Lehigh Football Nation

(Photo Credit: College Football Performance) When Lehigh lines up against Columbia on October 6th, they will be facing their third first-year head coach in the third consecuttive week. Had you asked Columbia fans back in December whom they wanted that coach to be, the overwhelming fan favorite - according to the folks at Roar Lions , the Columbia fan community - was Holy Cross' Tom Gilmore , a face that Lehigh fans know very, very well. Columbia athletic director Diane Murphy , however, had other ideas, ultimately deciding on Pete Mangurian , a former head coach at Cornell as well as an assistant coach with Bill Belichick and Raheem Morris . It will be interesting to see what Mangurian does when he takes his Lions, who finished 1-9 last year, to Lehigh.

(Photo Credit: Baltimore Sun) It still seems weird that, with all of Lehigh's offensive prowess from last season, their thrilling FCS playoff victory would some down to that rarest of scoring plays, a safety. Yet there he was, senior DE Tom Bianchi , in position to give Lehigh a lead they wouldn't relinquish in their 40-38 shutout win - and he executed. In my "Hawk Squawk" series, I talk with Tom about the safety, and the upcoming season.

(Photo Credit: The Expess-Times) If there is one word that must sum up senior QB Michael Colvin , it must be "patience." "My goal this year is to be the starting quarterback,"he said to Michael LoRe of the Express-Times two Augusts ago. "If I don’t and we decide to do Wildcat stuff, I’ll do my best to help the team. But my goal is to be the starter and it has been and will be this year, next year and the year after that." After a terrible leg injury midway through his freshman season, and two years playing part-time Wildcat formation specialist behind Payton Award finalist QB Chris Lum , Mike finally reached his goal. To be "the man" at QB for the Mountain Hawks.

Technically, it could be considered a non-conference game. While Fordham is a part of the Patriot League, and their players show up in the preseason and postseason league all-America teams, since they started to offer merit-based aid for football players, they continue to be ineligible for the league title, and their wins and losses against teams in the League only serve to break ties. But they're not just a non-conference game. Fordham's players know what this game means for their program in 2012.  Rules might determine that they can't win a Patriot League title, but they know if they sweep the Patriot League they have an excellent chance to make the field as an at-large team. The centerpiece of that argument would be a win over nationally-ranked Lehigh.