FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacman]

Interesting to see ex Bates QB Seneca Moore turn up on the USC football roster. Listed as a Freshman.

Not good in the NESCAC=Really bad in the Power 4....

[lumbercat]

Really didn't get a chance in the NESCAC but definitely over his head at SC.  Didn't throw it very well.  Listed as "Athlete" on the Trojan roster. WR in training.

[nescac1]

Almost feels like old times with Trinity, Amherst and Williams all up big in the first half. 

A few notes from Colby - Williams.  Good to see Owen Johansen open it up a bit more with the pass, with mixed results, but his stats would have been better but for a few drops.  He's still learning in the passing game clearly and has an unorthodox throwing motion, but he throws a very accurate ball and if he's not the best athlete in NESCAC football, he has to be in the top three, in addition to the huge TD run where he outran the entire defense, he had some other strong ones including one he ended by throwing a defender to the ground.  Simply an alpha overall athlete who could play anywhere on the field.  On the downside you never want to see an INT in the red zone and that was a play he needs to tuck it and run.  Oh, and kudos to Riley O'Connoll for a nasty pancake lead block that helped spring Johansen on the big run. 

Two other notes for the offense - Montesano now has three career catches, all for TDs.  He's a nice weapon in the red zone; hopefully he can get more involved in other situations.  Zach Falls looked good filling in for injured Stahelski as the big target on the outside with his first three career catches.  He was a big-time player at Duxbury and looks very athletic with a lot of wiggle for his size, hopefully he can emerge as a bigger weapon as the year goes along. 

For Williams on defense, the story has been the D line which has harassed Drake all day including with two big strip sacks.  Ben Yedid has been a menace and Jack Barber will surely be chirping about his (which he also recovered) against his old high school buddy for years to come.  Wyatt Cotton had an excellent half with some great coverage on Nye and an interception.

On the down side, for the second straight game, the Ephs gave up a first down on a punting play, this time with roughing the kicker, and had some issues in the kick-off game as well.

This game is definitely not over as Colby showed last year that it come back from a deficit in a hurry with a big downfield passing attack.  But Williams so far has done an excellent job limiting Nye's opportunities and giving Drake very little time to throw.   

Colby had done a good job slowing down the Eph running backs, who have had little room to operate, but obviously will want to focus more on stopping the QB runs in the second half. 

[Brady12]

Almost feels like old times with Trinity, Amherst and Williams all up big in the first half. 

A few notes from Colby - Williams.  Good to see Owen Johansen open it up a bit more with the pass, with mixed results, but his stats would have been better but for a few drops.  He's still learning in the passing game clearly and has an unorthodox throwing motion, but he throws a very accurate ball and if he's not the best athlete in NESCAC football, he has to be in the top three, in addition to the huge TD run where he outran the entire defense, he had some other strong ones including one he ended by throwing a defender to the ground.  Simply an alpha overall athlete who could play anywhere on the field.  On the downside you never want to see an INT in the red zone and that was a play he needs to tuck it and run.  Oh, and kudos to Riley O'Connoll for a nasty pancake lead block that helped spring Johansen on the big run. 

Two other notes for the offense - Montesano now has three career catches, all for TDs.  He's a nice weapon in the red zone; hopefully he can get more involved in other situations.  Zach Falls looked good filling in for injured Stahelski as the big target on the outside with his first three career catches.  He was a big-time player at Duxbury and looks very athletic with a lot of wiggle for his size, hopefully he can emerge as a bigger weapon as the year goes along. 

For Williams on defense, the story has been the D line which has harassed Drake all day including with two big strip sacks.  Ben Yedid has been a menace and Jack Barber will surely be chirping about his (which he also recovered) against his old high school buddy for years to come.  Wyatt Cotton had an excellent half with some great coverage on Nye and an interception.

On the down side, for the second straight game, the Ephs gave up a first down on a punting play, this time with roughing the kicker, and had some issues in the kick-off game as well.

This game is definitely not over as Colby showed last year that it come back from a deficit in a hurry with a big downfield passing attack.  But Williams so far has done an excellent job limiting Nye's opportunities and giving Drake very little time to throw.   

Colby had done a good job slowing down the Eph running backs, who have had little room to operate, but obviously will want to focus more on stopping the QB runs in the second half. 

Almost feels like old times with Trinity, Amherst and Williams all up big in the first half. 

A few notes from Colby - Williams.  Good to see Owen Johansen open it up a bit more with the pass, with mixed results, but his stats would have been better but for a few drops.  He's still learning in the passing game clearly and has an unorthodox throwing motion, but he throws a very accurate ball and if he's not the best athlete in NESCAC football, he has to be in the top three, in addition to the huge TD run where he outran the entire defense, he had some other strong ones including one he ended by throwing a defender to the ground.  Simply an alpha overall athlete who could play anywhere on the field.  On the downside you never want to see an INT in the red zone and that was a play he needs to tuck it and run.  Oh, and kudos to Riley O'Connoll for a nasty pancake lead block that helped spring Johansen on the big run. 

Two other notes for the offense - Montesano now has three career catches, all for TDs.  He's a nice weapon in the red zone; hopefully he can get more involved in other situations.  Zach Falls looked good filling in for injured Stahelski as the big target on the outside with his first three career catches.  He was a big-time player at Duxbury and looks very athletic with a lot of wiggle for his size, hopefully he can emerge as a bigger weapon as the year goes along. 

For Williams on defense, the story has been the D line which has harassed Drake all day including with two big strip sacks.  Ben Yedid has been a menace and Jack Barber will surely be chirping about his (which he also recovered) against his old high school buddy for years to come.  Wyatt Cotton had an excellent half with some great coverage on Nye and an interception.

On the down side, for the second straight game, the Ephs gave up a first down on a punting play, this time with roughing the kicker, and had some issues in the kick-off game as well.

This game is definitely not over as Colby showed last year that it come back from a deficit in a hurry with a big downfield passing attack.  But Williams so far has done an excellent job limiting Nye's opportunities and giving Drake very little time to throw.   

Colby had done a good job slowing down the Eph running backs, who have had little room to operate, but obviously will want to focus more on stopping the QB runs in the second half. 

Owen Johansen is a beast and a nightmare to tackle. Throw in the passing (pun intended) this week and this once one dimensional offense is potentially legit.  If the push tush is unstoppable it feels like Johansen with the ball is a guaranteed 4 yard plus play. 

[nescac1]

Yeah I don't know if Raymond was playing his cards close to the vest by saying it was a five man QB competition, but I can't imagine it was really very close, Johansen is simply an alpha, every time he touches the ball in whatever role he's in he just feels dangerous. I hope he is around for awhile (listed as a JR but Soph in eligibility).  Johansen has been a man among boys through two weeks - the best comparison I can make is David Estevez plus four inches and 30 pounds.  And credit to the huge Eph offensive line, which really handled Colby's front, who seemingly played so well against Trinity.  Plus the Ephs pretty much always have a lead blocker who flat pummels dudes and this year is no exception with O'Connell, when he gets on you in space it's over.

Huge huge game against Trinity.  Gehring (presumably, although could be Cotten) limiting O'Brien will be key as he killed us last year and based on stats murdered Bates today. 

[lumbercat]

O"Brien was spectacular today. Has to be one the most explosive players in recent memory.
Another fine Trinity team but I think they lose at least one more game this year.

Not surprised at Johansen's performance. Said he would be a beast at Williams after viewing his HS tape and have been pounding the table on him ever since. He was one of those can't miss prospects from day 1. As N1 states, a total beast.


Still scratching my head over the Colby performance today.

NESCAC1-- what was your take on the Mules today.....letdown after a big upset win ?

[nescac1]

Lumbercat, can't say for sure if a let down but fair to say Colby did not look good today.  Williams certainly played MUCH better than they did week one so it's not like they are clearly worse than Hamilton and I'd guess they are a fair bit better overall.  But Johansen ran over, through, and past the Colby D with very little resistance and the receivers generally looked pretty open too. By the second half the TBs were blasting through huge holes too. 

On the other end Williams clearly was not going to let Nye beat them and no one else looked all that fast or scary; I thought overall Hamilton had more explosive skill guys.  Drake's four turnovers were very rough but not really his fault.  He was getting rocked over and over especially when Colby fell behind and the pass rush could really let loose.  Colby O-line had to do better.

[Brady12]

I talked to some Colby people and they said 2 things;

1. They were with out their OC today to which I don't see that as a complete excuse for their lackluster performance.

2. They said the Ephs were VERY physical on both sides of the ball. I think the proverbial punched in the face over and over took its toll. 

I hope they have plenty of ice for the ride back to Waterville.

[nescac1]

Interesting, Brady12.  When Williams under Raymond is successful it means they are dominating in the trenches, both running the ball and stopping the run.  So far this year Williams is averaging 311 yards per game on 7.0 yards per carry, and giving up only 45 ypg on 1.7 yards per carry, both utterly insane, all easily best in the league.  It helps that they've played the two worst teams in the league in all those categories, but of course, a significant part of the reason they are so bad is that they've played Williams! (I suspect by season's end Bowdoin will give both a run for their money).  The Trinity game should bring those numbers down to earth, but the Ephs probably still need north of 200 yards on the ground to win that one, and ideally will hold Trinity under 100.   

A few other interesting Eph stats.  Bobby Maimaron's career season highs were 668 yards and 8 TDs on the ground. Through two games, Johansen has already accounted for 307 yards and 4 rushing TDs.  Simply incredible.  He won't keep up close to this pace, teams are going to do everything to try to make Johansen a passer instead of a runner, and also Williams has to be careful with the toll his punishing running style will take.  But I'd be very surprised if he didn't set the Eph records for rushing yards by a QB and rushing TDs by a QB this season.  On 54 career touches as a receiver and a runner, he has an incredible 10 TDs, and he's averaging 10.8 ypg on career carries.  Again, unsustainable, but man, what a force he is. 

Oh, and I misstated something about Jimmy Montesano - he actually has one career non-TD catch.  So right now, he's at 4 TDs on 5 catches.  Still pretty wild.  One other guy to watch is Zach Falls.  I doubt he will be a consistent number one receiver this year, but I predict he will have at least one huge game probably in the latter half of the season and he's someone to watch going forward.  I'm not sure if Stahelski is out for the entire year but if so, when he comes back, they could be a match-up nightmare on the outside next season.  The Ephs really need Falls to develop quickly because as of now their only other two WRs to catch a pass are both converted DBs currently playing two ways (Gehring and McGrail).  As much as they are going to be primarily a running team, at some point and maybe some point soon, they will need to air it out a bit. 

Curious to hear about Wesleyan-Tufts last night.  Just based on the stats it seems like special teams were the difference - Wesleyan had a punt blocked for a safety, missed a (long) FG, and the Tufts kick returner went absolutely wild.  Meanwhile Tufts converted two long FGs and recovered Wesleyan's onside kick.  Throw in a pick six and that's pretty hard to overcome. 

On another note, Amherst offense does seem to have a bit more juice this year.  Granted, not against the strongest competition, but 23 ppg and 318 ypg are dramatically improved from last year's 12 and 215.  Marek Hill seems to be the difference as he's been a strong dual-threat QB, a dangerous runner and very efficient in the short passing game, and he's cut down on the TO issue which plagued him as a FY.  Amherst seems much more able to sustain drives, although still not a team with many game-breaking playmakers.  The question is will that offensive improvement show up against Tufts, which so far has had a very strong defensive performance. 

Bowdoin vs. Hamilton looms very large this week as I think the loser of that game may have a very hard time finding a win going forward, though I do think Hamilton is better equipped for an upset just because it has one of the better QBs in the league.  Bowdoin sure has the look of an 0-9 team right now, 2-7 would probably be the upside for them.     

Speaking of which, who out there had Tufts and Williams as the only two undefeated teams after week two ?  It's going to be the least predictable year in a long, long time ...

[GroundandPound]

Williams is clearly the favorite going forward.  The put the POUND in ground and pound.

[GroundandPound]

THEY put the POUND in GroundandPound and D Line is BNasty. Big and Nasty.

[Trin9-0]

I feel like every year since I've followed this board (nearly 20 years) people have been predicting parity in the league and it never comes.

This may actually be the year.

[SpringSt7]

I said it last week but I think 7-2 could win the league this year. It does feel weird to say because I didn't have title charge on my bingo card but Williams gets Trinity, Wesleyan, and Middlebury at home this year, which could be the difference. I am not quite buying them as the favorite because it's too early and I just think you have to be able to pass to beat the big boys but they are nasty on both sides of the ball and certainly have a recipe that should be pretty consistent from week to week

[muleshoe]

My two cents on the Colby-Williams game... Williams played fantastic. Physical upfront on both sides of the ball, and only really made two mistakes all game (roughing the kicker and the INT in the endzone). Their QB might end up being the best in the league when it's all said and done. He can really run for a guy his size and is an above-average passer for the league. Didn't get eyes on the Hamilton game, but I'm guessing they just didn't need to pass the ball at all, which is why he only had 8 attempts. Williams is the clear frontrunner right now.

On the Colby side, this was such a disappointing let down after an awesome performance in Week 1. The defense didn't seem to be playing with the same physicality as week 1, and they did not tackle well at all. They also seemed to be pressing coming out of the half, trying to make the plays, which led to things really snowballing in the second half. They have the players to be one of the better units in the league but will need to execute better.

The offense continues to struggle, especially upfront, but the glaring issue is the turnovers. You're not going to win many games in this league averaging 4 turnover per game, especially when they're total unforced errors. That needs to be cleaned up, otherwise we're in for another long season.

On the bright side, we don't leave Maine for another month. Hopefully this was a major wake up call for the Mules. We're on to Midd.

[JEFFFAN]

"On another note, Amherst offense does seem to have a bit more juice this year.  Granted, not against the strongest competition, but 23 ppg and 318 ypg are dramatically improved from last year's 12 and 215.  Marek Hill seems to be the difference as he's been a strong dual-threat QB, a dangerous runner and very efficient in the short passing game, and he's cut down on the TO issue which plagued him as a FY.  Amherst seems much more able to sustain drives, although still not a team with many game-breaking play-makers.  The question is will that offensive improvement show up against Tufts, which so far has had a very strong defensive performance."

Yes, a glimpse of improvement.   The last time the offense was serviceable they had a really good quarterback so maybe Hill is the answer.   Not clear why anyone in the NESCAC would not go with a good dual-threat quarterback, but obviously Trinity and others have been great with guys who were solely passers.   I think dual threat works best for Amherst given the extremely weak run Amherst has had with offensive linemen over the past 5-6 years.  Just brutal blocking which makes it hard to assess running backs.

So maybe some progress ...