Eastern Collegiate Football Conference

[Ice Bear]

Ice Bear says again, NED3Guy Ice loves your write ups and has come to depend on them for the goings on in the conference. Awesome stuff. +k

Ice says when Union played Gall Ice was so impressed by their entire program. Since then Ice has been a big fan. Hoping they take it!

[NED3Guy]

Ice Bear says again, NED3Guy Ice loves your write ups and has come to depend on them for the goings on in the conference. Awesome stuff. +k

Ice says when Union played Gall Ice was so impressed by their entire program. Since then Ice has been a big fan. Hoping they take it!

Thanks Ice Bear...much appreciated! There's some competitive football being played in the ECFC this year. Glad you take the time to check in on this board.

[NED3Guy]

A couple of big games in the ECFC this weekend, with real AQ implications. As has been stated a few times by a few different people; the ECFC AQ will be going to the top team in conference not named Dean. Dean is in transition from their days as a junior college and is not eligible for the AQ. I'm not entirely sure how they counted towards the conferences mandatory minimum team number to ensure that the ECFC keeps their AQ status, but we're left with a 6 team conference with 5 teams playing for the AQ. (Note: I'm told that the ECFC would recognize Dean as the conference champion if they win the league, creating a potentially awkward Flint Megabowl type scenario in the final week of the season where a team who doesn't win the championship will be celebrating like they did) https://youtu.be/M5nKcN8Vo8Q?t=157

Biggest game of the week is certainly Dean at Gallaudet- Both teams are 2-0 in conference play. Dean has the league's best scoring defense in conference games allowing just 15 points per game, while GU has the best scoring offense with 45 points per game in ECFC play. Coincidentally these are the only teams in the ECFC with a + in average scoring margin right now (Dean has a +20, GU +11). While I will again mention that I think Dean QB Watts is the best player on the field in every ECFC game he plays in, the real story of this game will be GU offense vs Dean run defense. GU offense is averaging over 400 yards rushing per game in ECFC play (7.7 yards per rush)...I don't care what conference we're talking about that kind of production is pretty dang impressive. Will the Dean defense stay disciplined enough to stop the option attack? I've been way off with some of my guesses this year, but I think GU will dominate time of possession, limit Watts' impact and win this one 35-24.

SUNY visits the AMCATS in a must win game between 1-1 conference teams- The winner of this game will still have some control of things as both teams have lost to Dean but still have to play GU. That means the winner could take the head to head tie breaker should it become important for either the top spot or the AQ / 2nd spot. The loser will be on the outside looking in as a two loss team with two games to go. AMCAT nation was flying high after their nail bitter at Alfred State two weeks ago (as well they should have been). Dean took wind out of the AMCAT's sails in a 41-20 win that was 41-7 at one point in the 4th quarter. That loss surely stings, but should not take away from the good things that are happening in Paxton. Unfortunately for AMC, SUNY doens't care about those good things. SUNY seems to have found some offense last week with a few big plays and capitalizing on opponent miscues. That formula will work again for SUNY, as the Privateers take it 31-21.

The final game of the ECFC slate this week is 0-2 Castleton at 0-2 Alfred State- A look at the box scores shows a Castleton team that has been playing fairly solid defense all year but has been the victim of an offense that is really struggling at big moments. Last week CU was only out gained by 16 yards in a 21-3 loss at SUNY. The story of that game was CU going 3-12 on third downs and 1-5 in the red zone (CU is 3-10 in the RZ in ECFC games this year). Alfred State has allowed a 41.5 per ECFC game (that 62 spot GU put up hurts a bit)....Castleton is scoring just 15....is this the week the Spartan offense finally compliments the D and the boys from Vermont get in the win column for the first time this season? Sorry Spartans, but Alfred State is second in ECFC play with 198 yards rushing per game and the Spartan rush defense is letting up about that much (including 177 to SUNY). Alfred will control the clock in this one, keep their D off the field and hold on to win 28-17.

[Jonny Utah]

Ice Bear says again, NED3Guy Ice loves your write ups and has come to depend on them for the goings on in the conference. Awesome stuff. +k

Ice says when Union played Gall Ice was so impressed by their entire program. Since then Ice has been a big fan. Hoping they take it!

Thanks Ice Bear...much appreciated! There's some competitive football being played in the ECFC this year. Glad you take the time to check in on this board.

I read them too.  I live pretty close to Dean and hope to see a game this year or next.

[ITH radio]

Looking like Dean is your de facto ECFC champ, even if they can't go to the NCAAs. A NE Bowl match up is a decent consolation for the Bulldogs, but it's a shame that a .500 or sub team will take one of the 32 spots while teams like HSU and others probably don't get in.

[NED3Guy]

I think technically Dean needs to win one of their last two to officially be the ECFC champions. They have the head to head tie breaker with both of the teams who could end conference play with 1 loss (SUNY and Gallaudet) but in the off chance Dean losses to both Alfred State and Castleton in the next two weeks, they would not be the champions. Alfred State is 1-2 in conference play and Castleton is 0-7 on the season, so it's a pretty good bet that Dean locks things up.

Another interesting week of ECFC football awaits-
SUNY v Gallaudet this weekend sets up to be the "AQ" game.
Castleton and AMC play for a trophy.
Dean plays Alfred State with the ECFC championship trophy on site and ready to be awarded if Dean wins.

[ITH radio]

That's correct, one more win is required but they should be in good shape Vs ASU this wkd. We will see.

[NED3Guy]

Another interesting week of ECFC football awaits-
SUNY v Gallaudet this weekend sets up to be the "AQ" game.
Castleton and AMC play for a trophy.
Dean plays Alfred State with the ECFC championship trophy on site and ready to be awarded if Dean wins.

This week in ECFC play we see three meaningful games-

Dean v Alfred State- Dean can lock up the ECFC championship with a win at home against Alfred State. I'm at the point where I admittedly have no clue how most ECFC games will play out, but this one should go as planned for Dean. They're at home, the championship trophy should be on site, and they have pretty much rolled through every ECFC opponent so far this year. Watts is a DUDE; completing over 74% of his passes against ECFC opponents with 9TDs and 1INT. He's fun to watch and has a good group around him. I hope people are right in thinking Dean may get a New England or ECAC bowl game when its all said and done....Dean 45 Alfred State 21

Castleton v Anna Maria- These two "rivals" play a trophy game every year for "the Helmet". Both programs started football the same year, and played their first game against one another. The series has been dominated by Castleton for the bulk of the years; but the AMCATs do have two wins over the Spartans- in 2013 while Castleton was in the midst of a 1-9 season, and again last year when the Spartans finished 2-8. Castleton is 0'fer the year so far, so history shows this may be the AMCATs year again. AMC is 1-1 against common opponents (beating Alfred State in the last minute and losing to SUNY in OT). I've given the Spartan D a lot of credit this year, and it's been deserving. That said, the AMCAT D has been equally as good. Given the Spartans' offensive woes this season, I think this one is a defensive battle. AMCATS 21 - Spartans 17 **Sidenote- they play for a helmet painted with one side for each team. Both teams have changed helmet colors a few times since they started playing....is the trophy updated or did they keep it as is with original colors?

GAME OF THE WEEK / ECFC AQ ELIGIBLE RUNNER-UP CHAMPIONSHIP-
Gallaudet at SUNY - A few weeks back I critiqued the Maritime offense for their struggles vs non ECFC teams. That week they put up 21 on a Castleton D that I'd given a lot of love to. I thought maybe SUNY had figured something out on the offensive side of the ball. Turns out I was wrong....SUNY is currently last in yards per game (in ECFC play) and points per game (in ECFC play). Yet somehow they've managed to win the games they've been expected to win (beating Castleton and AMC). Gallaudet has been putting up points (41.7 in ECFC games) but has been allowing them too (41.3 in ECFC)....this leaves me with NO CLUE what to think about this one. With that said, Gallaudet picks up the good vibes in DC from the Nats winning and comes back from the Bronx with a 41-28 victory....GU "wins" the ECFC AQ.

[Ice Bear]

Another interesting week of ECFC football awaits-
SUNY v Gallaudet this weekend sets up to be the "AQ" game.
Castleton and AMC play for a trophy.
Dean plays Alfred State with the ECFC championship trophy on site and ready to be awarded if Dean wins.

This week in ECFC play we see three meaningful games-

Dean v Alfred State- Dean can lock up the ECFC championship with a win at home against Alfred State. I'm at the point where I admittedly have no clue how most ECFC games will play out, but this one should go as planned for Dean. They're at home, the championship trophy should be on site, and they have pretty much rolled through every ECFC opponent so far this year. Watts is a DUDE; completing over 74% of his passes against ECFC opponents with 9TDs and 1INT. He's fun to watch and has a good group around him. I hope people are right in thinking Dean may get a New England or ECAC bowl game when its all said and done....Dean 45 Alfred State 21

Castleton v Anna Maria- These two "rivals" play a trophy game every year for "the Helmet". Both programs started football the same year, and played their first game against one another. The series has been dominated by Castleton for the bulk of the years; but the AMCATs do have two wins over the Spartans- in 2013 while Castleton was in the midst of a 1-9 season, and again last year when the Spartans finished 2-8. Castleton is 0'fer the year so far, so history shows this may be the AMCATs year again. AMC is 1-1 against common opponents (beating Alfred State in the last minute and losing to SUNY in OT). I've given the Spartan D a lot of credit this year, and it's been deserving. That said, the AMCAT D has been equally as good. Given the Spartans' offensive woes this season, I think this one is a defensive battle. AMCATS 21 - Spartans 17 **Sidenote- they play for a helmet painted with one side for each team. Both teams have changed helmet colors a few times since they started playing....is the trophy updated or did they keep it as is with original colors?

GAME OF THE WEEK / ECFC AQ ELIGIBLE RUNNER-UP CHAMPIONSHIP-
Gallaudet at SUNY - A few weeks back I critiqued the Maritime offense for their struggles vs non ECFC teams. That week they put up 21 on a Castleton D that I'd given a lot of love to. I thought maybe SUNY had figured something out on the offensive side of the ball. Turns out I was wrong....SUNY is currently last in yards per game (in ECFC play) and points per game (in ECFC play). Yet somehow they've managed to win the games they've been expected to win (beating Castleton and AMC). Gallaudet has been putting up points (41.7 in ECFC games) but has been allowing them too (41.3 in ECFC)....this leaves me with NO CLUE what to think about this one. With that said, Gallaudet picks up the good vibes in DC from the Nats winning and comes back from the Bronx with a 41-28 victory....GU "wins" the ECFC AQ.

Ice Bear says...

Let's ****ing go GU!

[NED3Guy]

Another week of ECFC play and another week of head scratching by me after going 1-2 in my picks.

After spending most of the month of September pointing out how poorly ECFC teams had done against non-league opponents; I have to admit, it's been a fun year within the conference. Depending on how you define being a "good conference" some could argue that the ECFC is one of the best (most competitive) conferences in all of D3 football. I know this is like saying the MAC is one of the best in FBS footabll, but like the MAC; the ECFC is a league where everybody can beat everybody else in any given week. There's no Alabama (Husson) or LSU (Norwich) who will run the table and basically play each other for the title every year. Dean looked to be that team, but Alfred State gave them a scare last weekend, proving that in the ECFC all bets are off and anybody can beat anybody.

With that said a few congrats are in order after last week:

Congrats to Dean on winning the ECFC title. Dean becomes the 6th different team in the league's 11 year history to win the championship joining Norwich ('09, '11, '15), SUNY ('10), Gallaudet ('13), Mount Ida ('12) and Husson ('14,'16,'17,'18).

Congrats to SUNY on winning the coveted ECFC Second Place AQ game vs Gallaudet. With the win, SUNY assures itself the tie breaker over Gallaudet should both teams end the season with 3-2 records in league play; therefore SUNY gets to go dancing in the NCAA's due to Dean's NCAA transition status.

Congrats to Castleton on getting in the win column this season. With five of their seven losses being margins of 10 points or less, with 4 of those being 6 or less, this is a year that could have gone a lot differently for the Spartans. Results are what they are, and the Spartans have to live with the fact that they were 2-8 last year and will be no better than 2-7 this year; but they'll have all off season to play the "if only...." game and try to find some good mojo heading into next year.

Looking at this week, I've honestly run out of things to say about some ECFC teams-

GU heads up to AMCAT Nation- Cold, windy day favors the team with the better running game. GU 28- AMC -14

Castleton is down at Dean- I'm not sure if Dean has put in for ECAC or New England Bowl consideration, or if they're allowed to play in one of those games but if they want to be considered for either this actually is a big game for them as a win would put them above .500. Can the Spartans bottle up some of the energy they found in their AMC win and give Dean a game? Honestly, I think so...but I still think Dean wins- Dean 35 - Spartans 31

ECFC Game of the week-

SUNY at Alfred State- As mentioned above; SUNY enters this week with the ECFC AQ already in hand. Sitting at 4-4 overall, with a week 10 game against a very good Mount St. Joesph team (3rd in Heartland Conference). SUNY needs to win this game to ensure that they're entering the NCAA tournament no worse than .500 on the season. Some in D3 football already think the ECFC doesn't deserve an AQ...sending our second place team this year is bad enough....sending a team that is below .500 would be really bad. While we don't usually have a rooting interest in the games we pick, this week is different. Every ECFC fan (besides those at Alfred State) should be rooting for SUNY this weekend. SUNY 21 - Alf State 17

[ITH radio]

Got the score exactly right, just flip flopped. What a strange season for the ECFC.

[Go Blue!]

Alfred State had a Much improved year in 2019. Hats off to the coaching staff and players. Hopefully their 2nd recruiting class is as good as their  1st.  Both sides of the ball saw numerous freshman starters.

[MRMIKESMITH]

Alfred State had a Much improved year in 2019. Hats off to the coaching staff and players. Hopefully their 2nd recruiting class is as good as their  1st.  Both sides of the ball saw numerous freshman starters.

Usually with a good group of freshman that say committed, see a huge improve year 3-5.

[UfanBill]

Alfred State had a Much improved year in 2019. Hats off to the coaching staff and players. Hopefully their 2nd recruiting class is as good as their  1st.  Both sides of the ball saw numerous freshman starters.

Welcome to the boards Blue. Rest assured that others are reading and respectful of your opinions. This board has seen little to no action at times except for NED...Alfred St. is an up and coming program and in the ECFC has opportunity.

[Go Blue!]

The coaching staff have definitely changed the culture within the program..  The school is buying in with  a brand new score board and also new field turf for next season..  I enjoyed attending games this season.