Lehigh Football Nation

(Photo Credit:   The Morning Call ) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" for the Fordham game.

My vote for the FCS Top 25 for the week ending 10/7/2013 follows below the flip. But firstcheck out this great picture from the Fargo Dome last weekend as the other battle of unbeatens, Northern Iowa against North Dakota State, unfolded.  (Photo Credit: David Samson / The Forum ) The battle of unbeatens in the Missouri Valley lived up to its billing, but also had an awful injury to Panther LB Jake Farley , who had to leave with UNI ahead 23-17 with 5 minutes remaining with a broken leg that will likely sideline the all-American candidate. As if that wasn't bad enough for his father, head coach Mark Farley , he then had to then endure watching the Panther lead slip away in the final minutes, as the Bison completed the come-from-behind win to pull it out, 24-23 .  It would be the Bison's first lead of the game, and one that would hold up.

(Photo Credit: Howard Smith /USA Today Sports ) So on the morning of October 5th, I got out of bed. The Lehigh football team was undefeated, of course. WR Ryan Spadola was a receiver on the NFL's New York Jets, and by many indications was in line for more playing time on the biggest of stages, Monday Night football. And G C.J. McCollum , after ripping up the NBA summer league for the Portland Trailblazers, seemed poised to enter the NBA season with a flourish, maybe even competing for Rookie of the Year. By the end of my trip to the Big Apple, all three dreams were shattered. Athletically, most Lehigh people of all stripes had three things in which they take an immense amount of "pride" - the football team, successful on the field for so long, the battle of Ryan Spadola against the odds to make the 53 man roster of the New York Jets, and the first Lehigh player ever taken in the NBA draft, C.J. McCollum.  By the end of Saturday, Lehigh's "pride...

(Photo Credit: Justin Lafleur /Lehigh Athletics) It was a real Yankee crowd in the Bronx this afternoon - a sellout, overflow Bronx crowd of over 7,800. Without a Yankee postseason to worry about, the nationally-ranked Fordham Rams had something they hadn't had on an October afternoon in a very long time: the undivided sports attention of the local area, playing against another Top 25 team on national television. When the calls didn't go the Rams' way, the fans stood up the same way they might in New Yankee Stadium, arguing the call.  And when a play didn't have yellow laundry on the field, indeed, the "Bronx Cheer" the Borough made famous did indeed ripple through the crowd. Not that Fordham needed help from the refs. The Rams may have had some doubters going into this weekend with their 5-0 record, but there sure aren't any more after a resounding, offensive clinic that made Lehigh pay desperately for two turnovers and ultimately had Fordham ...

(Photo Credit: WFUV) We break down the Fordham game - and we give our fearless prediction below the flip. Though this game doesn't officially count towards the Patriot League standings, make no mistake about how big this game is for both programs. Look no further than the ticket sales for this game. Fordham's Jack Coffey field is sold out, all 7,000 seats, and even on StubHub.com this game is a hot ticket, with no tickets available as of right now.  (Check back if you still need tickets!) A sold-out, 7,000 seat venue for a meaningful football game is what FCS football is all about, and whatever happens it's going to be a fantastic ambassador for Patriot League football broadcast across the country on CBS Sports Network.

(Photo Credit: Philly.com) "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!" I honestly don't know exactly why this quote from the cheese-fest-y move Clash of the Titans  was the first thing to leap to mind when thinking about this weekend's Lehigh/Fordham matchup. In the Patriot League, certainly, Lehigh and Fordham are the definition of Titans, both undefeated with the three best out-of-conference wins in the League this season.  Two are owned by Fordham - they beat FBS Temple and nationally-ranked Villanova - and the other by Lehigh - their win last week over New Hampshire. In the FCS, too, you could define them as Titans in the sense that the Mountain Hawks and Rams are two of only twelve undefeated teams in the entire subdivision.  Not all of these undefeated teams will be Titans at the end of the season, of course, but at least much of the national FCS community agrees for now that both are top teams: both are ranked in both major polls as two of the top 13 teams in the nation. ...

(Photo Credit:  Matt Smith / The Express-Times ) Below the flip, enjoy this week's "LFN Players of the Week" for the New Hampshire game.