Players of the Week, Georgetown vs. Lehigh

Some quick notes before we enter the preview of Yale vs. Lehigh. First of all, here are this week's LFN "Players of the Week":

Offensive Hawk (tie): Junior RB Jay Campbell (another career high this week with 20 carries and 111 yards rushing vs. Georgetown) and freshman QB Michael Colvin (Patriot League Freshman of the Week with 45 yards rushing, averaging 7.5 yards per carry)

Defensive Hawk: Senior LB Matt Cohen (Patriot League Player of the week on defense, 6 tackles, 4 tackles for loss including 3 sacks)

Special Teams Hawk: Junior DB/RS Jarard "Fearless" Cribbs (71 yards in punt returns including a 34 yard return)

You undoubtedly noticed the new nickname above for Jarard. May I propose that the Lehigh special teams unit get a new nickname: the "Fear Factor". With junior DB/RS John "Fear Itself" Kennedy, junior WR Craig "Braveheart" Zurn, there's a lot to fear in Lehigh's special teams units - so why not?

Finally, the ECAC Lambert Poll, ranking the top teams in the East for the Lambert Trophy, was released this week. They list as the top 10 schools:

1. Richmond
2. New Hampshire
3. Villanova
4. William & Mary
5. Colgate
6. Delaware
7. Holy Cross
8. Massachusetts
9. James Madison
T10. Lafayette
T10. Harvard

Every year I go through my own calculations and compute my own Lambert Power Rankings, or LPR, based on a simple formula. (I actually simplified it from last year, where I weighted games in region and overtime games differently - I found out that it wasn't worth dividing in that way.) Unsurprisingly, my LPR also has many CAA teams in it - but has a different breakdown:

1. Richmond (69 points)
2. Villanova (56.5 points)
3. New Hampshire (55.5 points)
4. William & Mary (52 points)
5. Colgate (51 points)
6. Hofstra (43 points)
7. Albany (42 points)
8. UMass (37.5 points)
T9. Delaware (36.5 points)
T9. Holy Cross (36.5 points)

Now this, admittedly, is just a formula (which is the only reason my New Hampshire would be below Villanova, who they beat, and Delaware would be below UMass, whom they beat). But interestingly, Albany, ranked at No. 7 by my system, is nowhere on the official ECAC poll, and neither is Hofstra at No. 6.

The official poll takes out Albany and Hofstra and replaces them with James Madison (9), Lafayette (T10) and Harvard (T10). In my ECAC Ballot, I had all three of these teams in there: but it's interesting to ponder why Albany isn't in there after beating Maine earlier in the year.

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