Big 33/All-Star Games, A Royce Morgan Sighting, and Season Tickets

Forgive the lack of posting this week, as I've been dispatching a lot of writing for the FCS Yearbook (to be released very soon). But I needed to clear out my inbox with a bunch of Lehigh-related news that hit the wires this week, starting with the fact that Lehigh season tickets are now on sale. They are a bargain by any standard: $55 for general admission season tickets and $75 for chairback seats - plus, you're guaranteed a Lehigh/Lafayette ticket (this year, played at Easton) if you buy now.

If you are from Pennsylvania, you probably know what the "Big 33" all-star game is, where the best high school football recruits from talent-rich Pennsylvania and Ohio play as high school players one last time. This year, the "Big 33" game featured four incoming Patriot League players: RB/LB Nate Eachus (Colgate), LB Corey Watts (Lafayette), OL/DL Dan Kessler (Fordham), and one of ours: freshman OL/DL Cody Connare. I did not see the game, but there are some good (copyrighted) pictures of the game here, showing Connare (who played in the game as a DE) going up against 300 lb tackle R.J. Dill (Maryland-bound).

"I think that all star games are an honor for the kids that are chosen, so we dont have a problem if kids play in them," coach Coen told me. "I just always hope they stay healthy."

There are no Lehigh players in this weekend's PSFCA East/West All Star Game or next week's McDonald's Lehigh Valley Al-Star Football Classic, while on June 8th incoming freshman OL Troy McKenna played in the New York/New Jersey All-Star Classic. Something to look out for might be some of the Florida all-star games, considering we have five incoming athletes from Florida.

One interesting news opinion that I stumbled across deals with the Ivy League's president meetings. Like the Patriot League, the Ivy League has "presidential control" of the league and this carries with it certain interesting side effects for the league - and as this Daily Pennsylvanian reporter reports. I'm wondering, is this guy talking about the Patriot League or Ivy League here?

It’s about that time of year when the ... presidents get together for their annual sit-down. That means that for everyone outside those doors, it’s about time to start the annual guessing game. What did they talk about? Who said what? What changes are in the works? Who’s behind them? But it seems like the dizzying speculation, high-stakes as it is, will inevitably end with a climactic pronouncement of I-Don’t-Know’s-On-Third.

Have I ever said anything similar to this? Perish the thought... (said the speculator-in-chief)

Finally, I'm very happy to report a sighting of DT Royce Morgan ('06), playing in Arena Football League af2 as a part of the Mahoning Valley Thunder:

A bright spot defensively for Mahoning Valley has been the play of tackle Royce Morgan, a rookie from Lehigh University who is in his first season in the league.

Against Manchester, Morgan had a sack (six yards) and forced two hurried throws, giving him 8 Ω sacks which places him eighth overall in the league in that category.

“Royce is a very good player who works extremely hard; someone who is passionate about what he does each and every time he comes to the arena. He sometimes wants to do too much,” Hold said.

“He always has a positive mindset and with the amount of adversity that we have faced this season, Royce is definitely the kind of player you want and need on the team right now,” Hold said.

Congratulations to Royce!

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.

Lehigh Football Nation

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