Skip to main content

Sunday's Word: Rematch

Against the advice of some of the readers of this blog, Sunday's word isn't going to be the word "apologist" (for my Leopardphilia this week) or "unprofessional" (for my humorous post about UMass).

Instead, I'm going for "rematch".

There is going to be plenty of time to recap the 2006 Patriot League season, which ended Saturday with Lafayette's loss to UMass 35-14. There's time to go over the performance of coach Coen and to start thinking of the offseason. But it's still playoff time, and the two games everyone must be following are a pair of regular-season rematches between bitter leaguemates.

It's somewhat ironic that in the BCS world we're very likely going to be denied the rematch that most fans would rather see (Ohio State/Michigan) in favor of a game which will be a whitewash in Ohio State/USC. In the world of the FCS playoffs, however, we get two interiguing second-round matchups that are very special rematches that could demonstrate exactly why the NCAA shouldn't shy away from them in any postseason, BCS or FCS.

Illinois State made no bones about who they wanted to play next Saturday. "Bring on Youngstown State!" Illinois State's Gateway title hopes were somewhat dashed after losing to Youngstown State 27-13 in their "worst performance of the year" as some fans put it. In that game, the Redbirds only scored 6 offensive points at home to the eventual Gateway champions. Illinois State is coming off a dominating performance on the road against Eastern Illinois 24-13, while Youngstown had to come from behind (and get a huge assist from James Madison head coach Mickey Matthews) to squeak to victory 31-28. Next week at the Ice Palace Youngstown I think will have their hands full with an Illinois State team which is eager to avenge the memory of that loss.

The UMass/New Hampshire game should be another nailbiter with a lot of emotion. In a 28-20 victory for the Minutemen four weeks ago, New Hampshire was denied on the UMass 3 yard line with under a minute to play. You have to believe Wildcat QB Ricky Santos has to be dying to get another shot at a team that many believe belong in Chattanooga this year. Still, the Wildcats barely squeaked by Hampton 41-38 after converting a 4th down 25 yard TD reception to RB Chad Kackert.

Southern Illinois/Montana and Montana State/Appalachian State will easily be eclipsed by these two other second-round matchups. Although it will be interesting to see both of those games, it's the "rematches" that will probably be the highlight of next weeks' slate of games.

It's not the first time the BCS could look to the FCS as to how they should run their postseason, nor will it be the last. But "rematches" are great games and great theater. They should be encouraged, not denied the chance to happen.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Can you post the 2007 Lehigh football schedule?
Anonymous said…
The least you could do is quote me correctly: I never used the word "unprofessional" in my comments. That might be your interpretation--but I was questioning your "objectivity" more then anything else.

You advertise your blog in the "discussion" section of the AGS forum that busts-on UMass; while at later time you post your write-up of the game as a journalist in the same section.

Your blog dissing UMass, at the minimum, belonged in the "smack" section of AGS.
Chuck B '92 said…
dennis, on umass74's blog you referred to my post as "not very professional". You're entitled to feel that way - but just wanted to set the record straight.

First, yes, I did bust on UMass on my post saying why Lehigh fans should root for Lafayette over UMass, but I think it was clearly a piece that was meant to be funny and not meant to be taken seriously. Read through the site; I've joked about Liberty, Monmouth, Colgate, Lafayette...

Second, if you read my CSTV writeup of the game, you can tell that the sendup of UMass didn't leach its way into my writeup of the game. Read it again and tell me it's not objective or busts on UMass in any way. If anything, it heaps praise on RB Steve Baylark.

Comment on my blog all you want, but do not question my objectivity on CSN or CSTV.
Anonymous said…
If you read through my first comments, I said you did a "great job" on your game write-up. I just feel that there is a fine line between being a professional journalist and a blogger (at least try to hide the fact that you're both the journalist who covered the game and the blogger who busted-on one of the teams that played in the game).

One person's humor is another's smack...Lets leave it at that.

I love your map project and have used it a few times already.
Anonymous said…
this is coming from a recent grad/player from your lehigh team, our program is a hault right now and in order for us to become a premier team in the league again we have to compete on and off the field with the other teams, the rest of the league yes i said the rest is moving ahead of us..from facilities,recruiting, the way they treat their athletes and the whole experience. im telling you all this in all honesty but about 99% of the team is on board but all 99% feel like they arent getting the full experience of a real program, there is alot of little things such as getting one grey workout shirt,gold shorts,grey undershorts for 4 years! one pair of cleats for the WHOLE year as well as not having up to date nutriotion and workout supplements that other patriot league schools are getting. If lehigh wants this program to remain close to the top alot of changes have to be made, in order to remain on top you have to recruit better than everbody else..i give it 3 aybe 4 more years and lehigh will be the 4th best team in the league why? because the program hasnt advanced since the 70' if you think im bullshitting ask any current or former player.....lehigh needs to keep up with the rest of the pack the sprint is downhill now and lehigh athletic dept still thinks we are miles ahead like we use to be little have they understood that everybody else has opened up stride and is now a few steps ahead...tradition isnt old time sakes tradition is Winning in order to keep winning you have to be bigger, badder, and better than everybody else..someone please express this to joe sterett, hell the basketball team can get renovated locker rooms and football cant? please...were are behind the 8-ball i want to see lehigh back as the team! no a team in a league!
Anonymous said…
Well, finger crossing time for Lehigh football fans... a possible transfer. One of the true "impact" freshmen from another Patriot League team ( who won a rookie of the week award and could have/should have won several) is looking to transfer to Lehigh. He came to visit friends after the season ended and says he's willing to sit out in order to play for the Hawks. This isn't a knee jerk reaction...he's been saying this all fall to his friends.

This brings up an interesting point. His first choice out of high school was Lehigh... but ran into trouble in Admissions. I was told by one of the Lehigh coaches that he was #1 on the Lehigh board for his position but didn't get through the process, yet ended up at a rival school with the same stringent admission policies. I was told that this is not uncommon in the Patriot League where schools make their decisions on athletes independently. The Ivies have the band system which breaks a student down numerically and thus if he doesn't get into one because he's below the bottom number, he won't get into any of the others. Period. Anyway, keep yor fingers crossed, great player.... better kid. No name for now...don't want to jinx!
Anonymous said…
To LUFB07 - Please send an email to Joe Sterrett and express your concerns. He needs to hear it from a former player not a fan on this board. I guarantee you, he will read and respond to your email.
Anonymous said…
I'm with you Ngineer. Last year the Athletic Partnership raised $790,000 this year the goal is $1,000,000. Any one that cares enough about Lehigh football, to read this Blog on a regular basis, open up your check book. Ngineer, do you know why Lehigh doesn't have a football booster club like many of the other schools in the Patriot League?

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.