FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Col. Partridge]

Williams 24 Wesleyan 14 at the half.  Watching absurd halftime show including baton twirlers on d3cast.com

Looks like I should've listened to the computer on the Bowdoin-Bates spread.

[met_fan]

Another tough loss for Hamilton.....if they can take another step forward next year, they could really be a factor again in the NESCAC.

[Trincoll14]

Congrats to the Bants on their NESCAC championship. Starnes was huge with 119 yds and T. Berry was all over the field and had 2 ints. Watch out for Fallas, a frosh inside backer, this kid is a stud. The Bants made the big plays when they had to just like they have all year.

[formerbant10]

The plug for your cousin is shameless (yet somehow understandable).

You were right, 2 more touchdowns....10 on the year, really shameless of me. 

Rumor has it no Hansen lot this past weekend...is there any truth to that?

Oh yeah, awesome costume!

[Trin9-0]

The plug for your cousin is shameless (yet somehow understandable).

You were right, 2 more touchdowns....10 on the year, really shameless of me. 

Rumor has it no Hansen lot this past weekend...is there any truth to that?

Oh yeah, awesome costume!

The only real shame is that you couldn't convince your cousin to go to Trin.  Imagine how good he could have been if he were catching passes from E-Mac all these years!  (FYI - Halas ranks 5th in recieveing yards per game and 10th in receptions per game. You could make an argument that Matson and possibly Galligan have both had a better year at WR)

Glad you liked the costume, and Hansen was open for tailgating but only alumns from the Class of '85 and older were able to park there. The more "traditional" tailgating went on down at the bottom of Vernon. A good time was still had but it was a little bit of a bummer.

The good news is that a lot more people actually watched the game this year. 

Congrats to the Bants on their 6th NESCAC title in the past 8 years. Hopefully they can take care of business against WesTech and nab their 11th undefeated season in school history.

[formerbant10]

The plug for your cousin is shameless (yet somehow understandable).

You were right, 2 more touchdowns....10 on the year, really shameless of me. 

Rumor has it no Hansen lot this past weekend...is there any truth to that?

Oh yeah, awesome costume!

The only real shame is that you couldn't convince your cousin to go to Trin.  Imagine how good he could have been if he were catching passes from E-Mac all these years!  (FYI - Halas ranks 5th in recieveing yards per game and 10th in receptions per game. You could make an argument that Matson and possibly Galligan have both had a better year at WR)

I'll give you a point for him going to Tufts.

Looking at the stats, the difference between 1st and 10th in receptions per game is 1.7 catches per game.  2nd and 10th is only 1 catch per game.  No big difference there.  Matson clearly has an advantage on everybody in yards/game and there isn't much difference between Galligan and Halas there.
However, both Matson and Galligan have a touchdown every 7 receptions (roughly) and Halas has 1 every 3.5 receptions. 
It definitely would've been interesting to see what would've happened had he gone to Trin and had McGrath throwing non-stop to him. 
It also would've been interesting if he had been playing football for more than 6 years too! 

[Trin9-0]

It definitely would've been interesting to see what would've happened had he gone to Trin and had McGrath throwing non-stop to him. 
It also would've been interesting if he had been playing football for more than 6 years too! 

With a name like Halas I'm shocked he didn't pick up the pigskin sooner! (The same goes to you too for that matter.) What would Papa Bear think?!

[daoustian]

What, no trash talk or predictions for this weekend?  A little Amherst-Williams anyone?  This board has been relatively quiet in 2008.

[Col. Partridge]

Captain's Week 8 Picks

I just don't have it in me to come up with spreads and format and so forth.   These are my picks for the week:

Williams over Amherst.  Having seen both either in person or on the internet, Williams seems stronger to me.

Hamilton over Bates.   Probably by 10+

Trinity over Wesleyan.   Until last week, Wes was in every game.   Would be nice to play spoiler Saturday, but I'm not holding my breath.

Middlebury over Tufts.   Because they are home.

Bowdoin over Colby.   Least sure of this one.

[eclinchy]

I never used the words "clear cut" re: Forde. I said he was a better pick, but it's not clear by any means.

After Forde's slowdown the past couple weeks, actually, I'd be tempted to lean back toward McKillop. But again, it's very close.

[Trin9-0]

Hamilton will beat Bates to cap an impressive 3 win season (is that possible?). They'll definitely be a team to watch next year. Will the Bobcats ever be competitive?

All of Colby's losses have been on the road. I think they'll beat Bowdoin at home creating the always comical 3-way tie for the 3-team CBB title.

What a difference a year makes for Tufts & Midd; last year this game was for the NESCAC title, this year the loser winds up a disapointing .500. I think the Panthers win in what could be the closest game of the day.

Even though I think the Ephs have a better team than the Jeffs I think Amherst wins at home and the Amherst seniors finally get a win over Williams in their final game.

While I hope this doesn't happen, a monumental upset by Wes would do wonders for this rivalry. It's upsetting as a Trinity football alum (and fan) that the Wesleyan game is all but meaningless each year. How does Hauser still have a job? Is it really just a case of complete apathy towards football by the athletic department and/or school?

Wes has shown heart this year and has overcome injuries to stay competitive in most of its games, but this Trinity team has had too many close calls to mess around Saturday and I think the Bants will win this one by 3 touchdowns (minimum).

I never used the words "clear cut" re: Forde. I said he was a better pick, but it's not clear by any means.

After Forde's slowdown the past couple weeks, actually, I'd be tempted to lean back toward McKillop. But again, it's very close.

How could McGrath not be the CLEAR CUT favorite for offensive POY? Not only has McGrath thrown more TDs and fewer INTs than McKillop while their attempts, completions and yardage are comparable... but he is the major reason his team won the NESCAC title and will more than likely finish the season UNDEFEATED!

McKillop, Forde and Morrissey (the runner-up in my opinion) are excellent football players who have all had wonderful seasons. But how could the best player on the best team with the best stats not be the favorite? Oh by the way, he also turned in some the most clutch performances in recent memory to get his team to a 7-0 record.

[nescac1]

Congrats to the Ephs on four straight over Amherst -- unlike the last three years, when they had superior talent, they really gutted this one out and the Amherst seniors looked stunned on the sideline after it was over, they clearly thought they had it in the bag after a dominating first quarter of play.  Amherst's WR Gary is one to watch in the future, nasty. 

McGrath is likely player of the year (if anything, having a back up equal McKillop's numbers the last two games shows that the Midd system and great WR core may have helped balloon McKillop's stats, even if he is obviously a very strong player), but if McGrath is 1, Morrissey is clearly 1A: he really carried the team over the last few games, finishing with a massive statistical discrepency over every other back in the league.  Congrats to Morrissey on setting the all time Williams record.  What an an athlete -- three time all conference in football, and already an all conference player in lacrosse as well. 

Although Williams returns a solid squad next year, they lose a spectacular senior class, and there will be a HUGE question mark at RB with Morrissey and both of his back-ups graduating -- only one non-senior RB on the entire varsity roster in fact.  Expect at least 2-3 big time recruits at that position ...

[Trin9-0]

Congratulations to the undefeated Trinity Bantams!

For a team that had thrived on clutch performances in close games their blow-out win over Wesleyan was likely a welcome change. McGrath solidified his claim for offensive POY by throwing for two more TDs, racking up 367 passing yards (breaking the Trinity career passing record of 2,206 yards in the process) and also catching a TD pass.

The Trinity seniors were on an undefeated team as freshmen but very few, if any, got any significant playing time. This team is by no means as dominating as the '03,-'05 Bants, but going undefeated in the fashion that they did is quite possibly more rewarding and it's a credit to them for all the hard work they put in to get the Bantams back on top.

Congrats to Jeff Devaney and his staff as well. Devanney (who is now 21-3 in three seasons) did an outstanding job of getting his team ready to play every week and keeping a steady hand despite the ups and downs of many thrillingly close games. He is a lock for coach of the year and after inheriting an already successful program he has proven that he can sustain the level of success that Trinity football has come accustomed to.

It's good to have the Bants back on top of the NESCAC. Congrats again Trin!

[Findtheball]

tooth, Id rather not say as there are some NEFC guys out there that might stalk me if I say......and a long time a go other people posted under my name and I really dont know what they said, not that anyone remembers anyway.

"nuff said "
                                       
                                         NLNG

[Trincoll14]

Congrats to the Bantams. What a season for McGrath and he should be rewarded with  the offensive player of the year. All-League and the other awards should be released today.