Eastern Collegiate Football Conference

[AUPepBand]

The ECFC board has finally made it!

Pep found his way here and made a prediction!

Haha! What's this? You think Pep is da Pope or something?

[Boxer7806]

Husson over Norwich: 28-12

Becker over Castleton: 33-26

[NED3Guy]

The commissioner better bring the trophy to Northfield tomorrow, because I think it's going to be staying there.

After much thought:

Becker over Castleton 45-28.

Norwich over Husson 31-24

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Halftime in Northfield:

Husson 10
Norwich 17


Late in the 3rd in Castleton:

Becker 21
Castleton 7

[H.C.Mosely1895]

FINAL in Castleton:

Becker 35
Castleton 21

FINAL in Northfield:

Husson 17
Norwich 20

And the Cadets clinch the program's third ECFC championship!

Congratulations to all of the players and coaches who have done a phenomenal job improving over the course of the season. The hard non-conference schedule pays off and I am absolutely ecstatic.

[NED3Guy]

Congrats to Norwich on a great win, and the AQ that came with it. Cool that things worked out so the NU players knew the Castleton outcome and were able to fully enjoy the moment when their game ended.

0-3 start against a very difficult non conference schedule (2 of the 3 non conf games were against teams who were regionally ranked last week). They got better each week and it all paid off. They learned and improved more from going 0-3 against good teams than the other ecfc teams do playing cupcakes trying to boost win totals. Glad to see it pay off in the end.

Side note: it's sad that the conference bylaws deter from teams playing hard opponents. There fact that a three way tie would have been decided by overall win loss percentage is embarrassing for the league, and actually rewards you for scheduling weak teams.....

Glad it didn't come to that.

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Very good points, NED3Guy. I can appreciate the Norwich coaches' mindset of "We're going to test ourselves out of conference, get better, and then we're going to try to win the whole damn thing."

A few observations. One, I advocated early that I think Wes Medeiros should be the special player of the year. I think that was clear yesterday. He hit a big 40-yard field goal in the first half, and then in the second half his reliability proved important in the last few minutes of the game. With time ticking down, Norwich had the ball at the Eagles' 20 yard line or so, and the Cadets were able to play it conservative, run the ball, and take more time off the clock (about 3 minutes I think) because they knew they had money coming off the bench and able to kick the field goal that made it a 20-10 game at the time. Contrast this with Husson, who because they lacked faith in their kicking game, went for it on a fourth-and-long inside the red zone in the first half and left 3 points on the table that ended up being the difference in the end.

Second, I've expressed concern all year long about the Norwich defense, particularly in the passing game. This has perhaps been exaggerated by me after Castleton gave me football-PTSD after the long-range bombing they displayed in Northfield last year, but the Norwich defense controlled the game yesterday. John Smith was able to break off a couple long runs, but they kept him bottled up yesterday for the most part, and Husson never got much going at all in the passing game. The NU defense is what won the game in the 1st Quarter when they consistently had their back against the wall when the Cadet offense couldn't get anything going early.

Third, perhaps the biggest development has been the Norwich passing game. They've been a one-dimensional, spread running game for the most part in years past. That meant that when teams were able to shut down the running game then the Cadets were in trouble. Their passing game, especially down field, has developed impressively, especially with playmaking threats like Pierre Noel and Wes Allen. This opens up the running game and makes the offense that much more effective.

So I'll enjoy the conference championship for the remainder of the weekend and toast the team, but I am excited that once again I have a big game to look forward to next weekend. The Sap Bucket Game will have no implications for the conference title, but it's still the Sap Bucket Game and I know everyone at NU is excited for the chance to get that trophy back to Northfield.

[NED3Guy]

Lost in the fact that Norwich won the championship this weekend is the fact that Becker may be playing the best of anybody in the conference right now.

Finally looked at the Becker v Castleton box score...WOW. A 35-7 game until Castleton scored two TD's in the last 6 minutes.

Becker 50% on third downs (10/20) to Castleton's 6/18 (33%)

Becker 562 total O to Castleton's 469 (Castleton had a nice 99 yard drive to end the game)

Becker forced 11 punts and only punted 6 times

Becker QB accounted for 389 total yards.

Congrats to the entire Becker program. They are now guaranteed a record over .500 for the first time ever. And could very well finish 7-3 with hopes of an ECAC game.

Certainly have to think they now have a better chance for an ECAC game than Castleton given the head to head win....Time will tell I suppose.

[Boxer7806]

Excited to see Becker doing well. Get them to schedule up now in the OOC and play some tougher competition and then we can hopefully see some real progress.

[NED3Guy]

Same could be said for the entire conference, with the exception of Norwich.

Looking at the SOS found on d3football.com, we've got some ground to cover as a conference.

When you know your league will feature a 0, 1 and 3 win team on a yearly basis, scheduling teams like Alfred State, Nichols, and Plymouth won't do much to improve the reputation of the ECFC or do much to prepare teams.

Coincidentally, at quick glance it looks like the ECFC standings are a direct reflection of their SOS rank.

[d3fan142511]

2-2 on predictions last week. Won Maritime and Becker, Lost Husson and Gall.

Congrats to Norwich for winning the Conference Championship. Great way to come back after a tough OCC start. Also congrats to Becker who with a win this week should have a chance to play for the ECAC bid and go 7-3. This team is young and could be the favorite with Norwich heading into next year.

Power Rankings
1. Norwich -ECFC Champ
2. Husson
3. Becker
4. Castleton
5. Maritime
6. Ida
7. Anna Maria
8. Gall

Game Predictions:
Norwich over Castleton 27-24
Husson over Ida 35-7
Becker over Anna Maria 42-14
Maritime over Gall 24-0

Looking forward towards the playoffs and ECAC games.

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Game Predictions:
Norwich over Castleton 27-24
Husson over Ida 35-7
Becker over Anna Maria 42-14
Maritime over Gall 24-0

Looking forward towards the playoffs and ECAC games.

I agree with the picks. It could be argued that Norwich will come out flat in the Sap Bucket game, having already clinched the conference and all. However, I think they will come out flying, high off the conference title, and ready to take back the Sap Bucket. I predict Norwich big. 42-17.

[NED3Guy]

Norwich will come out flying. There is little doubt about that.

Mosely seems closer to the pulse of the NU campus, so he'd know better, but the vibe I get is that players  have heard all year about losing the bucket, and they will not be happy about this season if they don't bring it back to Northfield.

Castleton on the other hand has thrown in the towel on the year, having pulled themselves out of ecac bowl consideration. (See ECAC thread)

Norwich comes out firing and never looks back. Scoreboard will say 28-17, anybody who sees it will say it was never that close.

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Well, Norwich is getting their teeth kicked in by Castleton for the second straight year. Embarrassing.

[NED3Guy]

Unreal.

Cannot believe the way that game just unfolded.

Castleton looked like a machine today. Just goes to show you that on any day, anything can happen when you're talking about 18-22 year old kids.