Lehigh Football Nation

Two weeks ago, coach Coen said that the next two weeks will define who we are as a football team. We have been defined all right. "We embarassed the Brown & White today," coach Coen said in the postgame press conference today. And I'm not all that sure much more needs to be said. Coach Coen said "we're not a good football team right now" as well, and he's right. Want reasons? Why list them? Let's just say that Lehigh was outplayed in every phase of the game on offense, defense and special teams. We couldn't stop them, and we couldn't do anything consistently on offense on them either. We didn't hit, we didn't tackle, we weren't tough, and we didn't battle. We didn't hustle off the field. The coaching staff and the players appeared to learn absolutely nothing from the Fordham loss two weeks ago. It was the biggest game of the year - and the team came out flat. How is this possible? You know what else was really...

(Photo credit Demetra Stamus, Morning Call) In a week when Lehigh's main focus is a huge Holy Cross/Lehigh game this weekend, certain off-the-field Patriot League developments stole some headlines. First was the confirmation of the long-awaited Patriot League presidential meeting to discuss " the future of the league ." Before you cry in horror, thinking that the Patriot League is going to disband, don't worry: by future, they mean they meant to discuss a "vision and strategic plan for the league," according to Dr. Brian C. Mitchell, who is the chair of the Presidential council and the president of Bucknell. The press release, and even the few press reports on the matter (like this Morning Call report ), don't say a heck of a lot. Not even coach Coen has heard much on them. All we really have to go on is the following part of the statement: "The five core program components that were the focus of the retreat discussions were admissions policies a...

(Photo courtesy of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette) It's a big game this weekend at Murray Goodman stadium. A defining game for a 2007 squad that after last week's 23-7 loss to Yale is still trying to find its legs on offense. It's a game that Lehigh has to win in order to have any realistic hope in winning a Patriot League championship this year. It's a conference game; a must-win game; a playoff game, if you will. It's all of those things. We will find out what this team is. We will find out if this is a team that can compete for Patriot League titles this year. We will find out how hard this team will work, and we will find out how many players step up and make plays. On offense, we are really going to need them since we're going against the #1 offense in the Patriot League. If nothing else, the Crusaders can score points. Lehigh has been here before in must-win situations. All you need to look at is my blog posting last year concerning the Lehigh/Holy...

I've had quite enough of you "boo birds" out there. Yeah, you know who you are - so-called Mountain Hawk fans that "helpfully" suggest benching our starting quarterback and start losing the rest of our games so we can build for next season. Let me get this straight - you'd prefer to bench our starting quarterback and have the seniors lose on homecoming, lose to "that school in Easton" for the fourth time in a row for the sake of hitting rock bottom and building up from there? Last I checked, Lehigh only had one league loss. A win this weekend, coupled with a Fordham loss, would all of a sudden put Lehigh back into the mix for a title and possibly an autobid into the playoffs. I'm as perplexed by anyone at the lack of offensive production the past three games, but benching our starting QB and going with an all-freshmen team for the sake of "rebuilding" is complete and utter idiocy. It really hit home after listening to the "Andy...

If you had watched the first three quarters of the Lafayette/Harvard game, you would have thought that the game might go down to the wire, and that quite possibly the Leopards would take one from the Crimson. But the Leopard's senior QB Mike DiPaola threw three killer interceptions in the fourth quarter as Harvard upended Lafayette 27-17 . And two of the three interceptions were directly converted into points, as Harvard's senior CB Stephen Williams returned an interception 91 yards for a TD. "You have to make good decisions," Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani said of DiPaola's performance. "You need to make good in critical situations and give yourself a chance." On the bright side for the Leopards, Lafayette's defense was highlighted by junior LB Andy Romans' 17 tackles (including 8 solo tackles) and 2 tackles for loss. And Harvard coach Tim Murphy came away impressed by Lafayette's defense. "You have to go in with only a cou...

Dropping a quick line to say that it's "Judgment Day" this Saturday for Lehigh. If Lehigh wants to have a chance at a championship and maybe even postseason play, they need to beat Holy Cross this weekend. Judgement day. No vote on players of the week, as there were only three players last week that really stood out that will get game balls: junior LB Tim Diamond , senior LB Rashaun Gasaway , and junior P/K Jason Leo . Diamond gets it for 11 tackles (10 solo), and 1 tackle for loss, Gasaway gets it for 9 tackles and 2 for loss, and Leo gets it for maintaining the best net punting average in the NCAA (41.2 net this Saturday, with 1 landing inside the 20). No press mash-up. It's time to focus on "judgement day".

This one will be short and sweet, perhaps because what I said two weeks ago as Sunday's Word ("If") and the wrap-up of what I said yesterday still very much apply this week. "If" talked about this team no longer about being about potential, and that from here on in the word ought to be "now". In the wrapup yesterday, I mentioned coach Coen's quote "The next two weeks will define who we are as a football team." And after that game, I did attempt to "define" what Lehigh is right now. I could talk about how every week is a playoff game for Lehigh, which essentially is true. But I think there's something more important, incredibly, that also needs to be said about this senior class. Namely, how do you want to be "defined"? Win or lose this weekend, how do you want to be "defined" as a team, as a unit, or as a player? Do you want to be "defined" as a hard-hitter who battled with everything they had?...