FB: New Jersey Athletic Conference

[NED3Guy]

Greetings from Vermont!

https://castletonsports.com/news/2024/10/30/general-vtsu-castleton-finds-a-new-home-for-football-in-the-njac.aspx

[phil]

Castleton and New Paltz will be full-time members of the NJAC for all sports! I hope Castleton got their travel budget padded! I wonder if any other conference has churned through as many college football playing members in the past twenty+ years - all because Ramapo and NJCU axed their football programs and the NJAC wants to hang onto its AQ!.

Rowan  1957-
Montclair  1957-
TCNJ  1957-
Kean  1957-
WPU  1957-
NJCU  1957-Program dissolved 2002
Ramapo  1976-Program dissolved 1992
CNU  2015-
Salisbury  2015-
Cortland  2000-2014
Buffalo St.  2006-2011
Brockport St.  2008-2013
SUNY Morrisville  2008-2014
Western Conn.  2004-2012
Southern Va.  2014-2018
Frostburg St.  2015-2018
Wesley  2015-2020
Vermont State Castleton  2025-
SUNY New Paltz  2026-

[Pat Coleman]

Phil -- The NJAC's news release says Castleton is an associate member, not a full member.

[NED3Guy]

That's correct. Castleton will be an associate for football only.

They had previously been in the ECFC and are spending this year in the MASCAC. The rest of Castleton's sports play in the Little East Conference (LEC). Castleton along with Plymouth State, U Mass Dartmouth and former NJAC affiliate West Conn, are the only football playing members of the LEC.

For reasons not completely explained; Castleton and West Conn are both out of the MASCAC after this year. West Conn is heading to the Landmark. Castleton here in the NJAC.

[RowanPhan]

Greetings from Vermont!

https://castletonsports.com/news/2024/10/30/general-vtsu-castleton-finds-a-new-home-for-football-in-the-njac.aspx

Welcome!

[CNU85]

Looking forward to a road trip to VT!

[MRMIKESMITH]

Didn't get a chance to post earlier this week. However, want to first congratulate Castelton on joining the NJAC. CNU85 is looking forward to the trip to Vermont, however I'm not. I heard it is very beautiful though. Now looking at last week Salisbury v. Rowan game, kudos to Rowan, they pushed Salisbury all game. It was homecoming, so it was wonderful to see all the former players, students, and fans pack the stadium and even packing the visitor grandstand. As mentioned on D3football Monday podcast, Salisbury is without their starting QB and is currently playing a Freshman QB, who has played as well as any Freshman at the QB position in all of many decades of following Salisbury. The young man is as composed as they come and runs the triple option better than some seasoned veterans  (kudos to the OL, RBs, and WRs). Outside of few mistakes, Salisbury offense although not as high powered due to the mid-season change has continued to be the catalyst for this team, the OC is continuing to make great calls and continuing to be balance, even with the Freshman QB, kudos to whole Unit, from the OL,RBs, WRs, and QB. Special teams play was phenomenal this past weekend, the punter had good placement and drop one inside the 5, the KOS has done well kicking the ball into the endzone (even against the wind). Now, a point of concern is the defense,  they really didn't get off the field with the exception of a few key turnovers (which the int was great play). The defense appeared to struggle mightly on 3rd downs and key 4th down conversions. From a fan perspective, it appeared that the team was not ready for 3rd and medium to long situations, they just couldn't get off the field. The defensive struggles didn't appear to be effort related, but either not executing assignments or just being put in bad position from a schematic standpoint. On frequent 3rd downs, the defense only rushed 3 and gave up chunk plays or long QB scrambles, I think that has to change going forward.

Moving ahead to Salisbury v. TCNJ, Salisbury has to remember that TCNJ actually beat them last year, albeit we were down to our 5th string QB. However, the past two seasons, TCNJ has been the total aggressor and played like they have been historically a Top 25 teams over the past 10 years. TCNJ has the #2 passing attack and will exploit Salisbury 3 man rush. I believe Salisbury has to play some Cover 1, while bringing 5/6 rushers or some exotic zone blitzes, sitting in drop 8 coverage didn't work against Rowan, either with explosives or QB scrambles. I believe the offense will be able to score much better than last year, I want Salisbury to obviously to win handily, however I think both offenses with be clicking early and often. Hopefully Salisbury get a few stops as they have been very opportunistic this year, but if we can get a way from allowing QB scrambles and 3 man rushes, it will help a lot.  Good luck to both teams, and looking for the good guys to come out on top.

[Rowan28]

Solid effort in yesterdays win!  Great job against a tough Montclair D especially being down to our 3rd QB and 2nd RB. Need to clean up the penalties, almost cost us the game.

[RowanPhan]

Solid effort in yesterdays win!  Great job against a tough Montclair D especially being down to our 3rd QB and 2nd RB. Need to clean up the penalties, almost cost us the game.

I was a volunteer at Homecoming and couldn't watch the first half of the game (had it on the Radio tho)

With regard to penalties, it's always tough because some calls are 50/50.  I rewatched most of the game and what bugs me about the OT roughing the QB penalty is that Rowan's QB was clobbered in the 1st Quarter and this penalty wasn't called (I guess let'em play in the first but not in OT), however the refs call it in OT which gave MSU 4 more shots at a TD.

At the end, the Profs got the Win and the Trophy! It's a cool looking trophy!

[RowanPhan]

Profs take care of Kean on Senior Day - impressive game on both sides of the ball (42-14 final)

Worth noting Eric Bryant had another INT return touchdown, 4th of his career

Prior to the game, the team and coaching staff took time to honor its 28 seniors

[MRMIKESMITH]

Haven't commented surrounding Salisbury Football on this channel in a while. However, want to congratulate the Team and Staff on clinching the automatic bid to the playoffs. I know they will represent the NJAC well.

To recap the last two games, Salisbury offense continues to be one of the best in DIII, the Spread Option attack combined with the timely passing attack continues to be able to put up a lot of points. When this team isn't turning the ball over, it's fun to watch. I continue to be impressed with Salisbury Freshman QB and his attention to detail, he still has his "Freshman" moments, but they continue to become very infrequent. The playmakers continue to help the freshman and the OC continues to empower him by continuing to be aggressive, which has the team ranked as the #2 rushing offense and #9 total offense. The second number is important, because it means that although Salisbury is a predominately rushing team, they aren't abandoning the passing game, but appropriately complimenting the rushing attach with effective passing (currently ranked #1 in passing efficiency). Special teams has been very successful this year, the KOS has been kicking the ball into the endzone, and the FG specialist has made timely fg all season. The punt team is ranked number 1 in the country, so kudos to the punter and the unit. Now, the defense has been a point of concern and has been very inconsistent, last week against an inferior opponent looked very good early on, until 2nd/3rd/4th strings guys gave up some plays late in the game.

 Revisiting the TCNJ game, the defense struggled in the 1st half, but adjusted well in the 2nd only giving up 7 points, which was after an offensive fumble. Defensively, Salisbury effort is fantastic, the players are flying to the ball, however they currently rank 128 in total defense, which is mainly due to the ranking of 210 in passing defense. Salisbury does a great job stopping the run and some would argue that since the offense is firing on all cylinders, opposing teams are passing more. However, I disagree with that, I think Salisbury has to be much better in pass defense, either rushing more players on 3rd down or being more aggressive and playing man-to-man more. It appears that the team rushes 3 and drop 8, but fails to cover WRs or contain QBs. Salisbury has given up too many 3rd downs to QB scrambles or just QBs finding a WR open in front of defenders. With Salisbury possibly getting a "bye-week" with being a sure lock at a #1/#2 seed, the players and defensive staff need to find ways to get off the field on 3rd down and anticipate what offensive routes/schemes can hurt the defensive scheme.

Looking towards this week matchup against Kean, which I think has good defense, will challenge Salisbury offense, I would love for the offense to continue working on protecting the ball, including not putting the ball on the ground (regardless if ball is loss or not). I would like for the team to continue to work on the passing attack and for the young QB to go through his reads/progression and at times give the WRs chances on 50/50s with good ball placement. Defensively, I would use this week to work on 3rd downs, improving and adding to scheme. I would love to see more 4 man rush with Cover 1 with Spy. I think having additional pressure packages and playing a little more Man-to-man and if fortunate to advancing deep (or early) in the playoffs will pay dividends against teams (i.e. Cortlands, Susquehanna, Mount Unions) with elite passing attacks. Although the team was very young a few years ago when they had a trip to Alliance, I don't want to see a team sit in Cover 4, while rushing 3/4 players get picked apart. I think that falls on the defensive coaching staff and players execution. If Salisbury wants to take the next step, it has to be able pass when they can't run and get off the field on 3rd downs and anticipate route schemes that takes advantage of base defense.

Thank you all for attending my ted talk.

[CNU85]

Interesting game. CNU wins 70-31. TCNJ QB has a cannon. 35-56 and 3 TDs. But CNU picked him off 5 times. Sherfield had 3 picks. Henderson had a pick 6.

Over 1,100 yards of total offense combined. TCNJ passed and CNU ran.

CNU tandem RBs had 234 yds for sophomore Lennon and Jr White had 183 yards.

Another 7-3 regular season for CNU. Heading in the right direction.

Time to be a seagull fan. I hope they make a deep run!
See y'all next year!

[RowanPhan]

Time sure does fly.  10 games zoomed by.

Rowan ends the season with a good win at WPU, Defense played amazing, Offense left some plays and points on the field, but a win is a win.

I'm excited to see who commits to Rowan.

I'll be rooting for the Gulls in the playoffs!

Time to see Navy close out their season, then Rowan Baseball, then I'll be back next summer once camps kicks off again.

[Rowan28]

Nice win to close out the season!  Hopefully the program continues to rise!

[MRMIKESMITH]

Perfect Season Complete. Now it's playoff time.

Recapping this past weeks win against Kean. Salisbury didn't play a great game. Although Salisbury put up 58 points, being able to really score at will, It appeared that the team was trying to take it easy to prevent injuries and as a result, Kean was able to take advantage late in the 2nd and early 3rd. A lot of players were constantly looking at the clock. Salisbury was able to rotate 2nd and 3rd stringers with some of the starters for most of the 2nd half. With roster limits in playoffs, there are going to be players that typically don't play on Special teams or are in rotation that are going to be expected to step in incase of injuries (knock on wood). I did enjoy the defense playing man to man, it allowed players in game reps that will benefit them come playoff time.