Lehigh Football Nation

The game means nothing in the rest of the Patriot League race.  The Mountain Hawks will be playing another game after the one this Saturday, no matter what happens.  Sure, there's a better chance that Lehigh has a home game in the playoffs and/or a first round bye if they win, but Lehigh's football players will get their rings anyway. But for Lehigh's players and fans, this return to Fisher Field represents a kind-of victory tour to the place where - arguably - the tides turned for this program. Two years ago, Lafayette was 7-3 going into this age-old "Rivalry" game, looking for an outside shot at an at-large bid to the playoffs.  Lehigh, at 4-6, already was resigned to the fact that they were playing out the string - and that a win in a "bowl" atmosphere at Lafayette was the only thing that could salvage the season. Now, the tables are turned. It's not a perfect analogy - since Lafayette cannot ruin Lehigh's postseason hopes - but they s...

Picture this: you're a Patriot League team that was ranked in the Top 25 most of last year.  You've lost your starting quarterback to graduation - a guy who is playing professionally.  You have questions at quarterback, but you have an incredible receiving corps coming back - so why aren't we picked to finish first in the Patriot League? Thought I was talking about Holy Cross?  Well, I was .  But I was also talking about Lafayette - a team who legitimately could make most of the same claims that the Crusaders have, with QB Rob Curley playing football overseas and a chip on their shoulders because they were picked 3rd. In a way, though, it's much worse for the Leopards. Their last-gasp loss to Lehigh, the 27-21 overtime loss, has had nine months to fester. If you thought the size of the chip on Holy Cross' shoulder pads were big, wait until you see Lafayette's. (more)

The blurry athlete pictured at left was Liberty sophmore WR Chris Summers , and he did this quite a lot last night in leading Liberty to a 19-13 win over the Leopards. He made 14 grabs - more than a few like the leaping grab shown here - for 138 yards and 1 touchdown. (Boy, I wish I hadn't moved the camera.) Backup Liberty sophomore QB Mike Brown - playing for the injured senior QB Tommy Beecher , who was held out in a gametime decision - was an efficient 29-for-36 with 88 yards rushing, 256 yards passing and a touchdown pass and a TD run for good measure. Against what is historically considered the top defense of the Patriot League, the Brown/Simmons express racked up 361 yards of total offense. Right off the bat Lafayette seemed to be put on the back foot after Liberty unexpectedly lined up in the empty formation, with Brown hitting Summers for a 7 yard gain to set the tone early. But the efficient Liberty drive, which put the Flames up 7-0, would be the only scoring unti...