Lehigh Football Nation

Some breaking news - and some quick opinion - on a revelation from Lafayette's student newspaper that president Dan Weiss will vote "no" on allowing conventional scholarships to be offered in the Patriot League. In the article, Weiss said, "increasing our commitments to athletic scholarships is not consistent with the mission and vision of our college," and that the institution is better suited using additional resources in other areas. "I wasn't satisfied that it can be done without incremental cost and I don't think that it's appropriate at this time in the life of this college to be putting more money into football when there are other programs and needs that are more pressing," he said. You can bet there's more. (more)

While nothing can be definitively be said to be honestly and truly set in stone in terms of the 2011 and 2012 football schedules until the vote on allowing football scholarships comes to pass this week, the 2011 football schedule is rumored to be nearly complete and the 2012 schedule is rumored to be a work in progress. As long as affiliate members Fordham and Georgetown do not budge from the schedules, there's some exciting times ahead next year - including visits from two Top 25 programs to Murray Goodman next year. And for 2012... what if Lehigh were able to schedule an away game against... Rutgers? (more)

The final LFN Players of the Week awards go to: Offense: Junior QB Chris Lum (35-for-58 passing, 362 yards passing, 2 TDs, set Patriot League postseason records) Defense: Senior LB Al Pierce (13 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 forced fumble that led to points, 1 pass break-up) and junior LB Mike Groome (13 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble that led to a touchdown) Special Teams: Senior KR John "Prez" Kennedy (139 yards in kickoff returns, 3 tackles) Underclassman: sophomore WR Ryan Spadola (5 catches 72 yards, including a tough thread-the-needle TD grab in the first quarter) Congratulations to all the winners!

(Photo Credit: Matt Breitel/The Brown & White) It still is hard to comprehend that the football season is finally, truly, over. In case you're like me, you'll want to go over the final game recaps of Lehigh's fall in the second round of the playoffs. It was a year to remember on a whole lot of fronts. Lehigh's first Ivy league sweep since 2005. The Patriot League's first win in the FCS playoffs since 2003. The Mountain Hawks' first outright Patriot League title since 2001 - and their first playoff victory since that time, too. To top it off, the three teams they lost to - Villanova, New Hampshire, and Delaware of the CAA - are all still alive in the playoffs today, implying that they are three of the top eight (or nine) FCS programs in the nation. But today is a day to recap Lehigh's season-ending loss to Delaware this past Saturday, and below the flip are the recaps of the Mountain Hawks' final game in 2010. (more)

(Photo Credit: William Bretzger/ The Wilmington News-Journal ) Before the season started, I was hugely skeptical about Delaware QB Pat Devlin . I didn't even have him listed as a top three quarterback in my preseason FCS all-America team. I felt that he had some good statistics last year - playing on a losing football team - but I thought there were better quarterbacks around FCS. Say, Appalachian State QB DeAndre Presley , who is the current signalcaller for the Mountaineers' spread-option attack, or Stephen F. Austin QB Jeremy Moses , who ran the Lumberjacks' pinball, pass-happy offense. But I became quite the believer in the frigid Delaware press box this Saturday. "Devlin" is an appropriate season-ending "Word" for Lehigh for two reasons - reasons that you'll have to see below the flip. (more)