Lehigh Football Nation

I'm working on a "Get through the Summer" series that is good enough to make it on I-AA.org, which means that to get you through the next few days (at least), you'll have to make do with something that's out there. Fortunately, Lehigh's sports information director came through for me, as well as Scout.com, with a few announcements of interest. First, Lehigh's 2006 schedule is now set . Of particular note is that Lehigh's clash at Villanova, a short hour from Bethlehem, has a 6PM start and may just be televised on CN8. The Lafayette game also, uncommonly, has a 1PM start time, which seems to imply that the new lights at Fisher Field will be done by then. (I've also updated my website accordingly.) Second, Gerran Walker has a nice write-up on Scout.com on being a Southern Gentleman with Big-Play Speed . An excerpt follows: Gerran Walker is such a southern gentleman, he even tries to keep his name simple for others who often struggle with the proper ...

Ok, Part I gave us a pretty good explanation of the playing field. Now we can judge the candidates. Who is a good shot for expansion? Who isn't? Let's not waste time - let's jump into Part II! Strong Contenders for All-Sports Membership JOHNS HOPKINS The Blue Jays appear to be the perfect type of school that the Patriot League could be targeting. Competing in the D-III Centennial Conference in football (and in all other sports, save lacrosse), if you look at their recently upgraded facilities and teams, they are a "D-III school in a D-I body." Facility-wise, the Jays could put some other Patriot League schools' athletic training rooms to shame. Academically, there are zero questions - they are exactly what the Patriot League wants. If you're in the Top 20 Universites nationally , you've got an open Patriot League invite. Athletically, Johns Hopkins' Men's Lacrosse team (competing as a Division I independent) captured the NCAA t...

This talk about Patriot League Expansion was so big that I ended up breaking it into two sections. Part I will be published tonight. Tune in tomorrow for Part II! A Local Piece Makes a Big Stink It's funny how a little Sunday piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, labelled "District Spotlight" , can have such a big impact on the Patriot League and expectations for expansion. This piece talks about Duquesne's prospects from moving "out of a deluded [sic] MAAC" and into another conference for football. It's clear that Duquesne is growing tired of playing in a non-scholarship conference with five schools (and the scheduling headaches that come with that) every year. Here are the quotes that affect Patriot League Football directly: "The Patriot League isn't taking any additional members just for football," [Duquense AD Greg] Amodio said. "I want to make it understood that Duquesne is not leaving the Atlantic 10 Conference... [and t]here...

Summer is basically here. Though it's hot, and you're probably thinking about bikinis on the beach, ice cream, gelati, or that long drive with your family to the beach, as a public service I'm going to be starting a new series to help you, the starving I-AA football fan, get through these hot summer months. Though Patriot League Media Day is months away, and its almost 90 days until Lehigh opens against Albany at Murray Goodman, the Get Through the Summer Series, or GTTS, will tackle some the big issues facing the Patriot League and I-AA football today. It will also include my Spring Roundup and my Patriot League Preview. It will be coming out every Wednesday night for your reading enjoyment. This Wednesday I'll talk all about Patriot League expansion. Where does it stand? Who could be a target? How likely is it to happen? It may be summer, but you'll find out - football season is just starting to heat up.

Some dibs and dabs while you are getting your BBQ's ready for this weekend or loading up your IPod with music: 1) While you're looking for stuff for your IPod, you can download the latest I-AA Waves radio show which features an interview with (you guessed it) me, talking about the preseason Any Given Saturday poll and why there are no Patriot League schools in the Top 25. 2) HoyaSaxa.Com has a special memorial day blog entry which talks about why the Hoyas are silver and blue, and talks briefly about those Hoya alums who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Go read - you're not working right now or anything, are you? 3) You may have looked at the blog an noticed that things are, well, a little different. That's because I've been making some small tweaks to the interfaces of the blog, and I've been updating the "I-AA Stadium Finder" at the bottom of the page. (Call it, if you will, some last-minute "spring cleaning".) I...

The first poll is out of the 2006 season. It's the highly-predictive Any Given Saturday poll , voted on by active folks in the I-AA community (including myself). This year held some major surprises - and some majorly overrated teams. Here's the Top 25, and my commentary below. Any Given Saturday Poll Preseason Top 25 (First place votes in parenthesis) 1. Appalachian State (45) 2. New Hampshire (31) 3. Northern Iowa (7) 4. Montana (2) 5. Furman (2) 6. Cal Poly 7. Youngstown State 8. James Madison (2) 9. Illinois State 10. Delaware 11. McNeese State 12. North Dakota State (1) 13. Georgia Southern 14. Massachusetts 15. Eastern Illinois 16. Hampton 17. Southern Illinois 18. Coastal Carolina 19. Montana State 20. UC Davis 21. Texas State 22. Nicholls State 23. Eastern Washington 24. Eastern Kentucky 25. Richmond Biggest Surprise: Shockingly, no Patriot League teams made the Top 25. Lafayette, Lehigh, and Colgate all got just about an equal amount of votes, but just under Richmo...

Yesterday on the I-AA Waves internet radio show, national I-AA columnists Dave Coulson (of I-AA.org) and Matt Dougherty (of the Sports Network) discussed their preseason top 25. Ralph Wallace, the host, asked them about what they felt about the Patriot League and their preseason prospects. This is what they said: Matt: The only three teams you can look at [for the Top 25] are Colgate, Lafayette and Lehigh... for Lehigh I kind of want to see what they do post Peete Lembo there. I like what [junior QB] Sedale Threatt brought to their team at the end of the season. Dave: With Lehigh I kind of want to see how things are in the post-Lembo era before I really would pick them in the Top 25 yet. I did get a chance to see Sedale Threatt a couple of times... and was impressed with his athleticism, and that's a new dimension for a program like that up there - you don't usually see QB's like that in their league. They could be a sleeper type of team. Interesting tidbits, and ...