Tag: Coach Cosgrove

NESCAC Friday Tipoff: 1/10 Weekend Preview

NESCAC Basketball Weekend Preview

Trinity (9-4) @ Bowdoin (4-6), 7pm, Brunswick, ME

The Bantams, who are playing great basketball right now after a rocky start, get the pleasure this Friday of visiting a Bowdoin team that is clearly still feeling the graduation of stud Jack Simonds. The Polar Bears had more than a few stumbles in their non-conference games, with some brutal losses (Southern Maine, Colby by 46) along with some wins that were too close for comfort (ME-Farmington by 4, Framingham State by 9). With the conference slate being clean for everyone, though, Bowdoin still has a chance to turn it around. They will need guys not named David Reynolds (21 PPG in his last two games) and Sam Grad ’21 to step up if they want to make any splash in the conference this year, or it’s going to be a long season in Brunswick. Trinity, a team for whom offense has been a question mark in the past, has been scoring the ball at a rate we have not seen out of them in some time – albeit against some weaker teams. If you’re Coach Cosgrove, you have to be ecstatic about a starting lineup in which all five guys are currently averaging double figures. The Bantams have averaged 90 points per game over their last five games, all wins. Kyle Padmore ‘20, recently named NESCAC POTW, has looked like an all-conference player on both ends. As we all know, however, this conference is a different animal in the world of D3 basketball. Even Bowdoin will likely be a step up from some of the teams the Bantams have been blowing out lately. If Trinity can keep up the hot shooting while playing Coach Cosgrove’s tough brand of defense, they’re going to be a force in conference play. This team is on too much of a roll for a hiccup against the reeling Polar Bears.

Writer’s Pick: Trinity 83 – Bowdoin 65 

Williams (6-5) @ Hamilton (10-2), 7pm, Clinton, NY

Last year this game would have been a lock for game of the week and maybe even game of the year, but this year it pins two teams struggling to figure out their identities against each other. Williams has not scored at anywhere near the rate they were last season and they also find themselves with the second fewest assists per game in the NESCAC. Guys like Cole Prowitt-Smith ’23, Alex Stoddard ’23, and Spencer Spivy ’22 have shown that they’re capable of having big games, but none of them have displayed any level of consistency whatsoever. Big man Matt Karpowicz ’20 is the only guy on this team who has played significant time over the past few years and he’s sure to have a big game, but he’s going to need some help. The good news for Eph fans is that Hamilton is having a similar problem. Kena Gilmour ’20 is a stud, but it’s unclear who else is going to step up to fill the void left by all the players they graduated from last year. That said, the Continentals still average the second most points per game in the league (90.3) so it’s not all bad. This has the potential to be a pretty sloppy game given that these two teams are among the top 3 in turnovers and each of them have a slew of players that haven’t quite proven themselves yet. I expect this to be pretty evenly matched most of the way, but I don’t see the Continentals losing at home to an Eph squad that has been struggling as of late.

Writer’s Pick: Hamilton 77 – Williams 69

Connecticut College (3-8) @ #12 Colby (11-0), 7pm, Waterville, ME

If you’re the Conn College Camels, this is a very exciting point in the season. Everyone in the NESCAC is even in conference play, and you have an opportunity in front of you to put your past struggles behind and turn things around. The bad news for Conn is that they are starting off their conference slate with a Colby Mules team that is gaining attention nationwide for their offensive firepower, currently earning them the #12 spot in the country (only Middlebury is ranked higher among NESCAC teams). Not only is Colby 11-0, but they have also hit triple digits in six of those games. Sam Jefferson ’20 stands out right away with his absurd numbers – 24.5 PPG, 63% shooting from the field, and an unconscious 53% from deep. After Jefferson, guys like Matt Hanna ’21, Noah Tyson ’22, and Wallace Tucker ’21 have been scoring the ball at a high clip as well. The Mules will need to continue to take open threes and hit them in NESCAC play given that they have almost no size. Coach Strahorn has been running with a lineup of 7-8 guys, none of whom are over 6’4. This might work against some of the lowly Maine schools they have been playing, but it’s going to be a much bigger issue come NESCAC play. The one caveat to Colby’s success so far is their weak non-conference schedule. Conn, yes Conn, may very well be the best team they have faced so far. Conn should look to get 6’7 Dan Draffan and 7-footer Ryan Omslaer ’22 as many touches as possible to expose Colby’s lack of height. Defensively, the obvious emphasis needs to be on closing out perimeter shooters because Colby has plenty of them. I want to believe that Conn will make more of an impact in the NESCAC this year, but they just have not shown enough promise so far in their 3-8 season for me to feel good about their chances this weekend. The Mules have enough offense to roll at home.

Writer’s Pick: Colby 89 – Conn 68 

Tufts (10-2) @ Wesleyan (9-2), 7pm, Middletown, CT

This is a very important matchup for both of these teams. The Jumbos have started off the year very strong and Wesleyan is coming off of a statement win at home against Amherst. This Cardinal defense has looked outstanding, allowing the second fewest points per game of anyone while forcing a league-leading 9 steals per game. Jordan James ’21 is putting together another fantastic year so far, but he’ll go up against Luke Rogers ’21 who will certainly be the most talented big man he’s faced this season. That matchup will definitely be one to focus on. An interesting difference between these two teams is that Tufts has shot the ball very well so far as a whole, while Wesleyan is actually shooting a very low percentage, particularly from behind the 3-point line. This has worked so far for the Cardinals given that they play such good defense, but if the shots are falling for the Jumbos it’s tough to know who will respond for Wesleyan. Tufts has some very talented, athletic guards and we still haven’t really gotten a good read on the Cardinals’ young backcourt so it’ll be intriguing to see how they fare against one another. Tufts won this meeting last year in Medford behind a strong defensive effort and a hot shooting performance and at this point it’s hard to envision a different result this year.

Writer’s Pick: Tufts 78 – Wesleyan 74

Game of the Day

#3 Middlebury (13-0) @ #15 Amherst (9-3), 7pm, Amherst, MA

The surefire game of the week this week is taking place in western Mass tonight. These two perennial powers have played tough schedules so far and have looked very strong throughout. The Panthers’ combination of Jack Farrell ’21, Max Bosco ’21, and Matt Folger ’20 is one of the best scoring trios in the nation and they have showed no signs of slowing down. They have also benefitted greatly from the strong play of second-year center Alex Sobel ’22 who has stepped in to replace Eric McCord. He’ll have his work cut out for him when he goes up against this Mammoth team that is loaded with size. Middlebury’s offense looks incredibly hard to stop, but if anyone is going to do it then it’ll be the team with the league’s best defense. It’s hard to know exactly what to make of Amherst because most of their starters have played limited minutes so far. We know that Eric Sellew ’20, Fru Che ’21, and Grant Robinson ’21 are three of the best players in the conference, but first year Head Coach Aaron Toomey is still trying to figure out what is going to work to get these guys all involved. Robinson in particular hasn’t exactly looked like the same player from last season and there is speculation that he has been dealing with minor injuries in the early part of this season. Again, this is speculation, but something isn’t the same so far for the Mammoths. They’re also coming off a tough loss against Little Three rival Wesleyan, so it’ll be interesting to see which direction they go in their very difficult games this weekend. It’s difficult to open conference play with the best team in the league and I think that’s going to be quite a challenge for Amherst. This also may not be the last time these two teams square off this year…

Writer’s Pick: Middlebury 81 – Amherst 72

Not Just a Football School: Trinity Men’s Basketball Preview 2019-2020

Trinity College Bantams 

2018-19 Record: 17-8 (6-4 NESCAC, lost in NESCAC quarterfinals)

2019-2020 Projected Record: 17-8 (5-5 NESCAC)

Key Losses: F Connor Merinder, F Jared Whitt, G Anthony Kelley 

Projected Starting Lineup:

G: Christian Porydzy ‘20 (8.3 PPG, 2.6 APG, 35.2% 3PT) 

An experienced veteran guard, Porydzy will likely play both point guard and off ball this year. While he has handled the ball more in past years, he is Trinity’s best three point shooting threat in the starting lineup and can knock down the deep ball from NBA range. Despite not being overly tall or athletic, Porydzy can set up teammates for open shots and score in bunches with long range shooting. He finished last season on a high note, with three long balls each against Bates, Tufts, and Williams. Trinity should have more guys who can bring up the ball this year, allowing Porydzy to move without the ball and find himself open looks. If he can create his own shot and continue to knock down the three at a high clip, Trinity’s offense will take a big step forward this season. 

G: Colin Donovan ‘21 (5.9 PPG, 34.8% 3PT, 90% FT) 

Donovan is another guy Coach Cosgrove hopes will increase his scoring output this season as the Bantams try to take that next step in the NESCAC. He has gradually played more and more as his career has gone on and his experience will help greatly when freshmen come into the lineup. Similar to Porydzy, Donovan can play the point or 2 guard with his shooting ability. They are both strong spot up shooters and could both help their team immensely if they can find other ways to score or set up teammates. Donovan was the Bantams’ top scorer on Saturday in a close loss at UMass Dartmouth, but we hope his two late missed free throws were a fluke as he is normally one of the NESCAC’s best FT shooters. If he can give Trinity a consistent 8-10 points every night this season, their offense will make great strides. 

F: Nick Seretta ‘20 (9.2 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.5 APG)

Not many guys in this conference play harder than Seretta. He can frequently be seen getting in passing lanes, harassing ballhandlers, and getting on the hardwood for loose balls. At 6’3” and 207 lbs, he is the type of tough, athletic wing Coach Cosgrove loves to recruit. Seretta can look like an All-NESCAC player some nights, and the Bantams will need this to happen frequently if they want to make a deep run in this year’s tournament. He had 20 points against Hamilton and 16 points against Conn last season. He is again a workhorse again for Trinity this season, averaging 10 points and 6 rebounds a game. Similar to many of his teammates, however, Seretta will need to shoot more efficiently and pick up the scoring a little bit to take some pressure off the perennially strong defense. Expect him to get a bulk of the minutes this year (he played in every game last season) and be all over the stat sheet while also doing the dirty work on defense. 

F: Kyle Padmore ‘20 (9.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 3.0 APG) 

A captain and three year starter, Padmore is going to be a big factor this year in determining how Trinity’s season will go. Similar to Seretta, he is a long and athletic wing defender and will usually be matched up with the opponent’s top scorer in Cosgrove’s intense man to man defense. The same can be said here as for any of the other starters: a small jump in scoring production will go a long way towards the team’s success. Padmore has been one of the team’s top scorers for a few years now, but he needs to improve at the line (54.8% FT last season, 53.8% in 7 games this season) and avoid getting in foul trouble- he has been a constant piece in Coach Cosgrove’s rotation for a few years now. As one of three senior starters, Padmore and his classmates need to be more efficient on the offensive end if Trinity is going to take the next step and be more competitive with the NESCAC’s top teams.  

C: Donald Jorden, Jr ‘21 (11.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 61.1% FG) 

Jorden will likely draw a lot more attention in the post this season, as teams started to realize last year what he was capable of. At 6’6” and 200 pounds, Jorden used his athleticism and strong footwork to maneuver around defenders and dominate almost every one-on-one matchup under the basket. He is one of the league’s best rebounders and shot-blockers and became the Bantams’ best scoring option last season- he scored in double digits 18 times and started every game. This year, though, it will likely be tougher sledding. Jorden does not have 6’9” Jared Whitt to spell him for minutes, and he will likely be scouted much more seriously by NESCAC opponents whose bigs may be pushing 6’10”. He’s been looking good so far this season, averaging 11.1 RPG and shooting a phenomenal 66.1% from the field. Those are all-NESCAC numbers. If Jorden can continue to dominate the boards and get easy baskets and his teammates score at a higher clip, Trinity will overcome their injuries and make a splash in the conference this season. 

Everything Else:

The Bantams have had a decent start to this season, but they have lost a few close games already that may end up coming back to bite them when they are looking for an at-large bid to the tournament late in the season. They have won the games they’re supposed to and their scoring can push triple digits on some nights, but their lack of ability to score in the clutch has hurt them in close games so far this season. We know that any James Cosgrove Trinity team will defend the ball voraciously and constantly be in passing lanes, but each of the starters will need to contribute a few more points per game for this team to compete with the NESCAC’s best. They ended last season on fire in conference play, winning their last four regular season games before losing a competitive battle on the road in the quarterfinals (it seemed almost unfair that they went from out of the playoffs all the way to the 5 seed only to run into Williams).

Being one of many NESCAC teams that have an at-large national tournament bid in their sights, the Bantams would love to go on a similar hot streak at some point this season to separate themselves from the middle of the conference make their case for a bid. Their defense led them to victory against the NESCAC’s weaker offensive teams, but their lack of a consistent top scorer was brutally evident in blowout losses to Amherst and Middlebury. While some of the starters have upped their scoring outputs from last season, Trinity would love to see a guy step up and average 15 a game to take some pressure off the defense. They unfortunately do not return as many of last year’s contributors as we originally thought, as Anthony Kelley ‘22 (buzzer beater to beat Colby last year) is not enrolled at the school this year and 6’9” Jared Whitt ‘22 tore his ACL in the preseason. This means that the non-starters who frequently see minutes in Cosgrove’s rotation- Joe Bell ‘20, Jadakis Brooks ‘20, Steven Lora ‘23 and DJ Smith ‘23- will be important in not only being fresh legs to come in and defend, but also in picking up the scoring.

Despite last season’s losses, this is still a veteran roster that should be excited about its freshman class and the losses its NESCAC foes have suffered. Coach James Cosgrove may be the league’s most intense coach and his players’ defensive energy reflects that attitude every game. While referees may dread games in the Coop due to his frequent disputes over calls, Cosgrove knows how to coach. Trinity has the NESCAC’s second best league record over the last five seasons. This statistic will look a lot better if they can add a deep run in the tournament and gain an at-large bid to the national bracket this winter. To make a bigger dent against the conference’s perennial powerhouses, the Bantams will need to be better at the free throw line and on the offensive end in general.

It Is What It Is: 2019 End-of-Season Power Rankings

(1) 1. Middlebury (9-0)

No surprises here – the Panthers capped off the first 9-0 season in NESCAC history with a convincing victory over Tufts in Medford. Rookie RB Alex Maldjian ’23 led the league in rushing with 905 yards on the season (100.6 per game) and he seems to be a shoe-in for the NESCAC Rookie of the Year award. The receiving corps took a big step up this year and that was in large part due to the enormous improvement of QB Will Jernigan ’21. The Georgia native must have spent the summer implementing the TB12 method because he looked like an entirely different quarterback this year than he did last year. As a sophomore in 2018, Jernigan was 8th in the league with 127 passing yards per game and 10 touchdowns on the year. In 2019 he finished 2nd in the league with 221 passing yards per game and 16 touchdowns. It’s starting to make sense why they went from 5-4 in 2018 to 9-0 this season. 

It would also be impossible to talk about this Middlebury team without talking about the defense – this unit led the NESCAC in interceptions and sacks, terrorizing opposing teams all year. The junior LB duo of Pete Huggins ’21 and Jack Pistorius ’21 finished tied for 4th in the conference in tackles with 72 each, they were both top-10 in TFLs, and they each added an interception for good measure. These guys would both be the best linebacker on any other team and the Panthers have them both! DB Kevin Hartley ’20 finished tied for 1st with 5 interceptions on the year and both Michael Carr ’20 and Finn Muldoon ’23 were top-10 in the NESCAC in picks as well. There’s no controversy this year – it’s safe to say that Middlebury was the best team and they proved it. Of their 9 games on the year, 6 of them were decided by one score or less and those include a double overtime victory at Amherst and a one-point scare against Colby. No matter who they were up against the Panthers were able to do just enough to find a way to win and that’s what championship teams do. Congrats to Panther Nation.

(3) 2. Wesleyan (8-1)

We’ve taken a lot of heat from Wesleyan fans over the past few weeks and deservedly so. Not a single one of us here at NbN believed that the Cardinals would be able to go 8-1 or honestly even 7-2. Even after their 5-0 start I thought that they were going to finish 6-3 or maybe even 5-4 given that they closed out the season with Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, and Trinity. Well they absolutely proved us wrong and I’m willing to admit that. Ashton Scott ’22 looks like the next star quarterback of the NESCAC and he made a legit POY case with his 17:3 TD:INT ratio and a league-leading completion percentage. Scott couldn’t have done it without the help of fellow classmate and breakout star Matthew Simco ’22 who finished 4th in the conference in both receiving yards and touchdowns, while finishing 3rd in receptions. The duo of Ben Thaw ’20 and Danny Banks ’22 are likely the best DB combo in the NESCAC with Thaw leading the league in picks and pass break ups and Banks coming in at 2nd in picks and 3rd in PBUs. The fact that Wesleyan was able to take down Amherst and Williams in consecutive weeks and going to 3 overtimes in the process is incredibly impressive and frankly it’s a shame that they couldn’t put up more of a fight against Middlebury because that would’ve been a ton of fun to watch. Either way this was a very impressive year for the Cardinals and with all the youth on their roster I don’t think this will be the last we’re hearing from these guys…

(2) 3. Williams (7-2)

I just want to go on record and say that if they’re able to avoid any major injuries to key players next year, the Ephs are my pick to win the 2020 NESCAC Championship. Yeah they lost two games this year and they lost those two games fair and square, but I really think this is the best team in the league. QB Bobby Maimaron ’21 has my vote for Offensive Player of the Year with his league leading 20 TDs and 2 INTs (also good for the best TD:INT ratio), while also adding the 4th most rushing yards in the conference. These are pretty incredible numbers and they’re also very difficult to sustain given that Williams almost exclusively runs RPOs. This kid is a stud. WR Frank Stola ’21 got off to one of the best starts to a season in recent memory for a receiver and Coach Raymond took full advantage, often using Stola as a decoy to draw away defenders during a few of their games later in the year. What may have taken the most pressure off of Maimaron was the Ephs’ menacing defense that led the league in both yards and points allowed. That’s how you keep your team in games. They say that defense wins championships so if this defense can ride the momentum into next year then it will be a very long season for anyone not wearing purple and gold.

(5) 4. Trinity (5-4)

In hindsight I kind of feel like we made the same mistake for Trinity that we did for Wesleyan, but the other way around. Because of their recent history, we assumed that the Bantams were pretty much the favorite for every game they played in. It turned out that they really weren’t that good this year, at least not by their standards. We all know how Coach Devanney loves running up the score so they had some lopsided victories over the Maine schools but when it came to the upper echelon of the league they really struggled. It took the Bantams until the 4th quarter to put away Hamilton and their 21-7 win over Amherst isn’t as impressive as it usually is because the Mammoths weren’t that great this year either. They lost one-possession games to Tufts, Middlebury, and Wesleyan, exposing their immaturity and showing that they tended to panic when time was winding down. Realistically this year is probably nothing more than a speed bump for this perennial powerhouse, but with the re-emergence of Williams and the improvements of Hamilton it’s time for the Bantams to start watching their backs.

(6) 5. Hamilton (4-5)

I’m really torn about what to say here because I was fully prepared to write a rave review about this year’s Continental team until they totally blew it in their final game against Bates. If you’re up 21-0 in the first half against a team that has only won once in the last two years then there’s really no excuse not to close that one out. With that being said, there are still a ton of positive takeaways from this season for Hamilton. They were able to beat both Amherst and Tufts for the first time in a while and they battled with Trinity until the final whistle. The emergence of David Kagan ’20 as a legitimate threat out of the backfield was huge to ease the burden for QB Kenny Gray ’20 who has really carried this team for the last four years. They also benefitted from an experienced trio of receivers in Christian Donahoe ’20, Will Budington ’21, and Sam Robinson ’20, each of whom stepped up in big moments, particularly given that WR Joe Schmidt ’20 was battling injury. I also think kicker Sam Thoreen ’22 deserves recognition because this guy is truly the best kicker in the league – he was a perfect 10/10 on field goals and 23/25 on extra points, giving him 53 points on the year which trailed only Mason Von Jess ’23 of Wesleyan. Coach Murray has done an outstanding job with this program and they are absolutely headed in the right direction, but they lose a lot to graduation this year so now we’ll have to wait and see if they can continue this positive trend with a new generation of faces.

(4) 6. Amherst (4-5)

Much like the Bantams’ season, this one was a disappointment for the Mammoths. Their first losing season since 1993 is definitely tough to swallow, particularly when so many of their games were decided in the final minutes or even seconds. It sort of felt like they were losing steam every game – once they suffered their first loss in double overtime to Middlebury things really started to spiral out of control. They easily took down Bowdoin the following week but then blew an 11-point lead with 4 minutes left against Hamilton, lost in double overtime again, this time to Wesleyan, and were smacked in their final two games against Williams and Trinity to close out the year on a 4-game losing streak. It seems to me that we should have treated Amherst like we treated Wesleyan earlier in the year – they started the year with the easier portion of their schedule and took care of business, but struggled mightily against the top teams and at times seemed overmatched. This is pretty much what we expected the Cardinals to do, but instead they went the other direction and got better as the year went on, playing some of their best games late in the year and beating a few of the top teams. 

It’s clear that they really felt the losses of RB Jack Hickey and LB Andrew Yamin from last season because those guys were two of the best playmakers in the league. It felt like the Mammoths were lacking star power at times and that really showed; QB Ollie Eberth ’20 saw his interception totals balloon from just 1 last season to 13 this season. Thirteen!! That’s a ridiculous increase and it’s pretty much because he was only throwing to one guy. WR James O’Regan ’20 had twice as many touchdowns (8) as any other player on their roster and he had more than double the amount of receiving yards as the next most on the team. It’s hard to make things happen when defenses know exactly who you’re trying to get the ball to. This is definitely a season to forget for Amherst and they’ll lose their top two offensive players to graduation this year so it’ll be interesting to see who they bring in to replace these key pieces.

(7) 7. Tufts (4-5)

This was a really weird year for the Jumbos. It felt like every week a different team came to play. They felt the high of beating the defending champion Bantams in Week 1 and the low of getting blown out by Hamilton at home in Week 7. QB Jacob Carroll ’20 quietly led the league with 247 passing yards per game and was 2nd with 19 touchdown passes, but was sloppy with the ball at times and threw more interceptions than anyone in the league besides Eberth. QB Trevon Woodson ’23 looked excellent in his short stints as the backup, so it’s possible that they have a more than capable replacement waiting for next season. WR Frank Roche ’20 had an outstanding year as he led the league with over 100 receiving yards per game and was 2nd with 10 touchdowns, but they didn’t have many other receiving threats and the run game was essentially non-existant. LB Greg Holt ’20 led the league in tackles and will soon receive another All-NESCAC selection, but the defense was nothing special and forced the fewest turnovers of anyone besides Bowdoin. It seems like Coach Civetti is faced with a similar challenge to some of the other coaches in the league: his first generation of star players (i.e. Chance Brady, Ryan McDonald) have come and gone and now he has to continue the trend. All the pieces are in place to do that, but it’s hard to know what to expect from the Jumbos moving forward.

(9) 8. Bates (2-7)

Easily my most controversial* pick in the end-of-season rankings is putting Bates ahead of a Colby team that beat them head-to-head and finished with an identical record. It’s easy to forget, however, that the Bates-Colby game was all but won by the Bobcats when they scored a would-be game-winning touchdown in the final minutes before it ended up being nullified by one of those classic phantom holding flags that we’re all accustomed to in the NESCAC. It seemed like they only gained momentum from there because they destroyed Bowdoin the next week and successfully orchestrated a 21-point comeback against Hamilton in the final game to end up with a more respectable 2-7 record. Brendan Costa ’21 is probably the most underrated quarterback in the league and he showed towards the end of this year that not only can he run and throw at a high level, but he can lead crucial drives late with the game on the line. This type of thing only comes with experience and that’s something that Costa surely has now that he’s spent nearly 3 full years as the starter. The Bobcats also showed that they have some real offensive threats, although nearly all of them battled injuries this year. Christian Olivieri ’22, Jackson Hayes ’22, Sean Bryant ’22, and Mohamed Diawara ’23 are the core of a receiving unit that has seen some serious improvements and their committee of running backs headlined by Liam Spillane ’21, Jaason Lopez ’21, and Tyler Bridge ’23 looked competitive with the best of them in spurts. As evidenced by the plethora of underclassmen mentioned so far, Bates isn’t losing much to graduation this year. If they can add a few more pieces and pick up where they left off then this will be a very different Bobcat team in 2020.

*Yes, I do believe that the words “controversial” and “biased” can be used interchangeably.

(8) 9. Colby (2-7)

I’d say this ended up being a pretty standard season for Colby football. They were mildly competitive in some games, beat Bates and Colby, and gave Middlebury their biggest scare of the season. When the dust settled they found themselves the winners of the CBB for the second year in a row and because I anticipate hearing from someone how it’s ludicrous to put Bates ahead of Colby, I will address it – I was at the Bates-Colby game and to be blunt the Bobcats were the better team that day. Yeah they lost, but outplaying Colby and having the referees take away a win does not go unnoticed. The better team doesn’t always win in sports and that was the case here. The Bobcats went on to solidify this claim by taking down Hamilton (who obliterated the Mules in Week 3) in their final game.

At the end of the day, this was not a terrible season for Colby. Winning the CBB is still something to be proud of and QB Matt Hersch ’22 had himself a solid second season, averaging over 200 yards per game through the air. Chris George ’20 emerged as the replacement for Jake Schwern out of the backfield and he had a solid year, as did receivers Andrew DeFranco ’20 and Rory Glavin ’21. LB Marcus Bullard ’21 finished 3rd in the NESCAC in tackles, but other than him the defense was unremarkable. The Mules were 2nd to last in the league in sacks so the defense really wasn’t able to get much pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They were also 2nd to last in rushing yards allowed per game, so the front 4 will need to be a point of emphasis heading into next season. Colby has nothing to be ashamed of after this season, especially after nearly taking down the league champs in Week 5. Coach Cosgrove now has 2 consecutive 2-win seasons, so the bar is set. 3 is the magic number.

(10) 10. Bowdoin (0-9)

It can’t be fun to be a Bowdoin Polar Bear football fan. Last in the almost every statistical category on both sides of the ball in 2019, 1 win over the last 4 years, and a new coaching staff that has an uphill battle every step of the way. RB Nate Richam-Odoi ’20 was 2nd in the conference in rushing yards; though he was pretty much the only bright spot on the offensive side except for maybe RB Brendan Ward ’22 who had a team-high 4 touchdown catches. LB Joe Gowetski ’20 finished with 84 tackles on the year, which was good for 2nd in the NESCAC, but the same could be said for him as Richam-Odoi – they didn’t really have anyone else on defense who made an impact and Gowetski couldn’t do it all himself, so it was a very long year. Hopefully Coach Hammer has a good recruiting class lined up for next year because things are looking grim otherwise.

Trudging On: Week 7 Power Rankings

(1) 1. Middlebury

While Middlebury did not handle Bowdoin last Saturday as well as a lot of other teams have, they had a strong offensive effort and they remain the league’s only undefeated team. That is sufficient to keep them atop our rankings. The score may make the game seem closer than it was, but the Panthers were ahead 41-7 until Bowdoin put up 22 points in the fourth quarter. This may have been the fault of Middlebury’s backups, but either way the defense cannot be giving up 22 point quarters if Midd wants to go undefeated. The Panthers got it done on the ground again with 95 yards and 2 scores from RB Alex Maldjian ’23, and 53 yards with 2 more scores for QB Will Jernigan ’21. Jernigan now has seven rushing touchdowns to go along with 14 more in the air and deserves a lot of the credit for Middlebury’s success this year. Middlebury has had a few close calls, but their offense has played well enough lately to give their defense some room for error. While the title is theirs to lose, Middlebury still has to do their job and they will have their hands full this week against a Hamilton team that is having its best season in a long time. 

(2) 2. Williams 

The Ephs picked up a huge win in Hartford last weekend, handing Trinity their first home loss in 20 games. There are individual players to recognize for the team’s strong performance, but this was mainly a masterful coaching performance by Mark Raymond. He knew Frank Stola ’21 was going to get smothered and he did, which opened the door for Dan Vaughn ’22 to rush for 123 yards against the league’s top run defense, and for two other receivers to combine for three TD receptions. Not many teams win when their QB completes only 6 of 20 passes, but Williams has such a dominant run attack and defense that they were able to make up for this. Don’t forget that this is a team that went 0-8 in 2016-17. Defensively, Raymond again did his homework, as they attacked a reeling offensive line and sacked QB Seamus Lambert ’22 six times while holding the Bantams to a criminally low 42 rushing yards. I debated putting Williams at 1 because I think they have played better than Middlebury lately, but they still have an uphill battle for the championship. Raymond will need to win the chess match again this week as Williams pays Wesleyan a visit in a matchup of 6-1 teams. 

(5) 3. Wesleyan 

The Cardinals bounced back from getting smoked by Middlebury and won a double-OT battle with Amherst. Amherst won this Little Three battle last year, so it was a huge win for the Cardinals. This team should be in championship contention for the next few years because their sophomores have already given them lots of production. Ashton Scott ‘22 had one of his best games yet, tossing for 282 yards and 3 scores. Classmates Matthew Simco ’22 and Danny Banks ’22 were OPOTW and DPOTW. The Cardinals have erased many of the doubts we had about them after they breezed through the soft part of their schedule earlier in the season, but unfortunately they’ll still need Middlebury to lose to have any shot at the title. The Cardinals will have two dogfights in their next two games with Williams and Trinity, but they have proven that they can win close games. In addition, their sophomores are looking like the core of the team, which will bode very well for the coming years.

(4) 4. Amherst 

Like Trinity, Amherst is a team with perennial success and high expectations that has seen this season spiral out of hand. As Cam outlined in this week’s stock report, Amherst has had their season marred by their inability to close out tight games. They have lost three games by three points, and two have gone to double overtime. Whether it be due to blown leads or turnovers, Amherst just has not been able to perform in the clutch and both their offensive and defensive units have regressed back to the middle of the pack after being extremely solid the last few seasons. They’ll need QB Ollie Eberth ’20 to be better than his 3 interceptions last week, and they’ll also need a running game to emerge quickly- Eberth cannot be the leading rusher every week. It’s clear that the loss of some of their studs from last year (Jack Hickey, Andrew Yamin) is still being felt. While it’s great to see more parity and competitiveness across the league this season, some teams have to pay the price for that, and this year those teams appear to be perennial bullies Amherst and Trinity. They host Trinity this week in what is effectively a 4th place game, and while the Bantams were not impressive last week either, it’s hard to feel good right now about the Mammoths’ chances in a tight game. 

(3) 5. Trinity 

Trinity continued its humbling season with its first home loss in 20 tries against Williams. Offensive line and special teams play were areas of concern, but the main issue was the coaches’ inability to adjust to what Williams was giving them. Tijani Harris ’22 is a talented back and has had a strong season, but running him off tackle out of the shotgun over and over again right into the teeth of Williams’ linebackers is not going to fool anyone. Trinity has to learn to adjust to what other teams give them and not just keep hammering the same few plays that have won them games in past seasons. Their inability to protect Seamus Lambert ’22 hurt their talented receivers’ ability to make plays. Defensively, Trinity was successful in shutting down Frank Stola ’21, but Williams was able to adjust and ride their run game to victory while taking shots downfield at the right times. Losing seasons are just not something that happens in Hartford, and that should be motivation enough for Trinity to grind out a win in one of its next two games. However, they have two tough opponents in Amherst and Wesleyan. The Bantams have the right guys on both sides of the ball to win these games, but they need to give Lambert more time to find his receivers and show a little bit more creativity in their play calling if they want to bounce back. 

(7) 6. Hamilton 

Just a few weeks ago, Hamilton was 2-3 and seemed destined for the 7 spot in the standings that they have gotten pretty used to with in recent years. Since then, the Continentals have taken down Amherst and Tufts and with Bates and Middlebury left on the schedule, there’s a strong chance that they’ll end up with their first winning season since 1996. This is a testament to coach David Murray. No matter the score or situation, his guys always play hard and their efforts are finally starting to pay off. If Middlebury coach Bob Ritter does not win Coach of the Year, Murray has to be the next guy in the conversation. We are finally seeing Kenny Gray ‘20 perform to his ability; last week at Tufts he completed 21 passes for 236 yards and 3 TDs. Hamilton also has two proven runners in Joe Park ’22 and David Kagan ’20. Middlebury’s defense has not been stellar lately, so the way Hamilton’s offense is playing should absolutely be a cause for concern. Given that Middlebury barely squeaked by Colby and allowed Bowdoin to go off in the fourth quarter last week, I think their game against Hamilton this week should be a tight one. 

(6) 7. Tufts 

It may surprise you to hear that Tufts currently leads the league in passing yards per game, thanks in large part to QB Jacob Carroll ’20. Unfortunately, their run game has not been able to match this production, which is a big reason why Tufts really has not had any impressive wins since Week 1 against Trinity. The defense shows up when it wants to- they only allowed 8 points to Trinity and shut out Bowdoin, but gave up 36 to Hamilton last week and 33 to Bates earlier this month. With talented guys on the unit like LB Greg Holt ’20 (74 total tackles this season to lead the league) and Jovan Nenadovic ’22, there’s no excuse for this type of inconsistency. At this point, I would contend that Tufts has the lowest ceiling of any non-CBB team, and I feel more confident in Hamilton’s chances when it comes to taking down Middlebury in the next two weeks. 

(8) 8. Colby 

Don’t let the Mules get hot! It took seven weeks, but we finally saw a Maine team break through into the win column last week as Colby got an edge in the CBB race with a thrilling win over Bates. The hosts raced out to an early 23-0 lead at halftime and appeared to have the game in command before Bates stormed back and scored a 2 point conversion to make it 23-20 early in the fourth. Colby showed a balanced offense with QB Matt Hersch ’22 completing 15 passes for 206 yards and no picks, as well as RB Devin Marrocco ’22 accounting for three scores. Defensively, Colby bent but didn’t break in the second half. LB Marcus Bullard ’21 has been a standout and is second in the league at 10.4 tackles per game. While many expected Colby to take a step forward in the win column this season, they have hung with good teams (Amherst, Middlebury) and Coach Cosgrove has not had his own recruiting classes on the field yet. Cosgrove is one of the best coaches you’ll find in the state of Maine and has proven himself at the D1 level. Combine this with a good young quarterback and the new athletic facility being built next year, and Colby should be in good shape to make progress in the next few seasons. This week, they host a disappointing Tufts team and have a good chance to set themselves up for a three-game winning streak to end the season. 

(9) 9. Bates 

The Bobcats came close to snapping a fat 17 game losing streak at Colby last weekend, but unfortunately their second half rally ran out of steam. The Cats have at least gotten some production from QB Brendan Costa ’21 lately; he threw for 268 yards and two TDs last weekend. It seems that Bates is trying to run an offense that does not suit their strengths, which has hindered their ability to win games…although it’s hard to tell what these strengths actually are. The Bobcats converted more than half of their first downs and won time of possession, but had their efforts marred by 10 penalties. These guys deserve a lot of credit for not giving up in unfortunate circumstances, but they’re running out of chances to prove they can compete. Like Coach Cosgrove, Bates coach Malik Hall has not had his own recruiting classes completely on the field yet so maybe it’s too early to fully evaluate him. At the same time, though, people in Lewiston can’t be happy with the lack of progress made on his watch. His seat continues to get hotter, so we’ll see if Bates can manage to dodge another winless season with a win against Bowdoin or Hamilton in their final two. 

(10) 10. Bowdoin

At first glance, it looks like Bowdoin actually put up a decent fight in their game against Middlebury last weekend (47-29). However, the fact remains that they were down 41-7 at the end of the third quarter and likely had their way with Middlebury’s bench players. Sorry Bowdoin fans, but NBN is committed to unbiased reporting and we did not want to suggest that Midd’s performance was any less dominant than it was. That being said, Bowdoin’s offense was better in that fourth quarter than it was in several of their games this season. RB Nate Richam ’20 continued his strong case for All-NESCAC with 105 yards and another TD. QB Austin McCrum ’21, who has bore the brunt of our criticism for the better part of this season, actually had a solid game- 146 yards and two TDs with no picks. McCrum is a D1 transfer and has another year of eligibility, so hopefully he can turn it around next season and have more of these strong games. Luckily for Bowdoin and first-year coach BJ Hammer, they know they can compete in their next two CBB games, and despite their winless record they will have a chance to earn bragging rights within the vast state of Maine. 

Only Two at the Top: Week 5 Power Rankings

(1) 1. Middlebury (5-0)

The Panthers were one missed kick away from being on the wrong end of an Earth-shattering upset at home against Colby last weekend. Midd fans can’t feel good about how close that game was, but the bottom line is that they’ve still beaten our third, fourth, and fifth ranked teams and currently hold the best chances at a NESCAC title- so they remain at the top of our rankings. Will Jernigan ’21 served as a better running back than quarterback this weekend, accounting for 153 yards and three touchdowns on the ground only. On the other hand, he threw an interception and lost two fumbles. Middlebury was very lucky to beat Colby with all those miscues, and they know they cannot put out a similar performance and expect to beat Wesleyan this weekend. Jernigan and other offensive weapons will have to be better on Saturday or Middlebury may find themselves leapfrogged by Wesleyan come this time next week. 

(4) 2. Wesleyan (5-0)

Ashton Scott ’22 and company got their first taste of a real NESCAC opponent this weekend when Tufts came to town for the night game. The Cardinals needed every bit of 60 minutes to survive, as they got a last second touchdown catch by Matthew Simco ’22 to break a 13-13 tie. The game may have been close because Wesleyan had not seen that level of competition, or because they are evenly matched with Tufts- we will find out more on that front this weekend. Scott looked solid again going 19-33 with 2 touchdowns, but the real hero of the day was freshman kicker and Special Teams POTW Mason Von Jess ’23. Von Jess came up huge and did not miss either of his two field goals or extra points, tallying 8 points in a game Wesleyan won by 7. I hope he got the game ball afterwards, because Wesleyan should be thankful for him given that kicking miscues were certainly on the forefront in the NESCAC that day. We will salute Mason as the Cardinals live to see another day, but they still have to finish with Middlebury, Amherst, Williams, and Trinity. Those are the teams that will show you what your squad is really made of, so we’ll see how many wins Wesleyan can manage in that gauntlet. 

(3) 3. Williams (4-1)

Is there a team playing better football right now than the Ephs? WR Frank Stola ’21 continued to make a mockery of his competition to the tune of 4 receiving touchdowns in a 35-10 romp over Hamilton. It will be interesting to see what defenses will throw at him the rest of the season, because not one team has been able to keep him out of the endzone. Stola’s excellence has made QB Bobby Maimaron’s stat lines look unreal as well. 11 for 19 with five touchdown passes. Part of why Williams is so tough to contain is their ability to run the ball as well. Teams have to prepare for Stola, but also for the league’s top rushing offense. On top of Maimaron’s dual-threat abilities, Joel Nicholas ’23 and Dan Vaughn ’22 are solid backs for a unit that put up 400 rushing yards just a few weeks ago. The defense has been just as stellar; they’re still allowing the fewest points in the league at only 9 per game. We all wish the Ephs played Middlebury at the end of the season instead of week one, but this team is playing well enough to handle their tough games in the last few weeks of the season and possibly shake up the championship picture. 

(2) 4. Amherst (4-1)

This is another team that wishes they could have their Middlebury game back, because they have played consistent non-flashy but winning football in all their other games this season. They beat Bowdoin easily enough to avoid a heart attack like Colby gave Middlebury, continuing to win the games they should win. Ollie Eberth ’20 had possibly the best day of any NESCAC QB last weekend. He went 15-21 for 261 yards and two TDs with no picks, again hooking up with his boy James O’Regan ’20 for a score. There is a lot of QB talent in the league this year so Eberth may not get the hype he deserves, but he is right up there with the other guys and is a proven winner. Amherst’s defense has always been a solid unit and this year they have had multiple guys stepping up to fill the void left by Andrew Yamin. DB Ricky Goodson ’21 was all over the field last weekend with four tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, an interception, and a blocked kick. A lot of guys are happy to get one of those achievements once in a season, but this man got all of them in one game- rightfully earning him DPOW honors. The Mammoths make the trek out to Clinton, NY this week before their Little Three games sandwiched around an always-exciting matchup with Trinity. 

(5) 5. Trinity (3-2)

The three-time defending champs had a fun trip to Maine last weekend. If Bates had any momentum from playing Tufts tight the week before, it was quickly put to rest as Trinity easily took a 30-0 lead into halftime and cruised to a 51-0 beatdown. Don’t let Trinity’s two losses distract you from the fact that regardless of the opponent, they are capable on any given Saturday of making you wish you never set foot on a football field with them.Too many Bantams to name were making plays on Saturday, but WR Koby Schofer ’20 deserves recognition for breaking the school record for receiving TDs with 21 (and four more games to play). He has been a top tier WR for the better part of his college career and is just one of many scoring threats on that offense. Trinity has accumulated the most yards of offense and allowed the fewest, so if they can minimize their turnovers and penalties they are still more capable of running the table. While they certainly will not be overlooking Colby this week, Trinity has a great opportunity in the Coop to get more momentum going as they head into their tough Little Three games at the back end of their schedule.

(6) 6. Tufts (2-3)

It was a brutal loss on Saturday for the Jumbos, who hung right with undefeated Wesleyan on Saturday until giving up a touchdown in the final few seconds. I’m still not sure what to think of these guys, because they can look like two completely different teams from one week to the next. One thing they will need to improve immediately is their league-worst run game. You know you’re struggling in a statistic when you’re worse than all 3 CBB teams. This weakness was especially apparent Saturday night. In what was a pretty mediocre offensive effort by both teams, Tufts only accounted for 54 rushing yards and really could have used a good bruising tailback to tire out the Cardinals defense and keep Ashton Scott on the bench. The good news is that they’re still second in passing yards without a big name veteran QB like Eberth or Maimaron. The other good news is that Tufts has played the hard part of their schedule and have Bowdoin, Hamilton and Colby in their next three games. If Coach Civetti can dig up that defense that only allowed Trinity eight points in week 1, the Jumbos will be in good shape to salvage a winning record and give Middlebury all they can handle in the season finale. 

(7) 7. Hamilton (2-3)

After turning some heads with strong performances earlier in the season, Hamilton looks like they’re starting to settle back into their ever-so comfortable 7 ranking. I personally was out of line in ranking Hamilton fifth a few weeks back, because they have shown time and time again that they’re in their own little New York tier above the Maine teams and below everyone else. You have to wonder what Coach Murray tells his guys at the beginning of the season, because in recent history it seems like they’re almost predestined for that 7 slot. Nonetheless, they still have a lot of football left to be played and all of their remaining games are winnable. Hamilton will need RB David Kagan ’20 to revert to his early season form, as his yardage has dipped and he has not found the endzone since September. They also need better performances from a defense that has not allowed fewer than 24 points in a game this season. They’ll be facing a well oiled machine in Amherst this weekend, but the offense has enough talent to keep the Continentals in the game if they play well. 

(8) 8. Colby (0-5)

It’s never easy losing a game on a missed last second field goal, but it hits even harder when you’re a winless team that squandered a prime opportunity to take down the undefeated top dogs. Colby played the best game of their season, but unfortunately that excellence did not extend to special teams. The Mules left five points on the board in missed kicks and wasted a terrific performance by QB Matt Hersch ‘22.  He outplayed Will Jernigan and kept Colby in the game on a day where he was not getting any help from the run game (49 net yards rushing). Hersch, Trinity’s Seamus Lambert ’22 and Wesleyan’s Ashton Scott ’22 are all talented and will be fun to watch for the next two years as the NESCAC’s next batch of stud quarterbacks. LB Marcus Bullard ’21 continued his outstanding season with an absurd 15 tackles, a sack, and an interception. He deserves to be in the DPOY conversation, so hopefully Colby’s record will not prevent him from that. The Mules have a tough task this weekend as they visit a Trinity team that has beat the other CBB schools by 54 and 51 points, but last weekend was a reminder that Coach Cosgrove’s team can compete with anyone. 

(10) 9. Bowdoin (0-5)

It’s honestly usually a toss-up between Bowdoin and Bates for these last two spots until they play each other, but Bowdoin’s winning the battle this week. Yes, they lost 36-14, but that’s a lot better than the 51-0 shellacking Bates took. Bowdoin has also at least been able to establish a consistent offensive threat in RB Nate Richam ’20. Against Amherst, he had his third straight week with both 100+ yards and a touchdown. I have the utmost respect for this guy- he has been a great player on a horrible team for four years now but refused to quit or transfer as many would. Defensive standouts Franny Rose ’21 and Joe Gowetski ’20 also deserve press as they have proven to be solid players in unfortunate circumstances. Bowdoin switched quarterbacks before halftime and gave Matthew Marcantano ’21 some looks, which I cannot disagree with at all because Austin McCrum ’21 has been brutal all year. In appropriate Polar Bear fashion, Marcantano came in and went 11-27 with two picks. Didn’t miss a beat! Jokes aside, the backups should have been given some more chances in blowout games earlier this season. The offense was not exactly humming with McCrum in, and maybe Marcantano would have played better against Amherst if he had more game experience leading up to this point. Either way, let’s hope new coach BJ Hammer brings in some better offensive talent in his next recruiting class, or it’ll be more of the same in Brunswick for the next few years. Who wouldn’t want to play for a guy named BJ Hammer?

(9) 10. Bates (0-5)

It’s one thing to lose games because the other team is just more talented, but we saw some coaching moves out of Bates’ Malik Hall on Saturday that were just straight up questionable. Brendan Costa ’21 is clearly their best quarterback, but for some reason we did not see him until late in the second quarter. Messing around with your lineups and trying new things is all fun and games until you do it against Trinity and find yourself down 30 at halftime. Bates was obviously no powerhouse before Hall took over for Mark Harriman right before last season, but his seat has to be getting warm due to the lack of progress Bates has made during his tenure. I’m not going to sugarcoat it- your team putting up 105 yards of offense and only 28 on the ground is a fireable offense. That being said, Bates has been competitive in a few games this year and still has both CBB teams and Hamilton in their last three games so a win or two is not out of the question. 

Are We Really Doing This?: Week 4 Power Rankings

(1) 1. Middlebury (4-0)

Well I guess this thing might really happen. With a thrilling 2 OT win at Pratt Field over Amherst on Saturday, Middlebury has stormed to the front of the pack, 4-0 with wins over Williams, Trinity, and Amherst before Columbus Day Weekend. An Amherst win would’ve left them, Middlebury, Williams, and Wesleyan in the title discussion, but now it feels like really just Middlebury—unless you think Wesleyan can beat the 5 best teams in the league that are left on their schedule. Middlebury looks primed to run the table, but I wouldn’t hand them the title just yet—being a turnover prone team without an overwhelming amount of offensive talent leaves them susceptible to upset bids.

(2) 2. Amherst (3-1)

A brutal game for Amherst, who will feel absolutely heartbroken after needing just 3 points to beat Midd at the end of the 1st OT. The reality is that this was Middlebury’s game to lose for nearly the whole afternoon. They punched Amherst in the mouth and stormed off to a 21-0 1st quarter lead, before succumbing to a classic case of playing not to lose, combined with a few bad turnovers. Credit to Amherst for coming all the way back and taking a 28-21 lead, but they couldn’t stop Midd all day, who carved them up for 469 yards of total offense and would have won at the end of regulation if not for a mind-blowingly bad decision by Coach Ritter to pass on 2 nd and 5 inside the 10 with one of the best kickers in the league, and an equally bad pass by Middlebury QB Will Jernigan ’21. The biggest question for Amherst going forward is how are they going to be able to run the ball and pick up easy yards on the ground? On Saturday they were actually okay, 44 carries as a team for 191 yards, but at the start of the game they were nowhere to be found, which forced them to try to get back in the game behind the arm of QB Ollie Eberth ’20, which is not his strength (4 INT). Amherst needs to establish the run early so that Eberth can manage the game and the defense can protect the lead, but they have yet to find Jack Hickey’s replacement.

(4) 3. Williams (3-1)

A weird win for Williams, who led 17-0 at half against Colby, and won by the same score. Colby punted or turned the ball over on literally every single possession, which raises a lot of questions of Coach Jack Cosgrove. The Ephs seemed content to do exactly what they did last week against Bowdoin—running the ball down their opponent’s throats (37 carries, 227 yards), keeping Maimaron clean, and letting their defense, which just might be the league’s best, hang onto the lead. If they could’ve gotten one more stop against Middlebury, they’d probably be #1 right now. The schedule doesn’t get much tougher the next two weeks—both home games against Hamilton and Bates, but unfortunately the championship train might have already left the station.

(3) 4. Wesleyan (4-0)

A real ugly win for Wesleyan, 20-13 against a pitiful Bowdoin team. In hindsight, this was an obvious trap game for the Cardinals. Having already played Hamilton, Colby, and Bates, a week away from starting to play actual football teams, traveling to Brunswick was probably the last thing they wanted to do. They also had a goal line fumble and some other bad breaks that made this a closer game than it should have, but all those excuses aside, being tied 13-13 to Bowdoin with 5 minutes left is not something that should be ignored. Despite being 4-0, we still know nothing about this team because of their schedule—outside of the fact that QB Ashton Scott ’22 has shown glimpses of being able to somewhat fill QB Mark Piccirillo’s shoes. I would be surprised if this team won more than 5 or 6 games.

(6) 5. Trinity (2-2)

Another unconvincing week for the Bantams, who squandered a chance to return home and make a statement about how talented they are. Yes, a win is still a win, but 31-24 against Hamilton is not much to write home about. The game was not as close as the score indicated, Trinity outgained Hamilton 419-256, but regardless, doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence. The offense just seems like it’s missing that extra sparkle it had last year, despite the fact that we finally saw Girard and Schofer (5 catches each, 90 yards each, 3 TDs combined) click in the same week, and the emergence of RB Tijani Harris ’22 (25 carries, 115 yards, 1 TD) while Spencer Lockwood ’22 continues to be away from the team. They have the best run defense in the league, as David Kagan (14 carries, 18 yards) found out, and they obviously are not going to be a team that anybody overlooks on their schedule, but for whatever reason this just might not the same Trinity we’re used to seeing.

(7) 6. Tufts (2-2)

Meh. I mean, flip a coin on this one between Tufts and Hamilton. What’s more impressive, losing to Trinity on the road by 7, or beating Bates by 5? Bates had scored 25 points in their first 3 games combined, and then put up 28 on Tufts, but to be fair, it was 33-14 before Bates grabbed 2 consolation scores. In all honesty, I think we’ve been way too harsh on the Jumbos. Their first 3 games were against Trinity, Williams, and Amherst, and they managed to come out at 1-2, winning at home and losing on the road. The win against Trinity really screwed with our expectations and perception of this team, but the reality is that this was always going to be a bridge year while they dealt with some key losses. I think Jacob Carroll ’20 is a solid quarterback who had a pair of bad outings against Williams and Amherst on the road. This quarterback and this team are going to get better every week and will still finish with a winning record. They need to find a way to run the ball better so that Carroll can settle in a little, but they have an emerging group of receivers and a great core of linebackers to rely on defensively. The secondary is brutal, but it might not matter with most of the teams left on their schedule.

(5) 7. Hamilton (2-2)

It’s starting to feel like another 3-6 year for Hamilton, if we’re being completely honest. Good enough to beat the CBB, good enough to get respect from everybody else, but not good enough to ever actually give those teams a scare. And I don’t say that because they lost by 7 in Hartford to the 3 team league champs, I say that more because I disagree with the fact that they were ranked 5th last week. QB Kenny Gray ’20 is dead last in the league with a 49.5% completion percentage, and I still need a bigger sample size to give you a better opinion about RB David Kagan ’20, who rushed for 18 yards on 14 carries against Trinity, the 3rd week in a row his carries, rushing yards, and yards per carry have decreased.

(8) 8. Colby (0-4)

Colby stays at 8th for what feels like the 1000th week in a row, but it feels like that gap between 8 and 9 might be shrinking. Credit to the Mules for holding a potent Williams offense to 17 points, but if you watched the second half of that game, it was pretty clear the Ephs called off the dogs at intermission. What’s more concerning to me is the fact that Colby never really showed any ambition in winning the game, and that blame should be directed at the coaching staff. They had the ball on 4th and 10 with 6 minutes to go, down 17-0, on the Williams 48 yard line, and punted! They punted down 17-0 in enemy territory, with 6 minutes left. What is that?! What kind of message are you sending to your team, and more specifically your sophomore ROY QB Matt Hersch ’22? Pretty hard to win any games with an attitude like that.

(9) 9. Bates (0-4)

As previously mentioned, Bates had scored 25 points in its first 3 weeks, but then managed to put 28 on the board in week 4 against Tufts. It was nice to see them hang around and be somewhat competitive in a game against a solid team, although it was 33-14 in the 4th quarter. While there are obviously a number of concerns with this team, it is a big red flag that they can’t seem to make their mind up about their offensive philosophy. After throwing the ball 71 times in the first 2 weeks, they returned to their option offense for week 3 and threw the ball 8 times. Last week, it was the air attack again, throwing 29 times. Unless they saw something on film that they really liked against Wesleyan in Week 3, you would like to see a first year coach prioritize the process over the results.

(10) 10. Bowdoin (0-4)

A real tough one for Bowdoin, who had every bit of interest in shocking Wesleyan, but just came up short in a 20-13 loss. While they have RB Nate Richam-Odoi ’20 and his big play potential (59 yard TD run), they will (theoretically) have a chance to strike quick with a big play of two, but the defense was probably the most exciting part of this game. After allowing an average of a whopping 46.3 points a week through their first 3 games, they held Wesleyan to just 20. If you’re a team and a program like Bowdoin, you have to find the silver lining.

It’s Finally Here: Weekend Preview 9/14

This year we’ve decided to tweak the weekend previews during football season. Instead of having one writer make every pick and write the article, we had 5 of our writers pick the winners and scores of every game. These picks are included at the end of the write up for each game. I then wrote each preview knowing which team our writers had selected as the winner. This week’s slate of games wasn’t very exciting because there was only one game where we didn’t all agree on a winner, but hopefully it gets more exciting when the standings get messy in the middle of the season. For now we’ll just have to see who gets the closest score!

Hamilton @ Bowdoin, 1pm, Brunswick, ME

This is an interesting one to start off with. Neither of these teams had good seasons in 2018 and they’re both looking to bounce back in 2019 – Bowdoin even added a new head coach. On the Hamilton side, I love the Kenny Gray-Joe Schmidt QB-WR connection, and Joe Park ’22 had a terrific rookie season out of the backfield in 2018. Hamilton has a sneaky offense but they’re going to need their defense to compete in order for them to stay in games. Lafayette transfer Austin McCrum ’21 didn’t have a particularly impressive first season for the Polar Bears, but they return their entire receiving corps so hopefully they’ll be a bit more on the same page in year two. Nate Richam ’20 has proven to be one of the league’s best running backs when he gets good protection and he is likely the team’s deadliest offensive weapon. The only reason Hamilton gets the edge here is that they have proven slightly more in the past – and they haven’t lost to Bowdoin in 4 years. These two teams played an absolute shootout last season, so this one could be very exciting to watch.

MK: Hamilton 28-21
RM: Hamilton 32-21
SS: Hamilton 35-10
HC: Hamilton 28-14
CC: Hamilton 38-21

Writers’ Pick: Hamilton

Bates @ Amherst, 1pm, Amherst, MA

On paper this is a game that looks fairly lopsided. The Bobcats are coming off an 0-9 season, while Amherst was the league runner-up last year and is a perennial NESCAC powerhouse. One of the biggest problems for Bates in 2018 was that their offense wasn’t able to get much going, so the defense spent the entire game on the field. They have very solid skill players such as QB Brendan Costa ’21 and RB Jaason Lopez ’21, but the offensive line needs to give those guys a chance to shine or else it doesn’t matter. Everything isn’t all sunshine and rainbows in Western Mass either, because the Mammoths lost their top two rushers and their top receiver from last season. They’ve still got seasoned vet Ollie Eberth ’20 under center and James O’Regan ’20 out wide, but aside from them the offense is largely up in the air. Amherst has always been known for their defense and if that unit can get the job done then they won’t have any offensive questions to worry about. Should be a lot of purple on Saturday.

MK: Amherst 42-0
RM: Amherst 27-13
SS: Amherst 38-6
HC: Amherst 48-7
CC: Amherst 21-13

Writers’ Pick: Amherst

Colby @ Wesleyan, 1pm, Middletown, CT

If there’s one thing I can say about this game it’s that Colby has come a very long way. During my freshman year in 2016 this game was a blowout – 37-6 in favor of Wesleyan. The result wasn’t much better the following year, then in stepped Jack Cosgrove. Coach Cosgrove helped lead the Mules to a 3-6 season last year, including a 28-20 loss to the Cardinals in a very well played game. Heading into this season this game is very much in the air. Our writers gave the edge to Wesleyan, but let’s not look past this game too quickly. Wesleyan’s offense wasn’t particularly impressive last season and now they no longer have Mark Piccirillo taking snaps, so who knows what direction they’ll go. Colby, on the other hand, seemed to be just putting things together towards the end of 2018, settling on Matt Hersch ’22 as their quarterback. He saw some success there, but it will be interesting to see how he does without all-NESCAC running back Jake Schwern this season. Colby is still the underdog, but all I’m saying is this isn’t your classic Wesleyan-Colby football game.

MK: Wesleyan 28-17
RM: Colby 24-20
SS: Wesleyan 28-24
HC: Wesleyan 28-24
CC: Wesleyan 27-14

Writers’ Pick: Wesleyan

Trinity @ Tufts, 1:30pm, Medford, MA

This game follows nearly the opposite trend of the last one. Over the last three seasons Tufts-Trinity was a great game, but this year I’m not so sure. The Jumbo defense is always excellent but the loss of QB Ryan McDonald and their top three pass-catchers makes the offensive unit a hell of a lot less scary. The Bantams look as good as ever, returning two of the league’s best wide receivers in Koby Schofer ’20 and Jonathan Girard ’21 and their quarterback, Seamus Lambert ’22. And if for some reason Lambert isn’t doing the job, URI transfer Jordan Vazzano ’20 is ready to go. They’ll obviously suffer the loss of Max Chipouras, one of the best running backs in the history of the NESCAC, but Spencer Lockwood ’22 is in position to have a fine season as his replacement. All signs point towards Trinity for this one.

MK: Trinity 35-10
RM: Trinity 31-13
SS: Trinity 38-10
HC: Trinity 35-13
CC: Trinity 42-21

Writers’ Pick: Trinity

Williams @ Middlebury, 2pm, Middlebury, VT

There’s no doubt that this is the best game of the weekend – that is, best matchup combined with best title chances. Williams returns nearly everyone, headlined by QB Bobby Maimaron ’21, WR Frank Stola ’21, and LB TJ Rothmann ’21, who make up just a small part of this outstanding Eph junior class. They hoped to have a better year last year but were bit by the injury bug at the wrong time and the rest was history. Now they’re all healthy and ready to compete for a championship in Williamstown. You can never count out Middlebury, although I have to admit that this does not appear to be one of the better Panther teams in recent years. They return QB Will Jernigan ’21, TE Frank Cosolito ’20, and RB Peter Scibilia who were all key pieces of their offense last season, but the bar is set pretty high at Midd. Jernigan will have to navigate the passing game a bit better if he wants Midd to be able to compete with the top dogs of the NESCAC and I’m curious to find out if he can do that. Keep an eye on the score from the Green Mountain State.

MK: Williams 28-14
RM: Williams 27-17
SS: Williams 24-17
HC: Williams 38-14
CC: Williams 31-24

Writers’ Pick: Williams

More Than Just the CBB: Colby Football Preview 2019

2018 Record: 3-6

Projected 2019 Record: 3-6

Projected Offensive Starters: (*8 returning)

QB – Matt Hersch ‘22*

RB – Chris George ‘20

WR – Rory Glavin ‘21

WR – Andrew DeFranco ‘20*

WR – Bernie Sander ‘21*

TE – Ethan Smith ‘21*

LT – Chris Shaffrey ‘20*

RT – Travon Bradford ‘20*

LG – Brandon Leibman ‘21*

RG – Evan Domonkos ‘23

C – Ty Mahar ‘22*

Projected Defensive Starters (*9 returning)

DE – Carson Katen ‘21*

DE – Nick Wilcox ‘22*

DT – Patrick Sopko ‘20*

DT – Harrison Vedrani ‘21*

LB – Sean Godin ‘20*

LB – Marcus Bullard ‘21*

LB – Will Terzi ‘22*

S – Gus Forseth ‘20

S – George Eisenhauer ‘22

CB – CJ Hassan ‘20*

CB – Asher Inman ‘21*

Projected Specialists (*2 returning)

K – Walter Thilly ‘21*

P – Moises Celaya ‘22*

Offensive MVP: QB Matt Hersch ‘22

Hersch, now entering his sophomore campaign, will command the offense from the get-go this season after earning himself the starting job early on in his freshman year. Following his promotion Hersch posted impressive numbers all season that we had not seen from a Mules’ quarterback in years. He threw for 288 yards and added 40 more on the ground in a tight win against Hamilton last season and he was able to find the back of the endzone 3 times against Wesleyan, amassing 277 yards in a tough 8-point loss. Hersch’s flashes of great talent and leadership led him to be named NESCAC Co-Rookie of the Year. He ranked second in the league in completion percentage (60.5%) and with an experienced group of receivers returning (DeFranco, Sander and TE Smith) one would have to think that his efficiency and accuracy would go nowhere but up. Hersch is also helped out by the fact that 4 of the 5 guys on his line are returning and should be ready to get going right where they left off last season. The biggest change for Hersch this year will be that he does not have the safety net of Jake Schwern ‘19 to rely on, so he and the Mules will need RB Chris George ‘20 to fill that void. There are lots of reasons to believe that Hersch will continue to develop and show himself as one of the top quarterbacks in the league this season, whether it be the 7 other offensive starts he has returning or whether it is the constant presence of Coach Cos in his ear giving him advice, Hersch has it all lined up to make his name known in the NESCAC.

Defensive MVP: LB Marcus Bullard ‘21

All eyes will be on Junior Marcus Bullard when the Colby defense takes the field this season. Bullard’s season was unfortunately cut short due to injury last year, but when he did play he put up the most impressive numbers on the team and some of the most impressive across the conference. Despite not playing in two games Bullard still lead the Mules with 55 tackles last season (30 solo) as well as recording an interception. These stats were good enough to earn him 5th in the NESCAC in tackles per game (7.9). Some of Bullard’s highlights last year include a 12-tackle game against Tufts as well as 9-tackle game against Bowdoin to end last season in which he also recorded his lone interception. I’m sure Marcus has been itching to get on the field and stay healthy so he can show off his dominance all season long. The Mules are lucky to have a deep roster on the defensive side with lots of returning starters who are hungry for more of the success they were finally able to taste under Coach Cosgrove last season. Bullard will be the focal point of this Colby defense and he will look to lead by example on the field.

Biggest Game: October 26th vs. Bates

The CBB games are obviously the biggest games of the year for us up here in Maine so it is pretty safe to say that Colby’s biggest game of the season will be their lone CBB contest at Harold Alfond Stadium. Last season the Mules were able to take their game against the Bobcats by a decisive score of 21-6 in what was a cold, snowy, sloppy affair. Hopefully this year’s contest has some fairer weather so that all CBB fans alike can get a slightly more interesting contest. After defeating Bowdoin to end the season Colby officially captured their first CBB crown in years and Coach Cosgrove proved his immediate impact on the program. Both Bowdoin and Bates will have targets on Colby’s back from the start of the season, so an opportunity to decrown the champs on their home field will not be something that the Bobcats take lightly. We still have 6 weekend of football before this contest, but I’m sure Colby fans and players alike have this date circled on their calendar.

Best Hair: DB Zacariah Cody ‘23

Cody may only be a freshman but he has the stare of a man who has seen things and a golden mane fit to rule all the light can touch. The freshman defensive back from Port Clyde, ME is on the lighter side at 149lbs, especially considering the flow, mutton chops and stache combo must account for a few pounds. Whatever he lacks in weight he clearly makes up for in confidence and intimidation…I mean, you don’t want anyone with mutton chops trying to tackle you.

Everything Else:

Looking at the number of returning starters that Mules have on offense, defense and special teams, it is safe to say that their experience will be one of their greatest assets this season. Although Hersch is still young, he was able to get nearly a full season under his belt last year and will have the vast majority of his offensive starters for last year returning with him. WR Andrew DeFranco ‘20 is the senior leader for this receiving core, leading the team in receiving touchdowns (2) and coming in second in receptions (19). Another important member of the offense that can’t be looked over is TE Ethan Smith ‘21. Smith had a breakout campaign in his sophomore year, quickly becoming Hersch’s favorite target. He had 8 more receptions than anyone else on the team (27) and far-and-away led the team with 274 receiving yards.

Coach Cosgrove had a successful first season, so we’ll see if he can keep the Mules trending upward in year two

With the departure of RB Jake Schwern ‘19, who accounted for the majority of Colby’s receiving and rushing yards last season, the Mules will need a new go-to guy in the red zone and Smith could be that guy. On the topic of running backs, RB Chris George ‘21 will have the torch passed down to him this year as he is expected to hold the majority of the carries for Colby. George has appeared in the majority of the Mules’ contests since his freshman year, but being in the shadow of Schwern saw his playing time limited. Now he has the opportunity to be a focal point of this offense so it will be very interesting to see how he plays into Coach Cosgrove’s new offensive scheme.

Defense is much of the same story as offense when it comes to returning starters. 9 of the 11 guys lining up on defense for the Mules started last year as well, which should give them the advantage of having developed over at least a full season together already. The Mules D allowed 254 points against last season, putting them at 6th in the NESCAC. It was clear last year that their defense had more than enough to handle teams like Bowdoin and Bates but weren’t quite up to the task against schools like Wesleyan and Amherst. A consistent defense is key for the Mules if they want to beat a school that is not from Maine and start to put Colby football back on the map. With the man, the myth, the legend, Jack Cosgrove at the helm and roster chock full of talent and experience, the Mules should look to compete for a spot in the middle of the conference and defend their CBB title this fall.

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.

The start of a new era: Colby College Season Preview

Colby College Football Preview

The Mules may have a tough road ahead of them, but their program will be on the rise in the coming seasons.

2017 Record: 1-8

Projected Record: 2-7

Starting Offensive Players: (*5  Returning Players):

QB: Jack O’Brien ‘20*

RB: Jake Schwern ‘19*

WR: Bernie Sander ‘21

WR: Andrew DeFranco ‘20*

TE: Ethan Smith ‘21

OT: Shane Normandeau ‘19*

OT: Trevon Bradford ‘20

G: Brandon Leibman ‘21

G: Brandon Troisi ‘19*

C: Rashawn Grant ‘21

Starting Defensive Players: (*5  Returning Players):

DB: Pat Yale ‘19*

DB: Asher Inman ‘20

S: Will Caffey ‘19*

S: Don Vivian ‘19*

LB: Marcus Bullard ‘21

LB: Sean Godin ‘20

LB: Will Turzi ‘22

DE: AJ Carrigan ‘19*

DT: Harrison Verdani ‘21

DT: Patrick Sopko ‘20*

DE: Hans Gabriel ‘20

Projected Special Teams Starters (0 Returning):

K: Walter Thilly ‘21

P: Moises Celaya ‘22

Offensive MVP:

Jack Schwern ’19

RB Jake Schwern ‘19

Jack Schwern was the heart and soul of a lackluster offense for the Mules last season. The running back will return for his senior year after leading the Mules in rushing, receptions, all-purpose yards, and touchdowns. He also returned nine kicks for 183 yards. Schwern does a little bit of everything for the Mules who needed help on almost everything last season. In Colby’s final game of the season last year, their sole win versus Bowdoin, Schwern rushed for 262 yards as well as tied school records for most touchdowns scored in a game and most points scored in a game. In order for the Mules to turn their luck around this year and have a shot at a CBB championship, they will need Schwern to perform well against mid and top tier team as well as bottom tier teams such as Bowdoin.

Defensive MVP:

Will Caffey ’19

S Will Caffey ‘19

Will Caffey will lead a fairly experienced defense for the mules, who return 5 starters. Caffey played in all 9 games for the Mules last season and lead the team in pass breakups with 9 and recorded 2 interceptions. The Mules (along with Bowdoin and Bates) allowed over 30 points per game last season while scoring less than 14. Colby allowed the 2nd most rushing yards per game as well as the 3rd most passing yards. The stats don’t lie, Colby’s defense was really, really bad last year and they’re going to need some new leadership to turn it around. Someone like Caffey who has the experience and the talent to right the ship may be just what they need.

Best Tweet: https://twitter.com/CoachJBrooks/status/1034069989786042373

This tweet comes to us from the Mules’ defensive line coach Jason Brooks. Gotta love that enthusiasm.

Everything Else:

 

Schwern will need to lead an underperforming offensive group, but, hey, everybody loves an underdog.

The biggest X-factor for the Mules this season is their new head coach, Jack Cosgrove. Cosgrove is the winningest coach in the history of the University of Maine, where he had coached for 23 years. This hiring shows that Colby is starting to get more and more serious about their athletics. In the past, especially in football, the Mules have not fared as well as the likes of Tufts or Amherst in NESCAC athletics. with many new coaches, fields and athletic centers coming to Waterville, the Mules are looking to up their game. The Mules have a healthy mix of returning starters and fresh faces on their roster. Jack O’Brien will return as quarterback, last season he put up 130 yards per game and threw for 8 touchdowns as well as 8 interceptions. When it comes to catching O’Brien’s passes, there’s plenty of competition. The Mules list 4 tight ends as well as 10 wide receivers on the roster. Andrew DeFranco should be the WR1 for the blue and gray this year. Last season DeFranco ended with the third most receptions on the team as well as being the go-to punt and kick returner. WR2 looks to be Bernie Sander, who saw limited action as a Freshman last year but the Mules are very excited about him. Jake Schwern will be trying to show the league that he is an elite running back after breaking several school records last season. Defensively the Mules are deep at linebacker, including Sebastien Phileman, Marcus Bullard, Sean Godin and freshman Will Turzi. The offensive line has now had another year to mature and with that hopefully they will be able to help O’Brien have a little more time in the pocket. Colby has an up-and-coming program which they have entrusted to Coach Cosgrove. Don’t be surprised if the former Black Bear is able to pull off a few upsets and possibly steal a CBB ‘ship.

I don’t play football, but I already want to run through a brick wall for this guy.