Skip to main content

Predictions of Other Games

No live blog of Georgetown/Lehigh today, since I'm off to Hofstra to cover the New Hampshire/Hofstra game for I-AA.org. I'd strongly suggest logging onto lehighsports.com to get the audio and video of the game if you can't make it - but with 70 degree weather, it should be a great day for football!

Here's my predictions of other games this week:

Patriot League:
Bucknell at Fordham. The Rams beating a Steve Silva-less Holy Cross squad, is one thing. Stopping the triple-option with Dante Ross as the triggerman is quite another. Bucknell 27, Fordham 18.

Colgate at Lafayette. A game which has Patriot League title implications, and which features two teams which need to answer questions. On paper, with two solid teams it should be a close game, and the winner of the turnover battle should win the game. History, though, points to Colgate having the Leopards' number in a big way, winning the last 9 games. It just seems difficult to see Colgate get up emotionally for the game this week after last week's loss, and to see them correct the turnover-itis that plagued them versus Lehigh. Lafayette wins, just. Lafayette 24, Colgate 22.

I-AA Top 25:
#1 Furman at #14 Georgia Southern. Marquee matchup, and in effect a playoff game for Georgia Southern. In a huge rivalry game like this, both squads will give it 100%, which means that the more talented team should win out. That team, clearly, is Furman. Furman 31, GSU 21.

#2 New Hampshire at Hofstra. This is the game I'm going to this week, and it's pitting the A-10 frontrunner versus a team which needs a win to stay alive for a playoff shot. The two best passing QBs in the A-10 (Clarkson and Santos), the best receiving tandem (Colston and Ellis), and the best WR (David Ball). How can there be anything but fireworks? One thing's for sure - one team will be exposed this weekend, and if that team is New Hampshire, the A-10 won't be the same. As for me, I'm rooting for anarchy in the A-10. Hofstra 63, UNH 49.

#3 Montana at Northern Arizona. If Montana struggles here... Montana 38, NAU 3.

#4 Appalachian St. at LSU (I-A). I think the Mountaineers play better than most people think here. If I were a betting man, I'd take App St. and the 70 (or however many) points. LSU 49, App St. 17.

#5 Hampton at Bethune-Cookman. It just... feels like the right time for Hampton to lose. Florida, against a good B-CC team with plenty to play for. It's Hampton's turn to be shocked, and to have their hopes at a seed be dashed. B-CC 30, Hampton 14.

#13 Youngstown St. at #6 Southern Illinois and #18 Northern Iowa at #7 Western Kentucky. It's elimination day in the Gateway with a double feature to die for. Anarchy in the A-10? How about anarchy in the gateway? Here's your anarchy. SIU 41, YSU 20 and UNI 33, WKU 10, making it anyone's race.

#8 UMass at Delaware. Delaware could put a huge dent in UMass' title plans with a win. Continuing the anarchy theme, I'll go with it here as well. Delaware 19, UMass 18.

#9 Eastern Washington at #17 Cal Poly. In effect this is a playoff elimination game for both sides. The difference is the Eagles have already righted the ship, while the 'Stangs are headed in the wrong direction. EWU 41, Cal Poly 22.

McNeese St. at #10 Texas St. Tempting to root for more anarchy, but Texas St. just looks like the best team here, especially at home. Texas St. 38, McNeese 9.

Sacramento St. at #11 Montana St. If Montana St. loses this game... MSU 45, Sac St. 19.

#15 Coastal Carolina at Savannah St.
Who'd be crazy to call an upset here? CCU 73, SSU 6.

James Madison at #16 William & Mary.
In May, this looked like an A-10 title game. Now, it's looking like the death blow to the Tribe's playoff hopes. JMU 38, W&M 17.

#19 UC-Davis at Stephen F. Austin. The Aggies are too good for an overwhelmed Lumberjack suqad. UCD 37, SFA 21.

VMI at #20 Richmond. Get used to this: "nationally-ranked" Richmond. You're going to be hearing it a lot in the coming weeks. Richmond 40, VMI 17.

Northern Colorado at #21 North Dakota St. NoCo should be renamed No-Can-Beat-NDSU. NDSU 28, NoCo 14.

#22 Brown at Yale. I don't know why I like Yale here, but I do. I don't think Yale goes 0-for-2 in Ivy title elimination games. Yale 31, Brown 30.

#23 South Carolina St. at Howard. The Bison shouldn't pose too much of a problem for the Bulldogs. SCSU 39, Howard 7.

#24 Eastern Illinois at Tennessee St. I think the Panthers are going to prove everyone wrong and be the OVC champs. But this game is just a tune-up. EIU 41, TSU 12.

#25 Grambling at Alabama St. This could be a preview of the SWAC title game. However, I think Alabama St. rides their huge win over Alabama A&M over the Tigers as well. ASU 44, GSU 40.

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.