Patriot League Week 2

[crusader11]

Standings after Weeks 0 and 1 --

Gangtackle11 7-0
maninthehighcastle 7-1
dbackjon 6-2
bonare 5-3
SUPharmacist 5-3
Leopard Loyalist 5-3
carney2 4-3
crusader11 4-4
Go Lehigh TU Owl 4-4
TheValleyRaider 4-4
BucBisonAtLarge 4-4
Fordham 4-4
ngineer 4-4
jayhawkdaddy 4-4
RichH2 3-5

Week 2 early lines, courtesy of 5Dimes --

Georgetown -3 v. Marist
Holy Cross +7.5 v. New Hampshire
Lafayette +16.5 at Monmouth
Bucknell +15.5 at Sacred Heart
Lehigh +24.5 at Villanova
Fordham +26 at Ball State

A few of these lines are downright embarrassing for the Patriot League.

[Fordham]

Gtown
HC
Monmouth
Bucknell
Villanova
Ball State

[Bill]

Sorry I missed the first week!


Marist
New Hampshire
Monmouth
Sacred Heart
Villanova
Ball State

[ngineer]

No laugher for Hoyas from the Redd Foxes! But they squeeze by 21-19

UNH no Navy, but Crusaders still underwater. UNH, 28-21

No day at the beach for Leotards. Monmouth 33-14

SHU beat the Bison last year and a repeat expected unless Bucky pulls some 'Chicanery'. SHU 20-17

Lehigh looking just to improve. Unless 'nova looking ahead or in the clouds, Wildcats skate, 38-10.

Rams will have no 'ball' in Muncie. Cardinals fly 35-17.

[Lehigh'98]

Pretty depressing how low the expectations have been lowered at Lehigh. We go from expecting to win against Villanova to hoping the game isn't too embarrassing. Our offense is all based off winning one on one matchups. We aren't doing that now against mediocre opposition, hard to see much changing against quality teams next few weeks. Schemes just not there to make up any talent gap. They guys are trying and the effort is getting better, but it seems like most of the FCS has passed our proud program by.

[Gangtackle11]

Georgetown -3 v. Marist
Holy Cross +7.5 v. New Hampshire
Lafayette +16.5 at Monmouth
Bucknell +15.5 at Sacred Heart
Lehigh +24.5 at Villanova
Fordham +26 at Ball State

[van]

Gtown
HC
Monmouth
Bucknell
Villanova
Ball State

missed last week, could not get a password reset in time to post, for the record I was 4-3 with my picks on the Lehigh forum

[bonarae]

Georgetown
UNH
Monmouth
Bucknell
Villanova
Ball State

[TheValleyRaider]

Pulling this over from yesterday's thread:

About as bad as it gets for the League last week. Unfortunately much of it was predictable, but a few other losses knocked me down a peg. 4-4 though the first full week.

Marist at Georgetown Georgetown Tough start for the Hoyas, falling behind against Davidson. Not really sure where the Red Foxes fit with Davidson in the Pioneer pecking order, but I'm guessing the Hoyas bounce back at home. Recent history, though, favors the road team in this series.

New Hampshire at Holy Cross New Hampshire You can't really learn anything from an FBS matchup like the Crusaders had with Navy, so this will be a more interesting barometer of Chesney Year 2. Having a game under their belts will probably help HC in the Wildcats' debut, but how much? I want to be more optimistic like with the Hoya pick, but facing a CAA opponent is a little different.

Lafayette at Monmouth Monmouth Has Lafayette taken the spot formerly occupied by Georgetown where I try not to sound too negative about a team I have little faith in? Maybe, though this matchup doesn't help. The Hawks have designs on a playoff birth, which certainly seems ahead of where the Leopards are now.

Bucknell at Sacred Heart Sacred Heart Hard to read much into the Bison performance against a good Temple team (best FBS opponent seen last week). Will be curious if the step-down in defensive skill helps the Bison get some semblance of offense going. SHU got a big win in Lewisburg last year, and while I'll be rooting for Bucknell, I need to see to believe.

Lehigh at Villanova Villanova I'm surprised the Cats aren't getting more love after their Week 0 victory. They were torn apart by injuries, but a healthy Villanova is a playoff team. Lehigh actually put together a credible defensive performance, and when was the last time you could say that? The offense struggled to score though, which will not serve them well against a good defense. UC Davis looms next week, so, umm, yikes.

Fordham at Ball State Ball State Tough loss for the Rams to open the season, though I suppose you can take some optimism from being close to an NEC contender (given where Fordham has been the last couple of years). We'll see how Fordham follows it up, though this is not the week to learn too much. I repeat, FBS games won't tell us much overall, but this is not the Fordham team that has recent FBS wins to suggest this one is possible.

[SUPharmacist]

Marist
UNH
Monmouth
Bucknell
Villanova
Ball State

[jayhawkdaddy]

Georgetown
New Hampshire
Monmouth
Bucknell
Villanova
Ball State

[ngineer]

Pretty depressing how low the expectations have been lowered at Lehigh. We go from expecting to win against Villanova to hoping the game isn't too embarrassing. Our offense is all based off winning one on one matchups. We aren't doing that now against mediocre opposition, hard to see much changing against quality teams next few weeks. Schemes just not there to make up any talent gap. They guys are trying and the effort is getting better, but it seems like most of the FCS has passed our proud program by.

Not aware of anyone who thought we were 'expected' to beat 'nova. My perception has always been an underdog in this game, though preseason I thought we'd be competitive. Now, having lost THREE OL starters from camp and last Saturday, there will be a lot of 'growing up' by the youngsters on the OL. Preseason I saw us a 10 point dog. Now, I see the spread as being realistic unless we get some breaks.

With the upheaval and transition from Coach Coen's health issue, it may take a year or two until we can anticipate being back to the glory days level. However, I still expect to see a lot of fight and competitiveness. But at the moment, we are down in numbers and experience. There has been some excellent recruiting and I am looking forward to a climb back up to what we expect.

[PAllen]

Not aware of anyone who thought we were 'expected' to beat 'nova. My perception has always been an underdog in this game, though preseason I thought we'd be competitive. Now, having lost THREE OL starters from camp and last Saturday, there will be a lot of 'growing up' by the youngsters on the OL. Preseason I saw us a 10 point dog. Now, I see the spread as being realistic unless we get some breaks.

With the upheaval and transition from Coach Coen's health issue, it may take a year or two until we can anticipate being back to the glory days level. However, I still expect to see a lot of fight and competitiveness. But at the moment, we are down in numbers and experience. There has been some excellent recruiting and I am looking forward to a climb back up to what we expect.

Sorry n, but it is way too early in the season to need to break out those excuses (many of which we've been hearing for years). This program is in shambles and a prolonged "national search" that comes up with Gilmore and this crew is a disgrace. If this season turns out the way I expect and our AD isn't on the hot seat, then I'm not sure that Lehigh athletics ever sees another dime of my money.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Not aware of anyone who thought we were 'expected' to beat 'nova. My perception has always been an underdog in this game, though preseason I thought we'd be competitive. Now, having lost THREE OL starters from camp and last Saturday, there will be a lot of 'growing up' by the youngsters on the OL. Preseason I saw us a 10 point dog. Now, I see the spread as being realistic unless we get some breaks.

With the upheaval and transition from Coach Coen's health issue, it may take a year or two until we can anticipate being back to the glory days level. However, I still expect to see a lot of fight and competitiveness. But at the moment, we are down in numbers and experience. There has been some excellent recruiting and I am looking forward to a climb back up to what we expect.

I believe a better coach and staff would come in turn this thing around quicker. There's tons of examples of legitimately good staffs coming in and righting the ship in a year or two. Gilmore needs to win games. His Crusader teams had tons of 4th quarter meltdowns. HC fans will tell you it was major issue.

Hunt is the only current coach in the PL with a career winning record. Not sure how that stacks up with other conferences but I have to imagine not well. Hunt is a bad season away from being only a few games over .500 after 6 years....

[Southsider]

Until the rules of the PL change, the results will not. This slide didn't start with Coen's health issue. It's been happening for many years.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

HC-UNH is the game of the week.

Georgetown 27 Marist 24 - Marist was picked ahead of Davidson in the preseason pfl poll. But it's their first game and the Hoyas are at home...

Monmouth 30 Lafayette 17 - The Leopards showed well for a half but the tide really turned. Monmouth has the edge in coaching and a reasonable edge in overall talent.

Holy Cross 28 Holy Cross 24 - Biggest game in the Chesney era. UNH's first game, they have an interim HC and they're on the road. This is when HC has to prove they're taking a step forward.

Ball State 34 Fordham 21 - Ball State is a poor MAC team. I think the Rams can hang around and make it respectable.

Sacred Heart 34 Bucknell 27 - Both teams were outmatched last week. SHU was predicted to be pretty good and they're at home so I'll play the odds.

Villanova 38 Lehigh 13 - Lehigh did not look good against a poor team last week. I saw 'Nova dismantle Colgate first hand. This will be similar.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Until the rules of the PL change, the results will not. This slide didn't start with Coen's health issue. It's been happening for many years.

I tend to disagree. After the 2014 debacle he got things rolling again. The 2015 team bounced back with an excellent offense and contended for the PL Title. Came up just short inside of the 'Gate 10 yard line of winning the league. 2016 the started 0-2 then began hammering teams including 7-3 Penn 49-28 and 8-2 Princeton 42-28. Could you imagine anyone in the PL doing that now? They were ranked in the Top 15 and favored over UNH before Shaf got mono and Folmar was headed to Elon. Entered 2017 ranked in Top 20 but collapsed thanks to a defense that turned historically bad. Yet, still won the league and went to the playoffs. I think Coen not trusting himself to make a change on D is what ultimately led to the wheels falling off.

[Lehigh'98]

Not aware of anyone who thought we were 'expected' to beat 'nova. My perception has always been an underdog in this game, though preseason I thought we'd be competitive. Now, having lost THREE OL starters from camp and last Saturday, there will be a lot of 'growing up' by the youngsters on the OL. Preseason I saw us a 10 point dog. Now, I see the spread as being realistic unless we get some breaks.

With the upheaval and transition from Coach Coen's health issue, it may take a year or two until we can anticipate being back to the glory days level. However, I still expect to see a lot of fight and competitiveness. But at the moment, we are down in numbers and experience. There has been some excellent recruiting and I am looking forward to a climb back up to what we expect.

Kind of meant in years past, not necessarily this year.

[Gater]

Hunt is a bad season away from being only a few games over .500 after 6 years....[/QUOTE]

Hunt is 36-25 and 24-6 against PL. He has gone 3-2 in the playoffs since becoming head coach and took Colgate to a Lambert Cup last year.
BUT if he loses the next 22 games he will be 11 games under .500 as a coach.
AND if he goes 0-6 in the PL for three straight years he'll be a .500 coach in the PL.

[PAllen]

Hunt is a bad season away from being only a few games over .500 after 6 years....

Hunt is 36-25 and 24-6 against PL. He has gone 3-2 in the playoffs since becoming head coach and took Colgate to a Lambert Cup last year.
BUT if he loses the next 22 games he will be 11 games under .500 as a coach.
AND if he goes 0-6 in the PL for three straight years he'll be a .500 coach in the PL.[/QUOTE]

And if he picks up 9 or 10 losses, then he is a few games over .500

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Hunt is 36-25 and 24-6 against PL. He has gone 3-2 in the playoffs since becoming head coach and took Colgate to a Lambert Cup last year.
BUT if he loses the next 22 games he will be 11 games under .500 as a coach.
AND if he goes 0-6 in the PL for three straight years he'll be a .500 coach in the PL.

And if he picks up 9 or 10 losses, then he is a few games over .500[/QUOTE]

Hunt is a good coach. Easily the most accomplished currently in the league. But he's not a Clawson, Higgins, Biddle or Moorhead imo. He's more in the mold of Coen. High ceiling but inconsistent. Colgate has flat out struggled in the OOC besides the playoff wins. He's domimated a bad PL for the most part. Moorhead came in and cleaned up too.

I'm interested to see how they bounce back against W&M. From top 20 to a .500 or worse record would not be good. Be the second time it has happened.

Lets see where the season goes. Teams just got to win. His staff should have them ready to roll out of the bye.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Really looking forward to the Holy Cross-UNH game! This is a statement type game for both programs. UNH is coming off their worst season in 16 years and will be without their head coach. Holy Cross is trying to gain traction in year 2 under Chesney. So far its been a bumpy ride....

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Both HC's and UNH's defenses force 3 and outs to start the game.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Georgetown 7 Marist 0 14:49 2Q

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Hoyas 15-3 4:44 2Q

HC and UNH have shown impressive defensive fronts.

[DFW HOYA]

Marist 3
Georgetown 22
Halftime

Lafayette 0
Monmouth 10
12:38 2nd

Holy Cross 0
New Hampshire 0
12:35 2nd

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Can the PL claim Army? Up 14-7 in the second half at the Big House....

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

HC running some interesting offense. Lots of short crossers and an option on 3rd on 2? Chesney does not appear to have much faith in Degenhardt....

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Degenhardt hits on a big play to the UNH 10. The offense then fails to get another yard. Crusaders settle for a FG...

3-0 HC 2:31 2Q

[DFW HOYA]

Marist 3
Georgetown 36
6:53 3rd

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

UNH drives to the HC 12 or so but the Crusader "D" comes up with a big INT...

Holy Cross 3 UNH 0 Half

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Fordham 14 Ball State 7 4:16 1Q

Go Rams!!

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Ball State with a quick response. Their RB was a stud at PSAC Edinboro....

14-14 0:57 1Q

[aceinthehole]

Fordham 14 Ball State 7 4:16 1Q

Go Rams!!

Hell yeah, Go Rams!! They are looking pretty good on offense, really moving the ball well downfield and converting into TDs.

CCSU opened last season at Ball State and lost by a very disappointing score of 42-6. :(

Since then, Central has beat Fordham twice in the Bronx, 24-13 in 2018, and 26-23 last week.

[DFW HOYA]

Marist 3
Georgetown 43
15:00 4th

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Santos opts for the back-up QB to start the 2nd half and leads them to the HC 5 before the drive stalls. Wildcats settle for a FG

3-3 6:59 3Q

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Monmouth 21 Lafayette 14 End 3Q

PL definitely putting forth better performances today. Got to win though....

[DFW HOYA]

The world turned upside down.

Army 14
#7 Michigan 14
Overtime

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

HC will have 2nd and goal at the UNH 1 to start the 4th quarter! A crazy, whacky play got them inside the UNH 10....

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

UNH's defense holds. Crusaders settle for a FG. This is a grinder...

HC 6-3 14:15 4Q

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Rams defense is struggling to contain the Ball State "O"..

Cardinals 28-14 2:12 2Q

[RichH2]

Heartened by today so far. PL in every game. Hoyas bouncing back very well. Seems the rebuilds at Rams Pards and Cross are showing results.
The 2 first year rebuilds go tonite.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

TD UNH! Really impressive drive by the Wildcats. HC needs to open up the offense. Let Degenhardt throw...

UNH 10-6 6:52 4Q

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

HC in the UNH redzone! HC's TE is really good....

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

UNH defense stops HC on downs! HC still has 3 time outs...

about 2:30 left in 4Q

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Holy Cross forces a fumble at the goal line and recovers the ball in the end zone!! TD Crusaders!!!

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

HC 13 UNH 10 1:56 4Q

C'mon Crusaders!!

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

HC gets an INT!! What a defensive performance by the Crusaders!!

[DFW HOYA]

Heartened by today so far. PL in every game. Hoyas bouncing back very well. Seems the rebuilds at Rams Pards and Cross are showing results.
The 2 first year rebuilds go tonite.

Marist isn't very good so I don't think much more should read into that score. Then again, maybe Davidson isn't so bad after all.

The larger issue is that Georgetown plays one schedule while the rest of the league plays another.

Would UNH ever schedule Georgetown? Of course not. We'll talk about that next week.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Holy Cross survives a hail mary!! Good win for HC! I don't think this is a great Wildcat team by any means but it's still a CAA opponent. Need to win these type of games to get over the .500 hump and they did. Now a week off before Yale. 2-1 heading to Syracuse might be possible....

13-10 Final

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Lafayette inside the Monmouth 10 with about 5 minutes left

24-14 Beach Hawks...

TD Leopards!!
24-21 4:38 4Q

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Ball State has opened up a can on Fordham

43-14 9:27 3Q

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Monmouth holds on to beat Lafayette 24-21

Fordham gets a TD after a fumble, 43-22 5:49 3Q

[crusader11]

I think HC is the best in the PL. Not sure that’s really saying all that much, though.

[Sader87]

HC should be right there....not sure that's saying much either :)

Not exactly vintage UNH today imo....but a win is a win is a win

The league in total is still pretty bad.

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Sacred Heart 23 Bucknell 3 Half

Bucknell, ugh....

[Go Lehigh TU owl]

Sacred Heart 30 Bucknell 10 Final

League goes 2-4 this week to put its overall season record at 2-12. I don't think there was any major surprises other than Georgetown completely dismantling Marist. UNH-HC figured to be close imo and it was. Lehigh and Fordham did some good things but ultimately took it on the chin. Lafayette showed some real fight against a likely pretty good Monmouth team. Only Bucknell truly disappointed imo. They were never in the game against Sacred Heart.

[van]

Sacred Heart 30 Bucknell 10 Final

League goes 2-4 this week to put its overall season record at 2-12. I don't think there was any major surprises other than Georgetown completely dismantling Marist. UNH-HC figured to be close imo and it was. Lehigh and Fordham did some good things but ultimately took it on the chin. Lafayette showed some real fight against a likely pretty good Monmouth team. Only Bucknell truly disappointed imo. They were never in the game against Sacred Heart.
next week not gonna be any better

[TheValleyRaider]

Good win for the Crusaders. Looks like we'll have to keep an eye on that defense this year

[ngineer]

next week not gonna be any better

Big thing next week is to come back healthy. Bye week should help.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Humblebrag: I am 13-1 on the season

Week 1: 6-1: https://www.college-sports-journal.com/college-sports-journal-patriot-league-game-previews-week-of-8-31-2019/

Week 2: 6-0: https://www.college-sports-journal.com/college-sports-journal-patriot-league-previews-week-of-9-7-2019/

Was off by degree on some of them but picked CCSU over Fordham, Holy Cross over UNH. The only game I've missed was Lehigh/St. Francis (PA) and that game was a 1 point game where Lehigh had a 40 yard FG attempt at the end for the win.

[ngineer]

Humblebrag: I am 13-1 on the season

Week 1: 6-1: https://www.college-sports-journal.com/college-sports-journal-patriot-league-game-previews-week-of-8-31-2019/

Week 2: 6-0: https://www.college-sports-journal.com/college-sports-journal-patriot-league-previews-week-of-9-7-2019/









Was off by degree on some of them but picked CCSU over Fordham, Holy Cross over UNH. The only game I've missed was Lehigh/St. Francis (PA) and that game was a 1 point game where Lehigh had a 40 yard FG attempt at the end for the win.

Actually, we scored an offensive TD that the zebras failed to call. Replay was not working at the time. We settled for FG. League called the following Tuesday and apologized for the 'non call' of a TD. So that was four more points 'scored' that did not go on the board.

[Ivytalk]

Actually, we scored an offensive TD that the zebras failed to call. Replay was not working at the time. We settled for FG. League called the following Tuesday and apologized for the 'non call' of a TD. So that was four more points 'scored' that did not go on the board.
I guess that makes Lehigh the New Orlean Saints of the PL!

[ngineer]

I guess that makes Lehigh the New Orlean Saints of the PL!

Yes, Ivy, one of those years...as with the Philthies! No longer have the HOF seats at CBP. Closed the law firm and now "of counsel" with a large (for our area) firm in Bethlehem..my "glide path" toward retirement in about a year.