Lehigh Football Nation

Is it really just about 50 days until Lehigh travels to Des Moines, Iowa to kick off their 2010 season? Does that mean that the time is finally right to start taking early looks at the matchups on next year's schedule, and see what sort of players and teams the Mountain Hawks will be up against? It does to me, at least. Especially when one of the players on the Drake team we'll be facing - senior DE Dain Taylor - has been getting NFL scouts and plenty of pre-season accolades going into the season. Drake is a lot more than Taylor, of course. But Taylor's statistics should put to rest any idea that Drake of the Pioneer Football League will be a pushover fifty days from now. (more)

Remember when there weren't any preseason teams for the Patriot League, and there was a dearth of coverage of I-AA and FCS football? It seems hard to fathom now, with the Sports Network issuing a flurry of different columns on everything from the top FCS players at all positions (of which senior OL Will Rackley is listed ) to a piece on the best matchups during the 2010 season (in which "The Rivalry" features, and a reminder that Lehigh won last year 27-21 in overtime).  Add to that Phil Steele's 2010 All-Patriot League team , and you have plenty to chew on before the start of the football season. Last year, I published my own All-Patriot League team for the first time - as I saw that the Patriot League themselves did not issue one. I decided to make it a yearly thing - so, below the flip, please enjoy my picks for the preseason all-Patriot League team, first and second team. (more)

As recently as two decades ago, it seemed ludicrous to think of cheerleading as a sport. Co-ed cheer squads, with the occasional gymnastic move by the girls and loud shouting in the megaphones by the guys, seemed more like a free way to get in to see the game rather than a true "sport" that involved competition. But the evolution of cheerleading into a true competitive sport may be more than a simple academic question these days. Quinnipiac College, a Division I non-football playing school, recently had a lawsuit brought against it by members of its recently-cut volleyball team. The team says that their team was the victim of budget cuts so that that Bobcats could continue to sponsor a "competitive cheerleading squad" . Advocates and foes alike can agree on one thing: if competitive cheerleading will be accepted as an official sport, the decision will have huge ramifications throughout the entire NCAA. (more)