Lehigh Football Nation

  It's the spring, and what that means is that the weather (hopefully) is getting better, the flowers are blooming, and - most importantly - we're in the middle of spring football season. Soon I am planning on posting an update on what has gone on in FCS football since the end of last season (spoiler alert: it is a lot!), but first I wanted to take an initial look at Lehigh's fall 2022 football schedule, and what sort of fun we can expect. But before I do that, I wanted to highlight something that my Twitter pal Omar Rashon-Borja wrote about his beloved Holy Cross Crusaders.     In this piece , he talks about a special game Holy Cross played last year at Polar Park, the minor league home of the Worcester Red Sox (or the "WooSox" as they are commonly known up there).  The game was branded the EBW Classic, featured an important Holy Cross vs. Colgate league matchup, and attracted 9.508 fans to attend ( which was about 2,000 more than their average at Fitton Field ...

Over the years, the Lehigh football program has always had very high expectations in every sense.   The expectations at Lehigh, as I've observed it, are: * That Lehigh football teams always have top football students academically as a member of their classes. * That Lehigh football teams always compete for Patriot League Championships, every year.  There is no such thing as a rebuilding year.  Championship droughts, and losing records, are supposed to be aberrations. * That Lehigh football, in the preseason has, as their goal, to win the FCS National Championship. Are those goals unrealistic?  At a point in time for this program, although the goals were lofty, they were not unrealistic.   Patriot League schools in the past have made it to the FCS National Championship game, and won multiple rounds in the FCS Playoffs.  Twice Lehigh had the ball with under two minutes to play against teams who would end up being FCS National Champions, with Lehigh...

This weekend, Lehigh had a tough evening on the Main Line as the Mountain Hawks fell to Villanova 38-10 .  After jumping to a 3-0 lead, Villanova would go on 17-0 and 21-0 runs in between a Lehigh touchdown to make the evening a happy one for most of the 8,000 fans in attendance. Unlike last week, this wasn't one that got away - this was a more comprehensive loss.  Here's five thoughts I had after looking over the game last week.

Welcome back to the Lehigh Tailgate Report, a free public service from your pals over at Lehigh Football Nation. The idea of the Lehigh Tailgate Report is to provide a fun report on what to expect at the game, or not at the game, for this week's upcoming game. If you're planning to go to the game, great! It's at Villanova Stadium this Saturday evening at 6:00PM. If you've got questions on how to get there, scroll below. If you can't make it to the game, it is available to watch or listen in a variety of ways. The local radio broadcast, which starts an hour before kickoff and sets the table for the game, can be caught on your AM dial on Fox Sports Radio AM 1230 or 1320. Matt Kerr, Matt Markus, and Steve Lomangino are on the call this Saturday. Through internet radio, the pregame, game, and postgame can be streamed through TuneIn or just simply going to the LVFoxSports.com webpage . This Saturday, the Lehigh/Villanova live video game stream is avai...

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.

(Photo Credit: Philadelphia Inquirer) It's time to go full nerd and do a full-blown breakdown of the Villanova Wildcats. If there were any lingering doubts about how good No. 12 Villanova is, the Wildcats enter this game on a huge high, upsetting Temple of the AAC 19-17 . This isn't the first time Villanova has faced Lehigh after playing an FBS opponent. In 2016, the Wildcats traveled to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, facing a Pitt team led by now-Pittsburgh Steeler RB James Conner on the ground.  The Wildcats fought pretty bravely in that game but eventually fell 28-7 to one of the more powerful teams of the ACC that season. In the game against Lehigh the following week, won by Villanova 26-21 , Lehigh was in the game until the very end, jumping to a 14-6 lead at halftime before the Wildcats got over their Pittsburgh hangover. Down 21-20, head coach Andy Talley resorted to dinosaur ball, running almost every play until converting the final touchdown.  The rally, beh...

Seeing as that I put the two-deep analysis on the shelf (because there was no change from last week to this week), let's get to the more important things about this weekend - the specific happenings happening around the football game, which includes tailgating, special promotions, and other fun stuff like "Drink of the Week" and "Burger of the Week". Like last week, the weather report this Saturday is ideal for viewing and playing football. As of today the forecast calls for cloudy weather and a high of 72 during gametime, with a 20% chance of some possible showers.  Like last week, there is some precipitation forecast for the night before, which should have Murray Goodman's turf, again, in perfect shape for football.

(Photo Credit: Chris Shipley/The Morning Call) In the post game press conference, junior QB Brad Mayes was asked about how he felt about his performance in the 38-35 loss - a game where he had a stellar statistical game, with over 400 yards passing, 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, but the Mountain Hawks as a team came up short. The Tampa, Florida native definitely had a fresher memory of what he considered mistakes. "There were some throws out there that I wish I had back," he said.  "I should have thrown for more than whatever I threw.  Whether it's putting the ball on the outside shoulder, not throwing it low, or whatever - there were some throws I left out there today.  I'm going to have to sleep on it, come back next week, and try to make those throws." Season openers like this, where your team loses, are rarely deal-breakers when it comes to a football season.  Assuming Villanova continues to surge forward and have a good year, it's lik...

(Photo Credit: Kyle Craig/Lehigh Valley Live) Head coach Andy Coen would hear nothing of moral victories in the post game press conference. "I thought we had every opportunity to win this football game," Lehigh's frustrated head coach said. "When you go through this stuff," he said, flipping through the pages of the post-game statistics packet, "you're going to see a lot of mistakes.  You see it with some young guys, guys in their first game, but we had some guys that where it was just out of character." It was a game where neither side looked like they were in mid-season form, though you could see the quality shine through offensively on both sides at different times.  So the outcome hinged on mistakes, and who made fewer of them - and that team was Villanova. That shouldn't take away from the offensive fireworks on both sides. There was the tremendous blocking up front that set up a great rushing day for Villanova RB Matt Gudza...

Lehigh fell behind 21-7 and 28-14 in the first half, and battled back in the second half to give themselves a shot to win, but for the second straight year the Mountain Hawks came close but couldn't close the deal, falling 38-35 to Villanova at Murray Goodman Stadium this afternoon. In his first start of the 2017 season, junior QB Brad Mayes went 33 for 49 with 406 yards passing and 4 touchdowns, including two to senior WR Gatlin Casey that were of highlight-reel quality. One was a 29 yard strike through a pass interference call, and the second was a 3 yard drill that was tipped but Casey adjusted and came down with the pass at the back of the end zone. Junior WR Luke Cristiano also had a career day with 8 catches and 143 yards and an amazing touchdown catch that saw him beat Villanova S Rob Rolle and scamper for a 66 yard touchdown. Villanova amassed 475 yards of offense on the afternoon, achieving good balance with QB Zach Bednarczyk 's passing (209 yards, 2 touc...

Not going to the home opener? First of all, what's wrong with you? OK.  So your bicycle is in the shop, it's the Pee Wee Soccer quarterfinals, or some other very good reason has arisen where you can't make it to Murray Goodman for the game. Never fear.  LFN's here.

One of my favorite stories of the early Lehigh football era was the idea that Lehigh, Lafayette and Penn in the late 1800s battled for the "Championship of Pennsylvania". In 2017, it wouldn't be prudent to call a game versus Lehigh and Villanova the "Championship of Pennsylvania", thanks to the presence of Penn State, Pitt and Temple in the state. In FCS though, Lehigh vs. Villanova, the only two STATS and Coach's Poll Top 25 teams that are based in Pennsylvania, it could certainly be spun in that way. Villanova, at No. 9/10, travels to Lehigh, No. 17/17, to determine who is the FCS Champion of Pennsylvania. I like it.

It's different when you're returning champions. That much was clear when sifting through all the preseason print pieces and videos covering the Lehigh Mountain Hawks. Expectations return - you're no longer the "hunter", as head coach Andy Coen explained, you're the "hunted". Managing those expectations has been almost as important for this Lehigh football team as the regular conditioning and X and O's drills of camp. The common thread with the many print and video pieces and the many interviews is a sense of maturity and a businesslike ethic around this team, especially amongst its leadership.

One has been here before; the other has not, at least not lately. Over the course of the last few seasons, Villanova Stadium has hosted all sorts of games involving Top 25 teams.  James Madison, New Hampshire, Richmond - all of these CAA teams have been to the Main Line, at one time or another, at the same time the Wildcats have also been in the Top 25.  When it comes to hosting big football games, Villanova is no stranger to that situation. Not so, Lehigh. Sure, the Mountain Hawks have played a bunch of Top 25 teams over the course of the last several seasons.  And last year, Lehigh returned to the Top 25 as well. But the Mountain Hawks haven't hosted a game like this, a Top 25 tilt between two opponents that are both in the Top 25, since the Mountain Hawks beat New Hampshire 34-27 back in 2012. This year's season opener represents the cumulation of the long, hard road of building a Top 25, national-caliber FCS football team.  Last season was a year o...

(Photo Credit: Akira Suwa/Philly.com) Writing a season preview about Villanova used to be the easiest job in the world. Just grab your boilerplate biographical information about future hall-of-fame head coach Andy Talley , do a little Googling of the Wildcat's next up-and-coming NFL prospects, come up with a dozen synonyms for the words "tough" and "challenge", and the preview basically writes itself. But this season's task of facing Villanova is simply different than all of those other years.  Talley, the only coach Villanova has ever known since restarting their football program in 1985 after a failed attempt to pull the plug on it in 1981 in the middle of spring practice , has finally retired from the head coaching ranks.  While the same familiar trappings of high preseason rankings and potential NFL prospects remain, their new head coach, longtime Talley assistant Mark Ferrante , is now running the Wildcats and will be seeking his first win as a ...

One of the more interesting aspects of covering Lehigh football for so long is the fact that you end up seeing future NFL players on their rise to the big show. In fact, two players who squared off against the Mountain Hawks in particular have an excellent chance of being drafted on Day 2 or Day 3 of the NFL draft. But those not the only Lehigh football opponents that will be hoping to get a phone call from an NFL team this Friday or Saturday. Though few Patriot League, Ivy League or even CAA players enter their football programs with the NFL as their main goal, every football player that matriculates to these schools still harbor the dream of dominating their league and as a result get an opportunity to pursue their NFL dream. And it is true that NFL scouts come to FCS football games to look for talent that might have been overlooked.  Many years ago I was in Hofstra's press box, watching the Pride take on New Hampshire, with NFL scouts from the Colts and Saints there to...

You didn't ask for them, but here's my pick for this week's FCS Top 25. I'm pretty proud of myself for not falling into the trap of South Dakota State . Many people, after the Jackrabbits' huge win over North Dakota State , vaulted them to the Top 5 of their polls, but I know better.  The craziness of the Missouri Valley I thought would eventually catch up with them, so I had only reluctantly put them at No. 10. Their loss to 3-5 Illinois State , taken in isolation, was a shocker - but perhaps not completely shocking, though, considering the Missouri Valley has not one but two teams that have beaten Power Five Teams and also have five losses . In fact, there are three Missouri Valley teams - Illinois State, South Dakota and Northern Iowa - that can plausibly say, if they get to 6-5, they have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs as an at-large team, thanks to perceived quality wins.

You didn't ask for them, but here's my pick for this week's FCS Top 25. This week's candidate for the LFN Top 25 curse?   Sacred Heart , with Colgate a very close second, but there were a lot of teams in the lower reaches of my Top 25 that suffered defeat, in a list that includes Fordham, Southern Utah and (again) William and Mary , who suffered a second straight crushing defeat in two weeks, this time at the hands of New Hampshire . Never in a million years did I ever think Tennessee State, Cornell and North Carolina A&T would simultaneously be in my Top 25, yet there they are.

I like winning. Who doesn't? Admittedly, it is a bit of a selfish impulse on my part.  It is always easier to recap a heroic made-for-TVesque Lehigh win than a loss.  Narratives and nicknames flow like water when games have outcomes like that. Not so today, after Lehigh's 0-2 start.  It's harder to pull together the game recaps when the outcomes of the games instead show a team that is on the brink of learning how to win, but hasn't been able to figure out how to turn that corner. Two games into the season, I don't see a Lehigh team that is necessarily bad, or pointed in the wrong direction. Instead, I see a team that is trying to figure out how to put away a tough opponent and win football games. And frankly, there's nothing wrong with that yet. ***** Trying to hit the right tone after a loss like Saturday's poses a special challenge. I've seen all sorts of Lehigh wins and losses.  I've seen all the highs and the lows of the Andy...

"It's a game of inches," head coach Andy Coen said after the Mountain Hawks had just fallen to nationally-ranked Villanova on a hot, humid, thick September evening.  "I just told these two guys walking across the field here ( senior LB Colton Caslow and junior WR Troy Pelletier ), it really is a game of inches. We were this close to beating a very good football team." Indeed they were, even if, after a disappointing loss last week to Monmouth, many across the nation had written off Lehigh's chances of an upset of the team ranked No. 19 in the FCS Coaches' Poll. Stung from a first half against Monmouth when they failed to score a single point, Lehigh battled hard in the first half and played "outstanding" Coen said, as the Mountain Hawks jumped to a 14-6 lead.  After missing a field goal falling behind 20-14, Lehigh rallied to retake the lead, and after falling behind one last time, the defense forced a stop and handed the ball back t...