Lehigh Football Nation

(Photo Credit: Denise Sanchez/The Morning Call) On the opening drive of this game, sophomore WR Ryan Spadola finished a crisp offensive drive - which lasted less than three minutes - with a pretty fingertip catch in the end zone to give Lehigh's first score on a picture-perfect October afternoon. But shortly after that fantastic grab that would give Lehigh the lead, as it turned out, for good - Bucknell's special teams "simply got penetration", as head coach Andy Coen said in the postgame press conference, as the extra point was blocked to give Lehigh a 6-0 lead. It summed up a day that ended up being a comfortable win for Lehigh - with an offensive performance that many Mountain Hawk watchers have been yearning for since QB Phil Stambaugh - but still had enough uncomfortable moments to prevent it from being the sort of statement game that would establish this Lehigh team as top dogs in the Patriot League. (more)

For those who are interested - below the flip are my selection of picks today's Patriot League football games being played. For my picks of the rest of the week, click here to visit the College Sporting News and read: " How A Sixth-Stringer Won the Day for Richmond ", where I pick the Sports Network Top 25. Since my life has become a crucible of craziness, I'm reverting to doing "one-line analysis" of my picks these days. Last week, I went 5-1, putting me at 28-12 on the year. Let's keep the good times rolling. (more)

Polls have been a part of college football almost as long as there's been college football.  In a sport where teams are spread out across the country and don't play each other, it's a way to gauge the relative merits of one team against another. And fans of college football have always had a love/hate relationship with polls, too.  When they are kind to your team or conference, they're great; when they're not, they're biased, unfair, or voters are stupid - or some variation on that theme. The Sports Network recently revealed the complete list of their voters in their Top 25 poll - in an effort to provide some accountability to some of their more questionable teams making cameo appearances in the "Others Receiving Votes" area. Their revelation, however, has raised more questions than answers. (more)

(Photo Credit: Bison Athletics) When the Bison hired Joe Susan away from Rutgers this offseason to replace Tim Landis , they were looking to change history in Lewisburg. A recent history that included: no Patriot League title since 1997, the Tom Gadd years. No postseason FCS playoff appearances. Three straight years of losing records. And seven out of eight consecutive years where the offense didn't score as many points as the defense relinquished. It also includes another ignominious historical record for the Bison - twelve straight losses to Lehigh. Since beating Lehigh 21-14 in that title year of 1997, Bucknell hasn't beaten the Brown & White since. Most haven't even been close. In their last seven meetings, Lehigh has scored 30 or points in every single contest. It's Homecoming for Lehigh, and the Mountain Hawks are coming off a heartening 21-19 win at Harvard. They'll be faced by a rebuilding Bison team that will almost certainly count this

This week's LFN Players of the Week awards should look real familiar. Theygo to: Offense: Junior QB Chris Lum (21-38 passing, 299 yards passing, 2 TDs, 1 INT's) Defense: Junior LB Mike Groome (15 tackles, 2 QB hurries) Special Teams: Junior P Alex Smith (5 punts, 40.0 yard average, 4 punts kicked into a 30 mph headwind played key role in victory) Underclassman: Sophomore WR Ryan Spadola (14 catches, tying a school record, for 206 yards and 2 TDs, huge TD to go ahead with the wind in the 3th quarter) Congratulations to the winners!

(Photo Credit: Jimmy Young/The Richmond Collegian) The signs were there earlier in the week for anyone who was following Richmond football. Come Wednesday before their likely do-or-die game at UMass, Spider head coach Latrell Scott still hadn't selected a starting QB. Highly-regarded transfer QB Aaron Corp was out for the year after injuring his knee against New Hampshire the previous weekend. His backup, QB John Laub , had a wrist injury, and the third string, sophomore QB Nick Hicks , suffered a concussion against the Wildcats and could not make the trip to Amherst. "It's tough to prepare for the unknown," Scott said of the challenge faced by the Minutemen. "[But] it's not by design on our part." Anyone head coach who could compete dealt with a hand like that deserves a lot of credit. A head coach who wins against a top team in the nation with a hand like that deserves something else - continued survival for a postseason spot. (more)

(Photo Credit: Barry Chin/The Boston Globe) In the live blog penned by the Harvard Crimson, from the first sentence describing the Mountain Hawks - "Fashion check: the Crimson's looking sharp in Crimson jerseys and gold pants. Lehigh looks silly dressed in white-on-white" - it's easy to hate Harvard, and by extension, revel in the victory that Lehigh enjoyed this Saturday. It's funny how the live blogger at one point messed up who they were playing - "Mike Colvin in at QB for Lafayette . His pass intended for Spadola falls incomplete" - and it was equally as funny to hear the Harvard broadcast team call Lehigh the "Engineers" time and again on the broadcast, when - how long has Lehigh been the Mountain Hawks? A decade? 15 years? But announcers and live bloggers aside, Lehigh got a strong media writeup this week up in Boston and down here in the Lehigh Valley, rightfully honoring the "boys in white" with the gold helmets for t

So this morning, my wife and I were taking our son and a couple other children to a birthday party.  The parents dropped their kids off at our house, and left us to pack all the kids in our car. Once inside, I put the key in the ignition and turned. The tiny bit of charge in the battery flickered, and died. It was a seven year old battery, and an attempt to jump the car was unsuccessful. The battery was just old. It needed to be replaced. We unpacked everyone from the dead car, hurriedly packed them into my commuting car, and got to the birthday party late. What I didn't realize was that I would have a tale today that would tail in perfectly with what the Lehigh football team did this Saturday. (more)