New England Small College Athletic Conference

[admin]

This is the new home of NESCAC discussion. Welcome aboard, everyone.

[bantom1]

Lets get started by a pre season poll

          1) Trinity      deep and motivated
          2) Colby       wish they had a shot at Trinity
          3) Amherst   need contributiond from talented Frosh
          4) Williams   could surprise, top notch coaches
          5) Wesleyan  rebuilding
          6) Bates        6 through 10  toss up
          7) Tufts
          8) Hamilton 
          9) Bowdoin
         10) Middlebury

     Little Three Champ    Amherst  (upset @ Williams)
     Maine Champ            Colby   
 

 

[DanGenck]

Middlebury in last place? Has that ever happened in the NESCAC?

[formerbant10]

Is Colby really gonna be that good?  And do you really think they'll beat Amherst and Williams?

[bantom1]

Remember 6 through 10 is a toss up actually Middlebury @ 6.

As for Colby defence will carry them a long way

I hear Williams and Amherst have some very talented freshman coming in but they are freshman. If they develop quickly then they could give Colby trouble.  My source said Trinity was very interested in the freshman that decided on Williams and Amherst. 

[toad22]

Trinity has to have the #1 rank going in - a heavy favorite to win the regular season & the playoffs. Amherst will be very strong, they always are. Bates should be very good again this year. Williams is way down, probably as low as they have been in 20 years. Base on what I saw last year, nobody else is likely to step out of the pack. It looks like a fairly weak league (compared to most of the last 10 years) again this year.

[Pat Coleman]

Playoffs? PLAYoffs?

[frank uible]

Playoffs? Playoffs? We don't have to show you no stinkin'  playoffs.

[mariner75]

I'm gonna rank Tufts ahead of Wesleyan and Bates only because of their defense.  Lost only 2 starters from one of the better defenses in NESCAC last year.  The problem is....can they SCORE!  Defense allowed 139 points last year while the offense put up only 75.  BTW, Pat C......nice job on the new Post Patterns.

[nescac1]

Toad, what makes you say Williams will be down and that Amherst is very strong?  Williams and Amherst were basically even last year -- with Amherst barely beating Williams, at Amherst, and earning the same record -- and Amherst suffered far more losses than Williams.  Last year was really the year the Ephs were supposed to be down, losing a stellar Class of 2004 and Coach Farley and with very few seniors, and they played pretty well. 

Williams returns basically its entire offensive line and could have the top line in the league, its entire receiving corps, which has size and talent and I think will perform far better this year, and two QB's who were very young and raw last year.  The offense was really simple last year, given the inexperience at all of the skill positions, and I think they will be a lot more explosive this season.  I believe Williams should start Pat Lucey at QB, who looked really good when he played last year, not a huge arm but accurate and a very effective runner.    Gleason can also run a little and has a big arm, but needs to become more consistent and more accurate down the field. 

Crawley is a huge loss at TB, but the Ephs have tons of options to replace him -- Catelli, Flynn (who could be very explosive), Weeks, and a highly regarded frosh in Brian Morrissey.  They should, as a group, come close to Crawley's production, especially with a lot more experience at offensive line.  Ephs do have some questions in the defensive front seven, but they have three d-lineman returning who started at times, and Ferson has all-league potential at LB.  Plus, the Ephs clearly have the top defensive backfield in Nescac with the top six d-backs, including two all-leaguers, returning.  The kicking game should be better as well. The only real question is up the middle at defensive tackle and middle linebacker.

Amherst, meanwhile, lost the league player of the year in Ladd, his top backup, their top receiver / returner, their QB, and their Center.  That is a ton of losses to their offense.  Amherst D should once again be great, but they did graduate some good LB's and most of the defensive backfield, so they could be susceptible to the pass. 

I think Colby, Amherst, and Williams will all be pretty equal, but I think, at least on paper, Amherst has the least talented group of upper-classman among those three teams. 

[AthleticSupporter]

so who is replacing those postions at Amherst, do you know? Your argument seems to be that Williams will be better because of their replacements.

[weightman]

Nescac1 you're obviously a Willaims supporter.  If you want to watch Morrissey carry the football, you better make sure to attend the Wms/Amherst JV game.  Or maybe Hamilton if they get up 6 touchdowns.  Too many good RBs with seniority ahead of him.  Morrissey also wants to play lacrosse, a sport where theyll want him to be lean strong.  He'll lose weight for lacrosse.    And talking lines, Amherst D line is losing maybe one senior, who was hurt much of last year.  Their D line, LB core and secondary all have rising sophs and Jrs. who will be contributing big time and are probably lifting as we write.  And as for best O line in league, you have apparently been missing the Williams/Trinity games.  Trinity's smallest starter is over 270, and theyre undefeated two years running.   

[formerbant10]

To be fair, Trinity did graduate 4 starters on the O Line, their center is coming back and he is a helluva player.

[nescac1]

First, I'm not saying that Amherst will necessarily be worse than Williams.  Just saying that I don't think Amherst is clearly strong while Williams is "down" in light of their relative losses.  Ladd and Wagstaff, in particular, have both killed the Nescac for four years and will be tough to replace. But Amherst had great depth and is always well-coached. 

Amherst will likely play Kehoe at QB, who looked very good when he played in the past, I think he is as talented at Mosely, just not as experienced.  They have lots of good, fast RB's, but most are on the smaller side, rather than physical guys like Ladd and Montieth, so they might have trouble wearing down the opposition the way they have the past few years.  As I said, Amherst looks strong on defense, particularly up front, but losing 3 strong DB starters is tough.

As for the Eph's O-line, Trinity clearly had the best line in the conference last year, but Williams was second -- able to establish a great running game despite the fact that they played very conservatively and didn't have much of a passing game to keep defenses honest.  Considering who Williams returns, this should be a stellar unit.  But there is no doubt that Trinity is still the dominant team in the leage in terms of overall talent -- Trinity's third string QB would probably start at almost any other NESCAC school, and their defensive line and LB's in particular are ridiculously stacked. 

Colby, with Stepka returning, is definitely not to be overlooked.  They lost a few good defensive players, but have lots of talent returning from that unit. 

[AthleticSupporter]

Weightman, you sound very knowledgable, what school do you support?