Eastern Collegiate Football Conference

[Jonny Utah]

My sources tell me Mt. Ida has had some injuries to their receiving core in camp, and will probably struggle on offense tonight.  I'm taking Umass Dartmouth and the under tonight.  23-7.

Also, Did Mt. Ida get lights?

[d3fan142511]

Anna Maria is in for ANOTHER long year

Yes Mount Ida got a brand new turf field with lights in 2012 the year they won the ECFC. The field is in a great location center of the campus and turned out great.

Weekly Predictions:
UMASS 27- Ida 10
Fitchburg 34 - Becker 24
SUNY 31 - Maine 17
Husson 24 - Alfred 21
Castleton 35 - Plymouth 14
RPI 28 - Norwich 24
Shen 42 - Gall 14

[dlippiel]

Anna Maria is in for ANOTHER long year

Yes Mount Ida got a brand new turf field with lights in 2012 the year they won the ECFC. The field is in a great location center of the campus and turned out great.

Weekly Predictions:
UMASS 27- Ida 10
Fitchburg 34 - Becker 24
SUNY 31 - Maine 17
Husson 24 - Alfred 21
Castleton 35 - Plymouth 14
RPI 28 - Norwich 24
Shen 42 - Gall 14

Ballsy pick 

[AUPepBand]

Anna Maria is in for ANOTHER long year

Yes Mount Ida got a brand new turf field with lights in 2012 the year they won the ECFC. The field is in a great location center of the campus and turned out great.

Weekly Predictions:
UMASS 27- Ida 10
Fitchburg 34 - Becker 24
SUNY 31 - Maine 17
Husson 24 - Alfred 21
Castleton 35 - Plymouth 14
RPI 28 - Norwich 24
Shen 42 - Gall 14

Ballsy pick 

Ballsy team. Husson was the real deal today. Fat Lady didn't sing until there were less than 10 seconds remaining. Eagles will fly high the rest of the way....John Smith gave the Saxons fits. QB had some clutch throws. But with Julio walking off the field, the Saxons were not to be denied.

Best of luck to Gabby Price and his Eagles the rest of the way. Husson is a solid team and gave the Saxons a tough game.

On Saxon Warriors!

[dlippiel]

Anna Maria is in for ANOTHER long year

Yes Mount Ida got a brand new turf field with lights in 2012 the year they won the ECFC. The field is in a great location center of the campus and turned out great.

Weekly Predictions:
UMASS 27- Ida 10
Fitchburg 34 - Becker 24
SUNY 31 - Maine 17
Husson 24 - Alfred 21
Castleton 35 - Plymouth 14
RPI 28 - Norwich 24
Shen 42 - Gall 14

Ballsy pick 

Ballsy team. Husson was the real deal today. Fat Lady didn't sing until there were less than 10 seconds remaining. Eagles will fly high the rest of the way....John Smith gave the Saxons fits. QB had some clutch throws. But with Julio walking off the field, the Saxons were not to be denied.

Best of luck to Gabby Price and his Eagles the rest of the way. Husson is a solid team and gave the Saxons a tough game.

On Saxon Warriors!

That's great Pep! dlip is happy the Saxons won but he is also pleased to hear how solid a team Husson is! dlip for one is enjoying the rapid growth of the New England football schools.

An example that comes to mind is the Springfield/Western New England University rivalry. Those two schools are basically 5-10 minutes from each other. Yet they only began playing each other 4 years ago because, well why would they? Springfield would have killed them with their back-ups. However within the past couple years the tables have turned so that on the field, the Pride have become the Golden Bears whipping boy (this is in jest). WNEU is 3-1 against the Pride and have won the past three meetings by a score of 98-58.

[AUPepBand]

Anna Maria is in for ANOTHER long year

Yes Mount Ida got a brand new turf field with lights in 2012 the year they won the ECFC. The field is in a great location center of the campus and turned out great.

Weekly Predictions:
UMASS 27- Ida 10
Fitchburg 34 - Becker 24
SUNY 31 - Maine 17
Husson 24 - Alfred 21
Castleton 35 - Plymouth 14
RPI 28 - Norwich 24
Shen 42 - Gall 14

Ballsy pick 

Ballsy team. Husson was the real deal today. Fat Lady didn't sing until there were less than 10 seconds remaining. Eagles will fly high the rest of the way....John Smith gave the Saxons fits. QB had some clutch throws. But with Julio walking off the field, the Saxons were not to be denied.

Best of luck to Gabby Price and his Eagles the rest of the way. Husson is a solid team and gave the Saxons a tough game.

On Saxon Warriors!

That's great Pep! dlip is happy the Saxons won but he is also pleased to hear how solid a team Husson is! dlip for one is enjoying the rapid growth of the New England football schools.

An example that comes to mind is the Springfield/Western New England University rivalry. Those two schools are basically 5-10 minutes from each other. Yet they only began playing each other 4 years ago because, well why would they? Springfield would have killed them with their back-ups. However within the past couple years the tables have turned so that on the field, the Pride have become the Golden Bears whipping boy (this is in jest). WNEU is 3-1 against the Pride and have won the past three meetings by a score of 98-58.

Pep was impressed with Husson's defensive line. Pep believes the Saxons have a stellar offensive line but AU was unable to get a rhythm in the running game. AU caught a break when first-year LB Isaiah Moak intercepted late in the first quarter and returned 25 yards to the Eagle 13-yard-line to set up AU's first TD.

AU also got out of a pickle early in the 4th quarter after a sack of Tyler Johnson found AU with 3rd-and-17 on the 1 yard line with the game tied at 21. Johnson tossed a timing pattern pass to Brendan Buisch, who managed to pull it in at about the AU-40(?) while closely covered and broke away before being caught and tackled at the Husson 30. An unsportsmanlike penalty was tacked on, giving AU the ball on the Eagle 15, a net gain of 84 yards. AU punched it in three plays later to take a 28-21 lead. On the ensuing possession, Husson was flagged for an illegal block and couldn't get untracked, punting back to AU. Saxons mixed it up and marched 56 yards for another score, with Tyler Johnson's 3rd-down 31-yard scamper covering most of the real estate.

Husson never quit. Cory Brandon marched the Eagles 68 yards in 10 plays to pull to within 35-28 with 3:30 to go. AU was stopped on a 3rd-and-1 at midfield and after a Trevor Monk punt, Husson had the ball at its own 15-yard-line with 1:31 to go but turned the ball over on downs with 49 seconds to go after failing to move the ball.

[H.C.Mosely1895]

I was out of town this weekend and wasn't able to watch any games, but from reading the write-ups it seems the weekend went largely as expected. Norwich, Husson, and Becker all put up good showings against strong opponents in tough losses. For Norwich, I know freshman running back Patrick Brown came into the game with high expectations, winning the starting job in camp, and he didn't disappoint in putting up 117 yards on 19 carries.

The only glaring disappointment was Castleton turning the ball over five times and losing to Plymouth State. Might be a long year for them.

Week 2 Predictions:
Mass Maritime 17 @ SUNY Maritime 21
Anna Maria 10 @ Nichols 42
Norwich 27 @ St. Lawrence 34
Becker 21 @ MIT 24
Mount Ida 7 @ Plymouth State 14
Castleton 14 @ Fitchburg State 35
Earlham 13 @ Gallaudet 17

Husson has a Week 2 bye? Ok...

[dlippiel]

Dlip would be surprised to see the Cadets put up 27 on SLU.

[Upstate]

Dlip would be surprised to see the Cadets put up 27 on SLU.

Or 7 for that matter. SLU has a great defense.

[AUPepBand]

I was out of town this weekend and wasn't able to watch any games, but from reading the write-ups it seems the weekend went largely as expected. Norwich, Husson, and Becker all put up good showings against strong opponents in tough losses. For Norwich, I know freshman running back Patrick Brown came into the game with high expectations, winning the starting job in camp, and he didn't disappoint in putting up 117 yards on 19 carries.

Husson has a Week 2 bye? Ok...

Heck, that's a long, long bus ride (661 miles) back from Alfred...wouldn't you want a bye, too, if it were the following Tuesday when you finally got back to campus? 

[AUPepBand]

Pep's eyes were on Julio during his walk from the field Saturday and didn't notice at the time but after seeing the Husson players in the background of the video and their response to the moment, Pep must express his admiration for the Eagles and their respectful salute to Julio. Thank you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qka3VPCGPf0&feature=youtu.be

If I knew any Husson posters, I'd +K all of 'em....Gabby Price is a class act and has a fine squad of young men.

P.S. Later during the game, Julio proposed to his girlfriend....and she said "Yes!" Today, Pep received an e-mail from AU President Mark Zupan who, in part, wrote, "Finally, Julio told us that his goal is to complete his degree in counseling so that he can help others who confront challenging circumstances such as the ones that he has faced. With the resounding endorsement of our University's Board of Trustees, we have offered Julio a full-tuition scholarship and a waiver of fees if he wishes to return to our University to complete his undergraduate studies and then walk across the stage to accept his Alfred University diploma.

In my remarks to new students at our opening convocation in late August, I talked about the lessons learned from the recently published book Grit: the Power of Passion and Perseverance written by MacArthur Foundation Genius-Grant-winner Angela Lee Duckworth. Just ten days later, in the stands at Yunevich Stadium, we all saw the embodiment of grit in our own Julio Fuentes."

[d3fan142511]

Power Rankings:
1. Husson 0-1...good showing vs Alfred...Lets see if they can win out and give a 1st round scare in NCAA
2. Norwich 0-1....cameback vs RPI to make a game ...Clear cut Norwich and Husson top 2 Teams
3. SUNY 1-0...Only team to win this weekend vs Maine Maritime who they took to OT
4. Becker 0-1...Again played Fitchburg tough who will probably be 2nd best team in there conference
5. Castleton 0-1....What happened to their offense?
6. Mount Ida 0-1...No Offense vs Middle of pack team...Defense gave up 400 on the ground Yikes
7. Gall 0-1...Good ole beatdown
8. Anna Maria 0-1...Could have lost 60 - 0 if Coast Guard did not have miscues in the 1st half

Week 2 Predictions:

SUNY 24 Mass Maritime 21
Nichols 42 Anna Maria 3
St. Lawrence 17 Norwich 6
Becker 20 MIT 17
Plymouth 24 Ida 7
Fitchburg 34 Castleton 14
Gall 24 Earl 10

[H.C.Mosely1895]

Power Rankings:
1. Husson 0-1...good showing vs Alfred...Lets see if they can win out and give a 1st round scare in NCAA
2. Norwich 0-1....cameback vs RPI to make a game ...Clear cut Norwich and Husson top 2 Teams
3. SUNY 1-0...Only team to win this weekend vs Maine Maritime who they took to OT
4. Becker 0-1...Again played Fitchburg tough who will probably be 2nd best team in there conference
5. Castleton 0-1....What happened to their offense?
6. Mount Ida 0-1...No Offense vs Middle of pack team...Defense gave up 400 on the ground Yikes
7. Gall 0-1...Good ole beatdown
8. Anna Maria 0-1...Could have lost 60 - 0 if Coast Guard did not have miscues in the 1st half

Week 2 Predictions:

SUNY 24 Mass Maritime 21
Nichols 42 Anna Maria 3
St. Lawrence 17 Norwich 6
Becker 20 MIT 17
Plymouth 24 Ida 7
Fitchburg 34 Castleton 14
Gall 24 Earl 10

I'd agree with those observations. Becker-MIT is the game of the week, IMO. I don't hide my bias for Norwich, so I need to be optimistic in their chances of putting up points against St. Lawrence. But, objectively, I expect them to have a strong and dynamic offense this year, so it's not a prediction completely out of left field.

As for Castleton, they've torched my Cadets in the Maple Sap Bucket Game the past two years relying on the passing game and the big play. A new quarterback is going to limit that ability and will inevitably lead to some growing pains. I predict them to improve as the season goes along, but I think they're going to have a rebuilding type of year and take a few steps back.

[H.C.Mosely1895]

21-0 SLU over Norwich after 1st Quarter. I've seen SLU complete four 3rd and 4th down conversions on over the middle passes. Frustrating.

[d3fan142511]

6-1 with the picks for last week...Missed the Chowder Bowl...Some Scores were way off though.

Power Rankings Through 2 Weeks:
1. Husson 1-0 ..Bye week Still top dog
2. Becker 1-1...Congrats to 1st win for new Coach...Will battle Norwich for #2 team
3. Norwich 1-1...SLU put the beatdown on them
4. SUNY 1-1...Blew a huge chance to start 2-0
5. Mount Ida 0-2...Had Plymouth beat in Regulation and after 1st OT but missed too many PAT's
6. Castleton 0-2 ...Moves down based on Score with common opponent Plymouth
7. Galludet 1-1...Nice win but against very bad team
8. Anna Maria 0-2...Close but no Cigar

Week 3 Predictions:
Husson 24 Dean 17
Merchant Marine 27 SUNY 21
Becker 34 Nichols 17
Springfield 35 Ida 17
Salve 52 Castleton 13
Curry 31 Anna Maria 10
Norwich 24 WPI 21
Galludet 24 Greensboro 10