Lehigh Football Nation

Yes, indeed, there are other games this week. A packed Top 25 schedule especially, with a ton of great matchups. Patriot League: Duquesne at Georgetown. The Hoyas are sturggling a bit on offense, and it just seems like a bad matchup for them against the Dukes, who can put points up on the board. Duquesne 24, G'Town 14. Fordham at Brown. Brown is incredibly strong, and the Rams seem in disarray. Hard to see a Fordham win here. Brown 33, Forhdam 12. Columbia at Lafayette. Is Lafayette having problems scoring? Even if they do, they shouldn't struggle against the hapless Lions. If so, the Leopards are in deep trouble. Lafayette 19, Columbia 7. Colgate at Princeton. Probably the most intriguing game in the Patriot aside from Lehigh/Holy Cross. First, which Colgate team is going to show up, the good (who beat nationally-ranked UMass) or the bad (who can't beat Dartmouth or mid-majors)? Second, who are these Princeton Tigers, and are they really as good as their 3-0 record...

Although the forecast calls for more than an inch of rain, I'll be at Goodman tomorrow finding out of what mettle diehard Lehigh and Holy Cross fans are made. If the weatherman is right, there's a 90% chance the fair-weather fans will be staying at home. Those who will be doing the right thing by driving out to Goodman will see a vital game in the Patriot League race. Holy Cross would like nothing better than to escape Goodman drenched with a surprise victory. Lehigh needs to make a statement that the road to the Patriot League title goes through Goodman. However you see this one - it won't be one to miss. Pundits & Fans Pick the Game Although most predictions came before the weather forecast, Matt Dougherty's pick of a 38-24 Lehigh win is on-par with every game prediction I have seen. Lehigh getting anywhere from 34 to 38 points and Holy Cross getting anywhere from 21 to 24 points. Of course, what that means is the game will probably confound all expectations and b...

This weekend brings us the first league game of the year for Lehigh, and it also brings up the biggest surprise of this 2005 season in the Patriot League. As you will see, the Crusaders are a more dangerous team than in years past, as evidenced by their 3-2 record, with their only losses coming to nationally-ranked Harvard and Delaware. This weekend's tilt will be televised live on Service Electric 2 (in the Lehigh Valley), Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh, and Fox College Sports Pacific (on your local cable or satellite TV provider). In the Lehigh Valley, as always, the game will be also carried on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320. Oh, yeah, and I'll be at the game covering it for I-AA.org, along with possibly even audblogging a little at the game. Lehigh Injury Report Junior FS Courtney Elder (Shoulder, Out) Sophomore DB Daynin Blake (Hip, Questionable) Junior LB Travis Stinson (Shoulder, Questionable) This is the exact same list as last week, and the same folks will be stepping in shoul...

Lots to cover. First of all, a brand-spankin' new poll on your right. Vote away. Second of all, the guy who greatly inspired my I-AA diary column on I-AA.org... Scott Garner... is back . Best of all, he chastises me for putting Georgia Southern at #8 in the "Top Fans of I-AA" list! (I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't put up a spirited defense of "Gus", Georgia Southern's mascot.) Game Balls It was awfully tough to give the game balls out since the win seemed to be a complete team effort in all phases. Nonetheless, your intrepid reporter did manage to suffer through and pick worthy candidates for this honor. On offense, I'm going to give it to the senior WR Kevin Zebluim . His twisting catch when Lehigh was down 17-14 (which should have been called a TD) was the play of the game, as after Eric "TNT" Rath punched the ball in on the next play, Lehigh went ahead 24-17 and would never reliquish the lead. The next TD drive was all Borda...

The picture here (courtesy of Jon Chase of WG Sports Photos) is pretty representative of how the game went - no matter what Harvard tried to throw at us, they simply couldn't stop us when it counted. Lehigh is playing better going into league play, and it's now when the real season begins, when we play our all-important league games in order to win a Patriot League title and possibly get a I-AA playoff berth. Harvard turned over the ball a lot, and made some mistakes, and we capitalized in a big way. Of course we can't count on teams every week giving us +4 giveaways to give us the victory. But I was very encouraged how every player, to a man, really brought up the level of their play this week in periods during the game. They showed flashes of the sort of team that they can be. A team with an offense that can be awfully tough to stop. A team with an aggressive, hard-hitting defense. Speed on special teams, getting huge chunks of yardage while pinning Harvard deep on...