Lehigh Football Nation

In front of about 5,000 fans, Lehigh fell into a too familiar game script. After falling behind by two touchdowns, Lehigh clawed to get back into the game but ultimately gave up touchdown after touchdown, falling 56-28 in what felt like a role reversal from the Mountain Hawks' big win against the Elis in the Yale Bowl last season. The Bulldogs racked up 566 yards against the Mountain Hawks, 258 on the ground, and 308 through the air.   QB Kurt Rawlings threw for 4 touchdowns, 2 which went to WR Melvin Rouse en route to a 4 catch, 84 yard day. Yale RB Zach Dudek had a monster day against Lehigh, running 9 times for 135 yards and 2 TDs, including an absolute backbreaker, a 29 yard run with 8 minutes left in the 4th quarter. Lehigh's offense ended with 375 yards, but were stopped in key situations and frequently were stuck in 3rd-and-long.   Senior WR Gatlin Casey had 4 receptions, 2 for touchdowns, but couldn't hang on to a critical 4th down catch that might hav

Not going to the game today? First of all, what's wrong with you?  The weather is perfect! OK.  So your Vespa is in the shop, it's the Karate Kid semifinals, or some other very good reason has arisen where you can't make it to Murray Goodman for the game. Never fear.  LFN's here.

One of the quirks of being a Lehigh fan is that generally, the Mountain Hawks play an Ivy League team in their season opener.  This year, that team is Yale. This sets the Mountain Hawks up in an odd situation - Lehigh is in their third game, and Yale is an unknown quantity.  It's something that all teams playing against Ivy League teams face, but at times it feels like something that the Patriot League has to deal with more. Over the years, there's been a back-and-forth debate: who benefits more, the team that's had two weeks to work out the kinks, or the team that has the element of surprise? “I’d like to believe we have the upper hand," head coach Andy Coen said this week, "because we have played two games and you’d hope that Yale will make some first-game mistakes and we’ll be able to take advantage of them.” Yale's sophomore QB Kurt Rawlings had a different perspective. “Being able to go in and have two weeks rather than [against] most teams [

We break down the Yale game - and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip. This week, College Sports Journal picked their order of finish of the Ivy League and the Elis were picked to finish 5th , in contrast to the preseason Ivy League media poll, where they were picked fourth . "Exhale, Elis, you did it," it said.  "For only the second time in a decade, Yale finally beat their most bitter Rival in The Game, 21-14, giving head coach Tony Reno something pleasant to bring into the offseason for a change.  That win, however, somewhat masks a maddeningly inconsistent 2016, where Yale went 3-7, gave up more than 40 points on defense four times, and somehow managed to lose to Cornell 27-13 at Schoellkopf Field.  The win in The Game will provide hope in New Haven and a good feeling in the offseason, but will it translate into a winning season and an Ivy League title run?"

“The past is the past and we aren’t concerned with it. We have learned from our mistakes, and we are ready to move on.” That comes from junior RB Micco Brisker , who was quoted two years ago after the Mountain Hawks came back from a trip to Princeton where Lehigh fought hard, but fell, to the Tigers 52-26. The similarities between that week and this week are something that I cannot shake. Like this week, Lehigh came back home that season to face off against Yale after a tough, physical loss.  Like this week, the Mountain Hawks were coming off a school record being set by  senior WR Troy Pelletier  in a losing effort.  Like this week, Yale started  RB Deshawn Salter , a mild surprise after the expected starter went down to injury.  And like this week, Lehigh came back home after a loss looking to right the ship. In 2015, Lehigh lost the game. In 2015, Brisker and LB Colton Caslow talked a good game about being prepared for that week, fixing mistakes and moving forward.  But

I don't officially vote in any of the FCS Top 25 polls, but I do share who I think deserves to be in the Top 25, and for the second straight week - hold on to your hats - I think James Madison was, and still is, the No. 1 team in the nation. I know, right?   Crazy. Truth be known, the top layer of FCS teams did little to move themselves much.  When teams like New Hampshire were beating FBS teams and teams like Villanova were taking FCS teams to the wire, much of the Top 10 proved they were Top 10 worthy teams.

I've been around Lehigh football a long time and I have seen a lot of different Lehigh football seasons. For some Lehigh football teams, things seem to come easy.  Some teams would come into Murray Goodman Stadium, and the Mountain Hawks would seemingly win before the coin toss.  The opponent already had beaten themselves, intimidated - and all Lehigh would have to do is not do anything ridiculous, and all the home fans would go home happy. Those types of games reminded me this weekend of the swagger someone like CB Deion Sanders had as a player.  How many NFL receivers beat themselves fifteen minutes before going onto the field because they knew Neon Deion would be on them? It looks like the for the 2017 Lehigh Mountain Hawks, this will not be the case.  It was a season that started out like it would be one where things came easy, but that didn't happen. For whatever reason, this team will have to earn it the hard way, and in so doing, have an opportunity in f

(Photo Credit: Monmouth Athletics) Football is a physical game, and it requires a tremendous amount of strength to line up, play after play, to push people around down after down. As a result football games sometimes can evolve into contests where the teams push each other around, and such games can end up where one team gets worn down and the other pulls away for a big victory. That's what happened this weekend at Monmouth. The Hawks started out behind the eight-ball early, falling behind by two scores, and then rallying to take a 27-21 lead relatively early in the third quarter.  But the physical beating, slowly and surely, took its toll, eventually knocking the offense out of kilter and the pushing the defense out of the way for their powerful running game.  In the end, Lehigh only could be punched in the mouth so many times, and fell, 46-27. It was an especially hard loss to take because this isn't how the 2017 season was supposed to happen. "The tougher