Lehigh Football Nation

The blurry athlete pictured at left was Liberty sophmore WR Chris Summers , and he did this quite a lot last night in leading Liberty to a 19-13 win over the Leopards. He made 14 grabs - more than a few like the leaping grab shown here - for 138 yards and 1 touchdown. (Boy, I wish I hadn't moved the camera.) Backup Liberty sophomore QB Mike Brown - playing for the injured senior QB Tommy Beecher , who was held out in a gametime decision - was an efficient 29-for-36 with 88 yards rushing, 256 yards passing and a touchdown pass and a TD run for good measure. Against what is historically considered the top defense of the Patriot League, the Brown/Simmons express racked up 361 yards of total offense. Right off the bat Lafayette seemed to be put on the back foot after Liberty unexpectedly lined up in the empty formation, with Brown hitting Summers for a 7 yard gain to set the tone early. But the efficient Liberty drive, which put the Flames up 7-0, would be the only scoring unti

So what are you doing during Lehigh's bye week? So there I was, trying to make plans to travel up to Holy Cross to watch the Crusaders take on Harvard. I then get an email asking me if I could use an extra ticket to the Eagles' home opener. Fortunately, he got to me before I could figure out the price of hotel rooms in Worcester, Mass. So I changed my plans for the weekend, instead staying local to take in the other great Patriot League game in the area: Liberty taking on Lafayette, two teams which could make a case for the Top 25 when the game is over. As some of you may know, going to an Eagles/Saints game for me is such a mixed thing since I am a fan of both teams. Growing up I was a rabid Saints fan - I've seen the Saints play in New Orleans, saw them take on both the Jets and Giants in Giant Stadium, and I've even high-fived WR Quinn Early in a game against the New England Patriots almost a decade before they became the most Hated Team In America. And I've

I made the rules, and I'm living by them. This week's Player of the week, as voted on by you, the fans is, sophomore P Alex Smith . His 4 punts for 39 yards, including a booming 47 yarder, was excellent against a CAA team that prides itself on special teams excellence. Two landed inside the 20 yard line. Congratulations! Other Players of the Week this week include: Fans: Sophomore P Alex Smith Offensive Hawk: Junior WR Craig "Braveheart" Zurn (6 catches, 72 yards, 1 kickoff return of 10 yards) Defensive Hawk: Senior LB Matt Cohen (8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 touchdown-saving tackle of Villanova senior WR Matt Szczur ) Special Teams Hawk: Junior DB/RS John "Fear Itself" Kennedy (100 yards of kickoff returns, 4 tackles) Lehigh's bye week is this weekend. Tune in this weekend for a special "Bye Week" word, and a Friday water cooler looking over the upcoming Patriot League weekend.

(Photo courtesy the Foster's Daily Democrat ) Lehigh wasn't the only victim of a nationally-ranked CAA team this past weekend. The world of FBS continued to be terrorized against teams from the conference that is ostensibly the one that the Patriot League is supposed to be competing against in the world of FCS. Not only that, the CAA's only losses so far have come against either each other or FBS schools. It's worth a closer look. New Hampshire made it five straight FBS wins in a row after they held on to defeat the defending MAC champions, Ball State, 23-16 . David Letterman's alma mater dug themselves in a deep 23-9 hole early in the 3rd quarter after UNH junior FS Hugo Souza forced a fumble at the Ball State 7 yard line, which junior RB Sean Jellison gratefully put into the end zone on the offense's next play to take the two-touchdown lead. The Wildcats' defense was dominant all evening, only holding the Cardinals to 58 total yards after three

Rounding up the press on the game, Lehigh members focused on my "Sunday's Word" as it being a "learning experience" - but Keith Groller of the Morning Call also brings up the elephant in the room as well: scholarships. [Programming note: I'm going to set up the voting for LFN's Player of the Week on the Facebook page. I'll keep the voting open until Thursday since I didn't get it up yesterday.] First, though, the recaps: Lehigh Athletics Release: No. 3 Wildcats prove too much for Lehigh, 38-17 "I thought we made improvements over last week but certainly not enough to win against the number-three team in the country," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said afterwards in the press conference. "But we did clean things up in certain areas and now we have to keep moving forward. We have our bye week coming up which will allow some of our banged up guys to get healthy and we'll go back, watch the tape and continue to improve." Morni

As I was driving home from Villanova yesterday - struggling to figure out exactly what the heck I was going to write about this game - I figured out what the Sunday Word would be. I didn't actually see the bumper sticker to my left, but it not only explains a lot about Saturday's game - it also explains how Lehigh fans have to take this game, too. ***** In 2004, Lehigh beat Liberty 34-16 going into the bye week. Since then, every year the Mountain Hawks have gone into the bye week with a loss. 2005 saw a heroic effort against Delaware with a missed extra point in OT to lose in a 34-33 heartbreaker. 2006 - the year where Lehigh beat Villanova 31-28 in a huge upset - saw a massive letdown the following week with a 14-10 loss to Princeton going into (you guessed it) the bye week. In 2007, Lehigh had a bye week in the first week of the year but lost to "that school in Easton" the previous year. (For good measure, they lost the season opener to Villanova, 30-20). A