As this week is kind of a dead sports stretch, and the College Football Data Warehouse has been updated to include the 2013 season, sports trivia wonks (like me) look for useless yet interesting tidbits to fill the idle holiday hours. One area of interest for me has been the various opponents Lehigh has played over time (125 teams in all), and how many of them have changed the level of competition they choose to play. Here’s a list of the teams Lehigh has played the most (minimum 20 games ) since 1884:
Easton Country Day 149
Rutgers 74
Bucknell 74
Princeton 57
Pennsylvania* 57
Colgate 50
Delaware* 47
Gettysburg 45
Muhlenburg 42
Holy Cross 29
Fordham 26
Cornell 25
Penn State 23
Haverford 22
Yale 21
Navy 20
Of interest to me is how many of our historically active rivalries have disappeared over time due to the changing dynamics ($$$) of college football, and/or personalities*, while ECD, Bucknell, and Lehigh, (and to a certain extent Princeton and Colgate) have scheduled each other through thick and thin, league or no league.
The stability of the BU,LC & LU relationships is the obvious basis for the Patriot league, with Holy Cross, Colgate, Fordham, and Georgetown seeing its value on many levels. The long term stability of the league (Georgtown’s future?, potential new football members?) would make for an interesting thread to get us through the winter.
Last extremely useless trivia on the general subject of Lehigh football rivalries (in case you missed it)…… Lehigh football received some national ink Oct. 26th when Ohio State beat down Penn State 63-14. Several media outlets reported it as the worst loss in Penn State history since Nov. 11, 1889 (Lehigh 106, PSU 0). Brought a smile to my face as Nittany Lions and Leopards are pretty much both unwelcomed species in my world.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!