Lehigh Football Nation

Can you tell that I haven't really wanted to finish this report card for last week's game? Like a teacher a hour before pacing break, I didn't want to go through the film, the grades, and the play-by-play of the Penn game, but eventually, I did, even though it wasn't exactly pretty. The true hope with this report card, more than usual weeks, is that it's seen as a springboard to getting to the season that all folks associated with Lehigh will want.  With nationally-ranked Princeton looming ahead this week, it takes on added importance.

It's a lot less fun to go through the "Players of the Week" and report card after a loss, but it's still got to be done.  Last week's somewhat humbling 31-9 defeat comes at a point of the season where it's more of a learning experience than a death blow to the season, and also came against one of the very best teams in all of FCS. It wouldn't surprise me to see Villanova win the CAA this season. In any event, here we go.

This season, I thought it would be a good idea to do a LFN report card on how the team did last week as well as reviving the old "LFN Players of the Week" to go along with it.  Lehigh's 21-19 win last week over St. Francis was, most importantly, a victory, but as hardcore Lehigh football fans we want a deeper view and analysis. So here we go.

(Photo Credit:  Chris Shipley / The Morning Call ) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" for the Georgetown game. You'll notice that there's a lot of nicknames below after last weekend's 45-24 win over Georgetown.

(Photo Credit:  Kiera Wood / The Columbia Spectator ) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" for the Columbia game.

(Photo Credit:   The Morning Call ) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" for the Fordham game.

(Photo Credit:  Matt Smith / The Express-Times ) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" for the New Hampshire game.

(Photo Credit:  Andrew Miller / Trenton Times ) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" for the Princeton game.

(Photo Credit: Justin LaFleur /Lehigh Athletics) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" and a Two Minute drill on the quotes from this Saturday's game. I've decided to break out the sneak peek at Princeton into a different blog post - for reasons that will be come clear.

(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...

I have some things to do before the 148th this weekend in Easton - namely, two weeks of players of the week (since I forgot for Holy Cross in my zeal to cover the Colgate game) and some links wrapping up last week's game. Something that has muted the party  this week has been the heartbreaking story of Lafayette QB Zach Zweizig , whose father, 56, tragically died from complications of a stroke earlier this week. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.  I love "The Rivalry", I really do.  But some things transcend it.

(Photo Credit: Kevin Mingora/The Morning Call) I love the picture of this sack by senior DE Anthony Verderame on Bucknell QB Brandon Wesley - a huge sack during the game. It's a part of the Morning Call's pictorial of the Bucknell game this past weekend by photographer Kevin Mingora , who covers all of Lehigh's home games. It may seem hard to believe, but there was a time once when finding photos of games online was an arduous task.  Now, between Mr. Mingora's gallery, the Brown & White gallery , and the Facebook gallery from Lehigh Athletics , there are tons to choose from every week. It's a pretty good time to be a Lehigh Blogger.  (Oh yeah, and 8-0 is pretty nice, too.)

This weekend's tilt against Georgetown was unquestionably the most exciting matchup between the Hoyas and Mountain Hawks in the modern era. You have to go back to 1903 (12-6, Lehigh) and 1910 (6-3, Georgetown) to find two Lehigh/Georgetown games determined by six points or less. You have to believe, though, that neither team turned over the ball seven times. And, happily, there are more pictures of this game than those tilts in 1903 and 1910, thanks to the magic of Facebook and Lehigh Athletics.  Their 82 photo pictorial makes sure that it will be plenty immortalized.

(Photo Credit: Kevin Mingora/Morning Call ) It may have been pacing break, but the Columbia/Lehigh game wasn't lacking photo and video evidence that it occurred. I don't know if it was the overcast weather, the colder, more fall-like  temperatures, the pink or what, but the shots of the game from Kevin Mingora of the Morning Call look absolutely stunning, as do the shots from the Brown & White photographers that were at the game. I'd encourage you to go over there and check out the Morning Call's eleven-page gallery , which is filled with great shots. The shot above, too, comes from that collection.  And there is a album of pictures from the Brown & White as well as a video recap of the game as well from Alec Murphy . They make my whopping two pictures on the Facebook Page seem pretty dim in comparison.  Then again, I didn't get to field level this game!

(Photo Credit: Kevin Mingora/Morning Call ) Sometimes, the most exciting, entertaining games are the ones you least suspect, and this well-recapped Fordham/Lehigh game was one of them. I can't recall a week when it was so abundantly clear that there needed to be three special-teams Players of the Week.  As much as I tried to narrow it down, I couldn't - all three made such huge contributions, I simply had to include them all.

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.

(Photo Credit: Kevin Mingora / The Morning Call / September 15, 2012) Below the flip, find my choices for Players of the Week, and a list of the recaps of the game from around the internet.

Below the flip, find my choices for Players of the Week, and a list of the recaps of the game from around the internet.

This week's LFN Players of the Week awards go to: Offense: Senior QB Michael Colvin (17/32 passing, 221 yards passing, 56 yards rushing, 3 TDs/2 INTs) Offense: Senior WR Ryan Spadola (9 catches, 111 yards) Defense: Junior SS Rickie Hill (6 tackles, 1 INT, 1 pass defensed Defense: Senior LB Sam Loughery (8 tackles, 2 tackles for loss incl. 1 sack) Special Teams: Senior FB Zach Hayden (1 special teal tackle, 1 15 yard kickoff return) Underclassman:  Freshman WR Derek Knott (2 catches, 15 yards, 1 speedy TD, 2 kickoff returns, 22 yards) Congratulations to the winners!

Why do I keep forgetting to post my Players of the week each week?  Should I blame it on the power outage? This week's LFN Players of the Week awards go to: Offense:  Junior QB Zach "Bracket Buster" Barket  (188 yards rushing, 224 all-purpose yards, 4 TDs, 2 TDs rushing, 2 TDs receiving) Defense:  Senior LB Mike Groome  (14 tackles, 1/2 tackles for loss, 1 big stop of Eachus on 3rd down) (tie) Defense: Junior LB Billy Boyko  (13 tackles, 1 key sack on 3rd down) Special Teams/Underclassman:  Freshman RB Jason Suggs  (122 kickoff return yards, and no Lehigh drives after kickoffs started behind the 35 yard line) For the Fordham game: Offense:  Senior QB Chris Lum  (32/47, 413 yards, 3 TDs) (tie) Offense:  Junior WR Ryan "The Answer" Spadola  (13 catches, 216 yards, 1 TD) Defense:  Senior DE Andrew Knapp  (5 tackles, 2 tackles for loss including 1 sack) Special Teams/Underclassman:  Sophomore P/K...