Lehigh Football Nation

Do I seem obsessed with the idea of Lehigh having a 12th game in 2013?  Yes, I believe I am. While my initial thoughts on a 12th game for Lehigh involved a lot of expense - for example, a possible trip to Bozeman, Montana to take on last year's Big Sky co-champions Montana State - it so happens that there's another possible 12th Mountain Hawk game that could come about that is not only a whole lot less expensive, but also would give Lehigh an extra home game. The forces at work would not be from the FCS world but the FBS world.  More accurately, a game versus Pitt and Villanova.

When Lafayette president Daniel H. Weiss announced to the world that the Patriot League would be allowing schools to allow merit-based aid - i.e., allowing the same types of athletic scholarships that other FCS schools can offer - there was a lot of rejoicing  with Patriot League fans for a variety of reasons. "We make this decision in recognition that we believe that it will help the league to remain strong and competitive." he mentioned in his opening statement, "We believe over time what this decision is in the best interest of the league because it will help us with future membership prospects." This past week, a subtle change to the Patriot League website seems to indicate that perhaps, just perhaps, that future membership prospects might be happening sooner rather than later. Could a new member be joining the Patriot League by the 2013 season?

In what I am aiming to be the quickest Lehigh Football Nation post in history, here are the Players of the Week from the VMI game: On defense, the winner is going to be junior DB Quadir Carter . Carter set the tone early in the VMI game, stuffing their first drive on a fourth down play with a big three yard tackle for loss. He would continue to have his best-ever day as a Mountain Hawk, amassing 8 tackles, adding a sack to end up with two tackles for loss on the day, and recovering a VMI fumble. His performance headlined a dominating perfomance on defense, where VMI only finally got on the scoreboard with under a minute to play in the game. Special teams Hawk this week will be going to junior P/K Jason Leo, in a tough call with freshman KR John Kennedy. Ultimately, despite another missed extra point late in the day, Leo had a 22 yard field goal to go with his four extra points, to give him seven points on the day. Punting, he had another great day, averaging 44 yards per punt, i...

Somehow, I don't think the photo to my left is of freshman QB J.B. Clark , although he and senior LB Justin Weaver share the same number. (Photo courtesy of Demetra Stamus, Morning Call.) Aside from the missed photo credit, the press seemed pretty rosy about Lehigh this week after their 37-6 drubbing of VMI. In the Sports Network Poll , Lafayette squeezed a few more votes than Lehigh and Holy Cross as the Mountain Hawks and Crusaders continued their slow climb to the rankings. It's still a bit of a way to #25, but only a handful of votes separate Lafayette (37), Lehigh (31), and Holy Cross (30). How did I forget that at halftime the 50th anniversary of the 1957 Lambert Cup team was going to be honored? I should have mentioned that. This weekend, the 1977 Division II Championship team is going to be honored at halftime. I thought I'd mention this now, just in case I forget. Here's the links and mash-up. Allentown Morning Call: Lehigh Starts Fast, Puts VMI Away Ear...

Yes, I know. How come I have such an obsession about terms made by tragicomic political figures (in this case, Spiro Agnew, Richard Nixon's vice president who resigned in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate affair)? One can only wonder what terms I'll be coming up with in the future in these Sunday Words, such as "Henny Penny The Sky Is Falling", or "It depends on what your definition of 'Is' Is". In any event, I don't think it's any secret that I'm referring to Mr. Agnew's reference to the nattering 'nabobs' of negativism. Looking objectively, this Saturday's win against VMI was Lehigh's largest margin of victory against an out-of-conference opponent since the Mountain Hawks waxed Central Connecticut State 58-10 on September 29th, 2001 (to what then was essentially a non-scholarship team). For a win against a "scholarship" team of the same magnitude, you need to go back to 1984 when Lehigh throttled Delaware 4...

Lehigh did what they had to do today, pouncing on VMI early to the tune of a 31-0 halftime lead and ultimately cruising to an easy 37-6 drubbing of the Keydets. Refreshingly, this game was over early after senior QB Sedale Threatt connected with junior TE Troy Healion for a 15 yard TD to make it 7-0, and it was all downhill from there. With Healion's 2 TDs, and junior WR Nick Johnson's two bombs, it's going to be awfully challenging figuring out an offensive player of the week. (What a pleasant problem to have.) Not only was it great to see Lehigh return to their dominating ways at home (which I very much hope to be a trend), it was great to see the offense and defense get a good chance to click and continue to work things out. I get the feeling this team is getting stronger, and this is a morale-building win to bring the Mountain Hawks to 2-1. Having said that, it's not like it was perfect - 10 penalties for 71 yards leaps to mind. There were some drives in the fi...

Some of you reading this preview will not be aware of who VMI is. You might know that they're the Keydets and they compete in the Big South conference, or that they're 1-2 on the year with a win over D-II Lock Haven and two blowout losses against William & Mary (63-16) and nationally-ranked James Madison (45-17), or that their school mascot is (inexplicably) a kangaroo. All you need to remember if you're a Lehigh fan, though, is the following score: Lehigh 28, VMI 26. That was the score in 2005 when a nationally-ranked Lehigh team went down to Lexington, VA hoping for a cakewalk victory, but instead found themselves in a battle with a team that simply wouldn't give up. Once Lehigh woke up, they found VMI with the ball driving for the game-winning FG with under a minute left. SS Julian Austin ended up intercepting a pass on this drive, and allowed us to escape with the win. And escape is the right word, even though VMI would end up with a 3-8 record that year. Lehigh...