Lehigh Football Nation

I couldn't be happier that Lehigh put in a much better performance this week than they did last week, proving me wrong in a 32-21 victory. It's a game that shouldn't have been that close - after Princeton had argubaly one of their worst halves in the Roger Hughes era, Lehigh had a 23-0 lead that should easily have been 30-0. Four turnovers in the first half, the Tigers only had nine mnutes of possession time, and Lehigh ran 52 plays. 52! Two missed FG and a missed extra point meant the Tigers were in it at halftime. In the second half, Princeton battled back and made it a much more interesting game, cutting it to 23-14 late in the 3rd quarter. But much to Lehigh's credit, they stomped on Princeton's throat early in the 4th quarter with a late drive to go up 32-14 and ending their hopes at a comeback. Once again, Lehigh showed flashes of brilliance on offense, punching in the first two takeaways/gifts for touchdowns. Yet Lehigh had the chance to go for the jugular an...

As of this point, I believe that I will be going to the Lehigh/Princeton game this weekend at 6PM, where I will be joining Dave Coulson of The Sports Network in the press box. I say "I believe I will" because as of this late date and time, I haven't head back from Princeton as to whether I have a press credential or not. For those of you that don't know, it's highly unusual to have heard nothing about this at this late time about press credentials one way or another. So if you see a shivering guy (it is supposed to be a low of 46 Saturday night) with a Lehigh Football Nation hat wandering aimlessly through Princeton's campus looking frantically for tickets, do him a favor -offer him a Black & Tan and help him out. (Otherwise I could very well be staying at home and watching Iron Chef reruns.) This, of course, brings back memories of the day I met my future wife: on September 25, 1999, when Lehigh played at Princeton in the first-ever night game at Pr...

Lehigh travels down to Princeton, NJ this week (a 6PM start) to play a Tiger team to which they lost 14-10 last year in Bethlehem, which snapped a seven-game winning streak against Princeton and featured the Tigers' first win in the series since 1993. In a lot of ways, this loss last year was a real canary in not only Lehigh's coal mine, but the Patriot League's coal mine as well. Going into last year's game, Lehigh had a huge head of steam after beating Villanova 31-28 in dramatic come-from-behind fashion. QB Sedale Threatt, after having a coming-out party against the Wildcats, was effectively shut down by the Tigers: 13-for-21 passing, 0 TDs, and 2 interceptions. (The only touchdown on the day came from a 3 yard TD run by Sedale in the first half). Even midway through the second half, when Threatt threw an interception and Princeton scored on their second-straight drive to take a 14-10 lead, folks were wondering when the Lehigh offense would show that flash and go...

You, the fans, have spoken, and here are the players of the week. Two are mine, and the one you, the fans, picked are represented here. On special teams, I picked a freshman in his first collegiate game: freshman WR John Kennedy . He had four kick returns for 97 yards, with a couple nice rips that set the Mountain Hawks up with great field position. By the end of the game, they were kicking away from him - a pretty good endorsement that he had a terrific day. Defensively, it is a pretty easy call: junior DL Brian Jackson . He was a monster out there with 10 tackles, 2 1/2 tackles for loss, and he brought down Villanova QB Antawn Young down twice. He was the major disrupting force on the line, and was the best defender out on the field in this reporter's opinion. And you, the fans, voted junior WR Sekou Yansane as player of the week with his 6 receptions for 99 yards - while only returning to camp just under a week before the game. Timing issues? Try a picture-perfect streak across...

Before I get to the rundown of the rest of the Patriot League (and some future opponents), I wanted to mention a couple things about Monday's Lehigh media blitz (which you can catch the replay on Lehigh broadcast or iTunes ). The debut of the "Andy Coen Report" occurred yesterday at 6:05PM on AM 1230 and AM 1320 in the Lehigh Valley and was a very fun listen. Hosts Tom Fallon and Mark Markus really did a great job with coach Coen setting up a relaxed atmosphere for coach Coen to speak his mind, and I thought it was really enjoyable. (And, no, "Chuck from Bethlehem" was not me, but I will plan to dial in one of these Mondays!) Secondly, on the Lehigh Sports Magazine this week, featured was the #18 game selected in the "Best 20 Goodman Moments" series, the Lehigh/Cornell game of 1995 where RB Rabih Abdullah ran for a Goodman record 266 yards and 5 TDs in a 34-23 Lehigh win. And if you are really, really, paying attention, you'll see a (younger) ...

It's probably not the most ideal of circumstances under which The Andy Coen Report is launching its inaugural broadcast tonight on lehighsports.com and AM 1230 and 1320 in drive-time at 6:05PM in the Lehigh Valley, if only because Lehigh is coming off that 30-20 loss to Villanova last Saturday. But this brand-new coaches show should prove to be an exciting addition to the increasing number of media presentations Lehigh is offering about their sports programs, but this call-in show is really the first of its kind and will undoubtedly be bolstered by the fact it is on during drive-time in the Lehigh Valley over regular radio. I'll be very interested to tune in and learn what coach Coen and other fans around the Lehigh Valley have to say about the Mountain Hawks. Which leads me to a new feature for the blog: each week, I plan to list six names for "Players of the Week" in the survey on the left, and you can vote on who you think this week's Player of the Week sho...

It's really the only word that seems to apply after yesterday's performance. "Uneasy". Now, this uneasiness may simply just be a delayed reaction from the fact that the Patriot League doesn't feel like the Patriot League anymore. Maybe it has as much to do with Colgate getting demolished by UMass 35-17, only four years removed from their delicious humiliation of the Minutemen on the road to the 2003 I-AA championship game. Or Bucknell getting stomped on by Stony Brook 48-20, which puts a big dash in their fans' dream of getting back to the big time. Even Fordham, after their surprising (and heartwarming) win over Rhode Island last week, got brought back to reality in a 23-20 defeat to Albany. But I really don't think those losses made their fans as "uneasy" as Lehigh fans feel after this one. Villanova made the most hay in our secondary. Think about that: the defensive backfield is supposed to be the strength of our team. Four seniors. And they g...