Lehigh Football Nation

Recently, I wrote an entire article about how the way the NCAA allows schools to become FBS is broken. It turns out I had no idea exactly how broken until I was guided towards the Idaho Vandals Football Consultant report, helpfully posted in full on the University of Idaho's website . In that report, one of the possible avenues that Idaho was mulling over was to join the WAC. I was confused - the WAC had stopped sponsoring FBS football long ago, a couple of years after then-commissioner Karl Benson finished his uncanny impersonation of Baghdad Bob in regards to saving FBS football for that conference - only to leave his job to take over at the Sun Belt Conference. But it turns out, after a fresh read of the NCAA rulebook, it is indeed true. Like a bad horror movie, the zombified WAC football conference could indeed resurrect itself - and, in the process, shows how royally screwed up this system of FCS and FBS movement really is.

People rightfully can paint me as an FCS football fan.  I love Football Championship Subdivision, the section of Division I where Lehigh and the rest of the Patriot League competes.  I find the quality of the games tremendous, and the emphasis on football and competition as the exact right balance. From that fact, some might also think I'm performing cartwheels around my office now that the University of Idaho, after they were unceremoniously cast out of the Sun Belt as football-only members, have decided that their only choice to retain football is to join the rest of the Big Sky in sponsoring football at the FCS level, starting in 2018. You'd be wrong about that. What Idaho's decision really should be telling us is that the process for switching subdivisions is a senseless, conference-driven exercise that forces schools into making tough decisions that they shouldn't be forced to make.

If you'd like, you can check out my FCS Top 25 vote below. People around the country are starting to understand that James Madison is a pretty damn good FCS football team. At 6-0, they bear little resemblance to the team that squeaked by 3-8 Lehigh last season.  The lowest offensive point total they put together in a game was 38 - versus Stony Brook , who could be a playoff team.   QB Vad Lee is firing on all cylinders, just showed up in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd, and the Dukes faithful may be getting a look from College Football Gameday in a few weeks. After they made mincemeat of Lehigh in Week 2, I knew they were good.  But I didn't really know how good until they got into the league portion of the schedule.  They pounded Towson 51-30 last weekend, and they will in all likelihood go 7-0 after their trip to 2-4 Elon this weekend.  I've had them at No. 1 the past three weeks or so, and they've amply justified my pick.

When most people think of the University of Notre Dame, they generally think of three things, and not necessarily in this order: Catholicism, academics, and football. Nobody questions the role that football has at Notre Dame.   Football was what allowed the South Bend, Indiana school to grow from a growing Catholic university to a national, iconic institution. But what allowed Notre Dame to become Notre Dame was a path that isn't available to religious institutions today. Much virtual ink has been spilled about the effects of collegiate realignment, how some conferences have been torn asunder, how some schools are stuck in places that don't make sense, how other conferences are receiving piles of money that would make Scrooge McDuck envious. But one of the biggest losers in this conference-driven realignment is the idea of independent football-playing schools, either loosely-tied or untied from the conference structure that drives the bus today. When realignment a...

(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...

My vote for the FCS Top 25 for the week ending 9/3/2013 follows below the flip.

More and more, college football is becoming more of a lifestyle than a diversion. The experiences are more immersive; college football days don't just take place on one day a week, it's a three, or sometimes four, day weekend.  It involves tailgates.  Parties.  Maybe a night out. Most importantly, there are games on TV - or, now, the internet - all the time.  There are literally hundreds of matchups available to watch, or stream, every day of the Experience Weekend.  Whether you watch it a home, your butt firmly on the couch, or out with friends, it's becoming an all-encompassing affair. Who will cut through all the channels showing Godspell, or Robinson Crusoe, and point you to where the Week 1 Experience Weekend games are being broadcast? More to the point, where's a Lehigh football fan - old or new - to start? The answer is - of course - you come here.  You've come to the right place. Starting on Thursday, there are plenty of football games...

While it was a bit disappointing to hear from the Lynchburg News-Advance's Chris Lang that their paper didn't bring a photographer to the Liberty game that evening - the more to take of the eminently less exciting Bowling Green/Virginia Tech blowout, even though former Lehigh assistant coach Dave Clawson was there, coaching the Falcons - it did allow me to make my own pictures of the action.  My two Facebook albums of the tailgating and action, #1 , and #2 , are linked. Below the flip, find my choices for Players of the Week, and a list of the other recaps of the game from around the internet.

A few years ago, I got to go to my first "rodeo". In our family trip to Yellowstone park, my wife, son, and I took a long side trip to Cody, Wyoming to experience something that everyone ought to experience at least once in their lifetimes. I remember it well - the clowns, team roping, bull riding, the works.  The crowd was encouraged to participate, and you couldn't help yourself after a while: you had to, somehow, show your appreciation for the displays of ability that were going on. I thought back on that "rodeo" a lot when I flew down to Lynchburg, Virginia to take in the Lehigh football game.  It was a lot more packed than the "rodeo" I went to in Cody - there's a lot more money in Liberty University than there is in "rodeos" - but, like the show I saw in Wyoming, it wasn't just a football game, it was a spectacle.

Down 20-14, and facing a critical 3rd-and-1 on the Liberty 38, Lehigh needed a big play. And in a big spot, senior QB Michael Colvin delivered. Fading back to pass, Colvin instead accelerated past the hole that senior C Tom Ruley and senior OL Vinny Pelligrini opened up, and saw nothing but green turf and white-shirted blockers in front of him. It didn't seem like a big thing at the time during the pregame when it was announced that Pellegrini and sophomore OL Matt Douglas would be switched on the depth chart as first-team right and left guards.  But in a game that seemed like it was going to turn on one or two big plays, it was one of the big plays for Lehigh, who took the game by the horns in that huge 68 yard TD run, riding the wave to a huge 28-26 win over Liberty in Lynchburg, Virginia.

(Photo Credit: Lauren Carroll/ The Missoulian ) We break down the Liberty game - and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip. Two weeks ago, Lehigh faced a team that was trying to find out whom their starting quarterback was: Central Connecticut State QB Andrew Clements or QB Nick San Giacomo . Last week, the Mountain Hawks faced another team trying to find out whom their starting QB was: Princeton, QB Brett Epperly or QB Connor Michaelsen . For the third straight week, Lehigh will not know whom they will be facing at QB.  Head coach Turner Gill , as is his policy, will start the guy who does the best in practice, as per Chris Lang of the Lynchburg News-Advance .

(Photo Credit: Liberty Athletics) Two top-notch programs in FCS. Two football programs that are on the map nationally. That's what the matchup down in Lynchburg, Virginia promises this Saturday evening when the Flames host the Mountain Hawks. It also happens to be a game of opposites. Lehigh, at 3-0, hasn't always looked like the No. 13 team in the country, but has done what it takes to win.  And 0-3 Liberty hasn't always looked like a winless team, but also hasn't gotten over the hump and made the one big play to get into the victory column this year.

Lehigh's first three contests of the 2012 football season all, arguably, have specific themes attached to them. The first game, against Monmouth, is "introductions".  It will be the first glimpse of the 16th-tanks Mountain Hawks, also has a local flavor, as the Hawks are relatively close by in West Long Branch, NJ. The second game, against Central Connecticut State, is "bullseye".  The Blue Devils, opening their newly-renovated stadium, will see Lehigh in what's likely to be the biggest crowd ever on the New Britain campus. The third game, against Princeton, is "bragging rights".  Locally, many high-academic recruits are asked to pick either Lehigh or Princeton, and wins against the Ivy League have a special, backyard feel to them. But this game against Liberty unquestionably has as its theme: "national".  It's going to be the one game, most likely, that the Mountain Hawks will be able to showcase their program to not just t...

While Lehigh was making their run in the FCS playoffs this year, there were a host of interesting head coaching moves that directly involved three of Lehigh's opponents in 2011. From the Mountain Hawk perspective, the most interesting such move was that of sort-of Patriot League member Fordham, who was relieved of his head coaching duties at the conclusion of a dismal 1-10 season where the Rams lost by double digits in their last eight games. The Rams' hiring of head coach Joe Moorhead from the staff at UConn is but one of the interesting FCS offseason coaching moves.

This week's LFN Players of the Week awards go to: Offense:  Junior WR Ryan Spadola  (7 catches, 121 yards, 1 TD) Defense:  Senior LB Mike Groome  (12 tackles, 1 tackle for loss) (tie) Defense:  Senior LB Fred Mihal  (5 tackles, 1 pass break-up, 1 tackle for loss, and one huge forced fumble in the 4th quarter to preserve the victory) Special Teams:  Sophomore PK Tim Divers  (2-2 FGs, 30 yards, 2-2 XP, 8 points scored) (tie) Special Teams: Junior PK Jake Peery (perfectly executed onsides kick, recovered, led to TD) Underclassman:  Sophomore RB Keith Sherman  (154 all-purpose yards, includig 83 yards rushing and a 72 yard TD catch to have Lehigh re-take the lead) Congratulations to the winners!

(Photo Credit: Brian Freed/The Express-Times ) It was a Lehigh football game with quite the gold standard of media coverage. On TV, there were two full-time staffs covering the game: the regular Service Electric 2 broadcast from Mike Zambelli and Mike Yadush, and the Flames Sports Network TV broadcast featuring Mike Tilley and Ray Jones . On radio, Matt Kerr and Tom Fallon covered the game for ESPN AM 1230 and 1320 locally, while Alan York handled the play-by-play dutires for the Flames Radio Network. And in print, a multitude of media outlets also covered Lehigh's stirring 27-24 victory over a fellow nationally-ranked opponent as well, including two photo galleries.   (more)

(Photo Credit: Brian Freed/The Express-Times ) It's said an awful lot about the game of football: it's a game of momentum.  Sometimes, one play, or one series, give a team that mystical force that just carries them through the game and wins it for them. There are others, though, much like the game played this Saturday - an incredibly hard-fought, physical, matchup, ultimately won by Lehigh, where the momentum shifts back and forth so often you're wondering when the roller coaster ride is going to end. As head coach Andy Coen entered the postgame press conference, he simply sat down and said, "Whew!" - as if he had just gotten off the Green Lantern roller coaster at Great Adventure.  For in a way, he - and a whole legion of Lehigh folks - had been.  (more)

When folks around the Lehigh Valley think about "Liberty", they don't usually think of the Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia that hosts one of the most rabid fan bases in all of FCS. They're more likely to think of Liberty High School - home of the Hurricanes, and who count among their alumni an NFL Hall of Famer ( LB Chuck Bednarik ), a College Basketball Hall of Famer (former Lehigh basketball head coach Pete Carril ), and a Hall Of Fame college basketball agent provocateur (former CBS Analyst Billy Packer ). But that's not to say that when the nationally-ranked FCS matchup is complete at Murray Goodman stadium this weekend  that folks around the Lehigh Valley will associate Liberty with a great football team. This weekend's game will be broadcast locally on Service Electric 2, but also nationally on the Family Network, and online on ESPN3, thanks to the Flames Sports Network, allowing a national audience, once again, to see Lehigh's o...

Much is still developing on the front of Asa Chapman's reinstatement, with a fair amount of people (including Liberty students and alumni themselves) electrifying the Flamefans forum over the issue.  In an effort to talk about this story, Lynchburg News and Advance reporter Chris Lang has written a detailed blog posting on the issue , which is a fantastic timeline and collection of quotes concerning the decision. I'll attempt to look at some of the quotes - though I'd strongly suggest anyone to read the whole blog posting - and give some pertinent background, below the flip.   (more)

Nationally-ranked Liberty's visit to Lehigh was never going to be any sort of picnic for the Mountain Hawks. And now, it just got even more challenging . Liberty senior NG Asa Chapman , suspended since Aug. 30 after being charged with two counts of drug possession — one felony, one misdemeanor — has been reinstated to the Flames’ football team, coach Danny Rocco announced Monday. Chapman was originally scheduled to appear in Lynchburg General District Court for an arraignment hearing on Sept. 12, but that hearing was postponed until Dec. 7. He’ll be on the field Saturday when the Flames face Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa. Suddenly, Lehigh's job to win on Saturday got harder.  Like, 6'5, 385 lbs harder.   (more)