FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[mariner75]

Pat, So are you calling dirtybirds comments false? Or do you have an issue with Trin's transfer "policy"?

[Pat Coleman]

I have no issue with Trinity's transfer policy, whatever it is. I take issue to the unfounded characterization of Mount Union, one which you could find for yourself was false with a glance at the roster.

[saul]

  pat coleman:
                       some ( 3 ) friends here at Amherst complaining that they registered but haven't heard back from the site concerning access. is there a backlog?

[formerbant10]

Pat, thats why I asked the question....I had heard that from some former college players, maybe it was their excuse for why Mt. Union was so much better than them.  I wasn't trying to put a negative spin on their program, just asking a question.

[Jonny Utah]

yea formerbant, mt union is a well established program that basically recruits itself at this point.

[formerbant10]

Similar to what Trinity does now, when you win it's easy to recruit.....everyone else is left to hate.

[NescacAlum]

Regarding Trinity being able to contend with the rest of the country's best, I believe that they not only would ,but rather be considered a powerhouse in Division 3 if there schedule consisted of teams of top 25 caliber. This is besides the fact that it is proposterous (and whoever votes on this should be fired) that Trinity is not in the top 25 according to D3football.com, they clearly are a top ten team with the second longest winning streak in the nation behind back to back National champions USC, not to mention the fact that the nescac is so limited with only playing eight games and not competing in playoffs where if they did they may have the nations longest winning streak.
       On a different note I was able to drive up to Lewiston, ME and catch Trinity continue their success. If there was any concern that Trinity would surrender their first loss in 2 years be concerned no longer, Trinity will win every game and by large margins. What I was surprised about was the play of Bates College, I know this may sound rather contradictory with the score of the game (47-0) and all, but Bates has many solid weapons and was able to march the football on Trinity and make a game out of it for the first half (13-0). Beginning with there defense, they have a solid inside linebacker who may be a first-team all league player and two defensive ends who are the best in my opinion besides 98 for trinity. They were also able to stop the inside run game with strong D-tackle play. They forced 2 turnovers on an offense that will not give up 2 turnovers the rest of the season. On the offensive side of the ball they marched the ball from the 20-20 with consistency in the first half. The QB might be the best QB in the league despite only throwing for a little over 100 yards he was consistently being sacked and hurried forcing him to make quick decision, but his arm strength was impressive. His wideout number 11 had big catches and was able to stretch a trinity secondary that is the fastest in the league which is impressive in its own right. There backfield was extremely solid showing great speed and size. If it were not for Bates lack of depth it may have been a game. Watch for Bates to win many games and blow up a tufts defense who is marginal at best. Score? 35-3 Bates

[Pat Coleman]

Even if you say the NESCAC has the top football players in New England (which I'm sure is probably true), New England Division III football is dismal. The NEFC can't even compete with the top teams in the Liberty League or the Centennial, as the playoffs have proven. Western Conneticut, when it has been in the playoffs, has not won a game. Congrats on being better than those teams -- it does not make your teams Top 25-caliber.

If (and that's a big if) the NESCAC spent a decade competing in the Division III playoffs, it might get to the level its basketball teams have gotten to, as national contenders. But even that took a decade. And it requires a lot more student-athletes to play football than it does to play basketball.

There's a reason the NESCAC leader is not in our Top 25. It is not among the best 25 teams in Division III.

[Pat Coleman]

Saul,

No backlog, they go out automatically. Perhaps Amherst is overaggressively filtering its e-mail. They should check their spam folders or complain to the IT department.

Edited to say: I have checked the list of unverified members and none have amherst.edu addresses. If they're using free e-mail addresses like yahoo or hotmail, well, they're getting what they're paying for.

[empire8fan102]

I completely disagree that Trinity would be a national Powerouse. I personally feel that the NESCAC is slow and not nearly as good as other leagues. Since they can not play anyone besides the cup cake schedule I guess we will never know/ They are a decent team but to say they would be a national powerhouse is crazy. I have played against National powerhouses in D3 and have seen Trinity play I have to disagree.

[formerbant10]

One could argue that if they were allowed in the playoffs, their recruiting would be even better with the kids knowing they had a chance at winning an NCAA championship and would get even better talent than they have now.  Also, Trinity's coaching staff is very good, I'm sure they would be able to do something against those powerhouses, maybe not right away but after a few games under their belt, they would find a way to win.  That's what Priore has done at Trinity.  They had a few down years, and when he was brought in, the program completely turned around within two years.  I think they'd be fine against the big time teams, but not necessarily the first time out on the field with them.

[Trin9-0]

NescacAlum: Though I do think Trinity belongs somewhere in the top 25, to say that they would be a Division III powerhouse is going a little overboard.  I realized 23 consecutive wins is an impressive statistic, but remember a third of those wins were against very poor Hamilton, Bates and Bowdoin teams.  In regards to the streak, having an 8 game schedule is a blessing and a curse. Amazingly, Trinity hasn't lost a game since week 2 of the 2002 season... but, they also get a few "gimmie" games to pad the numbers.

I realize that Trinity is not responsible for the level of competetion they play, and they do still face several tough teams each year.  However, they are at a level now where they basically play a 2 game schedule (Williams and Amherst) and if they play well enough to win those two games an 8-0 record is expected. (Can you imagine regarding a 7-1 season as being a failure!?)


Pat:

There's a reason the NESCAC leader is not in our Top 25. It is not among the best 25 teams in Division III.

Why then has Trinity finished each of the past two seasons in the top 25 poll? Also, you failed to mention Springfiled as one of the top teams in New England. In the past few years they have been nationally ranked in the D3football.com top 25 and have reached (to the best of my knowledge) at least the 2nd round of the NCAA's.  Trinity has been at least as good, if not better than Springfield over the past 3-4 years.

I don't think Trinity would dominate the top teams from other leagues the way they dominate the NESCAC.  

My only question is, after finishing in the top 25 each of the past 2 years, why should they to have to crawl their way back into it again this year (assuming they finish 8-0)?

[Garnet]

If they played outside the NESCAC, I doubt Trinity would do as well as some here think.  Way back in the day when I was at Union, we played 3-4 NESCAC teams each season.  Union was very good during those years and none of the NESCAC teams came close to beating Union.  I don't think I am going out on a limb when I say that it probably has not changed much.  Ithaca, Union, SJF, Hobart  would all have their way with the best the  NESCAC has to offer. 

[Pat Coleman]

Why then has Trinity finished each of the past two seasons in the top 25 poll?

They have not finished either of the past two seasons in the D3football.com Top 25. Check the actual polls if you're confused:

Final 2004 poll
Final 2003 poll

And yes, Springfield did win an NCAA playoff game. But that was in 2000. Been a while.

[Trin9-0]

I don't think you can assume how teams would fair against each other now based on games that were played 10-15 years ago.

Trinity now recruits nationally (bringing in kids from FL, CA, TX, MD, VA, IA etc.) whereas they had traditionally only had players from the Northeast (predominantly MA, CT and some NY).  

They also have several D1 and D1AA transfers, which they did not have when they competed against schools who were not in the NESCAC.

Finally, Priore and his coaching staff operate like a D1 program (probably because many of the staff members have coached at that level, including Priore at UPenn and Defensive Coordinator Jeff Devaney at Georgia Tech).

Again, I don't believe Trinity would be as dominant if they were playing the top teams from other leagues. However, they are at the very least good enough to be competitive with almost any DIII team in the country.


Pat: I stand corrected. I was confusing your poll with the Coaches Poll in which Trinity finished ranked in the top 25 in 2003 & 2004. 

Also, the 2000 season in which Springfield won that NCAA tournament game may have been a while ago, but they finished 13th in your poll just 2 years ago.