Patriot League Pic 'em - Week 1

[carney2]

Here we go again. Everyone is undefeated. Everyone is a champion.

New year, same two rules:
1) no one is keeping score
2) Fordham counts.

WEEK 1:
Thursday, August 30th
Lock Haven @ FORDHAM
New Hampshire @ HOLY CROSS

Saturday, September 1st
Monmouth @ LEHIGH
COLGATE @ Albany
GEORGETOWN @ Davidson
BUCKNELL – Bye
LAFAYETTE – Bye

Remember, the first game is on THURSDAY the 30th.

[DFW HOYA]

Fordham 30, Lock Haven 10
New Hampshire 24, Holy Cross 17
Lehigh 40, Monmouth 14
Albany 17, Colgate 7
Georgetown 34, Davidson 28

[RichH2]

UNH over HC

LU MU
Albany Gate
GU Davidson
Bye Pards
BU Bye

Thanks Carney somehow deleted FU easy win over LH

[carney2]

UNH over HC

LU MU
Albany Gate
GU Davidson
Bye Pards
BU Bye

Are you working for the League, Rich? You left out Fordham.

[carney2]

Lock Haven @ FORDHAM - They should be ashamed of this game on Rose Hill. The League certainly is.

New Hampshire @ HOLY CROSS - They play this game in Durham, they play this game in Woo, they play it in Anchorage - doesn't matter. It's not going to be close.

Monmouth @ LEHIGH - May I have the first cupcake, please?

COLGATE @ Albany - There's more to worry about here than 'gate's traditional first game ineptitude. They're just plain outclassed.

GEORGETOWN @ Davidson - Without breaking much of a sweat.

[PAllen]

FORDHAM
New Hampshire
LEHIGH
Albany
GEORGETOWN
BUCKNELL
Bye

[van]

FORDHAM in a walkover
New Hampshire in an upset
LEHIGH with ease
Albany, not sold on gaters this year
GEORGETOWN, but closer than you might think
BUCKNELL can handle the Bye
LAFAYETTE mails it in

[CFBfan]

FORDHAM in a walkover
New Hampshire in an upsetLEHIGH with ease
Albany, not sold on gaters this year
GEORGETOWN, but closer than you might think
BUCKNELL can handle the Bye
LAFAYETTE mails it in

Is NH over Holy Cross an upset??????

[Sader87]

Is NH over Holy Cross an upset??????

HC beating UNH this year would be an upset...hopefully down the road (once we have a full compliment of scholarship players) it won't be considered such.

[Franks Tanks]

Let's all make jokes about Bye beating Team X.

Get some new material guys.

[ngineer]

Fordham is a 'lock', 47-7
UNH win their 'crusade', 31-13
Lehigh hawks its wares, 38-21
Albany shuts the 'gate, 21-10
Hoyas almost go south, 21-20
Bisons have a burger that can't be topped
Lafayette, 'you are there.'

[CFBfan]

HC beating UNH this year would be an upset...hopefully down the road (once we have a full compliment of scholarship players) it won't be considered such.

I agree Sader but the post has NH in an upset....

[danefan]

I don't like all these picks for Albany.

We have a QB that is 0-1 in pass attempts for his entire college career.

[blackbeard]

FORDHAM
New Hampshire
LEHIGH
Albany
GEORGETOWN

[crusader11]

New Hampshire @ HOLY CROSS - They play this game in Durham, they play this game in Woo, they play it in Anchorage - doesn't matter. It's not going to be close.



Eh, not so sure about that. Remember, UNH won by just a touchdown last year in the final minutes. Plus, HC should be better this year. Wouldn't surprise me at all if HC won...but it would be an upset.

Here's a tidbit from the UNH board: "I don't think the Quarterback position is any more definable after today's scrimmage than it was yesterday. To add to the dilemma, I thought Freshman Quarterback, Chris McCormick, looked like he could play and he got a lot of playing time." I'm pretty confident that the HC defense will be able to hold the UNH offense in check.

As for the picks:

Lock Haven @ Fordham - The Haven, as they are called, have lost 20+ games in a row. Couldn't the Rams have brought in Southern Connecticut or Pace instead?

New Hampshire @ Holy Cross - Like I was really going to pick against the purple. UNH is breaking in a new quarterback, just like HC is, but are the Wildcats going to really rely on Gerogetown transfer James Brady to get the job this season? Not sure he is the answer, from what I've heard out of the UNH camp.

Monmouth @ LEHIGH - Yawn.

Colgate @ Albany - Great Danes just a better team. Think this could be the beginning for a long year for Colgate.

Georgetown @ Davidson - Yawn, again.

[carney2]

I don't like all these picks for Albany.

We have a QB that is 0-1 in pass attempts for his entire college career.

And Colgate has no "D." With a broken arm this guy just might be adequate.

[jimbo65]

Lock Haven @ FORDHAM Big time LH has lost dozens in a row

New Hampshire @ HOLY CROSS NH in close one

Monmouth @ LEHIGH by many

COLGATE @ Albany Close one

GEORGETOWN @ Davidson
Returning starters put Hoyas on top

[ColgateTD]

And Colgate has no "D." With a broken arm this guy just might be adequate.

Geesh! Carney, where's your PL bias?

Picks:
Fordham
HC
LU
G'town
Colgate (upset special)

[UNH Fanboi]

Eh, not so sure about that. Remember, UNH won by just a touchdown last year in the final minutes. Plus, HC should be better this year. Wouldn't surprise me at all if HC won...but it would be an upset.

Here's a tidbit from the UNH board: "I don't think the Quarterback position is any more definable after today's scrimmage than it was yesterday. To add to the dilemma, I thought Freshman Quarterback, Chris McCormick, looked like he could play and he got a lot of playing time." I'm pretty confident that the HC defense will be able to hold the UNH offense in check.

As for the picks:

Lock Haven @ Fordham - The Haven, as they are called, have lost 20+ games in a row. Couldn't the Rams have brought in Southern Connecticut or Pace instead?

New Hampshire @ Holy Cross - Like I was really going to pick against the purple. UNH is breaking in a new quarterback, just like HC is, but are the Wildcats going to really rely on Gerogetown transfer James Brady to get the job this season? Not sure he is the answer, from what I've heard out of the UNH camp.

Monmouth @ LEHIGH - Yawn.

Colgate @ Albany - Great Danes just a better team. Think this could be the beginning for a long year for Colgate.

Georgetown @ Davidson - Yawn, again.

Bradu is injured. R-Fr Seam Goldrich will be starting vs. Holy Cross. I think UNH is still the favorite in this game, but I wouldn't be shocked at all if Holy Cross wins.

[carney2]

Rather than start another one of those "who cares" threads such as "Video From XSU Scrimmage" or "QSU Gets a New Water Bucket," I thought I'd slip this in here.

Lafayette held its "big" scrimmage yesterday with paid referees and a lot of situational square offs between the offense and defense. It came 15 days before the opener at William & Mary. A few, but not many, of the major questions were answered. To wit:

The first team defense was lights out great. (It probably isn't.)
The first team offense was pretty much ineffective. (It probably isn't either.)
Lots of people held out with bumps and bruises. Nothing major.
Surprisingly, with mostly the same names and faces that finished last season as almost nonexistent, the DL looks like it will be very good.
With no returning starters, the LB play has been THE most pleasant surprise of the preseason.
The OL, with no seniors as starters, is still not functioning well.
Head coach, Frank Tavani, has nothing but praise for the progress of starting QB, Andrew Shoop.

In short, still a total mystery.

[Sam]

We have the same at Colgate it's all a mystery? I am ready with my bag of popcorn and we will see if they found "play makers on defense" maybe they will find some grounds crew to step in and help on the D line.

[Pard4Life]

This week will be anti-climatic:

Fordham 34, Lock Haven 14
UNH 24, Holy Cross 10
Lehigh 35, Monmouth 14
Albany 28, Colgate 17
Georgetown 35, Davidson 10

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Anyone have their game notes posted? I'm interested to see everyone's two deep.

[RichH2]

Cross 2 deep only one I've seen.

[TheValleyRaider]

Looking forward to another season xthumbsupx

Thursday
Lock Haven at Fordham Fordham In general, the first football game is usually exciting on account of the fact that it is the first one. Otherwise it isn't usually the case, and this is exhibit A. Fordham will almost certainly be better (it's hard to get worse than 1-10), but a bad D-II (No wins since 2007? Yikes) is not a way to prove it to anyone, including yourself. Still, opening with a win always feels nice

New Hampshire at Holy Cross New Hampshire I take back some of what I said about unexciting first games. Intriguing interconference matchup, and with the excitement of the lights, I very nearly pulled the trigger on an upset. Almost. UNH is a solid program that always seems ready to go, while HC will be breaking in a new QB. Wildcats may sweat it out, but are too much in the end

Saturday
Monmouth at Lehigh Lehigh The Hawks drubbed Monmouth in their opener last year down in Jersey, and though this Lehigh team may not be quite as good as the 2011 vintage, they're still very much in a class above the NEC's Hawks. Maybe some early jitters from the new QB at the start, but that won't be nearly enough for the upset watch

Colgate at Albany Colgate In spite of what you here (usually from the Colgate faithful) regarding the first game curse, Biddle has actually won the last 3 openers, and 4 of the last 5, 2 of those coming at the expense of...the Danes. The key of course is if anyone can step up on defense and make a few plays. Tons of respect for the Albany program, and I intend to wish them the best of luck after Saturday night. If nothing else, I expect a close game like the previous two meetings (2-pt win after late Albany FG miss and last year's OT victory), and here's hoping the 'Gate starts out with a W

Georgetown at Davidson Georgetown The middle matchup of the weekend. Not as compelling as Colgate and HC's games, but certainly not as lopsided as Fordham's ought to be. Maybe on the order of Lehigh's in terms of competitiveness, though probably not. At least the Wildcats count as a D-I win. Hoyas win, get set for the schedule to come

[Sader87]

Anyone have their game notes posted? I'm interested to see everyone's two deep.

UNH-HC notes:



http://goholycross.com/sports/m-footbl/2012-13/releases/20120824shv0yx

[van]

Anyone have their game notes posted? I'm interested to see everyone's two deep.

Monmouth game notes up, but they are last year's notes, LOL.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

I just went to Monmouth's website and noticed that, lol.

Holy Cross is starting a very experienced team, especially on offense.

[Sader87]

Before I forget to do this:

HC 30 UNH 27: Probably a wild, mistake-prone game with HC getting the nod at home.

Fordham 38 Lock Haven 14: A win is a win is a win.

Albany 31 Colgate 21: After 2 close losses to "Gate, Danes go over the top here.

Lehigh 28 Monmouth 17: Might be shaky at times with a new QB but Engineers persevere.

GTown 24 Davidson 10: Be a better basketball game.

[RichH2]

Thats 3 of us looking at last yrs notes. Dont we put them up on Tues. Usually.?

[Pard4Life]

Might as well make season predictions:

OPY: McCarney, Colgate
ROY: Kyle Sakowski, LC

Lehigh wins nine games.
Colgate can't stop anybody.
Bucknell takes two steps backwards.
Georgetown narrowly misses beating Lehigh. Hoyas finish second.
Fordham plays defense.
Holy Cross QB issues remain a question mark.
Lafayette will have the best defense but wildly inconsistent offense: 400 yards one game, 200 the next.

[Pard4Life]

Thats 3 of us looking at last yrs notes. Dont we put them up on Tues. Usually.?

What's the big deal? Same result...

[ngineer]

Thats 3 of us looking at last yrs notes. Dont we put them up on Tues. Usually.?

I thought they went up Wednesdays. Iknow they will hand them out at the luncheon tomorrow.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Lehigh has their game notes up....a few observations

- lots of familar names....13 seniors, 6 juniors, 3 sophomores in starting lineup
- OL looks solid...what's the deal with Hood?
- DL could be a big problem if one of the starters go down...not much size besides Chagani

[RichH2]

Hood still not 100%. Ruley has now played every OL spot. DL will be ok too many injuries tho we become real small. LB is my fear. Assume Gonos dinged up. Robb still has cast on hand. ILB short on depth. Of all only 3 have any real experience. D will be a rollercoaster at times this season. By PL we s/b ok. O will have to help early on with long drives and good field position.

[ngineer]

No question the offense is more 'stable' than the D. I do like the quickness of the LB corps though. Chagani will eat up the middle. With experienced secondary, I would think we should be able to do a fair amount of blitzes with our quickness.

[Bogus Megapardus]

Still no Media Guide for Lehigh?

[Pard4Life]

Still no Media Guide for Lehigh?

That would imply they know how to read and write on South Mountain.

What's with the Wally the Green Monster avatar?

[GaelsFootball]

Lock Haven @ FORDHAM
New Hampshire @ HOLY CROSS
Monmouth @ LEHIGH
COLGATE @ Albany
GEORGETOWN @ Davidson

[bjtheflamesfan]

Thursday, August 30th
Lock Haven @ FORDHAM
New Hampshire @ HOLY CROSS

Saturday, September 1st
Monmouth @ LEHIGH
COLGATE @ Albany
GEORGETOWN @ Davidson
BUCKNELL – Bye
LAFAYETTE – Bye

[Fordham]

Fordham - Lock Haven Game Notes (http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ford/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2012-13/release/release_20120828aaa.pdf)

[van]

Hood still not 100%. Ruley has now played every OL spot. DL will be ok too many injuries tho we become real small. LB is my fear. Assume Gonos dinged up. Robb still has cast on hand. ILB short on depth. Of all only 3 have any real experience. D will be a rollercoaster at times this season. By PL we s/b ok. O will have to help early on with long drives and good field position.

You've got a good point on the LB depth, but starting 4 should be solid. Let's hope no injuries there. No idea how good the second unit DL is and they are needed to spell first unit in the 3-4.

[RichH2]

Last yr we rotated all of 2 deep plus into front 7. We dont have that yet. Realistically, the only way to get experienced players is to actually play them. We'll just have to live with the rollercoaster for a while.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Last yr we rotated all of 2 deep plus into front 7. We dont have that yet. Realistically, the only way to get experienced players is to actually play them. We'll just have to live with the rollercoaster for a while.

Monmouth is certainly the bigger team, especially in the trenches. I was really surprised by the number of 5th year guys they have starting.

http://www.gomuhawks.com/fls/14300/FBGamenotes/2012/MUGamenotes1Lehigh.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=14300

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Fordham 42 Lock Haven 10 - this game should never have been scheduled

Holy Cross 24 UNH 21 - Both teams figured to be a little sluggish on offense. I'll take the home team in a close one.

Georgetown 30 Davidson 17 - The experienced Hoya's shouldn't have too much trouble with the Wildcats

Albany 27 Colgate 24 - The Danes get payback for last seasons heart breaking loss

Lehigh 37 Monmouth 14 - Too much speed and depth for MU to overcome. They still don't have anyone capable of covering Spadola.

[carney2]

I'm guessing that we have no Vegas point spreads for this weekend? No?

We are therefore stuck with Carney's Haffass Sportsbook which says

Fordham by 24 over Lock Haven
New Hampshire by 4 over Holy Cross
Lehigh by 13 over Monmouth
Albany by 6 over Colgate
Georgetown by 14 over Davidson

[carney2]

Thursday partial scores:

FORDHAM 48, Lock Haven 0 - 10 minutes to go in the 4th

New Hampshire 19, HOLY CROSS 10 - 11 minutes to go in the 3rd

[carney2]

FORDHAM 55, Lock Haven 0 - Final

New Hampshire 25, HOLY CROSS 10, 3+ minutes to go in the 3rd

[Lehigh Football Nation]

carney, you don't have to count these, but my picks for the Tursday games were:

New Hampshire 29, Holy Cross 28
Fordham 30, Lock Haveon 7

[carney2]

I don't "count" anything, LFN. It's the honor system. Uh oh,

New Hampshire 38, HOLY CROSS 10 - 9 minutes to go in the 4th.

I guess this one is over.

[ngineer]

I don't "count" anything, LFN. It's the honor system. Uh oh,

New Hampshire 38, HOLY CROSS 10 - 9 minutes to go in the 4th.

I guess this one is over.

Surprising. Thought that would be a closer contest--especially in Worcester (I think).

[Sader87]

Thank God we're getting scholarships back....the athleticism disparity tonight was glaring.

[carney2]

It's tough to make sense of these early games, especially something like that Fordham fiasco. I get the impression however, that most were surprised by the apparent ease of the New Hampshire win over Holy Cross. Does this change anyone's opinion of the overall Patriot League race in general and the 'saders in particular? They seem to have been the pick - albeit a lukewarm one - for number two in the League and one guy even had them going 9-2 and making the playoffs. Opinions?

[Fordham]

Our game was one of those where you would have only learned something if it had been close or if we had lost. Instead, we took care of business the way we were supposed to and we find out what we have next week at 'Nova.

Regarding HC, the comments I read from the HC board as well as some here made it sound as though there was a clear and large difference in talent. That could certainly be disturbing to HC and PL fans and might be the reason you'd hesitate to keep them 2nd if you had a chance to re-do some pre-season polls. That said, perhaps they'll find their footing with some younger guys stepping up or maybe it'll be a down year overall for the PL and they'll be right in the mix anyway.

The one thing gnawing at me is that if the top half of the league isn't quite as good as originally thought (and I'm not saying it's not since that would be reading WAY too much into one game), that's the kind of year where Biddle typically comes out of nowhere and 'Gate ends up representing us in Rd 1.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Not for nothing, but I personally have always been skeptical of the high preseason rating given the Crusaders this year. What superstar do they bring back? Didn't Taggart graduate? Haven't they lost their last two to Georgetown, who returns basically everybody? Were they really head-and-shoulders ahead of the rest of the league last year in any significant way? I like Gilmore as a head football coach, but there were (and still are) a lot more questions going into the season for the Crusaders than folks care to saw.

Having said that, I'm sure they are not as bad as they may have seemed yesterday. UNH is a nationally-ranked team. They made Lehigh look pretty bad two years ago up in Durham, and we ended up with a PL championship.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Fordham whooped it up on one of the worst schools in the PSAC, with a team that was fired up to get coach Moorhead his first win. Jury is still out. They will be better measured after Villanova, a game which will not be easy for the Rams.

[Pard4Life]

I've more or less resigned myself to Lehigh winning it with Gtown number two. I still think the Pards will beat Lehigh though.

How did the CT QB perform for the Rams?

[RichH2]

Watched some of HC feed. Standard Gilmore team. Solid players everywhere but no game changers.
UNH good not great team. Many more athletes than HC. HC has no speed to match up with any team that has speed. Another winng season but not by much. To some extent all PL squads will face similar games for the next few yrs.

[Fordham]

I've more or less resigned myself to Lehigh winning it with Gtown number two. I still think the Pards will beat Lehigh though.

How did the CT QB perform for the Rams?

Below expectations, Pard. Really just ran the ball on designed QB draws. Fumbled once, didn't appear in control of the team particularly on his first drive and throws were so so. Hope it was just him not being acclimated to the team and system yet but based on yesterday he appeared to be more of a one trick pony. Higgins, on the other hand, was tremendous. In complete control and firing darts all night long.

[van]

It's tough to make sense of these early games, especially something like that Fordham fiasco. I get the impression however, that most were surprised by the apparent ease of the New Hampshire win over Holy Cross. Does this change anyone's opinion of the overall Patriot League race in general and the 'saders in particular? They seem to have been the pick - albeit a lukewarm one - for number two in the League and one guy even had them going 9-2 and making the playoffs. Opinions?

9-2 pick was a homer.

[Pard4Life]

To be honest, I can see Lafayette winning anywhere from three games to nine. We are that unpredictable, especially with the young guys.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Watched some of HC feed. Standard Gilmore team. Solid players everywhere but no game changers.
UNH good not great team. Many more athletes than HC. HC has no speed to match up with any team that has speed. Another winng season but not by much. To some extent all PL squads will face similar games for the next few yrs.

HC has not been a team with speed, even by PL standards, in a long time. Despite this, the Crusaders have been pretty darn succesful thanks to great coaching and talented kids. Colgate is another team to succeed without a lot of "athletes". They've literally been run off the field in all their playoff appearances minus '03. Mother nature chipped in a bit then.

The two teams that have had good speed over the years are Lehigh and Fordham imo. Lafayette had some great athletes a few years ago.

Lehigh has traditionally sacrificed size for speed which has also limited them.

[Sader87]

Obviously hard to tell too much after 1 game but I still think HC will be in the thick of things for a PL title.

UNH is very talented and a very bad "match-up" for the Saders, particularly in a season opener.

[carney2]

To be honest, I can see Lafayette winning anywhere from three games to nine. We are that unpredictable, especially with the young guys.

Of all their problems and questions, there is one that is the key to everything. The sooner they build an offensive line the closer they get to your "nine" prediction. The later it happens, the closer they get to "three." The frustrating part is that most agree that the raw material is on site and available. It's just young and inexperienced.

[TheValleyRaider]

Colgate game notes for Albany posted :)

http://www.gocolgateraiders.com/documents/2012/8/31/Game_Notes-Albany_2012.pdf?id=2595

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Just in case I forget:

Lehigh 44, Monmouth 38
Albany 24, Colgate 14
Georgetown 37, Davidson 10

[Pard4Life]

If everyone did not go 5-0 last week, you need to do some self-reflection! xrotatehx

Davidson is Davidson, but Georgetown held them to -18 yards on the ground and put up 450 yards of offense. They barely edged the Wildcats last year. I think we may have to take the Hoyas seriously this year. And even though Wagner nearly beat an FBS team last week, Gtown should handle them too.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

If everyone did not go 5-0 last week, you need to do some self-reflection! xrotatehx

I'll take 4-1. I gave HC the benefit of the doubt after they nearly beat UNH in Durham last year.

[van]

7-0 this week, got the byes right too. Next week gets a little tougher to call, Fordham - Nova, Buffs - Marist and Gate - S Dakota all harder to predict.

[Fordham]

Don't know if I made my picks but would have gone all PL across the board as I typically do in week 1, so that puts me at 3-2 (5-2 in van's pool).

[RichH2]

Hard to go all PL next week with the match ups. But like Fordham I will try.

[JMG1MON]

Lehigh 28 Monmouth 17: Might be shaky at times with a new QB but Engineers persevere.


Pretty good call on the score there Sader!!

[Sader87]

Pretty good call on the score there Sader!!

Thanks...but all luck...last second defensive TD by the Engineers made me look good.

Good luck this season!!!