Eastern Collegiate Football Conference

[pg04]

I hope the Norwich team has fun on the road trip to either Johns Hopkins or Wesley because the trip back is not going to be fun.

[AUPepBand]

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.

So what can be expected of the Cadets at Albright Saturday?

[NED3Guy]

I was way off about the Cadets' mindset leading up to this weekend....wow, I was WAY off.

Their OLine looked pretty bad, incapable of picking up 1st down yards, allowing the Castleton D to pin their ears back on long yardage situations. (6.5 Sacks, 3 INT's and a bunch of hurries and hits on QB).

If Norwich can find a way to pick up yards on 1st down (+4) they have shown to have a great play action attack, and give their QB some run / pass options when moving the pocket. If they're stuck with predictable passing downs, and need routes to cover ground, it doesn't appear that they can keep their QB on his feet long enough to make the plays.

That was some high level John Madden, Captain Obvious level analysis right there....

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Yeah...

I'm embarrassed to make any further prediction after last week. But, it's expected to be a blowout, so whatever. Go out there and raise hell. Nothing to lose.

[NED3Guy]

Nice knowing you, ECFC....

http://www.beckerhawks.com/sports/fball/2015-16/releases/20151119fw8cq8

Let the scramble begin....

[dlippiel]

Nice knowing you, ECFC....

http://www.beckerhawks.com/sports/fball/2015-16/releases/20151119fw8cq8

Let the scramble begin....

Wow...it's going to be interesting to see where the chips all fall. Thanks for the link NED!

[Boxer7806]

Its going to be very interesting to see where the chips fall from this mess. Many of these teams just don't fit into profiles of any of the other leagues around it. My biggest fear from this is ending up with too many independent New England football schools. Instead of of some of our better teams from the NEWMAC, MASCAC, and CCC scheduling tough OOC to start the year, I can see schedules being filled primarily by these independent schools from this defunct league who offer no challenge.

The doomsday scenario nationally speaking is if they try to poach teams from any other league and retain their AQ status. I just don't see how that happens, but I didn't see any of this happening in the first place either.

[NED3Guy]

As crazy as it may sound, Alfred State becomes a highly valued chip in this game.

They fit in competitively with the ECFC, and already play a few teams.....is joining a conference important enough to justify travel to New England 5 weeks a year?

Will their be trickle down movement in the E8 after the Liberty League steals Ithaca and ______ (?), that makes Alfred State a needed asset?

Will the SUNYs form a league with Cortland, Buff, Brockport, Morrisville, and maybe Maritime and Alfred State? (Unlikely as it leaves them short of AQ)

A lot of scenarios that make Alfred State important to the bigger picture.

Wild times ahead....

[H.C.Mosely1895]

This certainly comes sooner than expected. But the future of the ECFC has been discussed since Norwich announced it was leaving for the NEWMAC.

I don't know if the ECFC was around long enough to develop any true rivalries outside of the Sap Bucket Game. But that's my only concern with so many football-only or conferences where half the membership is associate members. I think it hurts rivalries. Football is the main sport at most schools (though hockey is the main sport at many New England schools), but at smaller DIII schools where so much of the student body is in athletics, strong rivalries really develop through the other sports.

For example, Norwich-Middlebury is probably the most storied hockey rivalry in DIII. It used to be a huge overall rivalry, but since the two schools now only play each other on a regular basis in hockey, the rivalry has declined and Norwich-Castleton is now the primary rivalry for the schools because they play each other in every sport on an annual basis.

I honestly don't know enough about the other ECFC schools and their rivalries to comment too extensively on it, but this is more a general comment/concern I suppose. Of all rivalry games, football is always the most important and the most hyped. If done correctly, schools can put themselves in a position (or conference) where the rivalry game is really amplified and it adds a lot to school spirit and school atmosphere.

[Boxer7806]

This certainly comes sooner than expected. But the future of the ECFC has been discussed since Norwich announced it was leaving for the NEWMAC.

I don't know if the ECFC was around long enough to develop any true rivalries outside of the Sap Bucket Game. But that's my only concern with so many football-only or conferences where half the membership is associate members. I think it hurts rivalries. Football is the main sport at most schools (though hockey is the main sport at many New England schools), but at smaller DIII schools where so much of the student body is in athletics, strong rivalries really develop through the other sports.

For example, Norwich-Middlebury is probably the most storied hockey rivalry in DIII. It used to be a huge overall rivalry, but since the two schools now only play each other on a regular basis in hockey, the rivalry has declined and Norwich-Castleton is now the primary rivalry for the schools because they play each other in every sport on an annual basis.

I honestly don't know enough about the other ECFC schools and their rivalries to comment too extensively on it, but this is more a general comment/concern I suppose. Of all rivalry games, football is always the most important and the most hyped. If done correctly, schools can put themselves in a position (or conference) where the rivalry game is really amplified and it adds a lot to school spirit and school atmosphere.

Agreed, but most of these schools didn't even have a strong or hell even a football tradition before the league began. I don't think many people will be sad to see the league go since many believed, and rightfully so, that league was created just to steal an AQ.

On another point, I think another school than Alfred State that needs to be mention that I brought up on the MASCAC board is West Conn, in terms of relocating conference wise. They are a football only member part of the league, but I just can't help thinking that the NEWMAC or CCC could also grab them in all sports, allowing one of those teams from those leagues to bounce to the Liberty League. I know its sounds crazy, but most of this conference realignment is.

[Bombers798891]

Agreed, but most of these schools didn't even have a strong or hell even a football tradition before the league began. I don't think many people will be sad to see the league go since many believed, and rightfully so, that league was created just to steal an AQ.

100% this. Good riddance to a league that did absolutely nothing for D-III as a whole except perpetuate its biggest problem of lack of parity by virtue of making one additional playoff game a year meaningless. The only time they weren't blown out in the playoffs was when the 500-mile rule and hosting requirements gifted them a home game against MIT last year. A joke of a conference that hurt D-III football more than it helped

[pg04]

I keep trying to find the recent article from this site about the conference shifts in the Northeast but have been unsuccessful. Anyone have this link? I know I saw it!

[Boxer7806]

I think Pat posted it on a previous page on this board. I also think NEDguy has a link above too.

[pg04]

Thanks!

I did see the NEDguy link, but Pat's link had a layout of all the conferences, and for some reason I'm having so little success finding it, even going backward in time on this board. I will keep looking.

[Pat Coleman]

Best way to find old stories is go to the Notables page and scroll.
http://www.d3football.com/notables/headlines-featured

Or if you know a team involved, you can go to the team page and scroll through the stories there.

Here's the story. http://www.d3football.com/notables/2015/11/ccc-finds-its-seventh I need to create a category like Coaching Carousel to house these stories now that there are more than a couple of them.