Lehigh Football Nation

We break down the Georgetown game - and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip. It's frustrating to try to break a team down when, as of Friday at 1PM, Georgetown's game notes for the weekend's games are not available.  On the plus side, though, Georgetown did supply a short preview article that does provide a way forward with some critical injury information.  That, plus last week's game notes, provide something to go on. Something that does leap off the page of that preview is the following fact: "Georgetown has had a combined 15 players from its season-opening two-deep miss 28 games this season due to injury, including four different linebackers missing at least two games apiece. " Certainly injuries have taken a toll on Georgetown's non-conference schedule, including sidelining the preseason Patriot League defensive player of the year at a bare minimum.  But will those injuries affect this weekend's game?  It's hard to say.

This season, as mentioned by legendary Hoya football blogger DFW Hoya , is the 75th anniversary of the beginning of what would become a mini college football dynasty in the late 1930s. Parallel to the emergence of Fordham on the national scene, with Vince Lombardi and their "Seven Blocks of Granite" was the Hoya's undefeated, untied team of 1938, who saw team after team fall to tie or defeat above them and saw them standing alone as Eastern Sectional champions ahead of Villanova and Boston College. Behind the direction of QB Joe McFadden -  an Allen High School grad - the Hoyas would shut out Temple, Bucknell and West Virginia in three consecutive weeks while beating Maryland in College Park 14-7 to conclude their undefeated season.  Since their schedule was considered weak on a national level, they weren't considered for a bowl, but a significant number of the same players would be invited to the Orange Bowl a couple of years later in 1940. Today's Hoya...

This weekend's tilt against Georgetown was unquestionably the most exciting matchup between the Hoyas and Mountain Hawks in the modern era. You have to go back to 1903 (12-6, Lehigh) and 1910 (6-3, Georgetown) to find two Lehigh/Georgetown games determined by six points or less. You have to believe, though, that neither team turned over the ball seven times. And, happily, there are more pictures of this game than those tilts in 1903 and 1910, thanks to the magic of Facebook and Lehigh Athletics.  Their 82 photo pictorial makes sure that it will be plenty immortalized.

We break down the Georgetown game - and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip. It must be said that Hoya head coach Kevin Kelly , who is in his sixth year coaching Georgetown, has to get credit for presiding over one of the most incredible turnarounds in FCS history. Sure, there have been coaches that have gone from D-III to partial scholarships - you can look to legendary coaches like Albany head man Bob Ford and Wagner athletic director/head coach Walt Hameline . Coach Kelly, who built upon the legacy of former head coach Bob Benson , didn't start out at zero scholarships when he came here.  But it was no secret that Georgetown has plenty of challenges that weren't shared by, say, Lafayette, who underwent  a multi-million dollar athletics renovation of football facilities that Hoya fans could only dream of.  Many thought their institutional challenges were something that simply couldn't be overcome. In a world when many were thinking that football c...

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you probably already know that my "Sunday Word" this week was " Assumption ", so selected because of the shocking 30-24 win by the Division II Greyhounds over the Fordham Rams, (who are still a member of the Patriot League despite their decision to offer full football scholarships starting with the current freshman class). Ultimately, the wordplay of the tiny college from Worcester, Mass was too great to pass up.  (Read it, and I hope you agree.)  But a close second as to my selection of "Sunday Word" wasn't far off from that, either: that word would be "Apocalypse". What else could explain a September that is simply jam-packed with improbable outcomes that might have one looking in the scripture or historic documents to see if, say a 3-1 Georgetown team or a 2-0 Dartmouth team might be a sign of the Rapture? (more)

Like every other football team in the country, Georgetown fans are thinking that this season is a fresh new start, with plenty of new faces and a chance to build something special in Washington, DC. The trouble is that this isn't the first time the Hoyas have felt this way.  Georgetown, under head coach Kevin Kelly , is rebuilding.  Again.  For the fifth year in a row. But it's not just change happening with the Georgetown football program; it's radical change, and change, it seems, that the Hoya players believe in. It's quite conceivable that when Lehigh faces off against the Hoyas in the next-to-last game of the year, they will see a team they do not recognize at all from years past. From Georgetown's perspective - who went 0-11 last year, and has struggled mightily in Patriot League play since forever - that can only be a good thing. (more)

Spring football ended last month, but there's plenty of buzz to report around a host of Patriot League football programs. I've covered the goings-on at Lehigh, Lafayette, Colgate and Holy Cross , and I made a special section about the exciting new developments at Bucknell . But as much or more is in the wind at Georgetown - with, potentially, an event in the near future that could fundamentally change the type of athletics program Georgetown currently runs. When most members of the Patriot League hear about rumors like the Big Ten's interest in expansion , most probably shrug - after all, the Big Ten or Big East are hardly going to be going approaching Bucknell, Colgate or Holy Cross for potential membership. Georgetown fans, however, are very much paying attention. Their athletic department may be fighting to keep the Big East together for all their other sports - or at least battling for security no matter what happens. That battle affects all of Georgetown athlet...