Eastern Collegiate Football Conference

[NED3Guy]

Better late than never-

Picks for the week:

Alfred State - 35
AMCAT U -27

I think Alfred State is the best ECFC team we've seen in a while, and I think today they show up a put the league on notice.

Dean - 28
Keystone -24

Dean will dominate the stats but also have too many turnovers to make this a blowout. But their WR is the best player in the league and he'll be the difference.

GALL U - 42
SUNY -24

I think GAL U is legit this year. I have no reason why I think that but I just do. I think they run all over SUNY today.

[NED3Guy]

I've been slacking in my efforts to keep the ECFC board near the top of the list this fall....

Been a pretty good couple of weeks.

The AMCATS went to Alfred State and took care of business to claim the top spot in the ECFC standings.

Then, Alfred State took care of business against Gallaudet the following week, to put themselves back in the top two.

Gallaudet has a chance to really throw a wrench into things if they win out, and hand the AMCAT's their only conference loss. That could leave the AMCATS, Alfred State, and Gallaudet all with only one loss in a three way triangle of A beat B, B beat C, and C beat A (assuming other games play out the way we think)....I have no idea what the tie breakers look like but it could be really interesting....time will tell.

With all that said, here's our ECFC Rankings for the week: (record and remaining opponents)
1) AMCATS (3-0, @CU, vs Gall, vs SUNY)
2) Alfred State (2-1, @Keystone, vs CU, vs Dean)
3) Gallaudet (3-1, OFF, @AMC, @CU)
4) SUNY (1-2, @Dean, vs Keystone, @AMC)
5) Castleton (2-1, vs AMC, @ASC, vs Gall)
6) Dean (1-3, vs SUNY, OFF, @ASC)
7) Keystone (0-4, vs ASC, @SUNY, OFF)

Buckle up ECFC fans, it could be a fun couple of weeks to end this season.

[NED3Guy]

Wow wow wow.

And just like that the ECFC gets flipped sideways.

Castleton has joined the party and is now in the FOUR WAY TIE at the top, with AMCATS, Alfred State and Gall U. Each team has 1 conference loss: CU to SUNY, AMCATS to CU, Alfred State to AMCATS and Gall U to Alfred State.

Seems like a mess, but there's no needs to pull out the ECFC tie breakers quite yet as Gall plays AMCATS this weekend and Castelton plays Alfred State, so the number of one loss teams gets cut in half this weekend, leaving head to head as the tie breakers.

But what if Castleton and Gall U both win?? Luckily they play each other the following week.

Based on my quick math: Castelton is the only team who controls their destiny right now, with their loss being an outlier they would have head to head tie breaks. Otherwise all three other teams need to win, and get help.

If you're an AMCAT fan; you need a CU loss.
GU fans need an Alfred State loss
Alfred State fans need an AMCATS loss.

Great couple of weeks left in the ECFC!

I know some d3 football fans have their thoughts about this league and where it ranks in the big picture; but one thing nobody can take dump on is how competitive the league has become within itself week to week.

[Go Blue!]

This league is definitely a Much Improved!!!

I am looking forward to seeing how this weekend plays out. Alfred State has played everyone extremely tough and were a few points away from being 6-2 or 7-1. They took Utica down to the wire, they should not have lost to Rochester by 1 and also had Univ of New England beat and could not hold on.  They also left 2 touchdowns inside the 10 against the AMCATs. Hopefully they continue to grow and change the character..

Ball Control !!!!!

[NED3Guy]

BIG WEEKEND IN THE ECFC-

FOUR WAY TIE AT THE TOP with all four teams playing each other this weekend! In the world of small college football it doesn't get better than this.

GU at AMCATs - Both teams need the win to keep their championship hopes alive. Both teams are coming off conference losses (GU two weeks ago vs Alfred State and AMC last week vs Castleton) - While I wasn't able to watch the AMCATs v Castleton last week, I was told that their poor tackling was the difference in the game. That's not a good thing when you have a team that rushes for 351 a game against conference opponents coming to town in November....with that in mind I'm going with GU 35 - AMCATS 27

Castleton at Alfred State - Earlier in the week I had no clue what to think about this one. Both teams appear to be playing their best football at the right time. Alfred QB is rushing for almost 140 per game in conference play, but the Spartan D is holding entire teams to under 50 yards rushing per game in ECFC play.....on top of that the Spartans are taking the ball away from opponents when they take to the air.....I've picked against the Spartans a few times this year and I've looked foolish each time. While I don't want to jinx them, I have to come to my senses and realize that the Spartan D is a different animal than the rest of the D's in the ECFC. It's actually crazy when you look at their stats and see what they've done in their 4 conference games (15.8 points per game, 46.8 yards allowed rushing per game, 10 INT and 13 Sacks). They say defense wins championships, and that defense travels well, so I'm thinking the Spartan D travels out to Western NY this weekend and brings them one step closer to a championship: Spartans 24 - Alfred State 17

Sets up a championship game scenario next weekend when GU visits Castleton.

Oh yeah, Maritime plays Keystone this weekend too...SUNY 38 - Keystone 21 (I officially retract my "Keystone will win a game" statement)

[NED3Guy]

Huge win for Alfred State over Castleton last weekend. Big ECFC championship implications from that game. Between the Alfred State win over CU and the AMCATs win over GU; the Championship / AQ picture is a lot more clear now than it was a week ago.

I'm officially done trying to guess outcomes this year....I'm well below .500 with my picks. Shows how little I know about these teams this year, and how competitive the league has become week to week.

With that said, I'm done predicting outcomes, and will spend some time on this post going through 4 ECFC Championship scenarios. While my game picks have been way off, I feel really good about this breakdown as I talked to some people who spent good time looking at the tie breakers.

From all we've been able to gather (ECFC rules and talking to a few SID's) here's how things look-

AMCATS win vs SUNY and they are the 2021 ECFC Champs at 5-1 with H2H tie breaker over Alfred State if needed.

An AMCAT loss to SUNY opens the door for a few scenarios to play out:

AMCAT loss with Alfred State win = Alfred State is ECFC Champs at 5-1 (all others with at least 2 losses)

I think that's really the two most likely, most direct scenarios. But.....

Just for fun lets play this out differently than either of those situations:

An AMCAT loss (SUNY win), coupled with an Alfred State loss against Dean would lead to a 4 way tie with multiple 2 loss teams (including the winner of the CU v GU game*)

AMCATS 4-2 (losses to CU and SUNY - in this hypothetical)
Alfred State 4-2 (losses to AMC and Dean - in this hypothetical)
SUNY 4-2 (losses to Alfred State and GU - in this hypothetical)
       CU 4-2 (losses to AMCATS and SUNY)
      OR
       GU 4-2 (losses to Alfred State and AMCATS)

One of the first tie breakers that will be used in this scenario will be "record vs tied teams" - Here's where things get interesting.

*The CU v GU game becomes a big factor in this because SUNY and AMCATS both have split their games against Castleton and GU.

SUNY lost to GU, but beat CU.
AMCATS lost to CU but beat GU

Record vs Tied Teams if CU wins:

Alfred State - 2-1
SUNY- 2-1
AMC- 1-2
CU- 1-2

AMC and CU eliminated from the tie. H2H back on the table....Alfred State is ECFC Champion due to H2H over SUNY

Record vs Tied Teams if GU wins:
AMCATS- 2-1
Alfred State - 2-1
GU - 1-2
SUNY - 1-2

GU and SUNY eliminated, H2H back on the table....AMCATS are ECFC Champions due to H2H over Alfred State

So here it is:

AMCATS are 2021 ECFC Champs - If they win
AMCATS are 2021 ECFC Champs - If they lose, Alfred State loses and GU beats CU

Alfred State is 2021 ECFC Champs - If they win and AMCATs lose
Alfred State is 2021 ECFC Champs- If they lose, and AMCATS lose and CU beats GU

SUNY, GU, CU, Dean and Keystone are all eliminated from Championship consideration.

(I'm 90% sure I did this all correctly, but I've been wrong all year so who knows???)

Should be a fun weekend to close out a great ECFC season.

Very curious to see how this plays out, and if any ECFC teams put in for New England Bowl games.

[MRMIKESMITH]

Hi Pollster's, just wanted to extend an invitation to join the ERFP for this upcoming season. We will continue to do R1/R2. Feel free to DM or respond here if interested. I'll reach out to last year participants to gauge any interest as well.

[NED3Guy]

ECFC Midseason Report-

Been a while since we posted on here. Hopefully we'll be able to pop on more often so the ECFC faithful can have something to read and discuss....

As of now, it looks like Alfred State (2-0) is the team to beat. They're currently 2-0 in league play, but have a big win vs ECFC Defending Champ, and preseason poll favorite Anna Maria. Alfred State's second win was against a much improved Keystone team. Hosting Dean this weekend for Homecoming, should allow them to get some guys rested before a trip to VT to play the Spartans. A week 9 matchup vs Gallaudet could basically be the ECFC Championship Game.

Gallaudet (3-0) has snuck up on everybody this season. Picked to finish 5th by the league coaches; GU has gotten off to a 3-0 start (Castleton, Keystone, Dean). While they are still yet to play the "big dogs" being AMC and Alfred State; the 3-0 start has them in control of their own destiny.

Anna Maria (1-2)'s two early losses leave them on the outside looking in. They'll need to handle their business and get a lot of help down the stretch to re-enter the AQ conversation. Their best hope is for a 3 way tie with 2 loss teams and some complicated tie breakers working in their favor....but at this point it looks like a long shot.

Castleton (2-1) has beaten two of the lower teams in the conference (Dean and Maritime) but lost to Gallaudet. Big matchups at Keystone this week and hosting Alfred State next week will define the Castleton season. Two wins and the Spartans are in control of their AQ fate when they host the AMCATS the last week of the year. A split, and the Spartans end up looking at tie-break scenarios. Drop them both, and they're left playing for pride.

Keystone sits at 1-2 in conference play, but has already played (in our minds) the three best teams in the league (AMC, Alfred State, Gallaudet). Castleton, Maritime and Dean to end the season. While we don't know much about this Keystone team beyond the nice win vs AMCATs last weekend; one has to think they'll be competitive with every team they have left on the schedule. Because they've lost to both top teams in the league at this point; I do not see many ways they can end up in a potential tie-breaker scenario; but a strong finish on their way out of the ECFC would be a huge building block for the young program.

Maritime (0-2) let one slip away in Vermont last weekend, when the Spartans scored 29 fourth quarter points to pull off the comeback. The good news for SUNY is that they have Dean and Keystone left to play...the bad news is that they also have Alfred State and Gallaudet on the horizon.

Dean (0-2) is in rebuilding mode. They head to Western NY this weekend to be guests at Alfred State Homecoming; but then have games at SUNY, and home against AMC and Keystone to end things.....we think they grab a W along the way.

POWER RANKINGS:
1) Alfred State
2) Gall U
3) AMCATS
4) Castleton
5) Keystone
6) SUNY
7) DEAN

Awards Watch:
Coach of the year- Goldstein - Gall U
POTY - Cohen (AMC QB)
DPOTY- Hartman (Gall U LB)

[NED3Guy]

What a crazy couple of weeks it's been in the ECFC-

On October 22nd, Dean went out to Alfred State and got an OT win. At the same time SUNY went down to DC and got the win vs Gallaudet. Knocking off the #1 and #2 teams at the time, on the road as underdogs....proving once again that within this league (no matter what other people think of it and how these teams do vs outside competition) ANYBODY can beat ANYBODY.

Castleton has held strong with a win over Keystone on 10/22 and a big win vs Alfred State on 10/29.

What we're left with is a tie at the top of the ECFC standings, both of the top teams with late season bye weeks, and a few different potential Champion / AQ scenarios:

TEAM, ECFC RECORD, Remaining games

1) Gallaudet 4-1 - Alfred State, Bye
1) Castleton 4-1- Bye, AMCATS
3) Alfred State 2-2, Gallaudet, SUNY
3) SUNY 2-2, Keystone, Alfred State

5) AMCATS 1-3
5) Keystone 1-3
5) Dean 1-3


So here's how things can shake out....

The two most cut and dry scenarios are:

* A Gallaudet win vs Alfred State would make Gallaudet the EFCF Champions at 5-1, by way of their head to head win over Castleton. (Castleton could finish 5-1 as well, but the head to head would give GU the AQ)

* If Gallaudet loses to Alfred State this weekend; the door opens for Castleton; who with a win next week vs Anna Maria would take the ECFC Championship with a 5-1 conference record...they'd be the only 5-1 team, thus no tie breakers are needed.

Things get a bit more complicated if both Gallaudet and Castleton lose their remaining game.
(NOTE: Both teams have late season byes that make things very interesting)

-If GU loses to Alfred State (this weekend) and CU loses to Anna Maria (next weekend); both teams would finish 4-2 in conference play. However the clean head to head of GU over CU may not be the immediate tie breaker IF SUNY or Alfred State also finish 4-2..Only one of them can finish 4-2 as they play each other in the final week of the season....A few things need to happen for this to play out, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Mainly, both teams need to win this weekend (Alfred State vs GU and SUNY v Keystone) THEN they need to hope the AMCATS upset the Spartans next week.

If that happens; we have NO CLUE how the tie breakers work but it would be kind of crazy and that's kind of cool.

We love chaos; but the most likely thing is that GU wins this weekend and everybody next week is just playing for pride.

ECFC Power Rankings:
1) GU
2) CU
3) SUNY
4) Alfred State
5) AMCATS*
6) Dean
7) Keystone

*The AMCAT win over UMass Dartmouth to start the season might be the best out of conference win in ECFC history. It's UMD's only loss and UMD was just listed in the Region 1 Regional Rankings....I can't think of a better ECFC non-league win than that.

Awards Watch:

We have no idea who deserves the player awards this year, but we think Goldstein deserves COTY. The coaches had them picked 5th in the preseason poll, and they're a win away from the AQ.

[HansenRatings]

Playoff projections for the season using my model's preseason ratings:



You can look at other conferences on my website: https://hansenratings.github.io/.

[ccd494]

Anna Maria leaving for the MASCAC.  Alfred State to E8.  Dean to MASCAC.

https://www.mascac.com/news/23-24_News/Anna_Maria_Announcement

https://empire8.com/news/2023/10/10/alfred-state-college-to-join-empire-8-as-football-affiliate-member-in-2025.aspx

https://deanbulldogs.com/sports/football

Lights out for the ECFC.

[NED3Guy]

The end of an era! This season will mark the end of the ECFC. Whoever takes the trophy home in November, will be keeping it for all eternity. - Corrected by Caz Bombers below.

ECFC Power Rankings Heading into Conference Play:

1) AMCATS - 2-3 / 0-0 - Putting up points, but not stopping anybody. With other ECFC teams struggling to score points, the AMCATS will try to outgun everybody. 
2) Spartans - 2-3 / 0-0 - Looks like a normal Spartan non-conference performance. Beat who they should. Get beat by who they should. Who knows with them???
3) Alfred State - 3-3 / 0-0 - Much like the Spartans; these guys have beaten bad teams and lost to good teams. Big test this weekend.
4) Gallaudet - 1-4 / 0-0 - They always seem to be clicking at the right time. Coach Chuck does a good job with this team. Expect and upset in VT tomorrow.
5) Dean - 1-5 / 0-0 - They have allowed A LOT of points this year (313 points in 6 games). They've played good teams, but they can't allow 50 a game and expect to win.
6) Mt Ida - 0-0
7) Becker - 0-0

[Caz Bombers]

The end of an era! This season will mark the end of the ECFC. Whoever takes the trophy home in November, will be keeping it for all eternity.

ECFC Power Rankings Heading into Conference Play:

1) AMCATS - 2-3 / 0-0 - Putting up points, but not stopping anybody. With other ECFC teams struggling to score points, the AMCATS will try to outgun everybody. 
2) Spartans - 2-3 / 0-0 - Looks like a normal Spartan non-conference performance. Beat who they should. Get beat by who they should. Who knows with them???
3) Alfred State - 3-3 / 0-0 - Much like the Spartans; these guys have beaten bad teams and lost to good teams. Big test this weekend.
4) Gallaudet - 1-4 / 0-0 - They always seem to be clicking at the right time. Coach Chuck does a good job with this team. Expect and upset in VT tomorrow.
5) Dean - 1-5 / 0-0 - They have allowed A LOT of points this year (313 points in 6 games). They've played good teams, but they can't allow 50 a game and expect to win.
6) Mt Ida - 0-0
7) Becker - 0-0

ECFC will still exist in 2024, next season is its last year.

[NED3Guy]

What a crazy ending in Vermont last weekend. Gallaudet upsetting the Spartans is the only thing I had right last week. Coach Chuck is the best coach in this league and his guys always seem to make plays down the stretch.

Power Rankings-
1) Alfred State - maybe won the defacto championship game last week v the amcats. A win in DC this weekend would all but guarantee the trophy is heading to western NY.
2) AMCATS - still the second most talented team despite the loss last weekend. They need Alfred State to stumble to get back in the mix.
3) GU - well coached team. As one dimensional as I can remember them being but they got the W in VT. HUGE TEST TODAY!
4) Spartans - giving up a 20 point 4th quarter lead could shatter a team. Sparty is off this weekend, giving them two weeks to carry the loss. We'll see how they respond.
5) Dean - not much known about this group. Time will tell
6) Mt Ida - haven't allowed a point all year.
7) Becker - still looking for their first points on the season. 

This week-
Alfred over Gall U 28-14
Amcats over Dean 46-24

[NED3Guy]

I kinda suck at this....my picks are never right, but I think that's the ECFC for ya. Say what you will about how these teams do out of conference, but they always play competitive games with each other making for some fun football watching.

Big win for the Bison last weekend vs the Blue Bulls. Gall U has the inside track on the ECFC title now.

1) GU - A road win vs CU, and home win vs Alfred State have the Bison primed to repeat as ECFC Champions. My shotty math says that if they win this weekend vs the AMCATS, they are officially the ECFC Champs. They will hold head to head vs any team who could finish with 1 loss, so regardless of how GU does in their final game, a win tomorrow locks them in. AMCATS will not be an easy out. They score points....can the Bison triple option keep up?

2) Alfred State - Off this weekend before hosting Sparty and traveling to Dean to end the season. Will be rooting for the AMCATS to knock of GU in order to remain in the mix.

3) AMCATS - balanced offensive attack vs Dean last weekend with over 600 yards (300+ Rushing and 300+ Passing). I don't care who you're playing that's pretty impressive. Will their offense show up in at home vs GU this weekend? Everybody in the ECFC hopes so!

4) Spartans - coming off an open week after giving up a 20 point lead vs GU back on October 14....getting up by 20 on GU shows that the Spartans are a talented group. Giving up a 20 point 4th quarter lead, shows that they are also vulnerable....if the Spartans got healthy and rested during their off week they should have a great showing this weekend hosting Dean.

5) Dean - this team is struggling a bit right now. They're on a 6 game skid and have given up, 70, 41, 63, 75, 47 and 52 during that stretch. They travel to Vermont to take on a Spartan team averaging only 18 points per game. If Dean can win a few first downs on D, and force the Spartans into long 2nd and 3rd downs they can keep this tight.

6) Ida - STILL haven't allowed a point

7) Becker - STILL looking to score their first points on the season

Game of the week:
Gallaudet vs AMCATS - I think the AMCATS do enough early on O to get the Bison away from their bread and butter option stuff, and the Kitty's win this one 35-24.
Since I've been wrong a lot this year (and every year) GU fans who see this should feel good.

GU v AMCATS - AMCATS 35-24
CU v DEAN - Spartans 28 - 14

AWARDS WATCH -

OPOTY - GU Running Back: Mackall
DPOTY - Spartan LB: McDonough
Special Teams Player - TBD
ROY - TBD
Coach of the Year - Coach Chuck from GU