Friday Water Cooler: The Bye Week

It's a special "Bye Week" version of the Water Cooler this week. It remains to be seen if anyone even reads this today since there's no Lehigh game, but there will be a lot of Patriot League and I-AA action this week, so it should be another exciting Saturday as we patiently await Lehigh/Harvard in eight days.

Where's Chuck Going This Weekend?
Ralph Wallace from I-AA.org is flying out east, and he's going to be attending the Hampton/Morgan State game with me at 4:00PM, and then we will be hightailing it out of there so we can catch (at least) the second half of the Lafayette/Princeton game. With Matt Dougherty of the Sports Network also heading over to Princeton, it's quite possible that the game in Princeton, NJ will be the "best covered coverage of a matchup of unranked I-AA teams in history", as Matt said this past week on I-AA Waves.

Ralph and I will be taking pictures at this game, and I will also be keeping a "I-AA Diary" on the entire event (as I always do for I-AA.org). Aside from lamenting the fact that I won't be up in Albany (seriously, THERE'S a sentence I never thought I'd utter) to see the Central Connecticut State/Albany matchup, I will also have the challenge in trying to find some common thread between these two games we're attending.

Speaking of Shameless Self-Promotion...
I'm glad you asked. This past week saw I-AA.org publish my latest diary on the Fordham/Columbia game. In a way, it builds from my I-AA Diary column the week before talking about 9/11 and its effect on Georgetown and Fordham's football programs. Even if you're just a Patriot League fan you may want to check these out, as it shows the effect that the attacks had on schools in our league.

I also had an extended conversation on I-AA Waves this past week. You can check the 9/19 show in the I-AA Waves Archives and download it to your mp3 player of choice.

T-Shirts
This is perfect for a bye week: The question for the class this weekend is: If you were to buy a fan T-shirt with a slogan on the back, what would that slogan be?

"Fly Higher"
"Do It On The Mountain"
"I Like My Leopard Well Done"

Feel free to comment on this thread - add your own!

Water Cooler Picks: Patriot League, Week 4
My picks last week were 3-4 - pretty pathetic, especially when I also pictured Colgate to whomp on Dartmouth by more than 6 TDs. And that was one of my "wins." Hopefully this week, I can do a little better. At 10-8 on the year, I really need to get "Championship Level", and fast.

Columbia over Georgetown. I saw this Lion team last week, and I saw a pretty darned good football team. We won't know who's the starting Hoya QB, but I think we're going to see another strong effort from Columbia - especially defensively - and that should be enough. Columbia 21, Georgetown 9.

Monmouth over Colgate. I really really hope I'm wrong about this one. But Monmouth's defense completely shut down their three opponents this year in a huge way, and Colgate will have to be on their toes against the Hawks. Furthermore, the Raiders haven't shown me that they're a championship team yet. I'm not sure NEC wins should still be considered "shockers", but this one may be considered another. Monmouth 28, Colgate 24.

#7 Richmond over Bucknell. If Bucknell can score any points against the Spiders, I'll be impressed. Richmond 54, Bucknell 0.

Princeton over Lafayette. How many times can I say that Princeton is good? They will give Lafayette a battle over 4 quarters once again, and can you say: 4-35-3 lifetime against the Tigers? It will be another close game - and another Leopard loss. (And here's another prediction: I'll be saying again next week that I told you so.) Princeton 24, Lafayette 20.

Holy Cross over Marist. After getting beat up by Northeastern and Harvard, the Crusaders should right the ship against Marist of the MAAC. HC 31, Marist 14.

Water Cooler Picks: I-AA Top 25, Week 4
So far this year (not counting Patriot League games, which I can't pick at at all), I'm 45-15 with the rest of the Top 25. I can live with that. I still think about those games I should have won, like picking Central Connecticut State over Georgia Southern and then reversing it since "Erk" Russell passed away, and last week's game where Furman's chance to upset I-A North Carolina was overturned in a very controversial replay call. Oh well. Hopefully I keep things up this week.

#1 New Hampshire over Dartmouth. You've got to believe that New Hampshire will stumble sometime - but not here. See Dartmouth get their best crowd of the year - with more than half the stands packed with UNH fans. UNH 44, Dartmouth 15.

#2 Appalachian State over Gardner-Webb. It's just so hard to see the "heavyweights" lose these types of games. App St. 35, G-W 10.

I-A San Jose State over #3 Cal Poly. This is an extremely interesting matchup. The I-A Spartans can't stop anyone, but have a potent offense, while the 'Stangs have one of the best defenses in I-AA but have had trouble scoring. To me, it's a bad matchup. The Spartans take this round. SJSU 24, Cal Poly 7.

#4 Montana over Sacramento State. Someday, the Hornets will pull a huge Big Sky upset, but not here. Montana 34, Sac St. 9.

#5 Illinois State over Murray State. The OVC's Murray State is in disarray, and having the red-hot Redbirds come to town is no way to get better. ISU 54, Murray 6.

#20 Western Carolina over #6 Furman. Watch out for these Catamounts. They're pretty good, and with Furman stung by an all-out effort against I-A North Carolina this week, they are ripe for an upset. WCU 31, Furman 28.

#8 Youngstown State over #15 UC-Davis. Another great matchup between two beat-up schools that have had a great September. Y-Town is fresh off a pasting by I-A Penn State, and UC-Davis is fresh off their shellacking of Montana State 45-0... on the road! This time, I think their fourth game which requires a flight will take its toll on the Aggies, though, as a fresher Y-Town takes this game in a close game. YSU 34, UC-D 32.

#9 UMass over Stony Brook. Stony Brook continues their "Theater of Pain" tour. UMass 56, SB 7.

I-A Ball State over #10 North Dakota State. This is neither here nor there, but don't you think there are way too many Great West teams in the Top 10? I do; and it seems like the most overrated of the bunch will probably fall here. Ball St. 48, NDSU 19.

#11 McNeese State over I-A Toledo. McNeese is the toughest team to figure in the whole Top 25, with a loss to I-A USF and huge win over D-II West Virginia Tech. Are they really the best in the Southland? With Toledo's suspect defense, I think they will break out in a close game that they just pull out. McNeese 41, Toledo 30.

#12 Southern Illinois over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. A big road game after a huge win at I-A Indiana is a recipie for a "letdown", but hey, this is Arkansas-Pine Bluff. SIU 41, Ark-PB 10.

#14 Hampton over Morgan State. I'll be at this game and it will be a lot of fun to attend my first real "Classic". Hampton has not one, but two, great rushers in Alonzo Coleman and Kevin Beverly, and both should run all over the Bears. Hampton 48, Morgan State 7.

Weber State over #16 Portland State. Upset special. A classic letdown situation: a brutal early schedule, playing an underrated team on the road, with #4 Montana the following week. Weber wins. Weber St. 27, PSU 24.

#17 James Madison over Northeastern. James Madison is searching for their identity, but Northeastern has found theirs: They can't beat the better teams. With a week off, give me the Dukes. JMU 24, N'Eastern 21.

#18 Eastern Illinois over Samford. The Bulldogs' 17-10 near-loss to Austin Peay tells me a lot more than the Panther's near-win over Illinois State 44-30. EIU 38, Samford 21.

#19 Delaware over Rhode Island. If *every* Delaware fan is picking Delaware to lose this game, you've got to beleive there's something fishy going on. On paper, Delaware wins handily; it really is a must-win game; therefore, Delaware wins... big. Delaware 44, Rhody 9.

Chattanooga over #21 Georgia Southern. Ultimately, everyone will figure out that this Georgia Southern team isn't that good. Chatty 36, GSU 20.

Hofstra over #22 Towson. Towson, ranked for the first time ever, will find out how hard it is to stay ranked after losing to a team that has had two weeks to prepare for them. Hofstra 29, Towson 14.

Brown over #23 Harvard. Harvard's on their third-string QB, and Brown is looking for revenge for their only league loss last year. Clifton Dawson won't be able to keep the Crimson in the Top 25 alone. Brown 38, Harvard 16.

#24 Nicholls State over South Dakota State. The less said, the better. NSU 49, SDSU 3.

Albany over #25 Central Connecticut State. The NEC game of the year, and it will be a good game between CCSU's spread option and Albany's big running game and powerful defense. From this reporter's viewpoint, it will be a tough battle - the winner may, just may, have a shot at the I-AA playoffs, and both teams know it. I wish this game was on TV - it will be great theater. My feeling? I think Albany wins this in the closing seconds in a clean, well-fought game with a FG. Albany 16, CCSU 13.

That's it for this week! See you Monday!