Lehigh Football Nation

On Wednesday at Patriot League Media Day, I sat down with two senior co-captains, senior RB Keith Sherman and senior LB Nigel Muhammad , and talked to them about the upcoming season. It's a credit to Lehigh that year in and year out the expectations are so high.  This season, Lehigh was picked a very close second , right behind defending champions Colgate. What's sort of odd about that is only Nigel, and senior OL Ned Daryoush , made the first team all-Patriot list , yet they still were picked second. What did Keith and Nigel have to say about that?

(Photo Credit: Lehigh Valley Live) Next week, preseason practice begins for the 2013 Mountain Hawk football team, and the clock ticked down to a mere 34 days until the first game of the year. At no. 34, we will honor incoming  freshman DB Brian Githens  as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete today.

We are now officially under a week from preseason training camp, and the clock has ticked to 35 days left until the Mountain Hawks' season opener vs. Central Connecticut State. At no. 35, we look at sophomore LB Mat Verdon as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete today.

(Photo Credit: Lehigh Valley Live) Preseason training camp is just around the corner for Lehigh, and it's a mere 36 days until the Mountain Hawks' season opener vs. Central Connecticut State. At no. 42, we find  senior FB Zach Hayden  as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete in today's countdown.

Think Patriot League Media Day would keep me from the countdown?  Not exactly. At no. 37, we will honor instead incoming  freshman DE Joe Barrett  as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete today.

Last season, as he does for the Sports Network every year, Craig Haley gave his predictions for the Ivy League. Haley, who used to work for Princeton, made a bold prediction: that the Tigers would climb out of the Ivy League cellar after a 1-9 season , saying, for good measure, that  "it seems time for the Tigers program to win more often. At least that's what everybody thinks." Like some people, I chuckled to myself.  Princeton?  Out of the cellar?  Really?  ( Jake Novak , of the Roar Lions blog, noted about his prediction : "Actually, NO ONE thinks that. Princeton is picked last in every other poll.") As it turns out, Haley's prediction came out looking pretty good, making me very glad that I didn't put my own reservations about Princeton's chances in writing.  (Or put Haley's face with the caption, "What's he smoking?" underneath it, like Roar Lions did.) The Tigers confounded their last-place expectations and inst...

(Photo Credit: Keith Groller / The Morning Call ) Here at LFN we continue our march towards the start of the Lehigh football season, which is only 38 days away. 38 days! At no. 38, we find another player from the local area,  sophomore LB Noah Robb  as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete in today's countdown.

It was hard to know what to think when the following announcement came up on the Patriot League Twitter account: Major announcement coming from the @PatriotLeague this afternoon....very exciting development for 2013-14 and beyond! — Patriot League (@PatriotLeague) July 29, 2013 Out of the blue, there it was.  What could it be?  More (gasp) expansion news?  The pro-bono hiring of Jon Gruden as Frank Tavani 's assistant defenisive coach at Lafayette?  Free sno-cones at football's Patriot League Media Day, scheduled for this Wednesday? It wasn't any of these three possibilities, but it was something even better. Now, any Patriot League fans with a decently-fast laptop, tablet or phone will now be able to stream a large number of games over the internet. For free.

(Photo Credit: Kyle Grantham /The Delaware News-Journal via USA Today High School ) Preseason training camp is just around the corner for Lehigh, and it's a mere 39 days until the Mountain Hawks' season opener vs. Central Connecticut State. At no. 39, we will honor instead incoming  freshman LB Pierce Ripanti  as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete today.

(Photo Credit: Riverside-Brookfield Landmark) Preseason training camp is just around the corner for Lehigh, and it's a mere 40 days until the Mountain Hawks' season opener vs. Central Connecticut State. When we started out, sophomore LB Matt Laub , using last year's numbers, was at No. 92 in the countdown.  Since then, he was reassigned No. 40, and No. 92 was reassigned to an incoming freshman.  (You can see Matthew Laub's position in the countdown here .) So at no. 40, we will honor instead incoming  freshman DL Jimmy Mitchell  as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete today.