(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.
