Lehigh Football Nation

This year, I had the good fortune to attend my 23rd  "Rivalry", the most-played  rivalry in college football with 147 meetings. And as a Lehigh fan, I was immensely pleased with the outcome. And yet, I cannot recall a stranger edition of this game in my experience. To the seniors who played in this historic game, it was a shining moment in their football season - something they had wanted to do since they came to Lehigh in the first place. But I don't think anybody thought it would go down like this.

(Photo Credit: Rick Sinclair/Associated Press via the Washington Post) Head coach Andy Coen tried to say it, in a preseason article in the Morning Call. (subscription required) . I tried to say it, in a preseason piece on the Hoyas called: " Know your 2011 Opponents ". Even the casual blogger Casual Hoya said it, too, with a refreshingly ill-researched homer piece about how the Hoyas were going to compete this year for the BCS National Championship. The consensus was: Watch out for Georgetown. Now, in Week Eleven of the college football season, the first winning record for the Hoyas since Georgetown joined the Patriot League isn't simply a feel-good story about a team that's spent more than a decade losing a lot of football games.  It's a story about a Patriot League Championship game, taking place in Bethlehem, for sole possession of the title and autobid. And for the Hoyas, potential payback for last year.

This week's LFN Players of the Week awards go to: Offense: Senior QB Chris Lum (30/37 passing, 368 yards passing, 30 yards rushing, 4 TDs) Defense:  Senior DE Ben Flizack (6 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 pass-breakup) (tie) Defense:  Senior LB Colin Newton (5 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 pass break-up) Special Teams:  Sophomore P/K Tim Divers  (1-1 FGs, 35 yards, 3-4 XP (kick blocked), 6 points scored, 4 punts, 38 yard average) Underclassman: Freshman RB Jason Suggs (77 kickoff return yards, including a 34 yard return) And - I forgot last weekend's winners, for Yale vs. Lehigh! They are: Offense:  Junior WR Ryan Spadola  (11 catches, 148 yards) (tie) Offense: Senior WR Jake Drwal (10 catches, 112 yards, 3 TDs) Defense: Junior LB Sam Loughery (8 tackles, 1 sack, 1 pass break-up) Special Teams: *None* Underclassman:  Sophomore DB Tyler Ward (6 tackles, 5 solo tackles, 1 pass break-up) Congratulations to the winners!

(Photo Credit: Liz Rohde/The Daily Item, via the Morning Call) Senior QB Chris Lum and senior DE Ben Flizack didn't just run away with a 30-6 victory on Saturday - they also ran away with Patriot League Players of the Week awards, too .  For Lum, it was his fourth time being honored by the League, while it was the first time for FLizack. Lum's command performance (30-for-37, 368 yards passing, 30 yards rushing, 4 TDs, 1 interception) earned him a co-Offensive Player of the Week award from the Sports Network as well, making him the only player to be honored twice by the organization. Their awards capped off a bunch of happy recaps - and a bit of gnashing of teeth from Lehigh fans and media folks that were stuck on I-80 on their way to Lewisburg - of their fifth win of the season.

Lest anyone think I'm succumbing my popular "Sunday Word" column to commercialism, I haven't yet gotten any checks to sell out my weekly editorial page yet.  (None that have cleared, anyway.) But when Lehigh folks think of "Combos", do they think of the crunchy, delicious, oven-baked pretzels with a spicy, cheese pizza-flavored filling made with real cheese? Or do they think of the other, many, "combos" at the disposal of head coach Andy Coen ?   (more)

All this week, there was all the talk of the surprising 4-1 Bison. How fantastic senior DE Josh Eden was, how great senior DT Robert De La Rosa was, and how this Bucknell defense created a boatload of turnovers that could keep them in any game. Lehigh's defensive took that as a challenge, and made a resounding statement at Christy Matthewson-Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, PA this weekend. On Bucknell's first offensive play from scrimmage, senior DE Ben Flizack would sack Bucknell sophomore QB Brandon Wesley for a big loss - one of twelve tackles for loss, and one of ten sacks, on the afternoon.  It would be the start of a stifling performance that would lead to a comfortable 30-6 victory by Lehigh over the Bison.  (more)

Lehigh's defense last year was one of the best Mountain Hawk fans have seen in an awfully long time. In 2009, a vast, talented secondary featuring CB Jarard "Main Man" Cribbs" and CB John "Prez" Kennedy , and a linebacking unit that headlined a two-time Lehigh/Lafayette MVP in Al Pierce were not the only reasons why Lehigh had the top scoring defense in the Patriot League last year. Head coach Andy Coen brings back a budding defensive superstar and a host of very, very good defensive players.  But the optimism should not diminish the challenge ahead: that defensive coordinator Dave Kotulski has in front of him: to replace three all-Patriot League players, including the entire starting secondary. Will this unit achieve the high bar set by the 2010 squad?  (more)

(Photo Credit: Luke Sahagian/The Brown & White ) It's been a weekend to remember for Lehigh football. First, "The Rivalry" win over our Leopard-print neighbors, 20-13, and the energy and excitement that the game always engenders. Then, the realization that Lehigh will be travelling to one of the storied programs of FCS in Northern Iowa to compete in the UNI-Dome in the first round of the FCS playoffs this weekend. To top it all off, Lehigh, head coach Andy Coen and a host of individual Mountain Hawks got recognized with post-season awards, prestigious award nominations, and a return to the FCS Top 20 for the first time since 2005. A whole lot of happy news and information follows below the flip. (more)

(Photo Credit: Kevin Mingora/The Morning Call) When head coach Andy Coen was asked where the win this weekend ranks with him - excluding the wins against Lafayette in "The Rivalry", of course - a smile escaped. Coen wasn't the only smiling Mountain Hawk fan this afternoon, either. In a game that was billed as one that would probably be a dogfight until the very end, Lehigh jumped out to a 31-0 lead and never really looked back in a 44-14 stomping. The Maroon Marauders that were supposed to run all over Lehigh's "bend but don't break" defense with the top rusher in FCS, RB Nate Eachus , didn't. The Lehigh offense, that was supposed to struggle against a top-flight team, didn't. This Lehigh team, which was supposed to lose the close games against the great opponents, didn't. It had to be the most satisfying non-Lafayette win in coach Coen's career. (more)

Crying because it's the bye week, and you can't get your Lehigh football fix?  Fret not.  There are a backlog of articles about Lehigh players that you can enjoy below the flip. If that weren't enough, there's even an article from the Brown & White telling the students to step away from the tailgates - if even for only an hour - and watch the damn game. It might even make up for the fact that there's no game this weekend. Read on. (more)

The season couldn't have started out more perfectly for the Mountain Hawks. What wasn't to love about the first quarter?     Junior QB Chris Lum completes his first five passes - and starts the game off orchestrating two amazing drives that justified all the confidence that head coach Andy Coen had in him. On defense in the first half, Lehigh was money.  As a unit, they held the Bulldogs to only 38 yards and one first down - that Drake WR Nick Rosa had to earn severely after senior LB Al Pierce and the rest of the Mountain Hawk defense pounded him good. And yet - this was a game that was dangerously close to being lost.   (more)

Spring football is going along well, even when the temperature outside seems more like a mid-summers' day than early April.  Viewed in that light, it seems pretty apropos that Lehigh's theme for this year involves the heat - or, as head coach Andy Coen explained to Keith Groller of the Morning Call , 212 degrees: 'That's the boiling point of water,'' Coen said. ''The thought is that you want to heat up and when you get to 212 degrees, you boil and you can do some special things. I think they picked up a good theme because we have been close the last couple of years. We have been playing at 210, 211 degrees in a lot of games. This year we need to get to 212.'' It's been an incredibly busy month for Lehigh athletics - two NCAA tournament appearances, an EIWA and NCAA Wrestling championship, and another appearance on CBS College Sports this weekend - this time for men's lacrosse, where they head up to Hamilton to engage in their own sprin...