Lehigh Football Nation

CCSU Athletics The Pete Rossomando era couldn't have started much better for Central Connecticut State fans in 2014. Not many outsiders gave the Blue Devils much of a chance when they made the trip to Johnny Unitas stadium to take on the No. 7 team in the nation, Towson. Sure, they had RB Rob Holloman , an all-purpose everything back that would almost certainly be invited to an NFL camp (he was), but certainly that wasn't enough to run with the Tigers, right? Behind a career game by QB Nick SanGiacomo , a transfer from Tulane, CCSU did indeed run with the Tigers, upsetting Towson 31-27 and seemingly announcing that the Blue Devils were going to be in stiff competition for the NEC title and a bid to the FCS playoffs. Unfortunately, that's not how things turned out for the Blue Devils.

By all accounts what happened at UAB was extraordinary. Last November, football at UAB was essentially abolished by the University of Alabama's Board of Trustees and confirmed by president Ray Watts .  The decision was made secretly, in the middle of the season, with an entire press release written up - but since it didn't "look good", Watts kept up with the fiction that there still was a decision to be made. After the season concluded, Watts announced the termination of the program, saying that "was not about finances... but planning for excellence in the future for everything we do." You probably know the rest of the story.  It was immediately apparent to all (but apparently not Watts, or the CarrSports Consultants who were commissioned the data to help make that decision) that UAB's termination of football would almost certainly cost them membership in Conference USA, which was one of several factors that helped set ablaze students, alumni, a...

When you see this picture of Loyola University headgear, do you think football, or lacrosse? If you're a rabid college football fan, you're forgiven if you think of this as a possible concept football helmet for a member of the Patriot League, Loyola (MD).  (Even though it's actually a lacrosse helmet.) As ever, I'm always looking for possible Patriot League football expansion scenarios.  And I started to take a look at the financial details of the schools of the Patriot League and some of the other schools in the Northeast that sponsor FCS football, one nagging question kept reappearing in my mind. Why am I looking around for outside expansion candidates when two of the best possible additions in the league for football are already full-sports members? One had a decidedly modest football history that didn't make that much of a dent on the college football consciousness.  The other had a rich football history buried by a president that was an ideological...

One of the best pieces of data reporting, in regards to NCAA athletics, comes from USA Today Sports and a group of lawyers and reporters. It's called the NCAA Athletics Spending database, which details the amount of revenue and spending that every public school makes on athletics.  (By law, every public or partial-public school needs to disclose this information.) It also computes the amount that each school receives in "subsidy" , which is a combination of institutional support (a direct payment from the school to the athletic department), student fees (fees included in tuition that end up going to the athletic department), and taxpayer money. The full database is here , which is interesting in and of itself, but I wanted to break out the database to only include those schools with FCS football programs.  That's what I've done below.

If it's late May, it's magazine season. With the season still three months away - the official kickoff to the FCS football season, North Dakota State at Montana, will be happening on August 29th on ESPN - the big way to whittle away the time is to look at the many FCS Top 25's that are getting published in airport reading material such as Athlon and The Sporting News . Preseason Top 25's are not right or wrong - they're just one sportswriter's opinion on the top teams going into the season. So I figure, I've got as good as opinion as anyone else - so why don't I post my Top 25 here, and let people read that when they go on an airplane this summer and head to the beach, the lake, or wherever their hearts take them? So here we go: My preseason Top 25, from No. 25 to No. 1.  As a added, free bonus, you'll learn exactly why I put each team where I did.

The businesswoman who looked suspiciously like Nicki Minaj was packing her suitcase. Art sighed, again. "We're done here," the businesswoman said.  We can stop the work.  Fordham's won.  Head coach Joe Moorhead won the Patriot League last year, the Patsy Points this year, and, for all we know, has won the annual Patriot League head coaching marble championship, too." "THIS IS A JOB WE NEED TO DO TO THE FINISH," Art said ominously.  One more squad, one more final revision, and we're done for another year.  Coach Moorhead certainly seems like he has a lot of marbles in his pocket, but we need to figure out exactly how many." "All I know is I'm fairly certain you'll find something bad to say about THIS class too," the businesswoman said. "You know me well," Art said.

I'm thinking about starting something daily during the work week - a section of five lunchtime reading links I found interesting. Most times these will involve the Patriot League, FCS football, college football, or something else that I find interesting or amusing. Let's get right to it: Your LFN lunchtime reading for today.