(1) 1. Middlebury
What’s Coach Ritter spiking the Gatorade with this season? Middlebury erased any suspicion that their opening win over Williams was a fluke by taking down another NESCAC heavyweight, three-time defending champion Trinity. What’s more impressive is that they did it mainly with great defense- and Middlebury has not been known for their defense in recent years. Nobody knows what’s going on with Trinity right now, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the same unit that Seamus Lambert tore up last year intercepted him four times. QB Will Jernigan ’21 only completed 13 of 29 passes, but he ran for a touchdown and threw for another with no fumbles or interceptions. That turnover differential is a big reason why Middlebury pulled off the win. With all the momentum in the world, the Panthers have a golden opportunity to further justify their number 1 ranking with a win over Amherst this Saturday.
(3) 2. Amherst (3-0)
The Mammoths showed that their tusks were a little stronger with a nice win over the Tufts Jumbos. Amherst has not put up eye-popping numbers this year (all of their games have ended with pretty similar scores), but they earned some respect by beating a quality non-CBB opponent. They have been quietly playing sound football, relying on their veteran playmakers and committing few penalties and turnovers- they were only flagged three times for 20 yards against Tufts. WR James O’Regan ’20 continued to produce with 97 yards and a TD. It’s clear that he is QB Ollie Eberth’s favorite target, so it will be interesting to see which team (if any) will be able to shut him down this season. This week’s matchup with Middlebury will be Amherst’s biggest test yet by far. If they continue to play quality football and hold teams under 20 points, though, they will dethrone Midd and become the clear top dog.
(5) 3. Wesleyan (3-0)
I honestly ran through all the 2-1 and 1-2 teams in the league wondering which of them might deserve this 3 spot, because Wesleyan boasts easily the least impressive 3-0 slate with wins over Colby, Hamilton and Bates. On the other hand, all you can do is play the schedule you’re given and Wes has done that quite well so far. Unfortunately for anyone wondering how good this team actually is, they’re likely going to have the least impressive 4-0 record possible after a win over Bowdoin this week. And unfortunately for Wesleyan, they have all the best teams at the back end of their schedule. Sophomore QB Ashton Scott ’22 continued to impress, completing 14 of 20 passes and throwing for two TDs. The only reason he didn’t put up bigger numbers is because Wesleyan’s backups were in for most of the second half. He is a dual threat QB that will be fun to watch in the next few seasons. The defense has been the best in the league so far in terms of scoring, only allowing Bates 117 yards of total offense while forcing four turnovers last week. The Cardinals need to use this game to fine tune their offense and maybe give their stars some rest, because they won’t be getting any breaks after this week.
(2) 4. Williams (2-1)
Some may say this team deserves to be above Wesleyan, but their two wins are honestly not looking much more impressive than Wes’s three. Tufts has fallen off big time since week one, and nobody was surprised when the Ephs smoked Bowdoin 41-10 this past week. Williams did show that they could run the ball well in addition to throwing it, as they ran it 43 times for an absurd 398 yards. Bobby Maimaron ’21 only threw ten passes. I love this strategy by Coach Mark Raymond. Keep your star QB fresh and keep the clock moving; blowouts get boring for everyone and Bowdoin probably wanted to hop on the bus back to Maine by halftime. With Colby, Hamilton and Bates next on the schedule for the Ephs, we may see more of this ground attack approach. Williams is in good position to be in championship contention late in the season if they take care of business the next few weeks.
(7) 5. Hamilton (2-1)
This is where the rankings begin to get more complicated. I’m not sure I can confidently say that Hamilton could beat both Trinity and Tufts, but they’re getting the fifth spot because they seem to be the only team of the three trending in a positive direction right now. They technically also have much better championship prospects than Tufts and Trinity given their record. I’m not saying that anyone should put money on Hamilton to win it all, but they certainly separated themselves from the CBB tier this weekend in a 45-24 win over Colby. Ironically, Colby had more yards of total offense, but picking off three passes and going 8 for 14 on third down helped Hamilton to victory. QB Kenny Gray ’20 had another solid game, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another. With strong special teams play and RB David Kagan ’20 leading the conference in rushing yards and touchdowns, Continental fans should be happy with how this season is progressing so far. They have a big test this weekend at Trinity in a game that they need to win to stay in title contention, but a win in this game is much more within reach for them than it has been in the past few years.
(4) 6. Trinity (1-2)
I know they’re above a team they lost to in week 1, but it just doesn’t feel right putting Trinity so close to the CBB teams when they beat the only one they’ve played by 54. Nonetheless, 1-2 is not where anyone expected Trinity to be at this point in the season- they haven’t started a season 1-2 since 1995. This means that we will likely see a new NESCAC champion for the first time in three years, much to the excitement of everyone not in Hartford. QB Seamus Lambert ’22 leads the league in passing yards, so the Bantams’ terrific WRs have continued to produce, but he has also been sacked the most and is second in interceptions due to 4 in the loss to Middlebury. On top of that, Trinity was flagged for over 100 yards and RB Spencer Lockwood ’22 was not at the Middlebury game and is nowhere to be seen on campus. Lack of a run game, poor offensive line/quarterback play, and penalties have hurt the Bantams in their two losses. We know this team can probably still beat anyone, but this just isn’t their year so far. Having said that, three championships in four years is something other NESCAC players can only dream of, and the Bantams should still be a factor in determining who wins the title this year. A win over Hamilton at home this weekend will certainly propel Trinity over the Continentals in our rankings.
(6) 7. Tufts (1-2)
It’s looking like Tufts’ opening week win over Trinity has more to do with Trinity being down than Tufts being up. In fact, the Jumbos have had a brutal fall from grace since that week. Their offense is second to last in scoring, ranking above only Bates. We saw Jacob Carroll ’20 instead of Travon Woodson ’23 under center last week against Amherst, and he threw for 305 yards…but like Seamus Lambert, he was bit by the interception bug with three. This helped Amherst dominate time of possession and tire the Jumbos’ defense out. Tufts also has not been able to establish a run game this season, and they certainly needed one to beat Amherst. This team has a prime chance to get back on track when they pay Bates a visit in Lewiston; we should get to see who will emerge as the playmakers on both sides of the ball besides their usual standouts in WR OJ Armstrong ’21 and LB Greg Holt ’20. Still, you have to wonder why an 11,000 student university with Tufts’ location and resources has isn’t competing for a championship more often.
(8) 8. Colby (0-3)
It’s been a disappointing year in Waterville, both because people expected Colby to take a step forward this year and because the NESCAC is more exciting when the CBB teams can compete. Unfortunately, this gap between the CBB and everyone else got wider this past weekend when the Mules got thrashed by Hamilton. Last week was clearly a big week for interceptions, because Matt Hersch was the third quarterback to throw at least three of them. Although being 0-3 is never good, there are select individual performances the Mules should be happy with. Hersch (only a sophomore) is second in the league in passing yards per game, LB Marcus Bullard ’21 leads the league in tackles, and Chris George ’20 has been a decent replacement for Jake Schwern ’19 at running back. Colby has to step it up big time if they want to be competitive in any of their next three games- Williams, Middlebury, and Trinity. Sheesh!
(9) 9. Bates (0-3)
You never want to be playing your worst football heading into the toughest part of your schedule, but unfortunately that’s the situation Bates finds themselves in after catching a 48-12 shellacking from Wesleyan in a game that really wasn’t that close. They’re playing far from full strength as their top two quarterbacks were both injured, but 117 yards of offense is pitiful no matter how you slice it. There really isn’t a lot of good to draw from their season so far, as they’ve put up the lowest point total in the league and allowed more than everyone except Bowdoin. Hopefully we will see QB Brendan Costa ’21 or at least backup Jack Bryant ’22 soon, or things will only continue to spiral downhill as they have since leading Amherst at the half in their opener. Nobody is expecting Bates to win any of their next three games against Tufts, Trinity and Williams, but if they get their QB back they should be playing some more exciting games in their last three.
(10) 10. Bowdoin (0-3)
Admissions needs to loosen up in Brunswick, because the good people of Bowdoin deserve a better football team than what they have had to watch the past few years. One would think that a beautiful new football field and locker rooms would attract more talent, but we have yet to see the return on this investment on Saturdays. Bowdoin laid another egg last week in Williamstown, allowing the Ephs nearly 500 yards of offense. They did have two offensive standouts as RB Nate Richam ’20 managed 105 yards and a score and tight end Bo Millett ’21 passed the century mark in yards as well. Bowdoin should be thankful for these guys because frankly, they deserve to be on better teams. A team will only go as far as their QB takes them, so Bowdoin’s current situation makes sense given that Austin McCrum ’21 has twice as many picks than touchdowns this season and went 16 for 36 last week. Bowdoin is a great school with nice facilities, so it’s on new coach BJ Hammer to start bringing in better recruiting classes and actually show some results with this rebuild that Bowdoin has been trying to accomplish for years.