Lehigh Football Nation

Lehigh did what they had to do today, pouncing on VMI early to the tune of a 31-0 halftime lead and ultimately cruising to an easy 37-6 drubbing of the Keydets. Refreshingly, this game was over early after senior QB Sedale Threatt connected with junior TE Troy Healion for a 15 yard TD to make it 7-0, and it was all downhill from there. With Healion's 2 TDs, and junior WR Nick Johnson's two bombs, it's going to be awfully challenging figuring out an offensive player of the week. (What a pleasant problem to have.) Not only was it great to see Lehigh return to their dominating ways at home (which I very much hope to be a trend), it was great to see the offense and defense get a good chance to click and continue to work things out. I get the feeling this team is getting stronger, and this is a morale-building win to bring the Mountain Hawks to 2-1. Having said that, it's not like it was perfect - 10 penalties for 71 yards leaps to mind. There were some drives in the fi

I've got to hand it to the executive director of FCS at the Sports Network (and longtime friend from I-AA.org and College Sporting News ) Dave Coulson, he really knows how to get in good with me (and a lot of other Lehigh fans). In his FCS column this week he mentions that he will be in attendance in this week's VMI/Lehigh clash at Murray Goodman stadium. That means for the 1:07PM kickoff he'll be able to see all the inflatables for the kids, since it's "Kids' Day" at the stadium with lots of activities for the young Hawks in the opening hour. Normally I'd come up for "Kid's Day" with my son, but since I have other things to attend to this weekend, I'll be watching the game over the internet and blogging about my impressions. I sat next to Dave at Princeton last week for Lehigh's win over the Tigers, 32-21, which I wrote about extensively on College Sporting News in a FCS diary entry along with a photo album . With Dave fi

Some of you reading this preview will not be aware of who VMI is. You might know that they're the Keydets and they compete in the Big South conference, or that they're 1-2 on the year with a win over D-II Lock Haven and two blowout losses against William & Mary (63-16) and nationally-ranked James Madison (45-17), or that their school mascot is (inexplicably) a kangaroo. All you need to remember if you're a Lehigh fan, though, is the following score: Lehigh 28, VMI 26. That was the score in 2005 when a nationally-ranked Lehigh team went down to Lexington, VA hoping for a cakewalk victory, but instead found themselves in a battle with a team that simply wouldn't give up. Once Lehigh woke up, they found VMI with the ball driving for the game-winning FG with under a minute left. SS Julian Austin ended up intercepting a pass on this drive, and allowed us to escape with the win. And escape is the right word, even though VMI would end up with a 3-8 record that year. Lehigh

This week's vote for "Player Of The Week" was awfully close, but ultimately it was taken by a defender who probably also should have been Patriot League Player of the week. On offense, I'm going to give it to both of the fab freshmen backs who played in this game: freshmen Kwesi Kankam and Jaren Walker . Kankam got 73 hard-earned rushing yards and an early touchdown to give Lehigh a lead they would never relinquish, not to mention a huge 3rd-and-15 on the game-icing drive off a screen pass that was crucial. Walker netted 59 rushing yards, got a big 4th-down conversion to help keep a drive alive at the end of the first half to score a touchdown, and got the tough yards between the tackles to power a the game-clinching touchdown for himself in the 4th quarter - in his first appearance as a Mountain Hawk. There are a lot of special teamers that need recognition for some great stuff that was happening against Princeton: a blocked punt that ended up being a safety, hea

Here's this week's version of "Around The Horn" after a happy week for the Patriot League after they went an impressive 5-2 against the Ivy League in what could be called the "Ivy/Patriot Challenge". Start out by saying that the five wins eclipsed the grand total of *four* from all of last year, which has seemed to be a huge gust of wind in the sails of the entire League. Even more gratifying was the fact that three of those wins came against three of the teams picked in the preseason to be competing for the Ivy League title: Penn, Harvard, and Princeton - whom the League didn't beat at all last year. Two of these games, however, didn't get decided until the final minute of play - which shows more that the Ivies and Patriot League are more even rather than one league being miles better than the other. The only thing I really didn't understand is how Brannan Thomas didn't win Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week . Maybe being at the

With Jaren Walker (left) revitalizing the Lehigh rushing game (here converting a key 4th down in the second quarter) and the Patriot League standing tall all over the Northeast, the Patriot League is starting to show up in the national polls once again as the Sports Network Poll has Lafayette at #22 and Holy Cross and Lehigh are starting to show up in the "Others Receiving Votes" list. Look for me to talk more at length at the game on College Sporting News in a special "Diary" (complete with photo album). In the meantime, here's a very quick "Press Mash-Up" since I'm extremely pressed for time. Sports Network: Lehigh Surges Past Princeton Morning Call: Young Backfield Leads Lehigh Over Princeton Morning Call: Freshmen Give Lehigh Unexpected Lift Groller: Late Night With Lehigh Express-Times: Lehigh Cashes In On Five Turnovers Trenton Times: Too Little Too Late for Princeton "We're obviously pleased to get the win," Coen said. "

This weekend, taking a look out at the "greenery" outside my window in Bucks county has been great. After a win, everything smells better, tastes better, and feels better. A perfect day today involved walking in the "greenery" around my house with my family, much more at ease. It almost doesn't matter how it was done. Just the win, getting off the schneid, feels good. Lehigh fans are, to put it mildly, a demanding lot. Sometimes it seems like no win is impressive enough, and every mistake is magnified. I can only imagine the "greenery" on this Lehigh team: like our super duo of freshmen tailbacks in freshman RB Kwesi Kankam and freshman RB Jaren Walker . Here they are, in their first-ever college level win, and rather than that being the story of the game, Lehigh fans are talking about how it should have been more, how we let Princeton back into the game, how it was an "ugly" game. "Welcome to Division I football, Jaren, with your first