FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[quicksilver]

Bowdoin's FY QB, Peter Macaulay, tied a school record for TD passes in a game when he threw for 5 TDs in the PBs' 35-24 win over Bates. . .

[NEfootballfan999]

Nobody finds more painful ways to lose than Williams in Middletown, CT

Thank god sober October is over. 

Have been watching this league for over 30 years. Ugly game. Wesleyan tried to give Wiliams the game with penalties, a late red zone turnover, bad clock mgmt...  And Williams, they have some talent and play hard, but cmon man, 5 passes? 1 for 12 on 3rd down? 3rd down has been an issue all year against good opponents. Williams may need to swallow a little pride, and seek a more balanced offense.

[Brady12]

Nobody finds more painful ways to lose than Williams in Middletown, CT

Thank god sober October is over. 

Have been watching this league for over 30 years. Ugly game. Wesleyan tried to give Wiliams the game with penalties, a late red zone turnover, bad clock mgmt...  And Williams, they have some talent and play hard, but cmon man, 5 passes? 1 for 12 on 3rd down? 3rd down has been an issue all year against good opponents. Williams may need to swallow a little pride, and seek a more balanced offense.

5 passes and 51 runs (grant it some of the runs were probably meant to be a pass) really takes away any element of surprise. Some of the missed 3rd down conversions were designed run plays on 3rd and longs.

#15 had a great long TD run out of wildcat but that is also predictable.  Throw in a Tebow jump pass or end around, something to keep defense honest.

[GroundandPound]

My impression is with only 22 yards on two completions and one of five pass attempts resulting in a pick six returned 40 yards is that Williams should have just pounded the rock and not passed at all. Did 5 pass attempts open the defense enough to outweigh the pick six? Probably not.

[NEfootballfan999]

My impression is with only 22 yards on two completions and one of five pass attempts resulting in a pick six returned 40 yards is that Williams should have just pounded the rock and not passed at all. Did 5 pass attempts open the defense enough to outweigh the pick six? Probably not.

Good point and I think we agree. they have a good line and running game weapons. 5 pass attempts over 4 quarters does not open anything. And like last week, when the tried to pass in the red zone, maybe they need to re-think their whole approach. Like if Williams can recruit someone, or have the ability now to read a defense, catch and throw, imagine how even a B- passing game could augment their rushing attack? They would have won by 14 points yesterday with a normal college level passing game. They were running into 8 and 9 man fronts, like this is college football, good high school teams do this, read the D, change the play, get the ball in space. 

[ItsATuftSituation]

The Williams-Wesleyan finish was wild...

What was more wild was the Wesleyan NSN broadcast literally calling the exact play pre-snap. Pretty incredible if you haven't seen it, go to Wesleyan's football IG and check it out.

Also, Tufts can finish with seven wins for only the fourth time since 1987 with a win on Saturday. Michael Berluti went over 10000 yards of total offense this week for his career. The records books in the NESCAC are spotty, but this looks like the first time ever a NESCAC player has done this. Pretty impressive.

[SpringSt7]

Nobody finds more painful ways to lose than Williams in Middletown, CT

Thank god sober October is over. 

Have been watching this league for over 30 years. Ugly game. Wesleyan tried to give Wiliams the game with penalties, a late red zone turnover, bad clock mgmt...  And Williams, they have some talent and play hard, but cmon man, 5 passes? 1 for 12 on 3rd down? 3rd down has been an issue all year against good opponents. Williams may need to swallow a little pride, and seek a more balanced offense.

Assuming you haven't watched Williams much this year because this was a clear deviation from past gameplans this season. They decided they didn't want to deal with McHugh throwing 4 picks so they stopped throwing and used him as a runner. If they didn't do that they probably would've lost by 25.

This was them swallowing their pride, not sure who would boast about not being able to trust their QB in the biggest game of the season so far

[NEfootballfan999]

Nobody finds more painful ways to lose than Williams in Middletown, CT

Thank god sober October is over. 

Have been watching this league for over 30 years. Ugly game. Wesleyan tried to give Wiliams the game with penalties, a late red zone turnover, bad clock mgmt...  And Williams, they have some talent and play hard, but cmon man, 5 passes? 1 for 12 on 3rd down? 3rd down has been an issue all year against good opponents. Williams may need to swallow a little pride, and seek a more balanced offense.

Assuming you haven't watched Williams much this year because this was a clear deviation from past gameplans this season. They decided they didn't want to deal with McHugh throwing 4 picks so they stopped throwing and used him as a runner. If they didn't do that they probably would've lost by 25.

This was them swallowing their pride, not sure who would boast about not being able to trust their QB in the biggest game of the season so far

Good context and insight spring street; I haven't watched much until the last few weeks. The good news is that I'm sure at a place like Williams that they can recruit for the passing game, and align that with current strengths. My point was that watching yesterday, Wesleyan's defensive formations were screaming to be passed against. But to your point, sounds like this is not something Williams is comfortable doing based on coaches evaluations of the roster. Now to yard work...

[Nescacman]

And Bowdoin won? How?

Having watched this game live, Lynskey was quite literally the only one who showed up for Bates tonight. They were utterly outclassed in every single other aspect of the game.

Despite the loss, congratulations to our guest on the 9 Weeks NESCAC Podcast this week, UBates RB Ryan Lynskey, on setting the NESCAC single game rushing record with 344 yards on 20 carries. UBates had 392 yards rushing as a team on the day but it still wasn't enough.

[MapleBBQChicken]

Great team win for Middlebury yesterday to keep the Old Rocking Chair. The defense was stellar all game and the offense went up and down the field. The nice thing about a blowout victory on senior day is that all the seniors, including those who don't normally get much playing time, got into the game on Youngman field for a final time.

I want to give a shoutout in particular to senior RB Izzo Lizardi, who scored a touchdown yesterday for the first time since before tearing his ACL at Colby as a freshman in 2021. The sideline and stands went nuts despite the Panthers already holding a massive lead. Really happy for him.

[MapleBBQChicken]

Obviously tough for the Panthers to see Trinity and Wesleyan get it done yesterday to officially eliminate us from title contention. Unbelievable finish at Wesleyan after a handful of miscues let Williams come closer to winning than they probably should have. I thought it was awful clock management on the play before the final TD, but I guess we can't criticize that too much when they won the game in the end.

Congrats to the Connecticut teams on making it to a de facto championship game. Should be fun to watch.

Maybe we should have a championship game every year...

[Nescacman]

For those of you that have not seen the game winning play in Saturday's Wesleyan/Williams game, here it is from two angles. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DB6PFE-Rtis/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR34AhKLCR_4b_4XuaEV6_vOUDu_07TLelHoBUngRzG8AV0es4Ncko2dFD8_aem_bO817cinJOEH3H--bCKeBQ

https://www.instagram.com/wes_athletics/reel/DB4f9nIPP3e/

For our money, we prefer the second clip featuring the Nostradamus-like play-by-play call by our "9 Weeks NESCAC" Podcast co-host, Chris Grace (Whales wasn't so bad either). Well done partner!

[nescac1]

So much I could say about the Williams-Wesleyan game, an absolute disaster of a loss in every respect and a lot of blame to go around, it truly was a game where both teams tried to give the game away time and time again but Williams giving up a 50 yard play from the 5 on the first play of the game winning drive was just utterly inexcusable. 

It's frustrating to see McHugh's regression in terms of decision-making after playing so well in the first few games of the year.  He is so immensely talented as an athlete that I hope this issue can be figured out; the optimistic take is that he hasn't had enough reps at QB in his career (only started at QB for one year in H.S.) to be reading situations as well as he needs to and maybe something clicks.  But if not, the Ephs will have to make a change at QB next year and play McHugh at TB or WR, which would be a shame given his leg and arm talent. 

But I do want to focus on a few of the positive for the Ephs that will otherwise get loss in that horrific, from an Eph perspective, ending:

- Ivan Shuran continues to be absolutely ice and is having an all-American year at kicker.  The Ephs may need him to save the day against Amherst as both teams seem determined to throw the ball to the opposing team on seemingly every other possession, so I expect a fair amount of short fields for both. At this point, that game is anyone's game to win (or just as likely, lose). 

- The Ephs' FY linebacker duo were awesome all game, especially Luke Mangini, who I thought had his best game as an Eph against his dad's alma mater and was clearly extra pumped up from his first play on the field.  But Zakkai Moore was nearly as good, the guy is not big but he is fast and sticks really hard despite his lack of size. Those guys along with Yedid and Gale up front will form the heart of the Eph defense for the next three years. 

- Holden Gering continues to have a big year and he made an absolute highlight-reel INT in the end-zone. The Eph pass defense was generally OK until the last drive (definitely hurt that starting cb Cotton went down late in the game with an injury, he seemed to be playing well before that) but also, Candido was missing a lot of fairly open receivers until, again, that final drive.  I'm not sure I've seen such all-in, obvious two-on-one coverage as the Ephs featured vs. Chase Wilson, and it didn't really hurt them at all until Candido finally got more on target to win the game. 

- Jon Oris was really good and seems to play better as the main back than he does in limited doses off the bench (this was true last year as well).  If the Ephs are going to do SO much running again, and certainly possible given the coaches' seeming lack of any faith in the passing game (not without reason) against an opportunistic Amherst secondary, I'd like to see a few more carries mixed in for Will Sheskey, who is a physical straight ahead runner who is effective later in games against worn-down defensive fronts.

- Owen Johansen is simply a stud athlete and good things tend to happen when he touches the ball.  The Ephs need to get him more touches both in the wildcat and as a receiver.  A key player going forward for the Williams program and needs to have an impact against an Amherst team that seems to be improving a bit at the wrong time for Williams. 

- This season goes down as a really bad one for either Amherst or Williams with a loss Saturday.  But either will end the season feeling pretty good with a win.  So as always, it's a huge game.  A lot of pressure on the Ephs at home after blowing so many winnable games, playing against a struggling Amherst team, and with The Walk on the line. 

- On a non-Williams note, I'll join the chorus of WOWs for that Lynskey stat line, if you are an elite back you have to be licking your lips knowing that if you get past the first wave on Bowdoin you can run wild.  Dinapoli, Fischetti, the Stockwell/Weitzman combo, all had big days vs. Bowdoin as well.  I can't imagine any choice but Zebrowski for OPOTY but Lynskey is a very strong number two and heads into next year as the top offensive player in the league for sure. 

[Charlie]

So much I could say about the Williams-Wesleyan game, an absolute disaster of a loss in every respect and a lot of blame to go around, it truly was a game where both teams tried to give the game away time and time again but Williams giving up a 50 yard play from the 5 on the first play of the game winning drive was just utterly inexcusable. 

It's frustrating to see McHugh's regression in terms of decision-making after playing so well in the first few games of the year.  He is so immensely talented as an athlete that I hope this issue can be figured out; the optimistic take is that he hasn't had enough reps at QB in his career (only started at QB for one year in H.S.) to be reading situations as well as he needs to and maybe something clicks.  But if not, the Ephs will have to make a change at QB next year and play McHugh at TB or WR, which would be a shame given his leg and arm talent. 

But I do want to focus on a few of the positive for the Ephs that will otherwise get loss in that horrific, from an Eph perspective, ending:

- Ivan Shuran continues to be absolutely ice and is having an all-American year at kicker.  The Ephs may need him to save the day against Amherst as both teams seem determined to throw the ball to the opposing team on seemingly every other possession, so I expect a fair amount of short fields for both. At this point, that game is anyone's game to win (or just as likely, lose). 

- The Ephs' FY linebacker duo were awesome all game, especially Luke Mangini, who I thought had his best game as an Eph against his dad's alma mater and was clearly extra pumped up from his first play on the field.  But Zakkai Moore was nearly as good, the guy is not big but he is fast and sticks really hard despite his lack of size. Those guys along with Yedid and Gale up front will form the heart of the Eph defense for the next three years. 

- Holden Gering continues to have a big year and he made an absolute highlight-reel INT in the end-zone. The Eph pass defense was generally OK until the last drive (definitely hurt that starting cb Cotton went down late in the game with an injury, he seemed to be playing well before that) but also, Candido was missing a lot of fairly open receivers until, again, that final drive.  I'm not sure I've seen such all-in, obvious two-on-one coverage as the Ephs featured vs. Chase Wilson, and it didn't really hurt them at all until Candido finally got more on target to win the game. 

- Jon Oris was really good and seems to play better as the main back than he does in limited doses off the bench (this was true last year as well).  If the Ephs are going to do SO much running again, and certainly possible given the coaches' seeming lack of any faith in the passing game (not without reason) against an opportunistic Amherst secondary, I'd like to see a few more carries mixed in for Will Sheskey, who is a physical straight ahead runner who is effective later in games against worn-down defensive fronts.

- Owen Johansen is simply a stud athlete and good things tend to happen when he touches the ball.  The Ephs need to get him more touches both in the wildcat and as a receiver.  A key player going forward for the Williams program and needs to have an impact against an Amherst team that seems to be improving a bit at the wrong time for Williams. 

- This season goes down as a really bad one for either Amherst or Williams with a loss Saturday.  But either will end the season feeling pretty good with a win.  So as always, it's a huge game.  A lot of pressure on the Ephs at home after blowing so many winnable games, playing against a struggling Amherst team, and with The Walk on the line. 

- On a non-Williams note, I'll join the chorus of WOWs for that Lynskey stat line, if you are an elite back you have to be licking your lips knowing that if you get past the first wave on Bowdoin you can run wild.  Dinapoli, Fischetti, the Stockwell/Weitzman combo, all had big days vs. Bowdoin as well.  I can't imagine any choice but Zebrowski for OPOTY but Lynskey is a very strong number two and heads into next year as the top offensive player in the league for sure.

I said this in my prior post Williams has not beaten any of the big three in three years. We constantly talk about the QB and skilled positions and questionable Coaching decisions. I think they are going to a middle of the road team at best. Not to Win Sunday was embarrassing. Anyone would have been in a man under cover two deep not letting guys run wild on the winning drive. Every team seems to battle adversity , injuries and get their underclassman game time experience.

I happen to catch the game as well as the Trinity game. Trinity seems to constantly be bringing in younger talent for game experience. It almost feels like sometimes you are watching a hockey game with there player changes. I give the Coaches credit fantastic plan and you get to see the future of the program.

Trinity has a great deal of depth. There DL yesterday was great stuffing Amherst runs and forcing them to throw. They have some real good studs that hold the line and get to the passer. I really like #92 , #98 , #51. These guys are rotated in which is crazy. When these three were in the game together they created sacks and turnovers look for these three to start and or get a a lot more playing time. The crazy part of this unit is they all have a couple years left. The WR core is deep and there LB are young as well. Secondary is fairly young but they will loose CB next year.

Offensively they loose two players on OL the QB which is big and have a great deal of talented young RB. I was amazed how well these young guys played.I think more teams need to rotate there younger classman into games to get them some experience it pays dividends down the road. On the flip side you wonder how well these younger players are playing why they did not see more action.

[nescac1]

Charlie, it's fine to critique Williams (or Amherst) on a variety of dimensions, but to compare them unfavorably to what Trinity is able to do is simply crazy.  Trinity brings in an average of around like ten more recruits per year than Williams or Amherst at this point, so I mean, of course they are going to have more talented players to rotate in and out.

None of this is to say that Williams should not be better than a 4-4 team right now -- I'd say they certainly should be, and they've blown (or nearly blown but were fortunate not to) far too many games that they were leading down the stretch two years running now. Need to take a different approach to closing out games.  But they don't have the bodies that Trinity does, and never will, so long as recruiting stays the way it is.