Lehigh Football Nation

(Photo Credit: Leah Kulp/Brown & White Photo Staff via Express-Times) Head coach Andy Coen posed with the Yank Townsend trophy, given to the winner of the Lehigh/Yale clash, after the win this weekend. It was the first time that Lehigh had been allowed to keep the trophy in Bethlehem, since it was the first time that Lehigh had beaten Yale since 2005, the first year that the trophy was offered. In fact, the good news has kept pouring in  for the Mountain Hawks since winning the trophy, as the team recently rejoined the Top Ten in the Sports Network and Coaches' Polls, and senior QB Chris Lum was also formally added to the Walter Payton Award watchlist, which is essentially the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy in FCS football. Meanwhile, Yale head coach Tom Williams brought some... Febreze... into Yale's team meeting on Monday.  To see why, check out the Press Roundup below the flip.   (more)

On Yale's first offensive drive of the game, Bulldog senior QB Patrick Witt was pressured in the pocket and hurried a pass, which floated right into the hands of junior CB Gabe Johnson . He returned the ball four yards, where Yale sophomore TE Kyle Wittenauer made a pro-style tackle from behind, popping the ball out of Johnson's hands and into the belly of Yale's center. It was that sort of turnover-filled dogfight that typefied the first half of this game, before Lehigh's offense and defensive units would take over the game in the second half and pull away for an extremely comfortable 37-7 win over the Eli.  (more)

(Photo Credit: Peter Casolino/The New Haven Register ) One of the interesting aspects of this Lehigh team is the perspective of its players.  For this group of seniors, their time at Lehigh hasn't been all about high-powered offense, winning championships, and making runs in the FCS playoffs. Despite all of this squad's success the past two years, the memory of the rough times are never all that far away. And Yale is associated with one of the roughest points of the Andy Coen era, and arguably the lowest (non-Leopard loss, that is) point in the last decade if you're a Lehigh fan.  For the last time the Eli came to Murray Goodman Stadium, they won the game without scoring an offensive touchdown.   (more)

(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)

If there is one coach on Lehigh's schedule that understands the importance of historical rivalries, it's Yale's Tom Williams . Two years in a row, Williams saw his team suffer excruciating losses to their huge rival, Harvard, in heartbreaking fashion. This year, the Bulldogs will be looking to finally get over the hump to not only beat the Crimson for the first time in coach Williams' tenure, but also to win an outright Ivy League title for the first time since 1980. And in Year Three of the Williams era, they might actually have the team to do it. (more)