Lehigh Football Nation

Since it's still college football season for me (as evidenced by my new poll asking readers for their vote for LFN Player of the Year, my open letter to NCAA President Myles Brand , and my preview of FCS games this weekend , including the playoff quarterfinal games), I haven't had much of a chance to do much hyping of the Lehigh winter sports that I enjoy so much. But while I was busy, Lehigh's wrestling team was - shall we say - busy. Busy resurrecting themselves as a national program. As EIWA title contenders. Maybe even rising from the ashes to make some serious noise this March in the NCAA Championships, too. Lehigh has gone from being unranked starting the year from going an amazing 8-0 in the early going all the way to a No. 10 Intermat ranking. That included an utter 41-3 domination of Princeton . A win over No. 9 Michigan . And last weekend, it meant an upset win over No. 7 Oklahoma State in the Northeast Duals to give the Lehigh wrestlers a perfect 8-0 mark.

While Lehigh's men's basketball's 77-64 loss to St. Joe's yesterday was no moral victory , it does bring back into focus the big victory from before Thanksgiving: Lehigh's win in the 144th meeting between Lehigh and Lafayette. And you, the readers of the blog, have spoken. According to you, the MVP of the 144th is none other than senior DL Brian Jackson . In the biggest game of the year, he came up with his best day as a Mountain Hawk: 8 tackles with 3 1/2 sacks for 19 yards lost. His pass rush - against, mind you, a powerful Leopard "O" line - was a key reason that Lafayette's offense never got on track against us. His final game as a Mountain Hawk is one that definitely deserves the honors bestowed upon him by you, the readers. Game balls for the 144th: Reader's Choice: Senior DL Brian Jackson Offense: (tie) Sophomore QB J.B. Clark (12/22 passing, 201 yards, 2 TDs), senior WR Sekou Yansane (3 catches, 56 yards, including one ESPN SportsCen

(Photo Credit: The Cincinnati Enquirer) Mercifully, our Mountain Hawk doesn't attempt to flap his wings during every minute of every half during men's basketball games. Though hopefully our Mountain Hawk will be, let's just say, around the "other" flapping Hawk for some serious mocking action at 7:00 p.m. tonight at Stabler Arena as St. Joe's swoop in for the biggest men's basketball game in Stabler in years . Normally, I wouldn't be advocating that our Lehigh men's basketball team mock anybody, never mind in December. But after a torrid 5-1 start - including a win over Rutgers of the Big East, capping off the most successful November Run in Lehigh men's basketball history - you can say quite resoundingly that the Mountain Hawks have earned the right to trash talk. (Although this game could be hazardous to my health. I've already talked too much trash to my wife, a Rutgers alumna, about the Hawks' win over the Scarlet Knights. What i

(Photo Credit: Laurence Kesterson/The Philadelphia Inquirer) Officially, the Patriot League football season doesn't end the week before Thanksgiving. That's because the Patriot League champion participates in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs every year. This weekend, however, it sure felt like it ended seven days earlier. Patriot League champs Colgate got throttled 55-28 in a game that wasn't even as competitive as this final score indicated. The FCS playoffs for the Patriot League have traditionally resulted in some thrilling games in the past. Think of Lehigh's 2004 heartbreaker to eventual national champion James Madison in a 14-13 dogfight. Or Fordham matching UMass shot for shot last year in a 49-35 shootout. Or "that school in Easton" giving Delaware all they could handle in 2004 before falling 28-14 - or scaring the pants off of Appalachian State the following year after falling 34-23. This year? Not so much. Villanova junior WR Mat