FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

['gro]

Annoyingly ultra-PC (Protests, chalkings, GLBT groups, Vegans running wild, and an actual certified student group called the C--T club (rhymes with punt): Wesleyan

Moderatety PC, but not ridiculous:  Amherst

Some save-the-whales vibe; some rich-kid cruchiness and white-boy dreadlocks, but overall normal sensibilities: Bowdoin, Midd, Bates

Significant down-the-middle, standard-issue prep, pre-Wall Street population: Williams, Colby, Hamilton, Trin

Regular smart suburban pre-law pre-med pre-MBA types prevail: Tufts   

great analysis and from what I've seen & heard (more heard than seen) spot on.  PCU was based on Wesleyan.

PCU (1994)

PCU was made by a graduate of Wesleyan University, and is based on the school. In the opening sequence, there is a shot of the main library (Olin) and one of the residence halls (Clark) of the school, in Middletown, CT.  - IMDB.com

[BTEXPRESS]

I stopped by a video store last night to pick up a movie for my daughter. I was looking around and saw PCU, I thought what the heck and brought it home to watch. Is Wesleyan REALLY like that?? Not much of a movie, although Jon Favreau ( D-Bob from Rudy) was good.

[Col. Partridge]

Is Wesleyan REALLY like that?? Not much of a movie, although Jon Favreau ( D-Bob from Rudy) was good.

Yes, Wesleyan is exactly like that.  In the same way that Dartmouth is exactly like Farber College in Animal House and public high school outside of Chicago is exactly like 16 Candles and Pretty in Pink (not to mention the Breakfast Club).   I can't tell you how many times I had to wipe raw meat off of me after it was dumped upon me.

Although Jon Favreau did turn in a stellar post-Rudy, pre-Swingers performance, I like to think of the movie as the the vehicle that launched Jeremy Piven's star ("don't be that guy!")  Watch it over and over and over again.  It grows on you.

[BTEXPRESS]

Captain, I can't lie, I did laugh a lot through out the movie. There were many funny scenes, however, I guess I am using Animal House as the standard and PCU came up a little short in that regard

[bant551]

PCU is a great movie, but to expect that Wes U is really like it is the same thing -- as mentioned above -- as saying Dartmouth is just like Animal House.

I'm fully confident that the football team is capable of having a great time there, despite the fact that there are more and more vocal "protester-types" that attend Wes U than most other colleges.  They offer nothing if not comedic value.

I'd guess that the number of PETA-types probably roughly equals the number of trust-fund babies at Trinity or Williams who pop their collars up.  Sure, they are often the cause of some annoyance to the "regular students", but perhaps their numbers and effect on campuses are overstated.

[BobcatsDad]

That is interesting, well done.  One reason New England, and in particular Massachusetts, is so heavily represented is because of the high concentration of prep schools in those areas.  Prep schools are fertile recruiting ground for NESCAC schools for a number of reason: the kids usually have strong academic backgrounds, often have money (NESCAC tuitions are not cheap), and the NESCAC schools are all very well known at every prep / private school in the northeast.   I guarantee that there are a higher percentage of private school, and more pointedly prep school, alums at NESCAC schools than any other D-III conference. 

Even though there are a lot of qualified kids who may be more talented in other parts of the country, it takes a lot more legwork to find them, whereas a kid from BB&N or Exeter is more of a known quantity (and NESCAC is more of a known quantity for them).  Indeed, a lot of NESCAC alums teach and coach at northeast private schools, so that creates an even stronger tie.  As long as there is an enormous concentration of prep schools staffed by NESCAC alums in the northeast, I imagine there won't be significant changes to the NESCAC recruiting base. 

It does seem to be a rather regional recruiting culture, though I don't doubt most NESCAC coaches would love some big studs from Texas, Cal., Florida, etc. who fell just below Pete Carroll's or Urban Meyer's radar (but that ain't gonna happen any time soon...) My son, who now plays at Bates, is from of those states that has a 1-2% showing in NESCAC..but his high school actually sends a good number of kids to NESCAC colleges. He wanted to play NESCAC football, so when we looked into the recruiting process, it was clear that in order for him to get maximum exposure (aside from the usual sending tapes) he would need to attend one of the popular summer "skills" (read recruiting) camps in New England. He went to the 4-day New England Elite camp in Lexington, MA, which included among its "coaches (read recruiters) a member of the coaching staff from every NESCAC school, most of the Ivies, and several other New England schools. It worked - he was "recruited" actively - phone calls and visit invites -  by 3-4 schools, and had conversations with every single one. Nescac1 is completely accurate - there are not only more NE boarding school kids playing in NESCAC than at any other D3 conference, but also than at the Ivies. For example, Bates has 15 football players from New England boarding schools, while Harvard has only 5. This would not have been true a generation or two ago. What Harvard does have that Bates, or any NESCAC school, doesn't have in any large numbers, is a bunch of kids who actually may have been looked at by Carroll and Meyers - the Harvard roster a fair number from football powerhouses like DeLaSalle (CA), Ransom Everglades (FL), Bergen Catholic (NJ), and Plano (TX).
It is difficult for NESCAC coaches to recruit outside of the region - they can't travel and visit; the NESCAC schools, except for maybe Amherst and Williams, are hardly known in the West, the Southwest, and the Southeast, and there are no scholarships to throw around. My sense is that for kids from outside of New England or the northeast who end up playing NESCAC football, their initial or primary attraction was academic/social, rather than football. And frankly, that's the way it should be in NESCAC. Let's be real - these kids are not playing NESCAC football in hopes of becoming a first-round (or any round) draft pick. Any one of them is more likely to end up as a brain surgeon or a CEO than he is on an ESPN highlights tape - and I think that's sort of the point of NESCAC (though it is great to see the occasional NESCAC player to get some attention at the pro levels - which happens every now and then)

[BTEXPRESS]

Dad, I agree. My son will be starting his senior year of High School and we spent most of the summer looking at many schools from Virginia to Maine. Although football is a consideration, he is looking at schools from an academic point of view. He has good grades and SAT scores but we are looking at football as a way to get into a better school and extend his playing career another four years. In all the recruiting process todate, all the coaches agreed it takes a special person and student to play football at the division III level to keep up with the academics. They also stressed YOU HAVE LOVE TO PLAY THE GAME! because unlike Division I the schools don't own you.

[BTEXPRESS]

Not to change the subject, but did anyone see on the main page that St John's and some other schools are bringing in over 180 players into camp? I was always amazed that High School coaches were able to keep the interest and rosters of 70 or 80 kids up through out the season, even though many knew they would see little or no playing time. I guess this puts the 75 player limit of the NESAC into a little better focus.

[labart96]

TGP thinks any school having 180 kids in camp is partially due to the popularity of the program, but also the reality that 75-80% of kids going into D3 sports are absolutely clueless how big a jump in competition it is compared to high school.

[nescac1]

Trinity has an extensive season preview posted:

http://www.trincoll.edu/athletics/main.aspx?mode=outlook&t_id=5

They sound very, very tough.  The only question mark is RB, but getting Quinones back helps there.  They clearly have the best offensive line and defensive line in the league, all those senior, all-league, three-years starters on both, and tons of depth and experience across the board.  Williams may be the only team with a prayer against the Bants this season, but even that will be a long shot on the road. 

[Trin9-0]

I agree RB is a issue for the Bants, but with all that talent returning on the offensive line they should be able to move the ball on the ground regardless of who's getting the carries. My biggest concern is the defensive backfield, which is usually a strong point for the Bants. They are thin at corner and safety and as a group were injury prone a year ago.

Teams won't be able to run against that tough Bantam front 7 so the starters in the Trin secondary will need to stay healthy and play better than last year in Williamstown.

I'm excited to see if they'll let quarterback Eric McGrath have more responsibility this year. He was outstanding by the end of last year. I think a lot will depend on the development of an inexperienced recieving corps.


The wording in the Trin season preview suggests that only an 8-0 season will sufice this year and I think the Bants will be a motivated group after having the Streak end on their watch.

I work on the Trinity campus and use the athletic facility (not as often as I should) where several of the Trin football players have been doing their summer workouts. Whenever I'm in the gym I can't help but notice a lonely plaque hanging high above the squat racks and hang-clean platforms that says in an almost mocking tone:

"TRINITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL 2006 NESCAC RUNNER-UP"

[Trin9-0]

Colby season preview is up:

http://www.colby.edu/athletics_cs/football/

Looks like they lost a lot of key players from a team that was a disapointing 2-6 last year. I think the Mules are going to struggle in '07.

[cruiser]

the defense will be very strong for colby again with 8 starters returning but i agree that, aside from tailback which is manned by bashaw, one of the best backs in the league, the offense will have alot of question marks coming into preseason.

[frank uible]

How strong could the Colby 2006 defense been? Colby went 2-6 in 2006.

[Trin9-0]

Colby 2006 defensive stats.:

scoring defense - 7th (17.8 ppg)
total defense - 4th (249.1 ypg)
rushing defense - 6th (109.2 ypg)
pass defense - 3rd (139.9 ypg)
forced turnovers - 10th - (9)
pass efficiency defense - 7th (109 )
first downs allowed - 4th (104)
sacks - 8th (11)
opp 4th down conversion - 3rd (27.8%)
opp 3rd down conversion - 6th (31.8%)
red zone defense - 10th

For what it's worth...