Lehigh Football Nation

Like every other football team in the country, Georgetown fans are thinking that this season is a fresh new start, with plenty of new faces and a chance to build something special in Washington, DC. The trouble is that this isn't the first time the Hoyas have felt this way.  Georgetown, under head coach Kevin Kelly , is rebuilding.  Again.  For the fifth year in a row. But it's not just change happening with the Georgetown football program; it's radical change, and change, it seems, that the Hoya players believe in. It's quite conceivable that when Lehigh faces off against the Hoyas in the next-to-last game of the year, they will see a team they do not recognize at all from years past. From Georgetown's perspective - who went 0-11 last year, and has struggled mightily in Patriot League play since forever - that can only be a good thing. (more)

Most years, it's a gimme to pick last year's champions to repeat the following year.  But admittedly, last year wasn't just any old year for the Holy Cross Crusaders. Last year,  QB Dominic Randolph , currently in camp with the NFL's New York Giants, was at the helm of the Crusader offense, well on his way towards shattering every significant passing record in the Patriot League.  His choice to return for his final year of eligibility sent shockwaves through the rest of the league, as it should have.  His decision making ability and skill to find the weak spot on the opposing defense was unbelievable. It might be understandable to believe that the loss of Randolph to the NFL would cause a dropoff.  But a dropoff to being picked 4th in the preseason rankings, behind Lehigh and Lafayette?  4th, with two of Randolph's biggest receiving targets returning? 4th, with the preseason player of the year returning on defense? "I guess we'll have to prove it on t...

Sometimes is seems like not much changes from year to year up in Hamilton, New York with the Colgate Raiders. And that's probably just how Raider fans - and head coach Dick Biddle , who is entering his fifteenth season coaching the team playing in the frozen tundra of upstate New York - like it. There's no drama this season in Hamilton, really compared to the rest of the Patriot League. Elsewhere, there are quarterback battles in training camp, staff changes, head coaching changes and plenty of news to keep the newspapers and internet buzzing. Colgate? They're wondering which players they can reload with while their senior signalcaller - and leading running back - return to shoulder the Raider load in 2010. There's no drama in Raidertown.  (more)

One thing is abundantly clear about the Bucknell Bison: things are changing. New head coach Joe Susan - a guy that cuts an imposing figure - came to Lewisburg like a Scarlet Knight galloping from Rutgers.  With the royal endorsement from famous Bucknell alumnus (and former recruit) Greg Schiano , Susan came to instill something new in a country more accustomed to following basketball schedules than football schedules. And even though it's early, he is - beyond a shadow of a doubt - succeeding in his quest to change things at Bucknell. It's a new dawn in Lewisburg - and Patriot League coaches had better be paying attention, or they could become victims of a Bison stampede. (more)

Some days, the words flow easily.  But not today.  It's not every day that a two-time MVP of "The Rivalry" decides to leave the program. In a stunning turn of events, QB J.B. Clark announced that he is leaving the team after learning that he was dropped to third on the depth chart behind junior QB Chris Lum and sophomore QB Michael Colvin . I wasn't surprised, necessarily, to see Clark not be anointed the starter.  But I was stunned to see Clark demoted to third string and leave the team.  Lehigh's most experienced quarterback on the roster this spring is now gone, leaving big questions that will need to be answered by the Drake game.   (more)

At Patriot League Media Day, head coach Tom Masella seemed like he would rather talk about the upcoming football season, his potential NFL prospect TE, or Fordham's brand-new locker facilites than football scholarships. "He's a scholarship player, he's a scholarship player, and he's a scholarship player," Masella told Craig Haley of the Sports Network in regards to everyone's favorite off-season Patriot League topic.  Scholarships were still on everyone's mind, though - after all, despite Fordham's presence at Patriot League media day, scholarships were the reason that they were competing as an Independent in 2010 instead of competing for the Patriot League title. The fact that Lehigh will be playing Fordham as a non-conference opponent for the first time since 1989, however, doesn't mean any less to the Rams than before. They know full well that what they're playing for - a chance at the FCS playoffs - will require no large slip-ups...

Division I football programs are in a consant state of change.  Head coaches, and assistant coaches, come and go all the time.  Kids graduate.  Uniforms change.  Athletic venues sping up out of nowhere, or old facilities get a facelift.  Athletic departments upgrade websites.  It's a constant "evolution": adapt, or die. Since starting this blog in 2003, it, too, has undergone "evolution".  Things pop up in the sidebar all the time that I'm working on.  Even though I very much have a non-writing day job, I'm always thinking about the next thing I can add to my blog to make it better. But blogging itself has "evolved", too, in interesting ways. It's definitely a very different game than it was seven years ago. I'm finding myself thinkng about what this blog should be - now, and going into the future. Don't worry, I can't imagine myself giving this thing up at the moment. But it is certain to "evolve". (more)