Archive For The “Michael Nebrich” Category
As beautiful fall days go, it was hard to beat this Saturday’s homecoming game at Murray Goodman when it came to weather, atmosphere, or color.
Unfortunately for Lehigh, it was also hard to beat the Fordham offense that showed up on homecoming in terms of physicalness, efficiency, and big play ability.
The Mountain Hawks showed a lot of fight on Saturday, playing tough until the end against the No. 12-ranked Rams. But after Fordham surged to a two-score lead early in the game, Lehigh’s efforts to cut the deficit never really made it close, falling 48-27 in a career day for Fordham freshman RB Chase Edmonds.
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| WR Brian Wetzel (AP Photo) |
We break down the Fordham game – and we give our fearless prediction below the flip.
Fordham’s incredible squad gives a tantalizing glimpse as to what Patriot League football teams might look like once four seasons of scholarship athletes come into the program.
In their first year of eligibility for the Patriot League title since adopting conventional scholarships in football, Fordham has been drilling opponents, scoring more than 40 points per game in their six wins.
They’re doing so with scholarship athletes, of course – but with scholarship athletes that are seniors, too, including two very, very important transfers from UConn.
Fordham’s strategy has been a slow payoff, but a great one so far, giving the Rams a squad that is among the top offenses in all of FCS.
That’s what Lehigh is up against this weekend.
If the records and numbers determined the outcome, they probably wouldn’t bother playing the football game.
Lehigh, at 1-5, faces off against Fordham, the 12th-ranked team in the nation, who sits atop the Patriot League at 6-1.
Fordham boasts one of the top offenses in the nation – that part’s pretty much known by everyone – but what few people realize is their defense, for the most part, has also been stellar.
Three weeks ago, on Friday night TV against the defending Patriot League champions, Lafayette, you probably heard or saw the four-minute stretch where QB Michael Nebrich helped score three straight touchdowns to put the game, basically, out of reach. What you didn’t maybe stop to think about is that the Rams stopped the Leopards on three quick, straight drives, allowing that offense to bowl over the Lafayette defense.
So don’t play the game, the stats and highlights seem to say. Fordham’s too good. Don’t even bother.
But you can guarantee that this Lehigh team will still line up on Saturday, and they still believe that they can win this game. And this week, after Lehigh’s first win of the season, belief is not hard to come by on this team.
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(Photo Credit: Justin Lafleur/Lehigh Athletics)
It was a real Yankee crowd in the Bronx this afternoon – a sellout, overflow Bronx crowd of over 7,800.
Without a Yankee postseason to worry about, the nationally-ranked Fordham Rams had something they hadn’t had on an October afternoon in a very long time: the undivided sports attention of the local area, playing against another Top 25 team on national television.
When the calls didn’t go the Rams’ way, the fans stood up the same way they might in New Yankee Stadium, arguing the call. And when a play didn’t have yellow laundry on the field, indeed, the “Bronx Cheer” the Borough made famous did indeed ripple through the crowd.
Not that Fordham needed help from the refs.
The Rams may have had some doubters going into this weekend with their 5-0 record, but there sure aren’t any more after a resounding, offensive clinic that made Lehigh pay desperately for two turnovers and ultimately had Fordham go to 6-0 with a 52-34 victory.
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(Photo Credit: WFUV)
We break down the Fordham game – and we give our fearless prediction below the flip.
Though this game doesn’t officially count towards the Patriot League standings, make no mistake about how big this game is for both programs.
Look no further than the ticket sales for this game.
Fordham’s Jack Coffey field is sold out, all 7,000 seats, and even on StubHub.com this game is a hot ticket, with no tickets available as of right now. (Check back if you still need tickets!)
A sold-out, 7,000 seat venue for a meaningful football game is what FCS football is all about, and whatever happens it’s going to be a fantastic ambassador for Patriot League football broadcast across the country on CBS Sports Network.
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(Photo Credit: Philly.com)
“RELEASE THE KRAKEN!”
I honestly don’t know exactly why this quote from the cheese-fest-y move Clash of the Titans was the first thing to leap to mind when thinking about this weekend’s Lehigh/Fordham matchup.
In the Patriot League, certainly, Lehigh and Fordham are the definition of Titans, both undefeated with the three best out-of-conference wins in the League this season. Two are owned by Fordham – they beat FBS Temple and nationally-ranked Villanova – and the other by Lehigh – their win last week over New Hampshire.
In the FCS, too, you could define them as Titans in the sense that the Mountain Hawks and Rams are two of only twelve undefeated teams in the entire subdivision. Not all of these undefeated teams will be Titans at the end of the season, of course, but at least much of the national FCS community agrees for now that both are top teams: both are ranked in both major polls as two of the top 13 teams in the nation.
So maybe a sub-headline for this game of “Lehigh vs. Fordham: Releasing the Kraken” might make a lot of sense.
Because both teams won’t be holding back much in the game, which, as luck may have it, will be broadcast nationally on the CBS Sports Network at 12:00 PM on Saturday.
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My vote for the FCS Top 25 for the week ending 9/9/2013 follows below the flip.
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In 2010, Fordham limped to a 1-10 record, ending head coach Tom Masella‘s time as head coach on Rose Hill.
In the offseason, outgoing active athletic director Frank McLaughlin introduced Fordham’s next head coach, Joe Moorhead, and exclaimed to all present, “This is not a rebuilding program. We expect to be successful this coming year.”
After turning things around to the tune of a 6-5 record this past season, few would argue that first-time head coach Moorhead was indeed a large success last season, allowing the Rams to put their 1-10 season well in their rear-view mirror.
For the Rams, the challenge will now be to increase their win total again, and return to the FCS playoffs.
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