Lehigh Football Nation

Lehigh stays in the driver's seat. We survive once again, and move on. But it's funny; I should be much more elated with this win than I am. How could that be? We were up by three scores. Our defense smothered Colgate's offense in the first half, for the most part. Senior DT Erik Rakus seemed to be all over the field. Junior QB Sedale Threatt did a great job leading the team on first half TD drives, including 75 rushing yards and 2 TDs. As a Lehigh fan, analyzing the game, there for sure was a lot to like. Maybe it's simply that both Lehigh and Colgate seemed so... flawed . There's no other way to describe it. Usually Lehigh and Colgate features one or more nationally-ranked teams, with dreams of I-AA playoffs and maybe even a dream run to the I-AA championship. In recent past, these games were always grudge matches between teams with great execution. But this year it was a batttle between a 4-4 team and a 3-5 team, and it showed . More bad penalties, for one.

It's Friday, and in about 24 hours Colgate/Lehigh will be kicking off at Murray Goodman. What do you need to know before the game starts? First, the weather report still points to a sunny, high 40s/low 50s sort of day - in other words, perfect for football. Second, you can scroll down and read "10 Reasons to Hate the 'Gate" in case you forgot why Lehigh needs a win this week. Scroll down further and you'll read my detailed breakdown of the 'Gate. With that, and this week's water cooler and press roundup, what else do you really need? Well, yeah, it would be cool if Borat could visit this weekend's Colgate/Lehigh game. But unless I start a rumor that Pamela Anderson Lee will also be attending the game, I seriously doubt that the "glorious pride of Kazakhstan Nation" will be able to get to the game. (Perhaps the Uzbeks might be interested?) Some Serious Stuff Next week, ALSA will be sponsoring an ALS walk as a part of the ALS Call to C.A.R.

I couldn't really leave well enough alone. I'm so enthused by "Hate the 'gate" week at Lehigh that I was inspired to come up with ten (very good, in my humble opinion) reasons why you shouldn't merely root for a Lehigh victory this weekend against the Raiders of Colgate, but you should truly, honestly, "hate the 'Gate" this weekend. 10. First of all, Colgate leads the all-time series in football 24-18-2, and in almost every game in the past nine years the winner has gone on to win or share the Patriot League title. Too often that team has come from Hamilton, NY. 9. Before 1960, Lehigh played Colgate only once, in Binghamton, NY in 1922, getting embarassed 35-6. We need to avenge this embarassing stain on Lehigh's record. 8. According to local legend, this 1922 game featured the breakdown of Engine 13 , stranding our beloved Engineers an extra day in Binghamton, NY and indirectly contributing to another loss to hated national-powerhouse Lafaye

It's hard to believe how the Lehigh/Colgate rivalry has affected my life. For sure, for the past nine years this game has Patriot League title implications, and yet again this game in 2006 will either put Lehigh clearly in the driver's seat for the title - or make the title race a mess. But for me it's hard not to look at the personal side to this once-secret rivalry and my elevation of this to the national stage. In 2003, my first year of the blog, Colgate/Lehigh was a treat not well known outside fervent Patriot League watchers. We had just bought a house and my wife just gave birth to our son, and I remember working on my basement listening to a grainy radio trying desperately to figure out the score. It was probably just as well as our Mountain Hawks got drilled 17-10 in a smashmouth game that would ultimately doom our postseason hopes, while Colgate would go 11-0 and start their incredible march to the I-AA championship game. In 2004, Lehigh would host Colgate, and I a

What a great shot of senior RB Marques Thompson from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette! If any shot sums up the day, its this one with Marques "Mud" Thompson slipping the grasp of the Holy Cross defenders. I do fully realize, courtesy of senior LB Matt Mohler that it's "Hate the Gate week, but permit me a moment to celebrate the week that was and the great Lehigh win over Holy Cross and give out my game balls. (The full quote from the Morning Call is as follows: ''Being in first place feels fantastic,'' Mohler said. ''It's why I came to Lehigh. I was used to it as a freshman and sophomore and it's good to be back. But now it's ''Gate Week' and you've got to hate the 'Gate . We're going to have to get ready for them.'') On that note, offensive game balls are going to go two five hogs and one guy from Tennessee. Senior FB Greg "Grandpa" Fay, junior OL Jimmy Kehs, senior OL Pete Morelli,

Come on, you knew some variation on wind, rain, and slop was going to end up being today's word, didn't you? It really has to be said again: In the past, this was the type of game that Lehigh would lose. The finesse passing game would get grounded, our team speed would be nullified, and we'd make too many mistakes and too few plays to win. Bad snaps; turnovers; lapses on special teams. "Mud" was not kind to Lehigh in recent memory. I think the book was out on Lehigh - play tougher than them, get a little lucky with the weather, and you can out-hit them to victory. Not anymore. The 2006 version of Lehigh has been able to run the ball effectively the past few games. They've been able to smash people in the mouth and roll around in the "mud" and have some fun. Oh yeah, and win too. There's lots of "mud" in those offensive and defensive trenches, and our linemen really made it happen on Saturday. The genesis of the win started righ