Archive For October 26, 2019
We break down the Georgetown game – and we give our fearless prediction below the flip.
You can read College Sports Journal’s preview of the game here, and my mostly-football-free “Tailgate Report” here.
I forgot in my “Tailgate Report” to do a look at Lehigh’s game notes, so I’ll do it here.
To most fans, seeing QB Addison Shoup on top of the depth chart at quarterback was probably the biggest eye-opener as QB Tyler Monaco was the starter last week, and was in the game until the last couple of plays in overtime.
As of the time of this writing, although some people have assured that Monaco is well enough to go, the truth is he didn’t practice the entirety of this week, so I would more characterize more as a “gametime decision” as to whether it is Monaco or Shoup under center. It seems fair to say that Monaco will start and play if he’s able.
CB Marquis Wilson has struggled to get back to 100% from his injuries at corner, so freshman CB Brandon Spencer will be re-inserted into the starting lineup this week.
The final change to the roster is that freshman RB Zaythan Hill, who has really stepped up in Lehigh’s last two conference victories, is now listed atop the depth chart at running back. That’s not to say we won’t see RB Rashawn Allen or RB Nate Hope II – we’ll be very likely to see them in a rotation of backs.
We break down the Georgetown game – and we give our fearless prediction below the flip.
You can read College Sports Journal’s preview of the game here, and my mostly-football-free “Tailgate Report” here.
I forgot in my “Tailgate Report” to do a look at Lehigh’s game notes, so I’ll do it here.
To most fans, seeing QB Addison Shoup on top of the depth chart at quarterback was probably the biggest eye-opener as QB Tyler Monaco was the starter last week, and was in the game until the last couple of plays in overtime.
As of the time of this writing, although some people have assured that Monaco is well enough to go, the truth is he didn’t practice the entirety of this week, so I would more characterize more as a “gametime decision” as to whether it is Monaco or Shoup under center. It seems fair to say that Monaco will start and play if he’s able.
CB Marquis Wilson has struggled to get back to 100% from his injuries at corner, so freshman CB Brandon Spencer will be re-inserted into the starting lineup this week.
The final change to the roster is that freshman RB Zaythan Hill, who has really stepped up in Lehigh’s last two conference victories, is now listed atop the depth chart at running back. That’s not to say we won’t see RB Rashawn Allen or RB Nate Hope II – we’ll be very likely to see them in a rotation of backs.
Welcome back to the Lehigh Tailgate Report, a free public service from your pals over at Lehigh Football Nation.
The idea of the Lehigh Tailgate Report is to provide a fun report on what to expect at the game, or not at the game, for this week’s upcoming game.
If you’re planning to go to the game, great! It’s at Murray Goodman Stadium this Saturday at 12:30PM.
If you can’t make it to the game, the game is available to watch or listen in a variety of ways.
The local radio broadcast, which starts an hour before kickoff and sets the table for the day’s game, can be caught on your AM dial on Fox Sports Radio AM 1230 or 1320. Matt Kerr, Lance Haynes, Tom Fallon and Matt Markus are on the call this Saturday.
Through internet radio, the pregame, game, and postgame can be streamed through TuneIn or just simply going to the LVFoxSports.com webpage. Full disclosure: When I’m at home, this is my preferred method to catch the game action. Streaming the audio is #LFNApproved.
If through your cable service you get Service Electric 2 (this is available through Service Electric Cable in the Lehigh Valley), you can watch the TV feed on that station. Steve Degler, Mike Yadush and Kristi Fulkerson are on the call.
If not, you can stream the game over the internet through the Patriot League Network. PLN is the streaming service that broadcasts the Service Electric 2-produced broadcast. PLN is free and allows you to stream most Patriot League home games and league football games. It can be streamed in a web browser, or if you have a Roku box, you can access all the Patriot League Network games through the WatchStadium App.
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What a win!Really, it still feels pretty darned good a few days later – a 30-27 overtime win over Fordham that was a tremendous matchup between two very evenly-matched teams. It was a win that resulted in a bunch of Patriot League Players of the Week …
What a win!Really, it still feels pretty darned good a few days later – a 30-27 overtime win over Fordham that was a tremendous matchup between two very evenly-matched teams. It was a win that resulted in a bunch of Patriot League Players of the Week …
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One thing has remained remarkably consistent for the last six years – Fordham has had Lehigh’s number.
It hasn’t mattered that Fordham has had Joe Moorhead, Andrew Breiner, or Joe Conlin, or whether Lehigh was gunning for a Patriot League title, or not – during that time, Fordham has done only one thing consistently, and that’s beat Lehigh.
Granted, during many of those years, Fordham has some all-time teams, with UConn transfer QB Michael Nebrich, current Arizona Cardinal RB Chase Edmonds, and a cast of terrific Patriot League players too numerous to mention. But then again, during Lehigh’s last Patriot League title year of 2017, fourth-string RB D’Angelo Palladino ran for almost 300 yards on the Mountain Hawk defense for a 45-35 win, something the Lehigh seniors remember all too painfully well.
In a year of lowlights, last year’s 43-14 loss to Fordham for head coach Joe Conlin’s first win as Fordham head coach really stood out to me as a particularly bad loss where the Mountain Hawks seemed to completely bottom out. I don’t often say games are over at the coin flip, but I knew Lehigh was done the second they came back from midfield.
There were some truly epic losses last season – 66-7 to Princeton stands out, of course – but you could argue that expectations against Princeton, Villanova and even Colgate were very low. The Fordham game, however, was winnable. It was a game between winless teams, and I predicted Lehigh would win. “Lehigh has too much talent not to win this game,” I said in a moment of being stupendously wrong.
Of the five losses in the last six games in the series, the first few were a result of a battle between teams with equal talent, but in the last two losses, there was a serious enthusiasm deficit, and it showed. Both Fordham and Lehigh struggled the last two years, but having attended both games, the Rams simply wanted it more.
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One thing has remained remarkably consistent for the last six years – Fordham has had Lehigh’s number.
It hasn’t mattered that Fordham has had Joe Moorhead, Andrew Breiner, or Joe Conlin, or whether Lehigh was gunning for a Patriot League title, or not – during that time, Fordham has done only one thing consistently, and that’s beat Lehigh.
Granted, during many of those years, Fordham has some all-time teams, with UConn transfer QB Michael Nebrich, current Arizona Cardinal RB Chase Edmonds, and a cast of terrific Patriot League players too numerous to mention. But then again, during Lehigh’s last Patriot League title year of 2017, fourth-string RB D’Angelo Palladino ran for almost 300 yards on the Mountain Hawk defense for a 45-35 win, something the Lehigh seniors remember all too painfully well.
In a year of lowlights, last year’s 43-14 loss to Fordham for head coach Joe Conlin’s first win as Fordham head coach really stood out to me as a particularly bad loss where the Mountain Hawks seemed to completely bottom out. I don’t often say games are over at the coin flip, but I knew Lehigh was done the second they came back from midfield.
There were some truly epic losses last season – 66-7 to Princeton stands out, of course – but you could argue that expectations against Princeton, Villanova and even Colgate were very low. The Fordham game, however, was winnable. It was a game between winless teams, and I predicted Lehigh would win. “Lehigh has too much talent not to win this game,” I said in a moment of being stupendously wrong.
Of the five losses in the last six games in the series, the first few were a result of a battle between teams with equal talent, but in the last two losses, there was a serious enthusiasm deficit, and it showed. Both Fordham and Lehigh struggled the last two years, but having attended both games, the Rams simply wanted it more.
Welcome back to the Lehigh Tailgate Report, a free public service from your pals over at Lehigh Football Nation.The idea of the Lehigh Tailgate Report is to provide a fun report on what to expect at the game, or not at the game, for this week’s upcomin…
Welcome back to the Lehigh Tailgate Report, a free public service from your pals over at Lehigh Football Nation.The idea of the Lehigh Tailgate Report is to provide a fun report on what to expect at the game, or not at the game, for this week’s upcomin…
Every head football coach hates to use the word “rebuild” when it comes to their football team, but going into the 2019 Mountain Hawk football season, it was hard to avoid it.
From the preseason conference call where Lehigh was picked to finish 5th in the league – a reflection on last season’s 3-8 record and the 5-6 record that preceded it – the word “rebuild” seemed to hang over this team.
“Over 40% of our team are first-year players,” Lehigh head Tom Gilmore said on that call. “And we’re excited to see what some of these freshman can do to enhance our roster and push the upperclassmen to be the best version of themselves on the field.”
To a fan base that had grown accustomed to the way freshly retired head coach Andy Coen handled preseasons, already there was a sense that under coach Gilmore, things were different.
But there was also the sense that perhaps it would take a bit of time to get things to where the Mountain Hawks would be every year competing for the Patriot League Championships.
Indeed, under Tom Gilmore things have been different. Lehigh has been going through the adjustment of new ways of doing things, and evolving as true freshmen and players getting their first significant game action adjust to the speed and rigor of Division I football.
But a funny thing has happened on the way to “rebuilding”, or at least what passes as rebuilding in a league that has struggled to find its place recently in the world of FCS.
Colgate, who started the season ranked in all the major Top 25s and were the prohibitive favorites to win the conference title, discovered that they forgot how to win football games. After Lehigh held them a half yard short of the goal line last week to hold on for a 21-14 win, the Riaders were then stunned last week at home by winless Bucknell, dropping them to 0-7 and almost certainly eliminated from the Patriot League title race.
With the stunning fall of Colgate, just like that, it looks like the balance of power in the Patriot League is, for better or worse, wide open – and “rebuilding” Lehigh appears to have as good a chance as anybody to come away with this thing.
