Tag: Anthony Costa

Looks Like a Threepeat: Week 8 Power Rankings

 

Week 8 Power Rankings

Week 8 brought us some of the most excitement we’ve had this season with Trinity defeating Amherst in the quasi-championship game, Wesleyan taking down Williams, and Bowdoin getting their first win since 2015. Unfortunately, Trinity looks like they’re going to take home the crown again. Although I’m not sure that Amherst winning would have been that much better. Either way it was an exciting week, so take a look at where everyone falls heading into the final games of the season:

(2) 1. Trinity (7-1)

You don’t want to miss an opportunity to see this guy

Here we are again. The Bantams find themselves in the driver’s seat for the league championship after taking down Amherst, 27-16. QB Seamus Lambert ’22 had a fine game under center, but the story of this game was the effort by RB Max Chipouras ’19. The (soon to be) four-time all-NESCAC honoree carried the ball 24 times for 203 yards and 2 touchdowns. This performance also came against a defense that was holding opponents to fewer than 70 rushing yards per game, which was the best in the league. What an effort. If Trinity can put away Wesleyan in their final game, Chipouras will finish his career with 3 NESCAC championships (with one runner-up) and 4 all-NESCAC appearances (3 first team), while simultaneously becoming the conference’s all-time leader with 40 (and counting) rushing touchdowns, shattering the previous record of 27. He also currently has 3,565 career rushing yards, just 263 behind Evan Bunker (Trinity ’14) for the all-time NESCAC record. Needless to say, this kid is pretty special. I would highly suggest tuning in to their matchup with Wesleyan this weekend for one last chance to see one of the most decorated players in NESCAC football history before it’s too late.

(1) 2. Amherst (7-1)

The Mammoths are surely disappointed after their first loss that will likely prevent them from taking home the championship, but this one didn’t come down to one play or one drive. Don’t get me wrong it was a tight game the whole way, but Trinity was simply the better team on Saturday. RB Jack Hickey ’19 wasn’t able to match the performance of his counterpart on the other sideline as he rushed 14 times for a mere 54 yards. Due to the lack of a run game, QB Ollie Eberth ’20 had to attempt a season-high 35 passes and only completed 17 of them. WR Bo Berluti ’19 caught 9 of these passes for 142 yards and added another 23 yards on two carries, but he accounted for about half of Amherst’s offense. It’s not that they couldn’t move the ball up the field, it’s that they couldn’t finish drives. A few costly turnovers in Bantam territory ended up really hurting them, and the defense that we’ve raved about for weeks wasn’t able to force a turnover of their own. Amherst is still in a great position to win the Little Three when they take on Williams this weekend, and if Wesleyan pulls off the upset against Trinity, they have a chance to be crowned champions.

(3) 3. Tufts (6-2)

Tufts put together a very impressive effort against Colby in Week 8. The Mules aren’t the most talented team, but they had won two in a row and were looking like they were putting things together. QB Ryan McDonald ’19 was a very efficient 19 of 23 or 223 yards and 2 touchdowns, and the team rushed for total of 265 yards. Scoring 48 points is a very legit performance, but the defense may have actually had the more impressive feat. Shutouts in football are few and far between, and Colby’s offense had been on the rise in recent weeks. LB Greg Holt ’20 continued his impressive junior campaign by adding a team-high 8 tackles (7 solo) and lineman Nmesoma Nwafor snagged the team’s lone interception. After a few bumps in the road this unit has hit their stride again, giving the Jumbos a good chance to finish off their strong season on a positive note. They’ll head to Vermont to take on a solid Middlebury squad in Week 9.

(5) 4. Wesleyan (5-3)

It’s been an up and down year, but Mark Piccirillo ’19 finds his team in a decent position heading into Week 9

The Cardinals took home potentially their biggest win of the season in a really ugly game against Williams. Neither team eclipsed 300 yards of total offense, and Wesleyan QB Mark Piccirillo ’19 (who we’ve given a lot of praise over the years) only threw for 151 yards on 9 completions. With an even closer look you’ll see that 75 of those passing yards came on one touchdown pass early in the 4th quarter. Take out this pass and Piccirillo was 8-16 for 76 yards. Yikes. The good thing for Coach DiCenzo’s team is that wins come in all shapes and sizes so while this one may not have been pretty, it still counts the same in the standings. It also ensures that Williams will have to wait at least one more year to have a shot at a Little Three championship, which has to make Cardinal fans happy. Wesleyan could potentially make things really interesting if they were able to defeat Trinity in their final game, but do they want to give rival Amherst a chance at a NESCAC title? I have to believe there’s a moral dilemma going on in Middletown right now…

(6) 5. Middlebury (5-3)

I had no idea what Middlebury was going to bring against Hamilton given how hot and cold they’ve been over the course of the year, but the result pretty much ended up how we probably would have expected. The offense looked very well rounded and despite throwing 2 picks, QB Will Jernigan had one of his best games as the starting signal-caller, completing 21 of 36 passes for 246 yards and 4 touchdowns. Linebacker Pete Huggins ’21 and defensive end Ian Blow ’19 had big games for the Panthers, pacing the team with 7 and 6 tackles respectively while each adding an interception. Hamilton relies heavily on the arm of Kenny Gray and Middlebury has struggled a bit against the pass this year, so the fact that the Panther secondary held him to 19-40 for 180 yards is a promising sign. Facing Ryan McDonald in Week 9 will be an even more challenging task, so it’s good news for Midd fans that they’re trending in the right direction. A win over Tufts could potentially put the Panthers in third place to end the season.

(4) 6. Williams (5-3)

It’s been a bit of a fall from grace for the Ephs who at one point were 4-0, had beaten Trinity, and even found themselves at the top of our power rankings. Since then they’ve gone 1-3 with losses to Middlebury, Tufts, and now Wesleyan. I know these are good teams that they lost to, but if you beat Trinity then the expectations are going to be a little bit higher. To make matters even worse, Williams suffered the loss of starting QB Bobby Maimaron ’21 who went down with an injury. Jackson Bischoping ’22 did a decent job, but Maimaron is a very tough guy to replace. WR Frank Stola ’21 had a big game, snagging 9 passes for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns, accounting for nearly half of the team’s total offense. We talk a lot about how good TJ Rothmann is and rightfully so, but LB Jarrett Wesner ’21 is quietly putting together a potential all-NESCAC season, leading the team and sitting at 4th in the conference with 64 total tackles, including 5 for a loss. He’s been a stud for a unit that is going to continue to develop and get better with all the youth they have. Williams will try to take down Amherst for the second straight year in the 2018 Biggest Little Game.

(8) 7. Hamilton (2-6)

Well here we are at the end of the season saying the same thing we pretty much always say about Hamilton. They’re not quite good enough to compete with the top teams, but they’re a little better than the worst teams. Granted they lost to Colby this year, but they also beat Wesleyan so we’ll call it a wash. QB Kenny Gray ’20 isn’t having the year that I thought he would have and because they rely so heavily on him, the whole offense has suffered. RB Joe Park ’22 has found a role as the lead runner out of the backfield despite Mitch Bierman ’21 being initially in line for the job. They played a decent game against Middlebury and only trailed by 4 at halftime, but they just aren’t quite ready to really compete with the best teams in the league. They have a very favorable matchup against a Bates team that is not trending in the right direction for the last game of the season, so a 3-6 finish is definitely within reach.

(7) 8. Colby (2-6)

I know, Colby and Hamilton have the same record and the Mules won the head-to-head matchup, so how could they possibly be ranked lower? A 48-0 loss to Tufts is how. Colby played a terrible game against the Jumbos and paid the full price. Their defense had absolutely no success against Ryan McDonald and Matt Hersch had his worst game under center since he became the starter. RB Jake Schwern ’19 couldn’t really get anything going to follow his outstanding performance last week against Bates, so it really was an all-around disappointing effort for the Mules. They’ll take on Bowdoin in their final game for a chance to bring home their first CBB title since 2005.

(10) 9. Bowdoin (1-7)

Bowdoin fans celebrate the end of the 24-game losing streak

The Polar Bears finally grabbed their first win in almost 3 calendar years with a 31-14 victory over Bates. It wasn’t very pretty, but behind the strong effort of RB Nate Richam ’20 who finally returned from injury they were able to get it done. Richam ran for 130 yards on 32 carries and found the end zone twice and basically ran the entire offense because QB Austin McCrum ’20 only threw for 93 yards and added two interceptions. The defense actually looked pretty solid for once, albeit against Bates’ second and third string quarterbacks. The Polar Bears have every reason to be excited now given that they, too, have a chance to win their first CBB championship since 2010. They’ll make the short trip up to Waterville on Saturday to try to get things done.

(9) 10. Bates (0-8)

It has been a nightmarish end of the season for the Bobcats. They lost starting quarterback Brendan Costa ’21 to injury against Colby, and backup quarterback Jack Bryant ’22 left the game with an apparent concussion in the third quarter after getting hit with a brutal cheap shot by a Bowdoin defender. Since they only had two quarterbacks on the roster, this left them with WR/DB Kevin Claflin ’19 under center and he understandably struggled to mesh with the offense. Really the only highlight for the Bobcats was that safeties Anthony Costa ’21 and Jon Lindgren ’20 continued their stellar seasons in the secondary, each of them with 7 tackles and Costa adding an interception. It doesn’t look good heading into the final weekend for Bates, but they’ll hope to make something crazy happen when Hamilton comes to town.

What We Expected: Week 4 Power Rankings

Week 4 Power Rankings

This was about as boring a weekend of football as you can possibly get in the NESCAC. Colby kept things somewhat close with Wesleyan, but it only became a one-possession game again with 14 seconds remaining. Every game went more or less exactly the way we thought, and the one game that seemed like it could be interesting ended up with Amherst shutting out Middlebury. I guess it’s good that we’re getting the boring weeks out of the way so that we can get some good end-of-season drama. Fingers crossed.

(1) 1. Williams (4-0) 

The Ephs took care of Bates this weekend with relative ease, 31-7. Williams actually threw the ball just 19 times the entire game, as QB Bobby Maimaron ’21 was 11-19 for 114 yards and 2 touchdowns. This is a modest stat line by his standards, but his arm wasn’t really needed since RB TJ Dozier ’21 pummeled the Bates run defense with 12 carries for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns. Not much has changed for Williams in the past week, but one notable stat is that they haven’t allowed a single point in the third quarter of any game all season. This really is a testament to the halftime coaching adjustments as well as simply a very stout defense. They host Middlebury in Week 5 looking to stay atop the rankings.

(2) 2. Tufts (4-0)

QB Ryan McDonald ’19 is showing off his versatility as a runner much more this season

At the start of the year, I don’t think anyone could have envisioned Tufts’ defense looking as prolific as they have thus far. Bowdoin may not be the most talented team in the league, but a shutout in football is very hard to come by. As a unit they lead the league in sacks (14), allow the second fewest rushing yards per game (58.3), and allow the fourth fewest passing yards per game (173). Senior defensive lineman Jared Ashler ’19 is 3rd in the NESCAC with 3 sacks on the year and with the help of guys like DL Nmesoma Nwafor ’19 and LB Stephen Timmins ’20, this Jumbo defense* is consistently getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. The defense will have to bring their A-game this weekend when they travel to Hartford to take on the league’s top offense.

*Being called the “Jumbo defense” makes it sound like they have a wall of 6’5”, 280 lbs studs not letting anyone by. I wouldn’t want to have to play against them.

(3) 3. Amherst (4-0)

Amherst pulled off a very convincing win over Middlebury on Saturday. After losing to the Panthers by a combined 5 points in the last two years, the Mammoth defense* was suffocating, not allowing a point over the full 60 minutes. The offense looked good, although star RB Jack Hickey ’19 did not play the entire game, meaning he must be injured. If he is out for an extended period of time then this would be a huge blow for the Amherst offense that is built around the run game. The good thing is that they’re getting exactly the type of quarterback play that they need. If you were to Google search “game manager quarterback” you’d find a picture of Ollie Eberth ’20 right under a picture of AJ McCarron. Eberth doesn’t throw for a ton of yards, but he’s yet to throw an interception this season and he leads all starters with a 64% completion percentage. The formula is there for the Mammoths, and they’ll have one last dress rehearsal this weekend against Colby before they get to the challenging portion of their schedule.

*Ok so “Mammoth defense” is probably the only thing that sounds more intimidating than “Jumbo defense.” Well done NESCAC and your weird mascots.

(4) 4. Trinity (3-1)

The Bantams got back to what they do best with a 44-7 spanking of Hamilton. QB Jordan Vazzano ’21 continues to have an unsettlingly low completion percentage, but his job isn’t so hard since it basically just requires him to throw the ball in the general vicinity of either Jonathan Girard ’21 or Koby Schofer ’20, who are first and third respectively in receiving yards per game and receiving touchdowns. The defense is having another terrific season, as they’ve allowed the fewest passing yards and total yards, as well as third fewest rushing yards in the conference. After the loss to Williams in Week 3, Trinity needs to win out and hope for a couple of Eph losses if they want a chance at the title. The road continues with a marquee matchup against Tufts this weekend.

(5) 5. Wesleyan (2-2)

WR Hallvard Lundevall ’20 has emerged as Wesleyan’s top receiving threat

I can’t quite figure out the Cardinals this year. They looked like the team to beat this year after they blasted Middlebury in Week 1, but they’ve seemed very shaky since then. Although they led the entire way, a 28-20 victory over Colby is not a particularly definitive result. Wesleyan’s run defense has been excellent, but they haven’t done a great job defending the pass and this trend continued against the Mules when they allowed 277 pass yards and 3 touchdowns to freshman QB Matt Hersch ’22. QB Mark Piccirillo ’19 is having a good year, but the Cardinals haven’t really showed many threats on offense. They’ll look to figure things out this weekend when they head up north to take on Bates.

(6) 6. Middlebury (2-2)

The struggles continued for the Panthers who were embarrassed at home by a very strong Amherst squad. Since taking over the starting role, QB Will Jernigan ’21 has had a tough time getting anything going with his receiving corps. He was only able to muster 133 passing yards on 15 completions against the Mammoths, and although this was technically his season high, it isn’t much considering how much talent they have at receiver. Allowing 301 yards and 21 total points isn’t a bad defensive effort at all, but the offense needs to produce a lot more than it has. They’ve got another tough matchup this Saturday as they’ll head down to take on the Ephs in Williamstown.

(7) 7. Hamilton (1-3)

Not to say that I expected Hamilton to beat Trinity, but after sneaking away with win at Wesleyan I at least expected a better performance. The Continentals looked just like they did in the first three weeks of the season, only managing to accumulate 213 yards of total offense while allowing 503. I haven’t played a down of football in my life but I know that isn’t going to win you a lot of games. The defense hasn’t been as good as it should be given the talent that Hamilton has on that side of the ball, and QB Kenny Gray ’20 simply hasn’t been very impressive this season. I thought this was going to be his big breakout year, and that just hasn’t happened. If the Continentals weren’t excited before then now is the time because they host their weakest opponent of the season so far in Bowdoin on Saturday.

(10) 8. Colby (0-4)

The 3 Maine schools could really be put in any order, but for the sake of excitement I’m judging them on a week-to-week basis. Week 4 was a big week for Colby. A loss is a loss, but they have a lot of reasons to be excited moving forward. First of all, rookie QB Matt Hersch ’22 completed a career-high 23 passes for a career high 277 yards and a career high 3 touchdowns. Not a bad day, huh? Second of all, the defense allowed a season-low 28 points. Wesleyan is a good team, so it was impressive that this defense could compete and keep the Mules in this game. D-lineman Nick Wilcox ’22 has looked very impressive as he had 7 tackles and 1 sack on Piccirillo, and is second on the team overall in tackles. Colby will take on Amherst this weekend in another very challenging matchup, then finally they’ll play some more winnable games against Hamilton and Bates in the following weeks.

(9) 9. Bates (0-4)

RB Liam Spillane ’21 tallied a career high in carries and yards against Williams

I’d say the Bates vs. Williams game went exactly how we would have expected. Williams was clearly the better team but the Bobcats hung around, only trailing 17-7 at the end of the third quarter before ultimately losing 31-7. It was the same story we’ve seen for Bates; they stay in games for a little while until the defense eventually gets too tired from being on the field all game so they fade at the end. DB’s Jon Lindgren ’20 and Anthony Costa ’21 continue to be the team’s standout defensive players and the real problem is that they don’t have any standout offensive players. Liam Spillane ’21 took over as lead running back against Williams, rushing 24 times for 72 yards. This is a respectable stat line, but the problem is the passing offense more than the running game. Their next game is against Wesleyan who has struggled against the pass, so we’ll see if Bates can come up with a better effort on Saturday.

(8) 10. Bowdoin (0-4)

We were seeing improvements from the Polar Bears, especially on offense, but they ran into a very hot Tufts team and were run right over. QB Austin McCrum ’20 threw the ball 47 times but completed just 21 of those passes for a mere 162 yards. I don’t think this game is indicative of how Bowdoin will be moving forward, but it definitely is a step in the wrong direction. They were without starting running back Nate Richam ’20 so the running game took a hit, but getting shut out is a bad look no matter what. The defense wasn’t great, but it hasn’t been great all season and Tufts is a strong team. This was one to forget for Bowdoin. On to Hamilton.

New Number One: Week 3 Power Rankings

Finally we got a little bit of excitement. NESCAC football can feel very predictable at times, but this weekend flipped the script on us. Williams gritted out a win over former #1 Trinity and Hamilton absolutely shocked Wesleyan to drop them to 1-2, essentially removing them from title contention. Bowdoin battled with Amherst, Bates led Tufts at halftime, and Colby stayed within 3 points of Middlebury until the fourth quarter. This type of weekend is exactly what we were hoping to see more of, and fortunately it took just three weeks to get here.

(3) 1. Williams (3-0)

Frank Stola ’21 is tied for the league lead with 4 receiving touchdowns

They say that in order to be the best you have to beat the best. Well, there’s no doubt that Williams earned it this week. The most potent offense in the league came to town following a 59-point outburst in Week 2 and was stymied by this young Eph defense. There’s no question that QB Bobby Maimaron ’21 put together a fine effort and WR Frank Stola ’21 had an outstanding game catching passes, but the story of this one was the defense. LB TJ Rothmann ’21 is putting together an early case for defensive player of the year, grabbing an interception and a fumble recovery against Trinity to go along with a game-high 15 tackles. Williams is hot right now and they’ll likely improve to 4-0 after their visit to Lewiston this weekend.

(2) 2. Tufts (3-0)

The Jumbos started out slow against Bates, even trailing 14-10 at the half. Whatever Coach Civetti said to his team at halftime clearly resonated, because they proceeded to score 37 unanswered points in the second half. QB Ryan McDonald ’19 had another solid game passing for 207 yards and adding another 161 on the ground. The receiving corps has looked very deep so far, with 5 different players who have caught at least 5 passes on the season. The defense continues to look solid, although a bit shaky at times against the Bobcats. LB Greg Holt ’20 is picking up right where he left off from his All-NESCAC campaign last season, pacing the team with 28 tackles and 2.5 sacks. They, too, should get to 4-0 after a date with Bowdoin in Week 4. 

(4) 3. Amherst (3-0)

Amherst is one of the 3 remaining unbeaten teams, although I haven’t been particularly impressed with their body of work so far. A 24-14 win over Bowdoin is not the greatest win on paper, but they are getting the job done. QB Ollie Eberth ’20 had an incredibly efficient game against the Polar Bears in which he went 19-26 with 256 yards and 3 touchdowns, while adding 78 yards with his legs. WR Bo Berluti ’19 continues to serve as the top target for Eberth, as he racked up 97 receiving yards and a touchdown in Week 3. What makes the Mammoths especially scary is their stout defense. Their pass defense isn’t anything particularly special, but they have only allowed 28 yards per game on the ground so far this season. I’m very intrigued to see what Amherst will look like when they face Middlebury in a much more difficult matchup than their first 3 weeks.

(1) 4. Trinity (2-1)

For the first time in a very long while, the Bantams looked very vulnerable. The problem is not their defense, as they’re top 3 in every major defensive category. The problem is that their offense seems very discombobulated right now. After obliterating Colby’s run defense, RB Max Chipouras ’19 hasn’t looked like the same all-world running back that he’s looked like in the past, averaging just 3.6 yards per carry against Bates and Williams. QB Jordan Vazzano ’21 completed just 14 of 44 passes against Williams, and he has a 41% completion percentage this season. Not only is this the lowest among all starters in the league, but it’s shockingly low for the starting quarterback on what is supposed to be one of the league’s best. 37 of Vazzano’s 43 completions have been to either Jonathan Girard ’21 or Koby Schofer ’20, so opposing teams are starting to realize that Trinity really doesn’t have a ton of offensive weapons at the moment. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond against a Hamilton team that is coming off a huge win in Week 3.

(5) 5. Wesleyan (1-2)

What a brutal 2-week stretch it has been for the Cardinals. After outplaying Tufts and losing on account of a pair of missed field goals, they respond by allowing a blocked punt to be returned 26 yards for a touchdown with a minute and a half left to lose to Hamilton. Yikes. Looks like special teams needs some work. The Wesleyan offense has looked pretty good, with QB Mark Piccirillo ’19 having another terrific season, and a group of receivers that has already somewhat exceeded expectations. It’s the other side of the ball that has really hurt them. Their allegedly intimidating defense looked awfully porous against a Continental team that had really been struggling to score coming into the game. Although their title chances may already have slipped away, I think the Cardinals are still a very talented team who will figure things out and get back on track. They’ve got a great opportunity to start doing just that with a matchup against Colby.

(6) 6. Middlebury (2-1)

The Panthers are very fortunate that they’ve had matchups with Colby and Bowdoin each of the last two weeks, because they clearly don’t know what’s going to be done about the quarterback position. QB Jack Meservy ’19 is clearly the guy they want, but he has struggled mightily, throwing just 5 touchdowns compared to 7 interceptions through parts of 3 games. Backup QB Will Jernigan ’21 has done a fine job so far, but he is more of a running threat and forces Middlebury to move away from the pass-heavy style that they love. The bottom line is whoever they choose needs to find their stud pass catchers. It’s also tricky that they face an Amherst team this weekend whose run defense has been light years better than their pass defense thus far. They’ve done just enough to win these past two weeks, but it’s time for the Panthers to face their first real test since they were smacked by Wesleyan in the season opener.

(9) 7. Hamilton (1-2)

The Continentals finally broke into the win column in a very big way this past weekend. After really struggling in their first two games, QB Kenny Gray ’20 had a much better outing, throwing for 4 touchdowns and evenly spreading the ball around to 5 different receivers. Freshman RB Joe Park ’22 had a breakout game, rushing 18 times for 104 yards and forcing the Wesleyan defense to respect the run so that their receivers were actually able to get open. This was a huge step up from having 7 total rushing yards through the first 2 weeks. The defense wasn’t perfect, but DB Ian Esliker ’21 came up with a timely interception and rookie DB Christian Snell ’22 made the play of the week by blocking a Wesleyan punt and recovering it for a touchdown with just a minute and a half left to play. This is the Hamilton team that I was expecting to see this season, so stay tuned to see if they can put together another huge performance against a Trinity team that’s reeling after their first loss this weekend.

(7) 8. Bowdoin (0-3)

WR/QB Griff Stalcup ’21 is making  very smooth positional change

I have to admit I’ve been somewhat impressed by Bowdoin these last two weeks. QB Austin McCrum ’20 is steadily improving and former starting QB Griff Stalcup ’21 is finding his niche as one of the team’s most effective wide receivers. He caught 11 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown against Amherst, and he certainly opens up a plethora of options for trick plays. They held the Mammoths to 24 points, which is a respectable effort and they’ve found their defensive leader in LB Joe Gowetski ’20 who currently leads the league with 32 tackles. As we mentioned in their team preview, the Polar Bears are making an effort to stay the course. They continue to improve each week and develop different facets of their game. They’ll play host to Tufts this weekend, providing another opportunity to get better as they get to the back half of their schedule. Keep an eye on the score in Brunswick on Saturday.

(8) 9. Bates (0-3)

I was so excited when the Bobcats took a 14-10 lead into the locker room at halftime against the Jumbos on Saturday. I thought this could be the breakout win for a young team with a new coach. Alas, Tufts came out and poured on 37 points while not allowing Bates to get past the 50 yard line once in the entire second half. There were some positives, like seeing the emergence of WR Kody Greenhalgh ’20 (yes, the same Kody Greenhalgh that plays guard on the basketball team) who caught 6 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. DB Anthony Costa ’21 tallied his second interception of the season and continues to see success in his first season since being converted from QB. Unfortunately, the Bobcats are facing a similar problem that they have in recent years: the offense can’t seem to get anything going, so the defense stays on the field the entire game and gets run to death. Something needs to change and I’m sorry to say that the change will probably not start this weekend, as they’ll take on the new number one team in the league.

(10) 10. Colby (0-3)

Coach Cosgrove should be very pleased with what he’s seeing from his team right now. They certainly don’t have the same talent that some of the top teams do, but his team is competing and starting to find a rhythm. QB Matt Hersch ’22 went 20 of 35 for 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, which was a pretty good effort in just his first career start, especially against a strong team like Middlebury. The Mules rely heavily on RB Jake Schwern ’19 who is having a very fine year as he sits at 5thin the NESCAC in rushing yards while adding 2 touchdowns. Their record may not indicate it, but things are starting to look promising up in Waterville. The Wesleyan Cardinals represent their next challenge, as they’ll make the trek up I-95 to visit Alfond Stadium.