Lehigh Football Nation

This past Wednesday was Patriot League media day for the 2004 season. First the important news: In the pre-season coaches' poll, Lehigh is picked to finish second: Patriot League Preseason Poll Team (# first place votes) Points 1. Colgate (12) 72 2. LEHIGH (2) 59 3. Fordham 51 4. Bucknell 40 5. Lafayette 26 T6. Georgetown 23 T6. Holy Cross 23 Lehigh Football Nation's take on this is: I'm not sure if Lafayette's fifth-place showing in this poll is a reflection of the strength of the Patriot League this year, but to me they have the potential to be a surprising team this year. I'm not saying they will win the title, but they don't seem to me like a fifth-place team. Just a hunch. Here's some media writeups of Patriot League Media Day: PatriotLeague.com: Patriot League Announces Football Preseason Poll And Honors http://patriotleague.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080304aaa.html Lehighsports.com: Six National Polls place Le...

The Eagles have Landed If it's mid-July, then it must mean that the Eagles have officially landed on South Mountain. "Eagles ready to swoop into Bethlehem" http://www.lehighsports.com/release.asp?RELEASE_ID=2943 "Eagles migrating back to Lehigh" http://pennlive.com/news/expresstimes/pa/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1090746318165540.xml As they have every year since 1995, the Philadelphia Eagles are ready to start their training camp at Murray Goodman for the upcoming season. There are lots of activities for kids and adults alike, and there are many free activites for all, including skills tests, an autograph tent, and the "NFL Experience". Historically it has attracted fans from all over. It runs from July 28th until camp breaks on August 12th. In addition, fans will be able to see brand-new signings WR Terrell Owens and DE Jevon Kearse in Eagle uniforms getting ready for the new season, as well as the new draftess (um, if they all ...

It happens every year.  Around this time every year, EA Sports releases its college football game to the general public.  If you're a college football and Playstation 2 nut like myself, it's a time of great anticipation.  Visions of pixellated players delivering bone-crushing hits to virtual quarterbacks.  Getting your third-string running back a 100-yard rushing game against a patsy team (or better yet, a member of the Top 25).  Setting up a "dynasty" mode and coaching your favorite team to a bowl game, or (even better) a playoff to determine the true national champion. And many of you, like me, are asking the perennial question.  "Are Lehigh (and the Patriot League teams) in there?" For years, there seemed little hope of getting any 1-AA teams or conferences in the game.  In the "olden days" (think 1996), it was a minor miracle to see any of the non-major conferences like the MAC or Sun Belt represented in the game.  Adding i...

Sophomoric? Possibly. But here's an action item for the people who go to my corner of the blogosphere to get an update of all the happenings of Lehigh football. On the current Lehigh webpage there's a poll question: "Other than lehighsports.com, what is your primary source of information for Lehigh Athletics?" Now you and I know that you get all your Lehigh sports information from Lehigh Football Nation, right? That probably should be your first instinct. Come home from Goodman stadium; Lehigh Football Nation. A Pavlovian response. But unfortunately it's not a selection on their fan poll - a curious oversight. So if you like Lehigh Football Nation, please surf on over to lehighsports.com and select "Other", so that the world can see where people really get their Lehigh sports news. Thanks for your support. Only 61 days until Lehigh takes on the Seawolves of Stony Brook. (Incidentally, if you go to the football index on lehig...

Last week, on June 23rd, a long-anticipated announcement was made by Northeastern University. The school announced that for the 2006-2007 season, Northeastern was going to be joining the Colonial Athletic Association, or CAA, in all sports except football. One of the primary reasons for the move included the opportunity for the N'Eastern Huskies to increase the prestige of their men's basketball program, as the move from the weaker America East conference to a powerful mid-major basketball conference including UNC-Wilmington, Drexel, and George Washington. If you parse through the reports of the news conference, you hear the same type of reasoning that the ACC used a year ago in pursuing Boston College: CAA Commissioner Tom Yaeger: "It was an evaluation not only of today but more importantly where the institution aspires to be in the next decade. This evaluation brought us to Boston and to Northeastern." Northeastern AD John O'Brien: "[the move is] an...

Only 3 months until opening day. It's about now when Lehigh Football fans start to get a little antsy. The recruiting classes are pretty much set. Spring practice has come and gone. In August camp will begin... so... what to do for these next few months? Well, let's start right here by analyzing the incoming recruiting classes of all the Patriot League teams. In February and March, almost all the schools of the Patriot League announced their incoming recruiting classes. However, some transfers generally come in under the wire. Now that the incoming rosters are all set, let's grade all the offseason moves. GEORGETOWN Coaching changes: Loss of defensive coordinator Dan Rattay to Villanova. Loss of offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead to Akron. The new offensive coordinator is one-time Navy and Western Michigan coach Elliott Uzelac. Key Graduation Losses: WR/KR Luke McArdle; QB Drew Crawford; OL Frank Terrazino; OL John Cummings. Key member of incoming...

After the past weekend's spring Brown/White game, some of the big questions going into the 2004 season have yet to be answered. First, let's look at the writeups of the game. The official writeup, the Morning Call writeup, and the Express-times writeups offer only insight into the QB controversy for next year, with little that is actually resolved. 1) Running game . With Eric Rath injured, he didn't suit up for the game - however, we did see a lot who was likely to be the #2 back, sophomore Marques Thompson. Thompson took full advantage of the absence to show what he could do. He is clearly the #2 behind Rath, and will be the starter should Rath not be healthy at the start of the season. (Rath's current injury should be healed by the season opener, I need to mention.) At FB, it looks like next year's starter is junior Greg Fay from LFN's reckoning. He had a solid day rushing the ball and catching it out of the backfield. Fay looks like a good ...