Lehigh Football Nation

(Photo Credit: Jonathan Wilson, The Philadelphia Inquirer) The press links are all in on last week's game, as well as exclusive photos from The College Sporting News ' own Mark Campbell on the 33-14 defeat to a team that reminds me of the world's most beloved ice cream flavor. Lehigh Athletics: No. 21 Wildcats hand Lehigh first setback of 2008 "We talked a lot about overcoming adversity and dealing with challenges, and I think our defense epitomized that today," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said afterwards. "The defense was out there for 82 snaps, on a hot day, and I think they competed tremendously and kept us in this football game." He went onto say, "I think our kids competed well today, and that's a great start. We played a great football team and certainly made our share of mistakes, but now we'll go forward from here." Philadelphia Inquirer: Opportunistic defense helps Villanova win Young, a junior who suffered a season-ending ...

It's Friday, and that means... it's time to gather around the water cooler and talk football. Unsurprisingly, around here the big talk concerns the only sold-out football game in the Philadelphia area tomorrow: the Villanova/Lehigh game. The press links are below, including the national pundits' predictions. There are several options for getting the broadcast of this game. It won't be on broadcast TV, but if you're already a subscriber to the Lehigh Sports broadcast package you can get audio of the game, courtesy of AM 1230/AM 1320 in the Lehigh Valley with Kody Fedorcha ('00) and Matt Kerr. Another option is to subscribe to the video feed through the Villanova website through NovaNation ($9.95 for a monthly pass) or CSTV XXL . Here are the links. David Coulson, The Sports Network: Top 25 Predictions After a respectable performance by the Villanova Wildcats in their season opening setback to West Virginia a couple of weeks ago, Andy Talley's troops hav...

(Photo courtesy of The Morning Call ) I actually remember a day when Lehigh coverage on the internet was simply one or two articles that you couldn't read without a subscription to the newspaper. Now, print is not even enough to contain all of it: Lehigh coverage has gone into audio and even video. Start with the official Lehigh recap of the game on Lehighsports.com , which includes video of the postgame. It's worth it simply to see the sledgehammer, which now will be featuring Villanova on it, the postgame analysis by TV announcers Mike Zambelli and Mike Yadush ('93) and to see junior OL Ben Harden stealing valuable camera time from coach Coen. Senior RB Matt McGowan : "It felt great. I finally came back and I'm back to full strength, and I finally got a chance to show everybody what I could do. It felt great to finally get a win here in the opener." Then there's the iTunes podcast of the Lehigh post-game press conference... Intrepid Reporter: Seko...

Change of plans. I decided it would be cruel to start a preview and, well, not finish it. So I decided to finish that first before finishing up the Patriot League offseason with Lehigh. Normally, I'll put the Press Links on Friday, but I'll put them after my prediction this week so tomorrow will be dedicated to my "Patriot League Offseason" special on Lehigh. Weather Update It's looking more and more like it's going to be a wet home opener. Yahoo! Weather right now reports it like this: " Rain showers early with a wind driven heavy rain developing later in the day. Chance of rain 80%." Looks like Goodman's new turf and drainage system will be tested right off the bat. Breaking Down Drake Offense Only four starters return from last year's offense from a team that went 6-5. Head coach Chris Creighton has instituted a multiple spread offense in place that the Bulldogs are still trying to click into, but he has two important veteran playe...

In other words, the College Sporting News (the news outlet I write for) has released a slew of information, including their preseason all-America team . Senior DL Brian Jackson made it on the second team . For those that don't know, tonight is when the 2008 college football season kicks off, and I've written a CSN Way article about it - imploring Appalachian State fans to, well, not get hurt when LSU pounds them this Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time. Included is also my predictions of the only game this week involving a Patriot League school, Colgate: Colgate at Stony Brook. What seemed like just another opening-day matchup becomes much more interesting when Raider runningback Jordan Scott was suspended for this particular game for an offseason incident. The Seawolves, eager to show off their team now teeming with 63 scholarships, have the goal of an at-large playoff spot and will have a running threat of their own in runningback Conte Cuttino. Who takes this one? I think...

The football season is almost upon us, and you want information. Information about Lehigh football, information about Lehigh (and other FCS games) on TV, and even the places where you can find out about the stuff that, well, isn't so well reported. This post will detail pretty much everything you'll ever need. At Lehigh, the sports fan is blessed with (of course) this blog - which gives a common place for news, game previews, and commentary. After you're done reading all the content on here (and at the official Lehigh athletics web site ), you might want to check out some of the other media out there. Thankfully, the Mountain Hawks are blessed with two local media outlets ( The Allentown Morning Call and the Easton Express-Times ), and one school paper ( The Brown & White ) with very good Lehigh football coverage. Additionally, I like to check out the Groller's Corner blog at the Morning Call (by Keith Groller) for those extra Lehigh tidbits that don't ma...

The press links detail another frustrating day in Hamilton last weekend, but also points at something important: the results of the next two weeks will be critical "for momentum going into next year," said sophomore LB Matt Cohen . And with the large number of underclassmen contributors in games this year, there is good reason to be excited about the future. Freshman RB Jaren Walker was a definite bright spot, with some good rushes and some nice power running, especially on the opening drive. Freshman KR John Kennedy was another, a guy who has made an immediate impact on the return game this year. These guys, along with junior LB Tim Diamond , could be the core of something special in 2008. But it starts by winning the next two games. Press Links: Morning Call: Offense Slumbers At Colgate Morning Call: Loss To Colgate Had Bright Spots Express-Times: Brush With Colgate Shows Flaws

(Photo courtesy of Andrew Maier, Brown & White) Some interesting things in the press links, but first I'd like to call your attention to the "Media" Links on the left and the Webshots Albums . That's a holding area for all the pictures I've taken during the games I've attended, including the Lehigh/Fordham game that I just uploaded. Due to popular demand, I'll be uploading the Holy Cross/Lehigh pictures too soon as well. (For those of you who prefer looking a pictures of Lehigh victories, Lehigh/Princeton is there as well.) Junior RB Matt McGowan , who was day-to-day early in the week, suddenly was available to go later this week for the Georgetown game, while some reports hint that senior QB Sedale Threatt was more banged up than was originally let on, which led to sophomore QB Chris Bokosky to get more reps in practice and get the start. A good piece, incidentally on how Threatt took the news of splitting time with Bokosky, and some questions as...