Lehigh Football Nation

The 38-17 defeat was not a surprise to a lot of people, but it was striking to see the Mountain Hawks line up against what we want to be someday. Lehigh got to look up close at a team that could very well win the national championship in FCS this year. The Wildcats didn't play the cleanest game in the world, but it was more than enough to put away the Mountain Hawks who fall to 0-2. Villanova never trailed, but the complexion of the game changed in the second quarter when, down 17-7, junior RB Jaren Walker appeared to be down before hurting his left ankle and dropping the football. But the play wasn't whistled dead - and Villanova freshman DE Marlon Johnson picked up the loose ball and returned it for a crushing touchdown to go up 24-7. It was eerily similar to the play last year against Villanova when, up 13-7, senior LB Osayi Osunde stripped the ball from junior QB J.B. Clark to be returned for a TD and take a 20-7 lead they would never relinquish. (Replays appear to

It's just over 24 hours to gametime, and Lehigh's being given no chance to win by, well anyone else in the media. Of course I'm no exception to this rule, predicting a 40-10 Villanova victory here and here . But I'm not even the only blogger who predicted a whitewash: Fact over at the Nova Facts Blog has as one of his keys to the Lehigh game as " showing up ": As long as the 'Cats bring their B-Game, they should beat Lehigh and if they bring their A-Game, you might see a bunch of people dressed in brown heading to their cars early. It is worth noting that Villanova destroyed the Auto Bid from the Patriot League in the playoffs last year. The Sports Network also predicts a double-digit blowout : These two Pennsylvania teams couldn't have had more opposite first weeks. Lehigh couldn't get its offense going in a loss against Central Connecticut State, while the Wildcats defeated FBS opponent Temple with a last-play field goal. VILLANOVA 42, LEHIGH

(Photo Credit: Villanova Athletics) The No. 3 ranked team in the nation. It promises to be the toughest game on Lehigh's schedule, and the toughest opponent any Patriot League school will face in the regular season this year. Villanova fans can smell a blowout win. And they don't care who knows it. The Villanovan , Nova Nation's student newspaper stated this week that there "is a disparity in talent between the two teams." If that weren't enough bulletin board fodder for the Mountain Hawks, the student paper then proceeded to state that the game would "provide Villanova the chance to tune up before their tough upcoming conference games." It seems like a lifetime ago for both teams that QB Sedale Threatt in 2006 travelled to Villanova and upset the Wildcats 31-28 in their home opener. That year, Lehigh had designs on another Patriot League title run, while Villanova struggled to a 6-5 season and failed to make the FCS playoffs yet again. Since th

Every year, I try to come up with a "LFN Players of the Week" survey that you, members of the Lehigh nation, can vote on for who deserves to be honored online. This week I was unable to put up the survey because 1) I was pretty disappointed with the results of the first game and 2) because this week has been a mess for me. I'm still going to issue "Players of the week" - and hopefully I'll have a survey set up next week, either on the blog itself or the Facebook Page - but for this week, it's pretty easy to determine the "Players of the Week" as they were honored by the league as well . For good measure, I'll also add one more very deserving player on his debut. Offensive Hawk of the Week: *None* Defensive Hawks of the Week (tie): Senior DT B.J. Benning (12 tackles, 1 1/2TFL, including one 3rd down stop that sent the back end over end) Junior SS John Venerio (10 tackles, 1 INT in end zone in debut as starter) Special Teams Hawk of the

Every week, I try to go through the rest of FCS Eastern football and highlight some of the other goings-on in FCS that have an impact on the subdivision in which Lehigh plays. This week saw three different FCS teams - all at one time rumored as expansion targets for the Patriot League - upset FBS teams. It seems inconceivable now that any of them would accept a place in a league with need-based scholarships. But first, let's look a bit more at the Patriot League's wins - and losses - in Week One. Holy Cross' 20-7 win over Georgetown may have been somewhat underwhelming by my account - but senior QB Dominic Randolph's 36-for-56 414 yard performance earned him the Sports Network's Offensive Player of the Week honors anyway as well as the Gridiron Club of Boston's "Golden Helmet" award . It probably wasn't the way Randolph wanted to break the Patriot League's all-time passing yardage mark - trailing 7-6 to Georgetown entering the fourth quarter,

This morning, I got up, in as foul a mood as I was yesterday evening after watching Lehigh's awful offensive day against Central Connecticut State. As is often the case, I started breakfast and searched for the right Sunday "Word". It didn't take me long to find it. The first full weekend of the Division I football season is always chock-full of "expectations". Before a single uniform gets dirty, every college football fan has higher hopes for their teams - sometimes just to be a little bit better than last year. Others hope to win a league title, and (in FCS, anyway) even compete for a true national championship. We Lehigh fans in particular had extremely high "expectations" for our team after an unusually optimistic offseason. Despite ending last year with a 5-6 record, the Mountain Hawks won the game that counted - the one against "that school in Easton". Somewhere along the line, the good feelings about the win started to moprh