One of the two biggest losers to graduation from the I-AA playoffs (along with Texas State-San Marcos) are back this year to make another run at a Patriot League title. The below article provides a great glimpse into coach Tavani's squad in Easton, PA. So, are Lehigh fans licking their chops in a chance to get back at Lafayette? Or will Lafayette find their way back to the promised land of the I-AA playoffs???

---------
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - The members of the Lafayette Football Class of 2006 helped head coach Frank Tavani deliver 28 victories, a pair of Patriot League championships, two appearances in the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs, and three wins over Lehigh in the most-played rivalry in college football in their four years on College Hill. The most successful class to matriculate at Lafayette in 80 years also helped Tavani replace the challenge of resurrecting a program with an even more demanding dilemma - maintaining the Leopards' spot at the top of the Patriot League.

At first glance, replacing the core of Lafayette's back-to-back Patriot League championship teams may seem insurmountable. After all, 11 starters and 25 letterwinners are gone, and only 13 members of the rising sophomore and junior classes have earned letters in their brief careers. But a deeper look reveals an untapped wealth of underclassmen hungry to make an impact, and a committed group of seniors that have played roles on a pair of championship squads, as the Leopards defend their titles in 2006.

http://goleopards.collegesports.com/...032406aac.html