FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[tarpondad]

Amen to that Mariner - - -

Were you able to see the Jumbo's in scrimmage, or any practices?

Any Key players I should be watching for?

I Unfortunately I won't be at the game, but will see it on the web!

[Col. Partridge]

First off, belated congratulations to Trin8-0.

I have been absent around here for a variety of reasons, chief amongst them this website was blocked at my place of employment a few months back, depriving me of one of my favorite time-wasting activities.

That being said, I want to make sure I got in
Captain's Week 1 Picks
Home team in CAPS.  I would hope this goes without saying, but these point spreads are for entertainment purposes only and should not be used to make a market.

FAVORITE   Spread   UNDERDOG
TUFTS         3         Wesleyan
MIDDLEBURY 10        Bowdoin
AMHERST     12.5      Hamilton
TRINITY       15        Bates
WILLIAMS     14       Colby

For newbies on this board, jump all over me if you want, but with the exception of the two best programs in the league (Williams and Trinity) and the worst (Bates), past performance is usually not an accurate predictor of future results in any given year in NESCAC football.  And I am a Wes grad and try to give them reasonable benefits of the doubt when arriving at my spreads.

[redtail]

upset special of the week  Hamilton 8 Amhurst 6.  Hamilton offense going to struggle all year, but d is better than last year.  Big upset here!!!

[bant551]

I'd like to see Hamilton have a year when they are the NESCAC "upstart" program that goes 5-3 or 6-2.

I'm always pulling for the underdog (except against Trinity)!

[nescac1]

Why is everyone sleeping on Wesleyan?  Yes, they lost their QB, but so did over half the league, and they return 19 starters from a 4-4 team ...

[bant551]

I'm picking:

Tufts to beat the spread vs. Hamilton

Middlebury to win but Bowdoin to cover a rather large spread (first game after all)

Amherst to cover spread (Hamilton's D is solid, but unless they put points on the board and eat up SOME game clock, they will wear down badly)

Trinity to cover over Bates (Bates hasn't shown me the upward trend some of the other traditionally weaker programs have, like Hamilton getting much tougher on D, Caputi's program finally sinking in, etc.)

Williams to win but Colby to cover ... this might be the upset of the week, as Colby catches WILL in the first game with the notoriously-short NESCAC preseason being the only immersion period for WILL's new QB

[bant551]

NESCAC1:

Wes will never really get that credit in my mind until they bring in a bigger, stronger line.  Granted, I've lost touch with many of the trends in the NESCAC since its hard to follow this level of football closely (easier to notice a team like West Va. struggling while Colorado having an impressive start because thats whats on TV), but my impression is that they're still illogically pass-happy and smallish along the lines.  Please advise if this is no longer the case.

Dating back to when I was at TRIN, Wes had a quality RB (Young Douglass I believe) and he was getting like 5+ yards per carry against an otherwise-very-solid TRIN defense, and they gave him the ball like 8 times all game!

[nescac1]

Fair enough.  I honestly have no idea about Wesleyan's line strength, my knowledge of any team outside of Williams, Amherst, and thanks to posters here, Trinity, is limited, I just thought the 19 starters back number was eye-popping.   Certainly very curious to see how the new Williams QB performs ... it sounds like Williams struggled a bit against Amherst in its pre-season scrimmage, so who knows.  I would guess the Ephs would have a very conservative game plan in week one -- many short screen passes to Powell, lots of running by Morrissey behind a very experienced and talented O-line, to take the pressure off the QB. 

[nescac1]

Oh, and a few interesting tidbits in this article:

http://www.thetranscript.com/sports/ci_10508235

Interesting that the Eph offensive tackles may play a little bit of two-way football.  Not a great sign for the depth at DL, but could be an interesting story line.  Hopefully Schultz, a local star and the projected starting middle linebacker, is not out for the season with the knee injury, as that would be a big blow. 

[Garnet]

Wow!

I never thought a simple ribbing about a uniform would get such a response.

[Trin9-0]

Thanks for the congrats fellas. The best part is she has embraced my love of Trinity football and has become quite the fan herself.

Tufts color scheme is awful. But let's keep in mind that with mascots named, Ephs, Lord Jeffs, Bantams etc... we shouldn't throw stones at anyone in the NESCAC for their, ahem, interesting choices in athletic representation.

Bant551 -  I actually LOVE that the Bantam is back on the helmet. It's one of the great mascots and best logos in the league and while I'm sentimental towards the "T" because we wore it, I think Trinity has great uniforms. Middlebury is probably the best because of their classic look. Bates could do so much more with their colors and mascot.

In regard to a lack of respect for Wes... returning starters isn't always a good thing. Mediocre players can still be mediocre players; just with another year of experience. Also, I've had further confirmation that the Bants whooped them up pretty bad in their scrimmage.

I also heard a rumor that Amherst put a hurtin' on Williams, albeit in a glorified practice. It may only be a scrimmage but it will be interesting to watch what the Ephs and Jeffs do in week 1.

Capt. thanks for doing the spread: I'll take all the favorites.

Thrilled that the NESCAC has finally joined the rest of the football world. Go Bants!

[nescac1]

Williams -- Colby tied at zip-zip at the half.  Williams has been able to move the ball on the ground (Morrissey with 22 carries!) but with Ryan Powell apparently out with an injury (or playing very little) and the new QB, they only have one receiver who has done anything.  Williams has turned the ball over twice, and stalled a few times in Colby territory, accounting for the inability to score.  Very conservative game plan, as expected, for the Ephs.  Colby offense did nothing. 

[eclinchy]

Tufts just scored to tie Wesleyan 14-14 early in the third quarter.

Other scores (halftime): Bowdoin 19, Midd 14 and Colby 0, Williams 0.

Anyone got updates from Amherst and/or Trinity?

[nescac1]

Looks like the Ephs might have found a QB -- they opened up the offense in the second half, and Moffitt now has over 200 yards passing and two passing TD's, including one of over 50 yards to Caro, who is stepping up in Ryan Powell's absence.  Ephs up 14-0. 

[nescac1]

Correction: the Ephs may have found TWO quarterbacks.  On his first pass, frosh Matt Coyne throws for a 64 yard TD.  Williams up 28-0.