Skip to main content

Agony to Ecstasy, Part II

Part II
As I was entering the post-game press conferences, I mingled with some of the beat writers and national I-AA sports writers. We had just seen Lafayette beat Lehigh 24-10 to grab a co-championship of the Patriot League with Lehigh, and win the automatic playoff berth.

The discussion was Lehigh's playoff chances. Could it happen? Would it happen? Would we need some help from around I-AA nation? How much? Should we be rooting for Stephen F. Austin and Sacramento State? How far away is William & Mary? What was the weather like in Statesboro, Georgia in December?

The mood was decidedly "undecided". But I don't think anyone there was thinking, "home playoff game".

As the Saturday results came in, it didn't look like Lehigh was getting a lot of help. My friends said outright, "I don't think it's going to happen." But I was defiant. I thought it was still possible to get into the playoffs. We were 9-2 and had played some tough teams. Ultimately, I feel Lehigh was deserving of the final playoff bid.

And then it happened. Lehigh has a home playoff game the Saturday after Thanksgiving at Murray Goodman stadium. Those of you that thought a hard-fought loss to Lafayette would preclude Lehigh getting to the I-AA playoff party were deeply mistaken.

I would have paid to see the expression on the Lehigh players', students', and coaches' faces when they found out that Lehigh's playing at home.

I am really proud that all the Lehigh players, especially the seniors, will now have a chance to show the nation how good they really are. My feeling is, you play all year for this shot at the I-AA playoffs, and Lehigh got it. It doesn't matter how you got there. You're in, you're in.

I am also really happy that Lehigh students and fans will have a chance to show I-AA nation their support for the team by coming out in droves to the stadium. It's our time as fans to show the I-AA world how well Lehigh fans support their team, and what a great gameday atmosphere there is at Murray Goodman.

I am confident that Lehigh will play a great game against the James Madison Dukes.

Tomorrow I'll sum up the postgame press of Lehigh/Lafayette, game balls, fearless predictions, etc.

But one last factoid: Lehigh is 1-0 all-time against James Madison, beating them 31-14 at old Taylor Stadium in Bethlehem in 1980.

Let's make that 2-0!

PS. You can order your tickets from LehighSports.Com online by following this link.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Chuck, I wish that we could show the I-AA Nation how great are fans are and I'm sure the Alumni will come out in droves for this game, however I am saddened that like many of my fellow students I will most likely be unable to attend this game. With most people (myself included) scheduling flights home for thanksgiving months in advance campus will be very empty this weekend. I fear that aside from a few die hard student fans who are going to get new plane tickets (A one way ticket to philly is suprising cheap on friday) and a few students from the local area we arent going to have a very big student turnout. Here's hoping that Lehigh wins and Furman loses so we can host a second round game.

~John '07
1:02 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How The Ivy League Is Able To Break the NCAA's Scholarship Limits and Still Consider Themselves FCS

By now you've seen the results.  In 2018, the Ivy League has taken the FCS by storm. Perhaps it was Penn's 30-10 defeat of Lehigh a couple of weeks ago .  Or maybe it was Princeton's 50-9 drubbing of another team that made the FCS Playoffs last year, Monmouth.  Or maybe it was Yale's shockingly dominant 35-14 win over nationally-ranked Maine last weekend. The Ivy League has gone an astounding 12-4 so far in out-of-conference play, many of those wins coming against the Patriot League. But it's not just against the Patriot League where the Ivy League has excelled.  Every Ivy League school has at least one out-of-conference victory, which is remarkable since it is only three games into their football season.  The four losses - Rhode Island over Harvard, Holy Cross over Yale, Delaware over Cornell, and Cal Poly over Brown - were either close losses that could have gone either way or expected blowouts of teams picked to be at the bottom of the Ivy League. W
40 comments
Read more

Made-Up Midseason Grades for Lehigh Football

 We are now officially midway through the 2023 Lehigh football season.  The Mountain Hawks sit at 1-5 overall, and 0-1 in the Patriot League. I thought I'd go ahead and make up some midseason grades, and set some "fan goals" for the second half. The 2023 Mountain Hawks were picked to finish fifth in the seven team Patriot League.  In order to meet or exceed that expectation, they'll probably have to go at least 3-2 the rest of the way in conference play.  Their remaining games are vs. Georgetown, at Bucknell, vs. Holy Cross, at Colgate, and vs. Lafayette in The Rivalry. Can they do it? Culture Changing: B+ .  I was there in the Bronx last week after the tough 38-35 defeat to Fordham, and there wasn't a single player emerging from the locker room that looked like they didn't care.  Every face was glum.  They didn't even seem sad.  More frustrated and angry. That may seem normal, considering the agonizing way the Mountain Hawks lost, but it was a marked chan
8 comments
Read more

Fifteen Guys Who Might be Lehigh's Next Football Coach (and Five More)

If you've been following my Twitter account, you might have caught some "possibilities" as Lehigh's next head football coach like Lou Holtz, Brett Favre and Bo Pelini .  The chance that any of those three guys actually are offered and accept the Lehigh head coaching position are somewhere between zero and zero.  (The full list of my Twitter "possibilities" are all on this thread on the Lehigh Sports Forum .) However the actual Lehigh head football coaching search is well underway, with real names and real possibilities. I've come up with a list of fifteen possible names, some which I've heard whispered as candidates, others which might be good fits at Lehigh for a variety of reasons. UPDATE: I have found five more names of possible head coaches that I am adding to this list below. Who are the twenty people?  Here they are, in alphabetical order.
55 comments
Read more