Lehigh Football Nation

I cannot recall a Lehigh game, ever, where special teams gave away the game the way this Lehigh team did today. Two long snaps sailed over P Jason Leo's head today. One resulted in a safety, the other landed on the Lehigh 1 where the Albany offense gladly punched the ball in for the TD. 8 points off special teams, and you can add the 9 points on FGs to make up the Danes 17 points. We managed one FG, but blew two others. In addition, a blown extra-point ultimately was the difference in the game. So you can almost add a 9th point to Albany's total, gift-wrapped to them by Lehigh. Blame the weather all you want, but I didn't see Albany's snappers and kickers have that happen to them. What's especially sad is that without senior LB Micah Greene's fumble return for a TD on the defense's first play from scrimmage, this game could have been worse. The offense managed one TD on the day, in the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. After that, the offe

A 48 yd FG attempt

Nervous... Nervous... We're at least getting the ball back. Here comes Albany's punt.

Oh boy. Punt out the end zone. This sucks. We NEED another 3-and-out.

We got the 3-and-out. Got the ball at midfield. Time for the offense to play big. 7:44 to play.

FG good. Yes, fans, we NEED a good 3-and-out here.

Albany, 2nd and goal on 1-foot line... set up by, you guessed it, another ball that went sailing over P Jason Leo's head. Did I say the special teams need work? Do they ever. A quarter where the defense has just done enough to keep the Danes away from any play that could damage us, Lehigh's offense has stalled at key points, and special teams have killed us. Soph WR Sekou Yansane was called for a "low block" (yeah right), every punt an adventure, while Albany special teams have outplayed us. I repeat: a NEC team has outplayed us on special teams. Brace yourselves for a nervewracking 4th.

A weird-as-all-get-out score at half, as Lehigh narrowly averts a disasterous first half. Down 11-7 and under two minutes to play, Threatt decided to play pitch-and-catch to senior WR Lee Thomas, who -- basically -- took over on the drive and caught a nice streak down the right side for a big gainer, and got free down the middle for a nice TD. Under two minutes, Lehigh's offense did not go to sleep - they effeciently went down the field and got the job done. Unfortunately, it was the only time during the game that the offense was effective at all. Seeing 3rd-and-5 over and over in the early going, fumbles and broken plays were happening way too often. But you feel the composure returning at the end of the half. Defensively, at first Lehigh got the freaky TD by Greene and have for the most part held fast inside the 20, but the bigger Albany line has been pushing the Lehigh "D" line around, especially in the second quarter. The offense's lack of production, though,

Aside from sounding like Lehigh's playing ALbany in baseball, it's been a crazy first half. We are lucky to be ahead with LB Greene's fumble return for a TD to be ahead. On the bright side, we're going to have the wind at our backs in the 2nd quarter and Albany should struggle. Hard to judge the Lehigh "O" and "D". There are obvious problems holding onto the ball and bad snaps in the rain. "D" has done a fantastic job so far for the most part, and they're why we're up right now. Looking for some sort of offensive drive. Two hands on the ball, please!

A strange turn of events. A Threatt fumble, followed by a high snap on the punt, caused P Jason Leo to huck the ball out of the end zone to give up a safety instead of a short drive for a TD. Then, after the free kick to the Lehigh 45, Albany fumbled the ball, and senior LB Micah Greene (a surprise starter) picked up the ball and rumbled for the TD! A great, heady play! It is WET and it is WINDY. Both absolutely are a big factor out there. We are kicking into the wind in the 1st quarter, but it's going to be a ball-control game today. No better time to test the new ball control offense than today. Tune in later.

This year, I'm going to change my format a little and call this the "Friday Water Cooler". Let's all get real - Friday before gameday, is anyone really working, attending meetings, or being productive? No, they're around the water cooler, talking about the weekend. At the "Lehigh Football Nation" water cooler, well, the talk is I-AA football predictions and this week's press mash-ups. So, for the first time, here it is. Did you know? Lehigh, Lafayette and Colgate are all ranked in the USA Today rankings. It's always been my policy to use these rankings for my picks (since it makes my lookup of the games on Yahoo! that much easier), so it's nice to see Lehigh with a ranking of #25 next to their name. Hopefully AGS and the Sports Network will catch up with the USA Today next week and put Lehigh in their rankings as well. Can't make it to Goodman? The game will be on Service Electric 2 in the Lehigh Valley, AM 1230 and 1320, and available on

I’m sitting down to write the first Lehigh game preview of the year, and as a Lehigh fan, I keep seeing not necessarily Patriot League championships, but challenges to be overcome. I suppose could be looking at all the beaming predictions and fawning newsprint talking about the upcoming season. There are lots of excited fans out there for coach Coen and the Lehigh program. Sure, that and the piece on Sedale Threatt is great stuff, but a few days before the season is starting, and I can’t remember when I’ve had so many questions about our football team. Has there been a Lehigh season in the past twenty years that has seen this much change? A complete, radical overhaul of the offense? A brand-new formation on defense? No dominating defender who has asserted themselves as a defensive leader (as of yet)? TE Pete Morelli becoming a guard? DB Brannan Thomas listed as a WR? Guys going from nowhere on the radar screen to become starters? DT Royce Morgan, arguably one of the linchpins on defens