My Lehigh Football "Complaints" After Fordham Game

[TMHParticipant]

I just want to make sure I have the scenario right. There are still 2 paths for Lehigh NOT to win the PL Championship

1.)Lehigh to lose to both Bucknell and Lafayette or
2.)Bucknell beats Lehigh, Georgetown and Fordham

Is this correct?

[hawkineerParticipant]

[quote quote=29148]I just want to make sure I have the scenario right. There are still 2 paths for Lehigh NOT to win the PL Championship

1.)Lehigh to lose to both Bucknell and Lafayette or
2.)Bucknell beats Lehigh, Georgetown and Fordham

Is this correct?

[/quote]
PL champion and autobid may be two different issues under scenario 2. I think that it depends what Colgate does under scenario 2. Colgate has already beat Bucknell and currently only has one league loss. If Bucknell beats LU and wins out and Colgate wins out and LU beats LC. BU, CU, and LU would all have one loss and be co-champs. Since each of them defeated each other, your into tiebreaker rules for the autobid, I believe.

[TMHParticipant]

hawkineer,
Thanks for the info. Under your scenario, Fordham would have to lose to both Colgate and Bucknell. None of the tie breakers would solve the issue so it will go to committee where Lehigh would be highly favored based on overall record, rankings and late season trend.
Looks to be far simpler to finish it off on Saturday

[lfnadminKeymaster]

[quote quote=29148]I just want to make sure I have the scenario right. There are still 2 paths for Lehigh NOT to win the PL Championship

1.)Lehigh to lose to both Bucknell and Lafayette or
2.)Bucknell beats Lehigh, Georgetown and Fordham

Is this correct?

[/quote]

If Lehigh loses both, they lose the PL championship and the autobid, and would finish 7-4 and out of any realistic at-large playoff hopes.

If Lehigh loses to Bucknell and beats Lafayette,

* if Bucknell beats Georgetown and Fordham, Lehigh, Bucknell and Colgate would tie for the title and I believe it would come down to vote of the ADs.

* if Bucknell loses to Georgetown and beats Fordham, Lehigh is the champ because Lehigh and Colgate would be tied with 1 loss and Lehigh beat Colgate head to head

* if Bucknell beats Georgetown and loses to Fordham, Lehigh is the champ because Lehigh and Fordham would be tied with 1 loss and Lehigh beat Fordham head to head

[LUHawkerParticipant]

Let’s just get the W against Bucknell, so we don’t get ourselves into the tie-breaker tizzy.

Let’s go undefeated in League play, get the no-co PL Championship and hope the Administration puts in a good bid for a first round game.

As a teaser, I think there is a 20% chance Lehigh gets a first round bye (assuming we win the next two). Laugh all you want, but we’d be 9-2, having won 9 straight with a narrow loss to a top VU team. Colgate’s performance last year in the playoffs should help us with the committee. Again, just a 20% chance, but not 0%. Said otherwise, there is a non-zero chance we get a bye. The committee has proven that it marches to a different drum than the polls, so don’t use the polls as the metric.

Here’s to us hopefully winning the PL this weekend!

[vanParticipant]

always a chance of a stumble, but I can not conjure up a scenario where this team loses at home to this Bucknell team, just too much talent gap and senior leadership

and chance of first round bye is 0%, probably a dozen teams with “better” resumes

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by  van.

[LehighGuyParticipant]

I thought if it was a PL tie, the team that hasn’t been to the playoffs most recently went?

[TMHParticipant]

Here are the tie-breaking rules.

http://fordhamfans.smfforfree.com/index.php?topic=9584.0;wap2

I checked and it’s directly from the PL rule book

[sundayamqbParticipant]

[quote quote=29146]My pet peeve…that this thread reminds me way too much of when all the fans on here were talking about NCAA seeding before HC beat Lehigh at Stabler in the PLC basketball ‘ship last year.

What’s wrong with waiting until the team has achieved its goals before gloating?

[/quote]

StablerBum is right on.

I’m focused on Saturday only. I, too, remember the huge upset last year at Stabler — and the impossible loss of our QBs and game at Bucknell three years ago. Who could have predicted Brandon Bialkowski would end his career mid-season in that game?

There’s a reason you play the game.

Winning Saturday is the only way LU can control its destiny: end of story. It may be fun to look ahead, but why bother?

[NJLehighFanParticipant]

Once we go up 4 scores against Bucknell and Lafayette, I’d like to see Mayes run the offense with next year’s likely offensive lineup. And maybe play all the graduating guys for a couple series as a unit.

[TMHParticipant]

Although I understand StablerBum’s point, I’m not sure I’m in full agreement. Perhaps we give ourselves too much credit but our speculation has zero effect on the outcome of any game. As long as the coaches have the team focused on Bucknell, all should be right with the world….and they do.

Speculation is a big part of the fun of being a fan. It keeps us engaged. When we stop speculating and projecting, then is the time to worry because it means we just don’t care. Frankly, I like it far more than the earlier projections of firing the coaching staff and benching the QB.

It may be interesting though to discuss the similarities and differences between the game on Saturday and the one in 2013. Just my opinion.

[toddcuddParticipant]

Agreed, TMH.

[sundayamqbParticipant]

To start off on TMH’s idea (without doing much research) — sadly, I remember that game all too well because I was there — we were expecting an LU blowout against a freshman-laden team we’d beaten year-in, year-out.

Bialkowski was a new star. Our offense was on fire.

And Bucknell’s defense — seemingly out of nowhere, at least to those of us there and who had discussed the game beforehand — knocked BB out of the game and shut down our O.

Our D was run over by a freshman and we started to see glimpses of guys like Carter and a TE/WR whose name I can’t recall. I think even a massive freshman DE scored or caught a pass against us.

Reminded me of a classic case of overconfidence, or us playing down. And BU’s physical play didn’t help. Nor did the fact we had to throw in two inexperienced QBs.

Things are different today in some ways, I’d imagine.

Perhaps AC is warning his charges about what happened in 2013.

[TMHParticipant]

Good memory.
The 2013 Lehigh football team to me were a great bunch of overachievers. We had lost Colvin, Barkett and Spadola aamong others from the offense. I had watched a few practices and the Brown/White game and absolutely no one distinguished themself at QB. Then suddenly BB emerged from the pile and although not terribly strong-armed appeared to be incredibly accurate. Trouble was they became a one-trick pony of BB to LK and strung together a bunch of one score wins including over a very good New Hampshire squad.
The wheels finally ame apart at Bucknell. I remember it being cold mostly due to a 17-25 mph wind going across the field. BB, coming form AZ perhaps) seemed completely out of his element even prior to the injury. We had no redible backup and the ground game became useless due to the big hole we had dug. Sherman had over 1,000 yds that season but almost half were in the last 3 games. He carried the team on his back.
This year is completely different IMHO although it is true anything can happen. AC remembers that game. The seniors remember that game. Tyler Ward remembers that game. Over-confidence will not be a factor. This game is in the friendly confines of Goodman Stadium and the weather should be perfect for football. This team has far more weapons to call on with far more depth. Remember 2013 was the 1st scholarship year. Word has it that our backup QB this year is pretty good :-). This defense is peaking. The return game is really solid and we have the best kicker in the league. Most of all, this game clinches the PL and our guys can taste it. Lack of intensity will not be a factor. All we need is for our guys to prove me right on the field. But yes…anything can happen (see Monmouth vs Presbyterian)

[hawktalkerParticipant]

Looked that game up. Lehigh had 5 turnovers, one less than we have in 9 games this year. This team won’t make it that easy for Bucknell.
Like this year, Lehigh had a bye after that 2013 game but the PL title was not on the line and this could be the final home game for seniors.
Count me cautiously optimistic

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