I was going to wait for tomorrow to post this, but I got excited about the 2005 season and decided to print my ballot for the Any Given Saturday Top 25. Here it is:
1. James Madison
2. Eastern Washington
3. Furman
4. Northwestern St
5. Western Kentucky
6. Harvard
7. Delaware
8. Georgia Southern
9. Northern Iowa
10. New Hampshire
11. Lafayette
12. Montana
13. Lehigh
14. William & Mary
15. Southern Illinois
16. Cal Poly
17. Montana St
18. Hampton
19. Penn
20. Eastern Kentucky
21. Sam Houston St
22. Alabama St
23. Appalachian St
24. North Dakota St
25. Bucknell
There you have it - in its 4 A-10, 3 Patriot League, 2 Ivy League-team glory. I tried to be very fair, including ranking Lafayette in front of Lehigh.
OK, I just heard all of Lehigh Football Nation choking in their Monday morning coffee. Look, Lafayette returns basically their entire defense next year, their sophomore QB, and they boast some pretty damn good receivers. And the RB replacing McCourt is also pretty damn good. The Leopards are going to be a force next year.
Another one Lehigh fans should look at very closely is Harvard ranked at #6. Harvard may have lost their QB to graduation (taken in the NFL draft by St. Louis), but make no mistake - this is a veteran team which will by any measure be outstanding. (If only they played in the I-AA playoffs.)
Finally (and this is just a hunch) I think Bucknell will also not be an easy out. They lose QB Darius Wilson but on defense return lots of talent, including possibly the best defensive player in the Patriot League, DL Sean Conover. They may not be ranked in a lot of polls (indeed any) yet, but by the end of the year they may just surprise some people.
1. James Madison
2. Eastern Washington
3. Furman
4. Northwestern St
5. Western Kentucky
6. Harvard
7. Delaware
8. Georgia Southern
9. Northern Iowa
10. New Hampshire
11. Lafayette
12. Montana
13. Lehigh
14. William & Mary
15. Southern Illinois
16. Cal Poly
17. Montana St
18. Hampton
19. Penn
20. Eastern Kentucky
21. Sam Houston St
22. Alabama St
23. Appalachian St
24. North Dakota St
25. Bucknell
There you have it - in its 4 A-10, 3 Patriot League, 2 Ivy League-team glory. I tried to be very fair, including ranking Lafayette in front of Lehigh.
OK, I just heard all of Lehigh Football Nation choking in their Monday morning coffee. Look, Lafayette returns basically their entire defense next year, their sophomore QB, and they boast some pretty damn good receivers. And the RB replacing McCourt is also pretty damn good. The Leopards are going to be a force next year.
Another one Lehigh fans should look at very closely is Harvard ranked at #6. Harvard may have lost their QB to graduation (taken in the NFL draft by St. Louis), but make no mistake - this is a veteran team which will by any measure be outstanding. (If only they played in the I-AA playoffs.)
Finally (and this is just a hunch) I think Bucknell will also not be an easy out. They lose QB Darius Wilson but on defense return lots of talent, including possibly the best defensive player in the Patriot League, DL Sean Conover. They may not be ranked in a lot of polls (indeed any) yet, but by the end of the year they may just surprise some people.
Comments
7. Delaware (too high)
19. Penn ???
20. Eastern Kentucky ???
23. Appalachian St ???
25. Bucknell ???
What is he talking about? The schedule is tough with Delaware, Harvard, Colgate and Lafayette the toughest games, but this is a potential Top 10 team this season.
The only legitimate losses (games
where Lehigh was clearly beaten) since Lembo took over were Furman in 2001, Colgate in 2002, Connecticut in 2003, and Lafayette last season, and I personally think the Lafayette game was a true "upset". THAT'S 4 GAMES IN 4 YEARS!!!!!!!! Look at the history - Lehigh was in every other game until the very end and easily could have won any of them. To say the program is going down just does not make any sense.
Lehigh was in the playoffs in 2001 and won the Lambert Cup, certainly should have been in the playoffs in 2003, and they made it last year. IMO, the 2002 team had the potential to be the best team Lembo had and could have gone deep in the playoffs, but a horrendous string of injuries to starting players ended that possibilty. season
strike the word "season"
Let's start with naming the main sponsor of Lehigh's 2004 Southside Boosters.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preseason Any Given Saturday Poll 5/23/2005
(First place votes in parenthesis)
1. James Madison (45)
2. Furman (12)
3. Eastern Washington (10)
4. Montana (2)
5. Georgia Southern (2)
6. Western Kentucky (1)
7. Delaware
8. Northwestern State (1)
9. New Hampshire (1)
10. Northern Iowa
11. Southern Illinois (1)
12. William & Mary
13. Lehigh
14. Sam Houston State
15. Harvard (1)
16. Massachusetts
17. Cal Poly
18. North Dakota State
19. Jacksonville State
20. Lafayette
21. Montana State
22. Hampton
23. Appalachian State
24. Maine
25. Hofstra
Others receiving votes (minimum of 5 votes): Villanova (35), South Carolina State (33), Wofford (31), Portland State (30), Alabama State (16), Eastern Kentucky (16), McNeese State (15), Coastal Carolina (14), Pennsylvania (14), Southern University (11), Grambling (10), Colgate (9), Northern Arizona (9), Texas State (8), UC Davis (7), South Dakota State (6), Western Carolina (6), Brown (5), Stephen F. Austin (5).
__________________
I-AA ALL THE WAY!
Where are our wonderful Jacksonville State University
GAMECOCKS!!!
Eastern Kentucky ???
When do you think your school will move up to 1A like Troy or Marshall? You have been
in 1AA since 1979. The year before you guys played JSU in Texas for the National Championship in Division II.
It's so obvious I can't believe all of you haven't figured this out yet!
Lehigh has a shot, good luck.
-Delaware Fan Absolut Blue Hen.