Lehigh Football Nation

(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 .

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...

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...