Lehigh Football Nation

(Photo Credit: David DiFrancesco /Brown and White via the Express-Times) Here at LFN, I'm always looking for something to keep things fresh, and this year the plan is to keep things fresh by combining the "LFN Players of the Week" with something new: the two-minute drill. In the past, I used to have a "press roundup" with links to all the recaps and interesting articles that would emerge concerning Lehigh football.  In a world without Twitter and Facebook, this type of content curation was great not only for people who liked my blog, but for me, too, when wanting to refer back to a particularly memorable game or moment. But we live in a world of Twitter and Facebook now.  I can post links to the recaps on my Facebook page , my Twitter feed , and they can even be pulled into a type of newspaper delivered to your email called Paper.li .  All are great tools, all feature content that I myself read, and, frankly, are the way people consume news now. But th...

(Photo Credit:  Chris Shipley /The Morning Call) When you've gone to a lot of Lehigh games as I have, it's easy to fall back on "memories" (today's "Sunday Word") to try to describe the action. In a game which pretty much defied description overall, perhaps it was a requirement. Sure, there hasn't been a game in recent memory - certainly not in the Andy Coen Era - that featured a starting quarterback for Lehigh with less game experience than senior QB Brandon Bialkowski last Saturday. Can you remember the last time Lehigh had eight departing seniors on defense to replace?  I can't, either. Yet even with all the new faces lining up for the Mountain Hawks, it was easy to see this performance alongside some of the greats in Murray Goodman history.  I mean it.  It is game one, a fact I haven't forgotten, but I'm willing to bet that through time, this one is going to rank up there in terms of "memories" for many.

It looked pretty grim - so grim, in fact, that many of the announced attendance of 6,386 had already left the stadium by th beginning of the 4th quarter. Central Connecticut State, behind a monster offensive performance by RB Rob Holloman , was methodically beating up the Lehigh defense. There the Blue Devils were, driving to start the 4th quarter, a Lehigh facemask penalty keeping their drive alive, and finally reaching 1st and goal at the Lehigh 9. It was the end of that drive, unbeknownst to all, that would be the difference between winning and losing their home opener.

We break down the Central Connecticut State game - and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip. To aid on our analysis of the visiting Blue Devils, I have to huge assist to James Madison, and Matt Straub of the New Britain Herald.   Straub's preseason piece on CCSU head coach Jeff McInerney shows a lot of what he wants to accomplish this season. And James Madison, by playing CCSU last weekend, meant that I have game notes available to go on - namely, last week's notes.  CCSU's lack of a preview by Friday makes it hard to get a sense of the team this week through the Lehigh game notes, but the notes for the Blue Devils' game last week is very much available.  (And necessary.)

(Photo Credit: Lauren Gordon / The JMU Breeze ) You gotta give credit to head coach Jeff McInerney and the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils - they won't back down from anybody. A week after taking on nationally-ranked James Madison in their home opener last weekend, CCSU turns their bus to Bethlehem to visit Murray Goodman Stadium. The Blue Devils, who struggled to a 2-8 season last year, are hoping that the old football adage is true that you improve the most from Game 1 to Game 2. That's how they hope to break up a three-game losing streak dating from last season.

"With a newly-revamped Arute Field,", I wrote last season , "which will be able to hold upwards of 6,500 fans, Central Connecticut State will be looking to one message on their home opener against the Mountain Hawks September 8th: that they have arrived." This year, the Blue Devils repay Lehigh the favor, serving as the Mountain Hawks' home opener in the first weekend of their football season on September 7th. So what can we expect from the Blue Devils this season?

(Photo Credit: ChampionshipSubdivison.com) If there's one thing Central Connecticut State head coach Jeff McInerney wants you to know, it's that he's Fire[d] Up for this weekend. Or more accurately, if you follow his Twitter feed or anything related to the Blue Devils , it's #FireUp, which is more distinct than the #FiredUp hash tag when you look up anything from President Bill Clinton 's speech at the Democratic Convention or the latest on someone else's Tweeting habits. The Blue Devils are somewhat of a mystery team in the NEC this year - even after their opening game.  Their personnel is still relatively new.  Their gameplan, as always, will be loaded with interesting tricks.  But one thing that isn't a mystery is that a Jeff McInerney team will reflect the passion and burn of their head coach.  They will, indeed, be Fired Up.

Most casual Lehigh football fans recognize a lot of schools on the schedule. I mean, everyone knows who Princeton and Columbia are - they're Ivy League schools. Liberty?  Not only were they members of the FCS Top 25 last year, they have a decidedly national reputation as a conservative, faith-based institution of higher learning, where Willard Romney makes speeches in the run-up to the Presidential election. But aside from knowing where Central Connecticut State is generally located - hint, it's about 20 minutes southwest of Hartford - I think most Lehigh fans might be able to be forgiven if they look at September 8th on the schedule and say, "Who are these guys?" The answer to that question is that the Blue Devils have tasted a lot of success over the last six years under head coach Jeff McInerney , with signature wins over Georgia Southern and Lehigh, both on the road. And with a newly-revamped Arute Field, which will be able to hold upwards of 6,500 fa...