Skip to main content

Press Roundup; Pundits Pick Lehigh; Injury Report

A huge game tomorrow as Lehigh plays Harvard on national TV. Hey, man, I love the Red Sox too, but what's more important, the Red Sox on their march to another inevitable World Series title, or the game that's going to determine the direction of our beloved Lehigh's football season? (Besides, the game starts at 12:30 EST, and the Red Sox don't start until *at least* 1PM.)

As promised, here's the official Lehigh Football Nation injury report, followed by the Lehigh Football Nation Press roundup and digest.

Injury Report
Junior FS Courtney Elder (Shoulder, Out)
Sophomore DB Daynin Blake (Hip, Questionable)
Junior LB Travis Stinson (Shoulder, Questionable)

As banged-up as our secondary is, I have complete confidence in junior FS Julian Austin in the starting role for Elder, while sophomore Erine Moore steps into Blake's backup position. Stinson's injury is more worrisome, with junior Chris LaMont stepping in if Stinson is unable to go. All in all, the injury report looks a lot better than it did at the beginning of the year. My prediction is unchanged.

Pundits
The pundits are picking Lehigh in a close, tightly-fought game:
Matt Dougherty, Sports Network: "A strong effort by Borda and the Lehigh offense will be the difference, and the Mountain Hawks will go to Harvard Stadium and put an end to the Crimson win streak again. Prediction: Lehigh 31, Harvard 27."
Eric Gemunder, I-AA.org: "The Crimson offense has been potent this year, averaging over 30 ppg, but they've also let up nearly 30 a game on defense. I don't think their defense will be solid enough to stop the Lehigh attack, and am picking the visiting team to come away with the win. Lehigh edges Harvard."

Press Roundup
Allentown Morning Call:
Harvard's Streak Not Lehigh's Focus
Easton Express-Times:
Petrosky, Lehigh Look Forward to Tough Challenge
Brown & White:
Hawks Prepare For Crucial Match At #15 Harvard
Boston Globe:
Hands Off (reg req'd)

Saturday's 12:30 p.m. game at Harvard could be against Muhlenberg, Kutztown, or just about anybody, and the Mountain Hawks would be just as anxious.

"It gives you extra motivation to bring home a win in front of your family," said Lehigh nose guard/long snapper Eric Rakus, who was born in Springfield, Mass., moved to Suffield, Conn., and expects to have about a dozen family members in the stands at 30,898-seat Harvard Stadium.

"We're just champing at the bit to get on the field again," said junior nose tackle and long snapper Eric Rakus Wednesday during Lehigh's weekly media luncheon at Starters Pub.

"You always want to put on a show when you're playing in front of people you grew up with, people that love you. We definitely respect Harvard, 13 (wins) in a row is nothing to sniff at. We'd rather be the one to break that streak."

"I hope that the players can look back at last week and realize that what we didn't do in practice may have had an impact on how we played," Lembo said.

He said Tuesday's drills went well, but he also asked the team after practice: "Can we get a little bit better [Wednesday], can we get better on Thursday, can we do it for the next seven weeks, three days a week? The jury is still out."

"Without a doubt, we're excited to be going up there to play in front of a huge crowd and try to end their streak," punt returner Greg Petrosky said. "It should be a great atmosphere and we're looking forward to it."

"Lehigh is the best team we'll have played," said [Harvard Coach Tim] Murphy. "They're one play away from being undefeated [they lost in OT to Delaware]. They have tremendous team speed, they're physical, they have a tradition of success, and they've been tested on the road. They've got a very talented offense, they've got probably the best quarterback we'll see this year in Mark Borda, along with an explosive wide receiver [Gerran 'G'] Walker. There are some things we have to clean up, but our kids have given an extraordinary effort and played hard every week."

Then again, maybe Lehigh learned a lesson in the loss to Delaware and Cuff.

"That one still stings," Rakus said. "We're going to use it as fuel."

"This is a team that is every bit as good as Delaware, if not better," Lehigh coach Pete Lembo said... [B]oth have great surrounding casts. Harvard's offensive line over the last five years has been one of the best in the country. I remember when we played them in 2002, you couldn't even see [Lehigh defensive lineman] Mike Gregorek because they were so big up front."

Tim Murphy: "O'Hagan has done a super job for a young kid. He's far from perfect but he's made the plays in crunch time."... With primary receivers Rodney Byrnes and Corey Mazza out indefinitely with injuries, Murphy and the 15th-ranked Crimson will see who steps up at practice this week from among four or five candidates.

Harvard coach Tim Murphy said Dawson's 1,302 yards last season came in 10 less-than-complete games because the Crimson were so far ahead most Saturdays that Dawson sat out large blocks of time late in games.

"He's very, very similar to Delaware's Omar Cuff [who ran for 101 yards and three scores against Lehigh]," Lembo said. "They are both very quick, very explosive. They don't waste a lot of movement.

Junior defensive back Julian Austin thinks they can shut down the high-powered Dawson... "He's pretty good but our defense should be strong enough to contain him," Austin said. "We have been working hard this week on tackling, knowing our assignments and playing with more energy. We should be ready."

"It has all the makings of a great football game," Head Coach Pete Lembo said. "If there was ever a time we needed to put 60 minutes together, it's this week."

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.