Lehigh Football Nation

This morning, I got up, in as foul a mood as I was yesterday evening after watching Lehigh's awful offensive day against Central Connecticut State. As is often the case, I started breakfast and searched for the right Sunday "Word". It didn't take me long to find it. The first full weekend of the Division I football season is always chock-full of "expectations". Before a single uniform gets dirty, every college football fan has higher hopes for their teams - sometimes just to be a little bit better than last year. Others hope to win a league title, and (in FCS, anyway) even compete for a true national championship. We Lehigh fans in particular had extremely high "expectations" for our team after an unusually optimistic offseason. Despite ending last year with a 5-6 record, the Mountain Hawks won the game that counted - the one against "that school in Easton". Somewhere along the line, the good feelings about the win started to moprh ...

At the time, I didn't think this picture I took would be the story of the game. Unfortunately it was. Tied at 21 after an ugly first half, Lehigh had only their second red zone opportunity of the game. Second and goal at the CCSU 4 yard line. Junior TE Alex Wojdowski starts the play and is wide open. Junior QB J.B. Clark hesitates, and then tries to fire it in - but CCSU DB Nick Delgado stepped in front of the outstretched arms of Wojdowski and stuffed the drive. It would have given Lehigh their first lead of the day. It also would have negated what was an extremely sloppy first half, with an anemic offensive performance by the Mountain Hawks which was only mitigated by the fact that the Blue Devils turned over the ball twice in the red zone, and that junior DB John "Fear Itself" Kennedy turned a kickoff into a 93 yard touchdown. Also, on Lehigh's only sustained drive of the day (and I mean that), Clark found Wojdowski on a 7 yard TD strike to tie the game at 14....

(Photo Credit: CCSU Athletics) It's funny; when you start the football season, it feels like you team could simply play anybody and you'd be ecstatic. I'm not saying Central Connecticut State is just anybody , of course - you'll find that out soon enough - but that feeling is invading every college football fan going into this weekend. As a result of this euphoria, it's tempting to just revel in the fact that it's here - football season is here, and we're still undefeated against Lafayette since last November. That's probably the gensis as to why teams get "overlooked" on the schedule on Week One. You think Michigan was looking to be upended by Appalachian State two years ago? Michigan was reveling - in the new season, in their No. 5 preseason ranking, in their, well, Michigan-ness. Before the day was out, the "Miracle in Michgan" was complete, Michigan would plummet out of the Top 25, and their season would be in a shambles. Granted,...

It's three days until Lehigh's season opener against Central Connecticut State, and before I finish my preview of this weekend's action it's worth detailing the volumes of coverage in the lead-up to the Big Day. First of all, Lehigh Athletics released their broadcast schedule for 2009 - and we see nine out of eleven games broadcast on local and national outlets . Locally, three games will be broadcast on WFMZ Allentown (Villanova, Colgate, Lafayette) while the other six (CCSU, Princeton, Harvard, Georgetown, Yale, Holy Cross) will be broadcast on Service Electric 2. Better yet, many cable subscribers will be able to see the games on Fox College Sports Atlantic either live or on tape-delay (which, happily, I get at home). Also worthy of mention is that the Lehigh Sports Magazine will also be broadcast on WFMZ Allentown and FCS Atlantic - of which you can see the latest installment online, where (20 minutes or so in coach Coen talks about the 2009 Mountain Hawks and als...

Of all my installments concerning the Patriot League offseason, this one is my favorite (which you probably guessed). Aside from the obvious fact that I'm a crazy Lehigh fan, it also means when I complete this installment it means that college football season is right there - I can taste it. Only four more days until I can go to Goodman stadium and see Lehigh open up a can of whoopass against Central Connecticut State. For me, completing this finalizes the fact: it's football season. Nation, I bring you *yours* - and mine - the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. LEHIGH Coaching Changes: Usually you hear of assistant coaches leaving a program, but rarely do you hear those same guys coming back. But that's what R.J. Ryan did (Franklin & Marshall; Special Teams) after last year's special teams coordinator Adam Scheier left to join former Lehigh coach Dave Clawson over at Bowling Green. Coen is very happy to have Ryan back. Aside from that change, almost his entire origi...