Lehigh Football Nation

Coach Coen finally got his season-opening win . In a game that featured torrential rain and Lehigh's brand-new grass and drainage system almost as much as Lehigh's stifling defense, the Mountain Hawks scored 13 early points and didn't look back in cruising to a 19-0 victory. (My photo album will hopefully be up sometime in the next couple of days.) With so much talk in the offseason about quarterbacks, how's this for a debut: sophomore QB J.B. Clark 's first two pass attempts as a starting QB were completions for touchdowns. His stat sheet was modest, but efficient - 9-for-12 for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns. One of those was a beautiful streak by senior WR Sekou "Stunt Man" Yansane down the right side of the field where he "beat his man like a rented mule" as another famous Pennsylvania sports announcer once uttered. Senior RB Matt McGowan erased any lingering doubts about his injuries from last year after posting his best-ever day rushing i...

We're on the eve of the season, and even an impending storm isn't putting out my enthusiasm about tomorrow. To kick off the season, I'm hoping to post two more items: first, the conclusion of my yearly review of the Patriot League offseason with Lehigh, and second, my media day interview with coach Coen. Lehigh's athletics website released a video clip of the Copperhead Grille luncheon , and it's incredibly cool. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot: Lehigh also has an official iTunes store where they put audio shows and clips from Lehigh athletics last year - they were a treasure trove last year. As of this afternoon there was only one show on there: the weekend preview for this weekend (9/4). Happily, on that podcast is a good, long preview about the Lehigh football season and the upcoming Drake game. LEHIGH Coaching Changes: Much of the same staff from last year's squad remain, with a few changes : defensive line coach Donnie Roberts was elevated to assistant coa...

Change of plans. I decided it would be cruel to start a preview and, well, not finish it. So I decided to finish that first before finishing up the Patriot League offseason with Lehigh. Normally, I'll put the Press Links on Friday, but I'll put them after my prediction this week so tomorrow will be dedicated to my "Patriot League Offseason" special on Lehigh. Weather Update It's looking more and more like it's going to be a wet home opener. Yahoo! Weather right now reports it like this: " Rain showers early with a wind driven heavy rain developing later in the day. Chance of rain 80%." Looks like Goodman's new turf and drainage system will be tested right off the bat. Breaking Down Drake Offense Only four starters return from last year's offense from a team that went 6-5. Head coach Chris Creighton has instituted a multiple spread offense in place that the Bulldogs are still trying to click into, but he has two important veteran playe...

We are a mere 3 days away from Lehigh's season opener versus Drake. This year, I'm planning to do the following: I'm going to break my game previews in two parts thi year: part one, on Wednesday, will involve taking out first look - our "peek" at Drake, if you will. On Fridays I'll get down to the nitty-gritty: listening to the weekly press conference (which is carried by Lehighsports.com, incidentally), looking at our opposition position-by-position - and delivering my prediction for this game and the Patriot League, too. Oh yeah - if you're active on Facebook, you may want to enlist as a fan on Lehigh Football Nation's page on Facebook . It's neat because it has a messageboard (today's topic: the Drake game), it lets you know when the blog has been updated with new material... and it allows you to connect with other fans, too. Let's get right to it. (Photo Credit: Drake Athletics) Coach Coen has has two season openers in his two season...

I'm not feeling well today. Is is because I know I have to do a preview of "that school in Easton"'s offseason today? Or am I just taking advantage of my ill-feeling to review the Leopards today? You'll have to decide as I continue with the sixth of seven Patriot League previews today. LAFAYETTE Coaching Changes: With the departure of offensive coordinator Mike Faragalli to take those same duties at Richmond of the CAA, the Leopard coaching staff was shuffled a little bit this offseason. Unfortunately for Lehigh fans, assistant coach Bob Heffner simply slides into the role of offensive coordinator where he will start his eighth consecutive year on Lafayette's coaching staff. The Leopards did hire a new quarterbacks coach (Mickey Fein, out of Murray State of the OVC) and switched the responsibilities of Phil Hallahan (now runningback coach) and Joe Dougherty (wide receivers). The Hardest Guy To Replace: It’s definitely the guy with the mohawk. As a Lehig...

It's that time of year again. Although Lehigh isn't playing this week, every week during the season I always end the week with "Sunday's Word", one of my favorite parts of doing this blog. This week's word is "Canary". When people think of a "Canary", they think of the color yellow, birds or maybe about mobsters turning state's evidence. But I'm thinking of it in terms of a "Canary" in the coal mine - the miners who brought canaries down with them into the caves to test for oxygen. If the canaries died, it was time to exit fast. It seems to apply in a bunch of areas this weekend. A lot of hopes of FCS teams died this weekend with some really big blowout games with the best teams in FBS. Appalachian State - the team who, let's get real, put FCS on the map for most of the college football world -- played LSU, the first game on Saturday due to the looming evacuation of much of Louisiana later that evening. The Mount...