Skip to main content

Patriot League Picks, Week 9 (and some press links)

{Photo Courtesy of Andrew Maier, Brown & White)

This is late, and it's going to be very, very quick since I have a busy afternoon. I will be watching the Georgetown/Lehigh game on Lehigh Broadcast tomorrow and I will be offering my commentary after the game as always, but this posting will be brief just to get the picks out there and to list the press links.

The game will be carried on Service Electric 2 locally, AM 1230 and 1320, and online at LehighSports.com.

A quick note on Lehigh/Lafayette: it is sold out once again. It's the 10th straight year it's been sold out in advance, and I can't remember if it's even not been sold out. There are scheduled to be "standing-room only" tickets to possibly still be sold, but those are dependent on the weather (since those fans will be in the grassy horseshoe area).

Let's just hope that my prediction of the game today is wrong, and we don't see any more of that team that we saw last weekend.

Patriot Predictions
As always, some of these are cross posted in "The CSN Way" on the College Sporting News.

Holy Cross over Bucknell
The Crusaders should dispose of Bucknell easily, who lost 20-17 last week to Georgetown on a last-second field goal. But with their second resounding victory in a row, led be quarterback Dominic Randolph and wideout Tom Harrison, they could find themselves in the Top 25 for the first time in a long time: first their 59-10 domination of Lehigh, and now this blowout victory.
Cruisin’ Crusaders 45, Buffaloed Bison 7

Colgate over Lafayette
The Raiders and Leopards are playing once again for their playoff lives, but Colgate come in with the wind at their backs after putting away Towson of the CAA 27-17, while Lafayette is coming off a shock 34-23 loss to Fordham that in reality wasn’t really that close. With a team that tend not to kill itself coming to town, it’s not the time to have a quarterback controversy, and with senior Mike DiPaola struggling, Leopard coach Frank Tavani might be tempted to put in sophomore Rob Curley. In any event, Raider runningback Jordan Scott should be the difference: in a defensive struggle, the team with the better back wins, and that’s Colgate.
Revved Raiders 20, Lost Leopards 13

Fordham over Marist
I wouldn't be half surprised to hear that coach Masella had addressed the media to tell folks not to "underestimate" the Red Foxes, how QB Stephen McGrath is better than advertised, how they nearly beat Sacred Heart last week. Well, Ram fans, I will indeed be overlooking Marist this week, since quarterback John Skelton and the rest of your team deserves it. Look forward to next week, for it will determine the Patriot League championship.
Tough Rams 41, Flushed Foxes 0

Press Links
LehighSports.Com: Seeing Double (Laquan & Rashaun Gasaway)
Morning Call: Threatt May Not Start As Lehigh Looks To Rebound
Groller's Corner: You Haven't Seen The Last Of No. 3 At Lehigh
Express-Times: Hawks Try To Salvage Season
Brown & White: Hawks To Take Field With Heads Held High
Hoyasaxa: Georgetown/Lehigh Preview

Comments

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

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

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.