conference in the country, based on these rankings which are an excellent proxy for overall program wide athletic success.

How have our beloved Cards done in the Directors Cup? 42nd last year and they have finished ahead of the Bantams each of the last 7 years. They have finished in the top 50 nationally in the last 6 rankings finishing as high as 14th in 2018-2019. They did finish last in 2014-2015 but that was during a period of transition at Wesleyan.

Let's keep things in perspective. We're sure if other schools in the conference were devoting as many institutional resources towards football as HS, they might have similar success.

[lumbercat]

What are chances NESCA allows teams participate in playoffs by 2030?




 

[/quote]


Wow- the ink isn't even dry on NM's post where he appropriately called for an end to the repetitive drivel on the trite, overworked topics on this board.
Must be a gag from unknown "Brady12"- must be a bag job- can't imagine anyone posting that now. lol.

[Ephsfan1]

Predicting another shutout this year for the polars.

Rough prediction...the young duo of Owen McHugh and Brady Stahelski will run the NESCAC for years to come.

[Brady12]

Fischetti is the key.  If he has a 5th year he will be huge in the development of the Ephs passing game.

[Charlie]

While I think the return of Fischetti would be interesting lets not forget that while we are praising these young players of Williams as dynamic and able to score lets not forget how there defensive secondary was tocrched by Trinity through the air. It should also be mentioned that while I think Williams has some good young prospects coming up the ranks.

Lets remember though that Trinity is a very young team and with few compenents leaving for graduation a great number of young prospects have yet to emerge. So there future is promising as well.

I am curious to see how Bates finishes this season. Although they beat Wesleyan and tough to say if they played incredibly well or Wesleyan just had another season of would have could have. But I thought they were going to pull out the win last weekend at colby and finsih middle of the pack. They could be another team that makes some strides for next year.

[Nescacman]

Fischetti is the key.  If he has a 5th year he will be huge in the development of the Ephs passing game.

Before we anoint Mario Fischetti the next coming of Tyler Dinapoli, let's remember that he hasn't played more than 4 games in a season since his freshman year (2021), he has 7 career rushing TDs (also one receiving TD), and 26 career receptions. Sure he had a career day on Saturday, but it was against Bowdoin, who is last in the league in total defense and rushing defense.

When the guy plays a whole season and leads the NESCAC in rushing, come talk to us. Until then, let's relax. Nice player and we're sure an excellent person but he still has a lot to prove, IOO.

The Purple Cows win a few games against bottom tier teams and their peeps come out from their 3 year hibernation...welcome back...we miss Bobby Maimaron too.

As far as discussions on play-offs....spare us the pain please. Lumber, please help... 

[nescac1]

I am not sure if Fischetti is even eligible for another year, given that he's played at least four games every season, but if he was I'm sure Williams would be stoked if he wanted to stick around (but again not sure if that is even a possibility). 

Nescacman, I think your assessment of Fischetti is a bit unfair.  He's suffered two somewhat fluky bad-luck injuries, and yeah, with his size and with his running style, he can't be a 25 carry a game back no matter what.  Williams has been exceedingly cautious with his usage this year.  But 221 career carries is also not a small sample size and he's averaged an insane 6.7 ypc for his career. Plus he's added 272 receiving yards and 474 kick and punt return yards.  So he's at 2200 all purpose yards, and counting, for his career, which is quite a substantial total (Keon Smart at Colby, a quality workhorse four-year player who has only missed two games in his career, is just barely higher, as a point of comparison, despite playing 7 more games). I'd be surprised if there was any NESCAC back with over 200 career carries with a higher ypc average than Fischetti.  And he's actually averaged exactly the same amount of yards rushing per game over his career as Dinapoli (70 ypg on a significantly lower 5.3 yards per carry over his career - which itself is still elite! - surrounded by elite talent at every offensive position), and more all-purpose yards per game. 

Turning to younger talent in the league - Trinity has the most young talent, the most old talent, the most talent period.  That won't change so long as they are bringing in huge classes deep with talented recruits every single season.  But I do think the sheer number of guys already making big impacts from Williams' last two recruiting classes point to a very promising future.  Wesleyan, Midd, Bowdoin, Tufts, and Colby all lose a TON of key players from this year's teams. Williams likewise loses a lot, but I think returns more key guys than any of them.  (Amherst like Williams is not terribly senior-reliant, but I'm less sold on the young talent at Amherst, especially the skill guys). 

As for Williams, three of McHugh's top four receiving weapons are sophomores, and one of them, Johansen, is in his first year of eligibility (maybe Kennedy as well?  I think he was hurt last year).  And that doesn't count Gehring who is in the mix there on select plays.  Zach Falls and Jimmy Montesano are two huge targets in the first year class who will likely make a bigger impact down the line as well. While there likely isn't one Frank Stola caliber guy in the group, this is by FAR the deepest group of receiving talent the Ephs have had since 2010. The Williams tight end unit is especially loaded.  The offensive line (due to injuries) has started seven different guys this year and only two are seniors, and the FY offensive line class looks very promising and will hopefully make an impact next year as line play as there will be opportunities for those guys to step up. The Ephs do need to find a big-time tailback or two in this year's recruiting class as they rely on veterans at that position.   

On defense, yeah, the secondary has struggled for much of the season, but Williams' top four cornerbacks are three sophomores and a FY, and two of the sophs were converted from other positions. That group led by Gehring seems to have good talent just needs some experience.  The top four Eph safeties all return next year as well, and two of the guys who have started were H.S. quarterbacks. It seems like the Ephs have put a lot of high-level athletes back there with hopes that will pay dividends over time, but also not surprising there have been some gaps in coverage as guys figure it out.

Williams does lose a lot in the front seven to graduation this year but seem to have an awesome FY group up front led by Gale, Yedid, Mangini and Moore, three of whom have been starters as first years.  Gale looks like he will be a force for the next four years at DT and the other three are potential all-league guys down the line as well. 

And yes, Bates is clearly on the rise as well.  Lynskey, Wallace, Gleason and Beltran are going to be a handful as a group in the triple option for the next few years, especially as the guys up front mature.  Lynskey especially is a really tough lead back. 

[Trin9-0]

Omg, Trinity compared to Alabama?
I get the point about intra-division comparison, but really?

Make it stop, I can't take it anymore!

Are you sure you get the point, NescacNewbie? It seems pretty obvious that no one is saying Trinity could compete with ALABAMA. For the record, I didn't just come up with this premise. It was in response to an analogy made by Nescacman.

The fact that you find the comparison so ludicrous actually reinforces my point. I think it's fair to assume the average football fan associates Alabama as the unquestioned juggernaut of the SEC. I found it interesting (even surprising) that Trinity has been significantly more dominant in the NESCAC. My apologies for pointing that out. Or was it Colby's comparison to Arkansas that got you so riled up?