FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[speedy]

Oh wow - Colby stuns Tufts, 19-16

[cruiser]

colby went into the half down 16-6 and it looked like they were barely hanging on. come second half though, they clearly made some defensive adjustments and shut out the jumbos in the final 30 minutes. reciever justin candon had 2 touchdowns again for colby and the DT #48 for colby, mike poplaski, had a huge second half, with a sack and 2 fumble recoveries, the first for the game winning defensive touchdown. big shocker in waterville

[Col. Partridge]

Wow indeed!  Middlebury is in control of its destiny-all it needs to do is win next week.

I ended up not making it up to Middletown for a soggy homecoming, but Wesleyan never really was in the game vs. Williams.

If Tufts beats Middlebury next week, we are looking at a 4-way tie(!?) for the NESCAC title.

[nescac72]

I would think if there were a 4 way "tie" it would be hard not to say Williams is the best team.

Trinity would be out since they would have lost to two out of the three 2 loss teams (Midd and Tufts)

Midd and Tufts would have beaten two out of the three other 2 loss teams but both Midd and Tufts lost to Williams.

Meaning Williams has had the best success against the other top three teams.

Of course, Tufts would have to beat Midd and Williams would have to take care of business against the Jeffs, which is far from a lock on any given year.

[Trin9-0]

I would think if there were a 4 way "tie" it would be hard not to say Williams is the best team.

Trinity would be out since they would have lost to two out of the three 2 loss teams (Midd and Tufts)

Midd and Tufts would have beaten two out of the three other 2 loss teams but both Midd and Tufts lost to Williams.

Meaning Williams has had the best success against the other top three teams.

Of course, Tufts would have to beat Midd and Williams would have to take care of business against the Jeffs, which is far from a lock on any given year.

That logic makes no sense at all. I could understand the argument that Williams is the best team because after two tough losses they won all of their games easily. However, the fact that Trinity lost to two of the other top teams and didn't lose to a bottom tier program (e.i. Williams losing to Bowdoin, or Tufts losing to Colby) leads me to believe they are a better team. Of course it sounds silly to say that they are a better team than Tufts because they lost to the Jumbos, but you're always going to have this debate when teams share a title.

I suppose this whole discussion is a bit premature anyways because Middlebury can still win the title outright and the Ephs still have a tough rivalry game to play.

[nescac72]

Definitely premature, but still fun to discuss the fabricated controversy.

Maybe week 8 will help sort it all out.

I personally like the excitement in the league this year, nobody wants to have an 8 game schedule with 6 easy wins, or 6 sure losses.

[met_fan]

I personally like the excitement in the league this year, nobody wants to have an 8 game schedule with 6 easy wins, or 6 sure losses.

Nobody wants to have an 8 game schedule, period.

[bant551]

This is the unfortunate reality of the NESCAC football system.

Happened when I was a senior... we were 7-1, having been beaten BADLY by Williams in our second game.

By the end of the year, we were on a roll, and then-undefeated Williams lost to the Amherst team we beat the week before.

Hard to say we'd have beaten Williams in a rematch, but nonetheless, as much as you give the nod to Williams for having is a traditional tie-breaker (head-to-head), we also beat a  team that had beaten them with the league championship on the line.

The rules are stupid and Williams had their destiny in their own hands, and lost in their rivalry game.

Personally, I'd give the nod to Williams in that situation, but I didn't make the rules.

That did, however, lead to one of the funnier Priore comments I can remember:

We were his first senior class with a record above .500, and were all pretty happy about how the season wound up.  He says (in words or substance, not an exact qoute):

"This team will be getting championship watches.  If we are actually 'real' champions next year, we'll get rings."

Not funny for its wit, just that he was always so direct and forthcoming about what he wanted to say, never mincing words to cater to feelings.  We all laughed.

[frank uible]

The NESCAC Presidents in the aggregate and undoubtedly many others of similar minds want 8 games or fewer (in some cases much fewer).

[BTEXPRESS]

Not to beat a DEAD HORSE, but I think at this point everyone(Coaches, players, and FANS would settle for a 9th game, round robin league schedule) I just do not understand why the Presidents can't see the same thing. Make the scrimmage game a real game. No extra costs, no missed classroom time, no coming to school earlier from summer vacation etc. What are we missing here?

[bant551]

Almost uniform agreement BTEXPRESS.

Does anyone know how to get the week 1 schedule for all NESCAC teams?

I only ask that because games that early prior to an official scrimmage might have whacky outcomes, but if there were clear favorites in each game, it wouldn't have as much of an effect.

I guess the biggest problem is getting playing time for the young guys, which theoretically can be solved with JV games.

[Col. Partridge]

Does anyone know how to get the week 1 schedule for all NESCAC teams?

Look on the NESCAC webpage for the results of the past few seasons.  I know Wesleyan alternates opening up versus Middlebury and Tufts (they play either, but not both, in the same season).

[Trin9-0]

Does anyone know how to get the week 1 schedule for all NESCAC teams?

I only ask that because games that early prior to an official scrimmage might have whacky outcomes, but if there were clear favorites in each game, it wouldn't have as much of an effect.

Williams was a "clear favorite" vs Bowdoin in week 1 this year... look what happened.

Also the NCAA requires 25 practice opportunities before the 1st game can be played. I'm certain that if the scrimmage was made a game then the players would have to report a week earlier as well in order to be in compliance with NCAA rules.

[frank uible]

Each of the 221 non-NESCAC DIII teams reports earlier in the summer than any of the NESCAC teams because each of the 221 play either 9 or 10 regular season games, and the regular season ends for all (NESCAC and non-NESCAC) DIII teams on the same day each year..

[Pat Coleman]

ESPN College Football GameDay is coming to Williamstown this weekend.