Eastern Collegiate Football Conference

[NED3Guy]

Weekend goes pretty much as expected.

Maritime put more points up on Castleton than expected, and went over 500 yards of offense. Turnovers proved costly and the Spartans O continued to roll.

Becker seems to be playing some really good football as of late. Their matchup with Castleton in two weeks could be a good one.

Norwich and Husson remain on a collision course for the conference AQ, with Castleton looking on hoping they can win out and get a little help in the form of a Husson loss.

A status quo week ahead with some lopsided matchups on paper.

November 7th will be a big Saturday for the ECFC.

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Indeed. One more week of expected lopsided wins for the top of the conference and then the fun begins with the defacto round-robin of Castleton-Becker/Norwich-Husson and then the Norwich-Castleton Sap Bucket Game the following week. Even if Norwich was to upset Husson on the 7th, they'd still have to make it past a Castleton team that smoked them on Sabine last season, and this time with a conference championship on the line. Sounds like good TV.

[NED3Guy]

Early attempt at guessing ECFC league awards:

Player of the Year- Smith from Husson (172 Yards per game and 62 points scored so far....if they win the league he should be a lock for this award)

Rookie of the Year- Harris from Castleton (122 yards per game, with Anna Maria coming up next...other coaches shouldn't even nominate anybody for this award. Harris should join Smith as ECFC first teamer at RB this year also)

Specialist of the Year- Lineberger from Castleton (Maritime and Norwich kickers are great players who have received some well deserved accolades over the years, but Lineberger has been a HUGE factor for the Spartans this year. He currently leads the ECFC kickers in points with 28. In addition his punting has been exceptional; putting 5 inside the 20 and getting 8 fair catches to go with his 37 yard average.....this award should be the closest of them all with a number of good kickers in the conference)

Coach of the Year- Becker Coach- Would have to be blind to not see what Becker is doing this year and give this award to the Coaching staff. Husson, Norwich and Castleton are all doing what they're expected to do and those coaches deserve a lot of credit for that; but this year Becker is turning heads. Their coaches deserve this award.

Defensive player of the year- Hard to pick this one. I'd think somebody from Husson would stand out, but looking at the stats its hard to tell who they'd put up for the award...

Thoughts?

[H.C.Mosely1895]

I'd agree with all of your picks, NED3Guy, though I'm admittedly biased and would give the Specialist of the year to Medeiros. He's got 35 pts, 17 for 18 on PATs, and while he is "just" 6-9 on field goals (66%), he has 3 of 40+ yards to include a 47-yarder. It's hard to gage all the teams when they play at the same time and I watch Norwich, but Medeiros has a huge effect on the Norwich offense. Having the confidence that your kicker can make a 45 yard field goal influences how Norwich runs their offense, as perhaps on a 3rd at 3 at the 30, for example, you can run a play action and take a shot at the end zone as opposed to handing it off and trying to grind out those three yards. If the shot fails, then you know you can trot out Medeiros and still pick up 3 points. Or on the opposite end of the coaching spectrum, perhaps you do feel fine just handing it off up the gut and playing conservative instead of trying a dangerous pass to try and pick up the first down. There are multiple ways to look at it, and it's certainly situation dependent, but having a leg like that allows you more freedom on offense.

As for defense, Norwich and Husson are on paper the two best defenses, allowing 48 and 52 points against, respectively, in conference. Castleton is 3rd at a distant 88 points allowed. So you'd think that the best defensive player award would probably go to a player on one of the best defenses, but it's tough to tell before they play each other. Take away the 40 they allowed against Husson and Castleton is equal to Norwich. If Husson has a similar result against the Cadets then I'd agree that it'll probably go to someone on Husson. Though I guess that's stating the obvious.

Now, that leads to a whole different debate as to whether the best player on the best defense is truly the best defensive player in the conference. An overall weak defense could very well have the best defensive player. But, as awards go, they usually award the best player on the best (or one of the best) squads.

[NED3Guy]

Not much intrigue with the four games this week.

Becker, Norwich, Castleton and Husson get it done and get out healthy to lead into the big match ups next weekend.

Becker over Gallagher 42-14
Husson over SUNY 56-20
Castleton over Arcata 49-21
Norwich over Ida 28-7

[d3fan142511]

3-1 on picks...went with Ida based on history vs Team. Becker seems to have turned corner while Ida looks to have first losing record in ECFC play in history

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

4 Blowouts this weekend.

Becker, Husson. Castleton and Norwich win big

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Nothing really to add. Top 4 v. Bottom 4 this week. Maybe someone will get caught looking forward to next week.

[NED3Guy]

Everything goes as planned from a win - loss perspective, but Castleton barely sweaking it out versus Anna Maria is quite a surprise.

Still can't decide if the Spartans are a good team who has lapses, or if they're an average team and their opponents are just bad....We've seen a few teams play down to Anna Maria in past weeks, but the outcomes of those games were never in question. Today if not for a running into the punter call and some miracle catches by #14, the Spartans would have lost to the AMCATS.

That said, they got it done and we get a huge weekend next week with Becker v Castleton and Husson v Norwich.

[NED3Guy]

There ECFC trophy might be getting handed to somebody this weekend. Here's a look at a few of the scenarios.

Husson wins against Norwich, and they lock it up.

Norwich wins AND Becker beats Castleton, and Norwich is the conference champ... Regardless of their final game.

Norwich win, and Castleton win = ECFC championship game next weekend in Vermont, as the tie breakers would bump Husson out of the 3 way mix.... Stupid tie breakers in this conference punish teams for playing hard non league teams and reward Castleton for getting two cupcake wins.... More on that next week if it comes to that.

I think that's just about it. Husson and Norwich both control their own destiny. Husson only needs the Norwich win to have head to head tie breakers over both other potential 1 loss teams. Norwich can win out and be in, but can also get help from Becker and be crowned this weekend. Castleton needs to win out, get help from Norwich this weekend and then hope the tie breakers play out the way it looks on the ECFC website.

Should be a great weekend!

[H.C.Mosely1895]

As a Norwich fan, I would love to see NU take the crown this weekend. But, I have to admit, having the Sap Bucket Game be the de facto conference championship game would be pretty epic.

[d3fan142511]

4-0 on game predictions

1. Husson
2. Norwich
3. Castleton
4. Becker
5. Maritime
6. Ida
7. Gall
8. Anna Maria

Ida vs Maritime- Maritime 21-10
Gall vs Anna Maria- Gall 7-3
Becker Vs Castleton - Think this is Beckers breakout year. QB only a soph but is probably best QB in league Becker wins 35-31
Norwich vs Husson- Having said that Husson has the best team offense defense- Best player in the RB Smith and the QB is a game manager not to mention the best coach in the league also. Husson wins the ECFC 35-24

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Ida - Maritime - Maritime 31 - 14 - Just because.

Gall - Anna Maria - Anna Maria 13 - 6 - Gallaudet is horrible and has absolutely no offense. Anna Maria is showing fight and improvement.

Becker - Castleton - Castleton 38 - 27 - Becker is much improved, but I think Castleton will be up after a near stumble against AM.

Husson - Norwich - Norwich 34-31 - Head says Husson, heart says Norwich. I think this will be a memorable one.

[AUPepBand]

Going out on a limb here and gonna suggest that the Eagles of Husson will fly over Norwich, 42-24.

[NED3Guy]

Not quite ready to make all my picks yet.

Trying to find a way to say Norwich will beat Husson, but I'm not sure I can.

Only difference between Becker and Castleton right now is that Becker played the two best teams in the league and Castleton has only played one of them. Castleton's wins come against teams that are a combined 7-40. Becker's wins are against combined 7-32 (they play Anna Maria next weekend).

Becker has gotten better every week, and their QB is a stud. Becker goes into VT and takes it 42-25.

SUNY beats Ida big. Gall beats an Anna Maria team who may have left it all on the field vs Castleton last weekend.

Husson vs Norwich pick need some more thought.

[NED3Guy]

The ECFC board has finally made it!

Pep found his way here and made a prediction!