FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

Started by admin, August 16, 2005, 04:58:09 AM

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frank uible

#5565
More preseason uncertainty is hanging over the football Ephs in 2013 than in many years. They could fall as far as 2-6, rise to 6-2 or end at any point in between, depending on the quality of play from the two experienced QBs, the health of the highly talented TB and the degree of playing speed found by the defense.

nescac1

I'd be pretty stunned, Frank, by a sub-500 record for Williams.  There is still a lot more talent at Williams then on the likes of Colby, Hamilton, Tufts, Bowdoin, even Bates (although for whatever reason, Williams has REALLY struggled vs. Bates in recent year).  Then again, I'd be equally stunned by anything fewer than two losses.  Midd, Wesleyan, Trinity and Amherst all seem to have more, in Trinity and Midd's case substantially more, talent returning.  I think the Ephs are probably headed for 4-4 or 5-3, with 6-2 on the upside and a previously unthinkable 3-5 on the downside.  Still, that is a far cry from wondering where on the 5-3 through 8-0 continuum the Ephs will fall, which was the case for almost every season prior to last.  I just hope they have some big-time athletes on both sides of the ball coming in who are ready to step in early. 

The  Ephs will need to hope that Marske recovers his Soph form or Murphy (who has a bigger arm) makes big strides with his downfield accuracy.  Despite losing Hartwell, Williams still has a deep and talented group of WR's led by Payton, Beaton, Brewington and a tremendous rising sophomore class, including two athletic 6'5 WRs.  The RB corps is deep and talented led by Scyocurka.  The OL can only be better, and will likely rely far less on untested players.  But QB is such a huge question mark ... and outside of the secondary, which should be pretty solid and is the most experienced unit on the team outside of TB, it's hard to have any idea what to expect from a front seven filled with new faces.  I also think that the play calling could do a better job utilizing the talent on hand, need to find a way to surprise teams with schemes when personnel are not clearly superior.  I don't know why Williams seems to always be in love with the WR screen and runs up the middle, but some occasional variety would not kill them. 

Nescacparent

From what I saw last season, the key to stopping Foote will be speed on the outside of the D-line. That is more likely to be accomplished with more than 3 players lined up on the D-line. There's a chance it might be accomplished with only 3 D line men but the likelihood goes down. I can only gather that in the NESCAC last season there was a dearth of D-line men with decent speed. It will be speed and not strength that stops Foote. Foote does not need to be sacked, just the constant pressure of some one coming around the end and tracking him which should disrupt his rhythm.

amh63

Nescacparent...welcome aboard...a little late on my part.  Your son plays defense?   Liked your point with regards to Foote.  The conference seems to prefer the 3-4 defense.  With quick linebackers one can also get to the QB from the inside, etc.  Middlebury  has had fine receivers that has helped Mr. Foote.

Nescacparent

Thank you for the welcome! You are right about the linebackers but very few linebackers got to Foote last year (did any?). Maybe that will change this year. Seems like the 3-4 plays to Foote's strength's. The Midd receivers were certainly competent but when you have as much time as Foote did to get a throw off, that helps an offense immensely. Midd's offensive line consistently performed at a very high level which of course added to the effectiveness of the offense.

amh63

Nescacparent....hard to say....last season the panthers' offensive line gave up the fewest sacks in the conference  led by their all-American Rayan  Moores who tried out for the NFL.  Amherst was beaten
24-3 last season in VT in which Foote passed for 379 yards.....their only offensive weapon.  Two years ago, a lifetime ago for a quarterback, Amherst won in a shoot out at home.  Foote passed for 400 net yards but was picked off 3 times.   In short, mixed results.  My view, it all came out with the battles up front.  Last year, Middlebury won early in the season when their offensive line  allowed Foote to score 21 points in the first half.  Amherst' s young QBs came on strong late in the season against Trinity and Williams...again, my opinion.
Fun to speculate what is ahead for this season!

frank uible

#5571
Never mind.

Nescacparent

All great points amh63! It will be interesting to see how Foote does this season. How the Midd coaches play to his strength and how Midd's opponents adapt to try and control him to the greatest degree possible.

AlDavis

2013 NESCAC (Offshore Sportsbook Consensus)
Middlebury  8-0
Wesleyan    8-0
Trinity        6-2
Amherst     5-3
Williams     4-4
Bates         4-4
Bowdoin     3-5
Tufts          1-7
Colby         1-7
Hamilton    0-8

amh63

Welcome aboard tufts!   Most interesting list/ranking with TWO undefeated teams.  Possible with only an 8 game schedule  >:(.  Historically, I do not believe it has ever happened. 
Was looking over the conference teams just the other day and concluded that there is much talent returning at Wesleyan.  Trinity is always strong and the Panthers have the best QB in the conference.

AUPepBand

Quote from: amh63 on July 02, 2013, 08:55:28 PM
Welcome aboard tufts!   Most interesting list/ranking with TWO undefeated teams.  Possible with only an 8 game schedule  >:(.  Historically, I do not believe it has ever happened. 
Was looking over the conference teams just the other day and concluded that there is much talent returning at Wesleyan.  Trinity is always strong and the Panthers have the best QB in the conference.

But in a conference of 10 teams where only 8 games are played, it is possible (although very unlikely) that Middlebury and Wesleyan, who do not play each other, could finish as co-champions at 8-0.  What then?

On Saxon Warriors.....!
On Saxon Warriors! On to Victory!
...Fight, fight for Alfred, A-L-F, R-E-D!

nescac1

Tufts' early predictions look pretty good, although I'd flip Trinity and Wesleyan.  Hard to imagine the conference not coming down to Trinity/Midd.  Midd's offense is just so explosive and apparently they are adding another weapon in 6'5 basketball player Dylan Sinnickson who will play WR.  The QB alone makes them the best offense in NESCAC.  Meanwhile, Trinity returns most of its key players on both sides of the ball and should have another totally dominating running game and front seven on defense.  Those two teams seem to be a notch above the rest of the league.   Wesleyan could reach that level but still has a ways to go ... the Cards though will be a tough out for anyone, especially if Drew is healthy and returns to his frosh form, and gives the Cards a 1-2 RB punch to rival Trinity's.  Williams and Amherst both have a lot of talent but more ?? marks at this point than Trinity, Midd or Wesleyan, in particular the big ?? mark for Williams at QB. 

I think the ground game will be very strong across NESCAC next year.  Not sure the conference has ever seen a better, deeper group of stud RB's than Bunker, Crick, Drew, Scyocurka, Silva (who I think got injured and may return for Amherst?), Donnarumma, Stanell, Budness, Gibson, Hernandez ... Trinity, Wesleyan, and Williams are all particularly loaded at TB. 

amh63

Some idle Summer chatter....Question of possible vote for a nine game season will have to be put off for another year me thinks.  Colby and Conn. College are both in the process of searching for new Presidents.  Conn's prez is departing by January.  Colby is in a search mode presently.
Seems the conference has had a slew of changeovers within the last 4-5 years.   Williams, Tufts, Amherst and recently Bates have new Presidents.  With a majority of schools with fresh thinking and Weselyan seeing the light, I feel that a vote for a nine game football season is rapidly improving.   Maybe by the time Williams opens its new football facility!

frank uible


gridiron

Since Tufts started the 2013 projection fun, Vegas has now weighed in on the NESCAC season....

Middlebury8   0
Trinity   6   2
Amherst   5   3
Wesleyan   5   3
Bates   4   4
Colby   4   4
Williams   4   4
Bowdoin   3   5
Tufts   1   7
Hamilton   0   8

As you can see, "Off-Shore" was pretty close but had Wesleyan too high and Colby too low.