Lehigh Football Nation

Trying something new.  An open thread for you, dear reader, to comment about the game.  Enjoy!

This weekend's Lehigh football game, if you can't make it, will be broadcast on Service Electric 2 in the Lehigh Valley, and simulcast online via the Patriot League Digital Network . Six Patriot League teams play this weekend, with Colgate having a bye week after last week's loss to Ball State. Interestingly, future Mountain Hawk opponents Monmouth and New Hampshire also have bye weeks this week (as does Yale and Cornell, of course, as the Ivy League football season has not started yet). Unquestionably the "big game" after the one at Murray Goodman is the clash between Fordham and Villanova, a good game vs. Top Ten teams that will be broadcast on The Comcast Network locally, a bunch of affiliates nationally - and, thankfully, on the Patriot League Network too.

JMU S Dean Marlowe (AP) We break down the James Madison game and we give our fearless prediction below the flip. The Dukes have only met Lehigh twice in their history.  One time was the "7th-and-goal" game in the I-AA playoffs. The other was back in 1980, during one of the more stellar Engineer football seasons under head coach John Whitehead . The Brown and White played a tough schedule, including Colgate, Army, and five teams that would, at one point, end up in the CAA: Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, Northeastern, and, of course, JMU. Lehigh went 9-0-2 that regular season, thanks to the efforts of WR Mark Yeager , one of the best wideouts in the small-college circuit.  The ties came against Colgate and Army, which meant the Engineers would win the Lambert Cup with ease.  They'd lose in the I-AA playoffs to Eastern Kentucky, coached by hall-of-famer Roy Kidd.

(Photo Credit: AP) What's in a game? You're a typical Lehigh fan.  You know Lehigh is playing James Madison next weekend.  You know that the Dukes have been a pretty good football team over the years.  After reading this fantastic Lehigh blog you found, you learned of that national championship they won with QB Justin Rascati , after that championship run that started with converting that 7th-and-goal against the Mountain Hawks in the playoffs. But then you read a recap of James Madison's game last weekend against Maryland, and then you don't know what to think. The Terps are a FBS team, playing their very first game as a member of the Big 10 against the Dukes, coasted to a 45-0 lead against James Madison and were never really threatened.  You read about mistakes, penalties, scoring only in garbage time.  You might have caught some of the BTN broadcast, showing a sullen QB Vad Lee angry at himself after his second interception. What's in that game?...

Express-Times File Photo, Lehigh 20, Lafayette 13, 2010 It was destined to be a day of defense, and any number of hard-hitting inside linebackers could have been the MVP of the 146th meeting between Lehigh and Lafayette. Lehigh's defense was on the field thirty-six minutes, and never let a tough Lafayette run game wear them down. Almost right out of the gates, Lehigh's defense seemed to want to put their mark on this game. The first three defensive plays featured three straight tackles by senior LB Al Pierce, pounding Lafayette's   RB Alan Elder  and hurrying  QB Ryan O'Neil  into throwing the ball out of play. And it only got better from there.

Lehigh's newest online multimedia involves the Lehigh coaching staff on microphone. This week it was newly-promoted defensive coordinator Joe Bottiglieri , and in the video below you see the coach in various stages of instruction. The piece of the video that relates to the offense, though, is the highlight of the piece. Sophomore TE Zach Bucklin , "built like a small Volkswagen", as coach Bott himself mentioned, barreled into Lehigh's defensive coordinator, sending them both to the ground. In an odd sort of way, Bucklin's tire tracks over Bottiglieri's back signifies what Lehigh's offense hopes to be in the 2014 season as well. Sure, Lehigh will still have the type of offense that will work fast and spread things out.  Sure, the playbook will still be as think as a phone book.  But to think of this as a finesse team may be a mistake.  They may very well be a team that simply is also going to try to out-run and out-muscle you more often. And, ...

Some quick thoughts about the opening college football weekend.