Lehigh Football Nation

I don't officially vote in any of the FCS Top 25 polls, but I do share who I think deserves to be in the Top 25, and this week, unsurprisingly, I think James Madison was, and still is, the No. 1 team in the nation. Not exactly going out on a limb, am I? If you try to pick FCS games, one of the easiest picks of last week was to take the Dukes to upset the Pirates.  Pretty much all the experts across the board thought that James Madison, even with some suspended players, was stacked enough to take over rebuilding East Carolina, and boy, did they ever. Remember the days when FCS vs. FBS matchups were defined by the FCS teams "wilting" in the fourth quarter?  With upper-echelon FCS teams like James Madison, that myth has been debunked for a while, but it was brutally apparent in this game, when RB Cardon Johnson  easily eluded East Carolina tacklers on two 80+ yard touchdown runs. That didn't surprise me at all this weekend.  And they're still my No. 1 te...

One of the more interesting aspects of covering Lehigh football for so long is the fact that you end up seeing future NFL players on their rise to the big show. In fact, two players who squared off against the Mountain Hawks in particular have an excellent chance of being drafted on Day 2 or Day 3 of the NFL draft. But those not the only Lehigh football opponents that will be hoping to get a phone call from an NFL team this Friday or Saturday. Though few Patriot League, Ivy League or even CAA players enter their football programs with the NFL as their main goal, every football player that matriculates to these schools still harbor the dream of dominating their league and as a result get an opportunity to pursue their NFL dream. And it is true that NFL scouts come to FCS football games to look for talent that might have been overlooked.  Many years ago I was in Hofstra's press box, watching the Pride take on New Hampshire, with NFL scouts from the Colts and Saints there to...

Still bummed that Lehigh's Patriot League Championship season is over?  Yeah, me too. That doesn't mean that I've totally tuned out the college football landscape, though. Starting tonight, there's some terrific games on TV and online streaming that I'll be watching, both at the FCS and the FBS level.  Happily, the FCS Round of 16 games are not all going up against each other like last week, so the opportunity is there to catch one or more of those games - and you can bet that I will be. Below the flip, starting with the MAC championship game tonight, are my picks for games to watch, and - why not? - some picks as to who I think will win. (Yes, it includes Penn State.  Stop asking.)

It would be all so easy if football were a video game. If the players were pixels, with easy-to-read sliders with their statistics on them. ESCAPABILITY: 72 TOUGHNESS: 91 Then the FCS playoffs would be easy.  You'd plug in the teams, they'd hit each other virtually on the screen, and there would be a result, quantifying the relative strengths and weaknesses of each team.  A representative score would come out, and there would be one side bursting with victory, and the other in agony in defeat. There would be bitterness, some teeth-gnashing, but at least you'd have figured out that the teams gave it their best shot. But real life is not a video game.  Sometimes, star players go hunting, and come down with an illness.  It keeps them out of practice, and on the day of the big game, they're not 100%, or even 75%.  Sometimes, foot injuries do not heal, as much as you wish that they would. And then a team like Lehigh travels up to New Hampshire, not abl...

Right from the opening drive it didn't feel like it was going to be Lehigh's day. With sophomore QB Brad Mayes in for senior QB Nick Shafnisky , who was unable to start due to an undisclosed illness, a pass that bounced off the hands of senior WR Derek Knott instead bounced into the hands of New Hampshire's first team all-CAA CB Casey DeAndrade . Six plays later, the New Hampshire offense converted that turnover into the very first touchdown of the day for the Wildcats, the first of many on a defense that clearly missed senior LB Colton Caslow , who got hurt in the second half against Lafayette last weekend. Four different New Hampshire players scored a grand total of six rushing touchdowns, two coming from RB Dalton Crossan , two coming from his backup, RB Trevon Bryant , one from the third-string, RB Evan Gray, and one on a scramble from QB Adam Riese . All in all, the Wildcats racked up 364 yards rushing on the Brown and White, rushing to a 36-7 lead on the...

For whatever reason, you didn't make the trip to Durham, New Hampshire.  You've popped your popcorn, iced your Yuenglings, and put the meatballs in the crockpot - and then you panic. How do I watch the game?  What is ESPN3?  Can I watch it on my TV?  Do I need to subscribe to something?  WHAT DO I DO??? Never fear.  LFN's here to help.

We break down the FCS Playoffs Game of the Week below the flip. You heard right. One of my FCS Playoff pet peeves (especially in the first round) is that, for some reason, ESPN (who owns the TV contract for all rounds of the FCS playoffs) and the NCAA do not space out all the games in fixed time slots. If ESPN and the NCAA wanted to generate excitement about the playoffs, it would be fairly easy to space out every game with a kickoff every hour (Noon, 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM, etc.) all the way up to 8:00 PM.  That way, hardcore FCS football fans can watch part of every single game, with at least one game getting to crunch time every hour from about 2:30 PM on.  It would be compelling theater. But ESPN and the NCAA, for some reason, choose not to do this, and indeed this year, ESPN has five FCS playoff games kicking off at 2:00 PM, one kicking off at 3:00 PM, and a couple of stragglers kicking off at 5:00 PM and 7:00 PM, respectively. Why?  There is literally no good ...

In order to understand how UNH will be looking at this weekend's game against Lehigh, you need to go back to the narrative of last week. And then, you need to go back to the narrative from last year. But first, let's start with last week, where the Wildcats were not only battling their Rival Maine in the "Battle for the Brice/Cowell Musket", they were battling to keep their playoff dreams alive. The Wildcats, who had qualified for the FCS playoffs for twelve consecutive years, had fallen behind their bitter Rivals Maine, 14-7 at halftime. With both teams at 6-4. it must have had the feel of a playoff game as well as a Rivalry game.  The winner would likely have a good shot at a playoff game; the loser would likely be out. And the starter, sophomore QB Trevor Knight , was out of the game with a foot injury.  The backup, senior QB Adam Riese , would have to be the trigger guy to rally the Wildcats to the win.

"The Engineer football team once again showed their supremacy over the Yankee Conference leaders by defeating the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Wildcats, 16-3," read the October 26th edition of The Brown and White  in 1979. LB Jim McCormick intercepted a UNH pass early in the game, and returned it to the Wildcat 4, setting up an early touchdown.  After that, the Engineer defense would take over, crushing UNH's offense the rest of the way. That would be the last time Lehigh has won at Cowell Stadium - 1979, a year where Lehigh was one of four teams in the I-AA playoffs and made it to the championship, ultimately falling to Eastern Kentucky in the finals. So much has changed since then.  The I-AA playoffs have been renamed the FCS playoffs, and not have 24 teams instead of 4.  The Yankee Conference essentially was renamed to the Atlantic 10 Football Conference and now the CAA football conference, morphing from a Northeastern-based conference to one whose c...

Stop me if you've heard this before: As a reward for being the surprise outright winner of the Patriot League football championship, the reward is a trip to New Hampshire, the winner headed to seeded James Madison for a second-round game.  And somewhere, Sam Houston State looms on the horizon. This is the exact situation that Colgate found itself last season, and this year, Lehigh is poised to run through the exact same gauntlet and the exact same teams. Sunday morning, Lehigh found out their opponents for the FCS Playoffs; the New Hampshire Wildcats.  The game will be played at New Hampshire at 2PM EST, and will be available to watch on ESPN3 on your computer and possibly ESPN Gameplan Pay-Per-View on your TV.

You didn't ask for them, but here's my pick for this week's FCS Top 25. I'm pretty proud of myself for not falling into the trap of South Dakota State . Many people, after the Jackrabbits' huge win over North Dakota State , vaulted them to the Top 5 of their polls, but I know better.  The craziness of the Missouri Valley I thought would eventually catch up with them, so I had only reluctantly put them at No. 10. Their loss to 3-5 Illinois State , taken in isolation, was a shocker - but perhaps not completely shocking, though, considering the Missouri Valley has not one but two teams that have beaten Power Five Teams and also have five losses . In fact, there are three Missouri Valley teams - Illinois State, South Dakota and Northern Iowa - that can plausibly say, if they get to 6-5, they have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs as an at-large team, thanks to perceived quality wins.

You didn't ask for them, but here's my pick for this week's FCS Top 25. I love picking games correctly involving teams 1-13 because it makes picking the Top 25 very easy - simply cut, and paste. Most of that comes from not overrating teams like Northern Iowa , who dropped out of my top 25 after a bad loss to South Dakota , and properly rating Villanova , who keeps winning and has been a regular in my Top 10 for several weeks now. One of the teams I had been considering for the Top 25 is Dartmouth , but after a stunning 21-13 loss to Yale , I've had to re-evaluate that assessment. Many a transitive property that puts Lehigh in the playoffs or maybe even the FBS National Championship game could start with "Lehigh beat Yale, and Yale beat Dartmouth, and Dartmouth beat New Hampshire..."

If you'd like, you can check out my FCS Top 25 vote below. A question FCS voters frequently get is: How to rank FCS over FBS upsets? Bascially, the same questions plaguing rankings on the FBS side ("Is Jacksonville State simply a really, really good FCS team?  Or is Auburn really bad?) cuts the other way in the FCS world. Jacksonville State almost beat Auburn.  But the meaning of that close shave is still undetermined.  Auburn didn't look like much last week after being dominated by LSU.  What if the Tigers finish under .500?  How will Jacksonville State's close shave look then? With Furman's upset over UCF 16-15 , we have another opportunity to play the game of "how good is this team, really?"  Furman's in my Top 25, barely, mostly on the back of their upset win against a team that quite recently was seen as a quality mid-major in the FBS world.  But the Paladins are 1-2, though with one of the toughest schedules in FCS.  So, again:...

" Have fun writing this game up, " a journalist friend helpfully told me on Saturday when the Mountain Hawks fell behind 4-1. No, Virginia, it wasn't a whole lot of fun writing up Lehigh's drubbing by UNH . Losses are no fun for any Lehigh football fan, of course.  It's no more fun to write about a oh-so-close-to-a-win game against James Madison than it is to give up fifty points to your mortal rival . It was awful hard to grasp at some positives about a game which was pretty much over at halftime. But I did find some. The biggest one of all is that this is not the FBS, where a September loss can spell the difference of the plus-one playoffs and a mid-tier bowl. Even though Lehigh is 0-2, they are not knocked out yet.

So you're trying to make your afternoon plans, and you're not a hotel in Durham, New Hampshire, preparing your tailgate. You've heard that the game is going to be on something called the "American Sports Network" - but you've scrolled through your cable guide, checked the internet, or flicked through all the stations. Nothing called the "American Sports Network" shows up. That's because the "American Sports Network" only produces the games.  The broadcasts end up on a maze of local affiliates across the country. So the question remains: At 3:30, how do I watch the game?  Of course.  That's why you're here.

"These next ten games shape what we are, and this next one is absolutely huge," New Hampshire head coach Sean McDonnell said in the CAA teleconference before their home opener against Lehigh this weekend.  "We got to win this battle.  We got to get ready for this really good Lehigh team." It's hard enough preparing for a week of football, but hearing that cannot make head coach Andy Coen or any of the players in the Lehigh football program very happy.  They're not going to be sneaking up on anybody. In addition to the revenge factor, Lehigh will be playing at 3:30 PM in the afternoon under the lights at Cowell Stadium.  It's the first time lights have made their appearance at Cowell stadium, making it, sorta, the first Wildcat "night game". And as you can see, UNH players had some "lightness" about it today. UNH couldn't be more motivated for the game, their home opener, this weekend.  Which makes my breakdown all the ...

WMUR 9 New Hampshire "In their last meeting..." You've probably heard a lot of that this week in regards to this big matchup against the No 7 team in the country. It ended up being Lehigh's signature win last year, their 34-27 victory that only looked better when the Wildcats turned their season around and made a deep run in the FCS playoffs. It also will be an impediment to any hope of sneaking up to Durham, New Hampshire and surprising New Hampshire coach Sean McDonnell with their dynamic offense and good athletes. That's because the Wildcats had a bye week last week, and McDonnell spent his weekend off scouting the Mountain Hawks. "I was really impressed with their quarterback,, mentioning sophomore QB Nick Shafnisky, sophomore RB Brandon Yosha,  and seemingly everyone else on the Lehigh offense by name in the CAA teleconference this week .   "He did a hell of a job doing the things he does well.  They did a lot of different things out...

Ever think that, sometimes, it takes all the stars to align for an upset victory? In Lehigh's 34-27 win over New Hampshire last season , it felt like that could have been the case. The Wildcats were a young team with somewhat dampened expectations, coming to Murray Goodman stadium to try to find themselves.  Meanwhile, Lehigh, fresh off one of the most improbable Mountain Hawk wins ever, their 29-28 win over Princeton , had momentum and confidence to spare. While Lehigh is expected to lose to supposedly "full-scholarship" teams from the CAA, everything seemed to align - the weather, the home game, and a Wildcat team that was still a work-in-progress. But the stars aligning for Lehigh last year, however, makes for a much steeper challenge in 2014.

My vote for the FCS Top 25 for the week ending 10/21/2013 follows below the flip. But first, check out this great picture from New Hampshire of OL Ricky Archer and OL Joe Coccia celebrating what may have been the most thrilling game of the weekend, a thrilling 29-28 win by New Hampshire over Villanova that featured a tie and two lead changes in the final two minutes.  (Photo Credit: John Tully / Concord Monitor ) From the article: The season’s playoff hopes were about dead after Villanova (4-3) scored two touchdowns in a span of 46 seconds to take a 28-21 lead with 1:09 left in the game. But UNH got a 35-yard kickoff return from RS Dalton Crossan , plus 15 yards on a late-hit personal foul, to take over at the 50 with 1:02 on the clock. New Hampshire survived a fumble on an attempted hook-and-ladder play, got a pair of catches from RB Chris Setian for 24 total yards, and then QB Sean Goldrich (21-for-28, 236 yards, touchdown) turned a broken play into a 4-yard touch...

It's that time of the week where I share with you your weekly Lehigh fan viewing guide for Week 8 of the college football season.  Why go to website after website when all the information you need is right here? If you are not able to attend the game this weekend at Murray Goodman Stadium you can follow the game from the following sources: TV:   Service Electric 2 (Lehigh Valley) Online Streaming: Patriot League Network (free) Radio:   ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 Internet:   Lehighsports.com/ESPNLV.com After the game, there are a boatload of important games, most which are available via live streams!