Lehigh Football Nation

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.

If disrespect were money, Fordham fans would be millionaires right now, thanks to a nation of UConn fans. Admittedly, the Rams, under head coach Tom Masella , could have in 2011 their toughest pigskin schedule since Vince Lombardi suited up for the boys of Rose Hill back in the 1930s. And Fordham won't be playing only one team this year that has the potential to qualify for a BCS bowl.  Thanks to the fact that the Rams carry 63 scholarships - a combination of the need-based variety that Patriot League schools may offer, plus merit-based scholarships that more resemble the ones in the rest of FCS - they'll be playing both UConn to open the season and Army later in the year. In Patriot League circles, the question remains: will football scholarships make Fordham into a football program that is unrecognizable to other members of the Patriot League?  But in FBS circles, the Rams evoke more ridicule than respect. (more)

(Photo Credit: Sports Newscaster ) Normally I wouldn't lead my "FCS East Wrapup" with a battle from the Deep South.  But Jacksonville State , aside from thrilling folks nationally as ESPN cut to their game, has enough of a history with Lehigh to justify them being the lead this week. And boy did they earn their place atop my column, with a brass balls performance in their 42-41 upset win over Darth Miss .  The plucky Gamecocks ended up strangling the Rebels, much the same way a little team from Boone, North Carolina captured the imagination of the sporting world a couple of years ago.   (more)

Recently, the New York Times' George Vecsey   ran an article about Duke head lacrosse coach John Danowski . The last name "Danowski" means a lot to folks in the New York area: John is the son of former Fordham and New York Giant great QB Ed Danowski , who played football in the 1930s just prior to World War II. Danowski was known for being an all-American halfback on the 1933 team that featured the proto-"Seven Blocks of Granite" line that would become legendary, and the following year was famously photographed putting on sneakers at halftime of the championship game versus the Chicago Bears. Played on a sheet of ice at the old Polo Grounds, the story goes after going into halftime with a 10-3 deficit, the Giants changed to sneakers which gave them the extra traction to come from behind to win the game 30-13. The article then mentions: “He always said the sneakers were a good story,” [his son] said, “but the real story was that the Bears were arrogant an...