For Jaylen Mack, CCSU Is the School That Took a Chance on Him When No One Else Would
There’s no shortage of good football players to come out of the St. Louis area, and there’s no shortage of conferences with Missouri comfortably in their footprint for football. You would think that with the OVC schools clustered in the area that the top players would be comfortably locked down, and we’d never see any of them out east.
You would think.
And yet CCSU was the first Division I offer for RB Jaylen Mack. Mack had only been named player of the year in his conference, put up staggering rushing numbers for two years straight, thrived as a four down back, and even showed receiving chops out of the backfield.
I can’t explain why this is how it all went down, but the Blue Devils are sure happy it did.
Mack, a senior from Liberty North in Lake St. Louis, MO, racked up over 1,700 all-purpose yards this season with 1,070 rushing yards and 411 receiving yards. He also became Liberty North’s punt returner. In other words, he was the guy they gave the ball to when they needed things to happen. He did pretty well with it.
We had the chance to catch up with Mack to ask about how he’d fit in at CCSU and what brought a running back from Missouri to Connecticut.
On the latter point, relationships are everything in recruiting and there was a big one that brought him to CCSU. Mack credits his relationship with RB coach Canaan Brooks at CCSU as being pivotal. One particularly important point? Brooks is from St. Louis and obviously has a lot of comfort with the schools in the area. He recruited the St. Louis running back and having a home connection always gave CCSU the edge, although Mack was impressed by the culture overall as well. “Having that tie with him, with him being from St. Louis and recruiting the St. Louis area a little bit,” Mack said, “it kind of shifted me a little more that way.”
My eyes lit up when I saw the receiving numbers along with the rushing yards. It looked like an Elijah Howard statline, which is something that apparently the CCSU staff noticed, too. When Mack saw the schemes, he immediately felt comfortable stepping into that kind of role. “Watching them play, analyzing their schemes, I feel like I fit that perfectly and I'm excited to be a part of that,” he said.
A back who wants to be on the field for every situation, Mack compared his game to powerful backs like Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs. It’s a good comparison to have. He’s shown the ability to brush off the first tackle and keep moving forward. When the weather gets cold, that’s an important skill to have.
And as for what it meant to get the D1 call from the Blue Devils?
“The school took a chance on me when nobody else would. So I owe them the world for that,” he said.
He’ll start repaying CCSU for their faith in 2026.
NECBlitz All-NEC Teams Unveiled
NEC Blitz is proud to release our All-NEC teams- the first such teams released this season. Additionally, we have given awards for Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year.
QB Brady Olson CCSU
RB Elijah Howard CCSU
RB Brian Trobel Mercyhurst
WR Joey Isabella Duquesne
WR Dylan Evans Mercyhurst
TE Chaz Middleton RMU
OL Cameron McLaurin Duquesne
OL Brian Beidatsch Jr Duquesne
OL Brady Anderson Wagner
OL Donnie Hardin LIU
OL Karl Khuns CCSU
DL Jack Dunkley Duquesne
DL Logan Barnes Wagner
DL Scoop Gardner, Jr. LIU
DL Luke Kelley New Haven
LB Charles Battaglia Stonehill
LB Malachi Wright CCSU
LB Geno Calgaro SFU
DB Robert Dickerson RMU
DB Trey Watkins LIU
DB Christopher Jean CCSU
DB Dallas Harper Duquesne
QB Luca Stanzani LIU
RB Ness Davis Duquesne
RB Andre Hines Wagner
WR Jeremiah Colclough Wagner
WR Kevonne Wilder New Haven
WR Zachary Kim Stonehill
OL Isaiah DeLoatch CCSU
OL Nick Crespo Stonehill
OL Tommy Brandt Duquesne
OL La-Quann Gaddy CCSU
OL Connor Van Tassell SFU
DL Jonas King Mercyhurst
DL Ethan Appolon Wagner
DL Kevin Kurzinger Duquesne
LB Gavin Taylor CCSU
LB Mitchell Robinson, Jr. RMU
LB Tyson Meiguez Duquesne
LB Jack Stoll CCSU
DB Sam Martin Wagner
DB DJ Cerisier Duquesne
DB Antonio Epps Duquesne
DB Brodie Williams New Haven
NEC Football Power Rankings: Rivalry Week Edition
And then there were four.
Don’t tell me “and then there were two” because two schools have the chance to make the FCS playoff. My issues with the playoff are well documented and probably not worth rehashing or even explaining again for the uninitiated. The one sentence answer here is that in the NEC, the point is to win the NEC, and I have always been a fan of that.
We enter the final week with four schools with a crack at raising a banner. It’s only fitting that they’re the four at the top- that’s what it’s all about, after all- with the field below them.
Central Connecticut
CCSU lost to Duquesne, but they still control their own destiny. They gave up a troubling amount in the run game to Taj Butts of Duquesne and now welcome in Brian Trobel of Mercyhurst to Hard Hittin’ New Britain. CCSU showed me a ton on Saturday- I think I had always been kind of underrating them as a team and talking about how they were able to pull out close wins. Make no mistake, this is a good team and if they’re taken at all lightly in two weeks if they’re able to knock off the Lakers, we might have a reason to start thinking about the playoff in the future.
Duquesne
Despite the win, we have Duquesne here simply because they don’t control their own destiny. A two game slump ended with the easy NEC football game of the year on the Bluff as a thrilling conclusion and an Antonio Epps deflected interception. Epps was on fire all game, though. He was seemingly always around the ball and there’s no one you’d rather be rewarded than him for that effort. Ness Davis is usually the Dukes RB we talk about here, but Taj Butts exploded for 254 on the ground and was routinely running over Blue Devils like a PRT bus. Truly, look this game up on ESPN+ and watch it if you haven’t yet.
Mercyhurst
The Lakers have recovered from an 0-2 slump of their own with 2 straight wins, including a win against RMU that will have implications for next season. Now, the Mercyhurst Lakers control their own destiny in their first year in the conference. A win against CCSU lets them raise a new banner in Saxon Stadium as an NEC champion. We’ll have the Lakers radio broadcast on NECBlitz.com this coming Saturday. I’m a firm believer on the importance of tradition in college football and particularly the homer announcer as part of that tradition, so if you’re a Lakers fan it’ll be a good way to get a Mercyhurst-centric broadcast. And yes, I know- you say HURST DOWN! Anyway, Brian Trobel has become one of the best backs in the league, and Dylan Evans was a little banged up but has since recovered and is in that top tier of receivers in the NEC. I think they can give CCSU a battle. If nothing else, we didn’t expect the Lakers to make much noise in the league this season, and instead they’re playing in a championship game. Wow!
Wagner
The Seahawks are on an absolute tear. Four weeks ago I told a Seahawk that they could still win an NEC title if they won out and got a little help. They took care of the part they could control with a 4 game win streak. Some good things have broken their way, and a win in the Boroughs Brawl against rival Long Island along with a CCSU loss will give Wagner a share of the NEC Championship. Andre Hines has come on in the 2nd half of the season and is now a full on wrecking ball at the tailback position, and Sam Martin has become one of the best DBs in the conference. If they could have held on against CCSU, the Seahawks would be playing for something much different in the Boroughs Brawl, but you can only look forward.
5. Long Island
The Sharks had CCSU pinned back against their own goal line, but the past is the past and now Long Island is one of the best teams in the league yet cannot win the conference. Injuries derailed this season for the Sharks, but this has probably been the best season for the former LIU-Post since joining the NEC in football. They’ll be in their Super Bowl this week taking on Wagner in the Boroughs Brawl.
6. New Haven
The Chargers finished their season and are now in recruiting mode with Head Coach Mark Powell doing one of the better jobs in the league this season by getting the Chargers to .500.
7. Robert Morris
The Colonials couldn’t top their rivals up north on I-79, and so will look to finish their season playing spoiler against in-city rival Duquesne at the Joe. Quarterback has been an interesting position for the Colonials this season as they’ve tried a few different players. The upshot of that is that Duquesne won’t know what to expect, and there will be some emotion behind this game. Hopefully, the Dukes aren’t scoreboard watching.
8. Stonehill
The Skyhawks are a better team than their record, but unfortunately haven’t been able to put it all together in recent weeks. We may have been one year early in our prediction for a big jump, but this has been a solid team and a good job improving from the previous year by the coaching staff.
9. Saint Francis
The Red Flash are going into their final game as a member of Division I at Stonehill. There has never been a more obvious storybook ending than this and we expect to see it.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 12: We’re Blue
If I recall correctly, CCSU winning the NEC wasn’t much of a popular pick in the preseason- and that includes from yours truly. The Blue Devils looked good and were strong in 2024, but it sometimes felt there was an element of luck to their success.
I don’t think anyone can feel that way anymore after a dismantling of Stonehill. Couple that with a shocking Duquesne loss and the Blue Devils can finish no lower than tied for first in the NEC. This doesn’t mean they’ve locked up the autobid to the FCS playoffs yet, though. But the magic number for CCSU is now 1 win with two games remaining.
Central Connecticut
As if it could be anyone else after that introduction. CCSU came out roaring against a good Stonehill team and the game was never close. Brady Olson was brilliant with a 20/30, 261 yards, 2 TD to 0 INT performance. Despite that, Elijah Howard’s 178 yards and 2 TDs will probably be the performance immortalized in the NEC weekly awards.
Long Island
LIU was even higher than this early in the season when they were healthy and had just beaten Eastern Michigan. Injuries happened and the Sharks slumped. Now, they’re back in the kind of form they took up to Ypsilanti and delivered a huge blow to Duquesne’s playoff chances with a 29-11 win. It’s too late for LIU to make the playoffs, but they can play spoiler and win their rivalry game at the end of the season in the Boroughs Brawl against Wagner.
Wagner
The Seahawks won their third consecutive game in a close battle with Robert Morris. Just win, baby. The Seahawks are eliminated from winning the playoff autobid, having lost in overtime to CCSU several weeks ago. They were that close to being in the driver’s seat to earn a spot in the playoffs. Andre Hines has emerged as a star and the Seahawks are playing good enough defense to win. The Boroughs Brawl is looking like a big game for both teams.
Duquesne
They’re still alive. The Dukes lost to LIU to drop them to two losses in the NEC, but with winning out and a Mercyhurst win against CCSU, Duquesne will still make it into the playoffs. Now, they’re in win or go home mode and when CCSU travels to Pittsburgh this weekend, the Dukes will have to send a message. Once again, they’re still alive. Now they have to keep it.
Mercyhurst
The Lakers bounced back with a last second win against Saint Francis, but that’s kind of been the trend for playing Saint Francis the last two weeks. Dylan Evans was a big factor again and making a push for the all-Blitz team, scoring a last second touchdown. The Lakers will host Robert Morris next week.
New Haven
The first season for the Chargers is done, and they went out the right way. They removed the interim tag off of Coach Mark Powell and went out and upset Merrimack on the Blue. AJ Duffy was one of the most electric quarterbacks in the NEC this season and considering the injuries the Chargers had to endure, 5-5 was a success that could have even been improved on.
Robert Morris
Bobby Mo wasn’t able to hold off Wagner to get win #3, and as such they fall down to here. They’ll close out their season with home tilts against Mercyhurst and a rivalry game with Duquesne.
Stonehill
The Skyhawks weren’t able to hang with CCSU, but have games against Wagner and Saint Francis remaining that they should be able to compete in and even win. If the Skyhawks can pull off two wins to finish the season, they’d finish 5-7 and well above where most prognosticators had them at the start of the season.
Saint Francis
Let’s call the shot right here- Saint Francis will close out the season with a win against Stonehill and leave Division I on a high note. As of now, they’ve come close a handful of times but haven’t closed out a game yet. It’s only a matter of time before they break through.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 11: Cardiac Connecticut State
Credit: Bree Smith
We’re finally narrowing down the contenders in the NEC title race, and it’s looking like the two schools who started the year as the favorites are going to finish as the favorites.
Stonehill’s upset loss to Robert Morris (in a fantastic performance by the Colonials, by the way) turned the race from a presumptive three way dance into the two way sprint between Duquesne and Central Connecticut State. CCSU is at 4-0 in conference while Duquesne is at 3-1, but as long as they both win the other two games they’re still playing, it looks like the deciding contest will be on November 15th in Pittsburgh, PA. But we quote Coach Masella seemingly every week for a reason: “The NEC is a funny thing.”
Not too much goes chalk in this league, and anything can still happen. It only takes one of the two powers 60 minutes of looking ahead or looking behind to shake up everything again.
Central Connecticut State
There’s no compelling argument for anyone else at this point. We had thought LIU would be a tough opponent for the Blue Devils given their recent resurgence and new health at the quarterback position, but it took a Blue Devils blocked field goal in the closing seconds for CCSU to escape overtime. Not that it would seemingly even matter- Cardiac Connecticut State is better at closing out close games then anyone, and the result would annoy any stats fan. Think close games are just variance? Think again. Coach Lechtenberg has his teem believing that they’ll win in these situations, and they play as such. Don’t ever get into a dog fight with CCSU. Stonehill will hope to do just that and come out with a win this week.
Duquesne
Duquesne was idle this past week, a chance to get the taste of a close defeat at Wagner out of their mouths and to refocus as they get Long Island this week in Brookville, NY. This is a bad time to play LIU, as the Blue Devils showed. Duquesne is well equipped with athleticism on defense to stop the Shark attack, but having the athleticism and succeeding with it are two different things. I like Duquesne this week, but you can’t count out the healthy Sharks.
Wagner
The Seahawks have turned around their season with a close call against CCSU, a win over Duquesne, and most recently an escape against a determined Saint Francis team. Coach Masella deserves all the credit in the world for keeping his squad believing after a difficult start to the season, and now they’re playing their best ball. They have an elimination game against RMU this week that could go either way. Andre Hines has emerged as a star at running back, but Sam Martin on the defensive side of the ball has been a one man brick wall the past two weeks. It’ll be hard for RMU to score on the rejuvenated boys from Staten Island.
Long Island
The Sharks are coming off of a heartbreaking loss to CCSU. They had goal to go with seconds remaining and were unable to convert, settling for a chip shot field goal which was subsequently blocked. CCSU juju is undefeated, after all. But with health at the quarterback position, the Sharks are actually able to run their offense the way they intended to for the first time since Eastern Michigan. They might just be able to give Duquesne a scare with nothing left to play for except to be a spoiler.
Robert Morris
Now riding a two game winning streak, the RMU football program was close to being at rock bottom before turning it around with consecutive wins- one against rival Saint Francis, and one against rising star Stonehill. The game against Wagner will determine how the rest of the season feels for the Colonials, who are one loss away from elimination.
Stonehill
The Skyhawks took Bobby Mo to the limit but were unable to win a game that they probably should have been able to close out. Now traveling to Central Connecticut, Stonehill had to have that one and that 3 point swing is going to leave a big mark on their 2025 campaign. But a win against CCSU throws the conference right back into chaos.
Mercyhurst
The Lakers were idle this past week and after climbing high in the rankings early in the season, two straight losses have put them close to the basement. The bright side is that Adam Urena and co can close out the season with momentum with some winnable games and a chance to be an ultimate spoiler in the season finale against CCSU.
New Haven
The Chargers haven’t been able to match their early season high against Albany, but they’re closer than you might think. Depth is often a problem in these transition seasons, and when you look at just how competitive New Haven has been early in games, it leads you to wonder if they just need to build out their midcard a little bit. This week is their season finale on the Blue against Merrimack.
Saint Francis
The Red Flash were able to take Wagner to the last play of the game, but the field goal was good and as a result they remain here at the bottom of the polls. Geno Calgaro has been as good as we expected all season long, He anchors a defense that is ferocious when they’re on their game.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 9: #NECHAOS
We came so close to a massive upset in Week 8, but we’ll have to hold on just a little bit longer to see one of those this season.
Wagner jumped out to a 14-0 lead but couldn’t hold on, falling behind in the 3rd quarter to CCSU before Wagner was able to tie it back up at 17. The Seahawks were driving deep in Blue Devil territory and time was running out before they made the mistake of throwing Chris Jean’s way. Like you’d expect if you watched him as often as I do, he pulled off the interception and the threat was abolished. The possession would go back and forth, but Wagner fell in the first overtime and CCSU escaped.
So close. But we’ll have to wait one more week for another crack at #NECHAOS.
Duquesne
The Dukes looked like they wanted to send a message to Mercyhurst in the 2nd meeting of what sure looked like two teams that could establish a rivalry. The first drive saw Duquesne take 6 minutes off the clock over 10 plays, but after that there was plenty of aggression from the defense. I’m a journalist, but I try not to look for angles that aren’t there. But for all the world, it really looked like there was some kind of message that the Dukes wanted to send to the Lakers. That’s how you get rivalries, and I’m looking forward to seeing more from these two. The Dukes will get Wagner next week after a heartbreaker on Staten Island.
CCSU
The Blue Devils got into a knock-down, drag-out fight with the Wagner Seahawks but yet again were able to emerge from a tight game with a win. There’s some amount of variance in how you perform in these scenarios, but less than the stats nerds would say. CCSU clearly knows how to perform and how to close out tight games. This is a team that knows how to win, even when it isn’t their best day. They’ll host a rejuvenated LIU after a bye next week, so they will need every ounce of that knowledge and willpower to stay undefeated.
Mercyhurst
The Lakers weren’t able to compete with the Dukes yet, but they earned a night game and the big game feel that this one had. It’s now up to them to get it back. They’ll get to stay in Erie to recover, but there’s no rest as they’ll welcome in a tough Stonehill team who’ll be ready to bounce back after two big losses. After this, the Lakers will travel to Loretto, where they’ll have to work to get right again. Saint Francis has a stout defense and this might be tighter than you’d guess.
Stonehill
The Skyhawks finished their nonconference slate at Yale where they lost handily to the Ivy League squad. It’s not relevant to conference standings, so they’ll just have to flush it and move on against Mercyhurst. The Lakers defense is scary, though, so it’ll take a big effort for Stonehill to get on the scoreboard, which is something they’ve struggled with as of late.
LIU
I think LIU probably has their mojo back now that they’ve got their quarterback position healthy again. Stanzani helped lead the Sharks past Robert Morris and aside from one big play from the Colonials it wasn’t really ever in doubt. They game against CCSU in two weeks is going to be the highlight of the slate, and it’ll tell us everything about the Sharks that matters. Specifically, if Stanzani has brought them back. First, though, they’ll finish out New Haven’s unofficial non-conference slate.
Wagner
The Seahawks played CCSU tight, but the Blue Devils are so familiar in these settings and unfortunately Staten Island’s team couldn’t hang on. Barton seems to have really secured the quarterback role for Wagner, and he showed some flashes of stepping up in big play situations against the Blue Devils. Wagner is playing Duquesne next, so he’ll have to make the most out of those flashes and turn it into a full-fledged blaze.
New Haven
The Chargers were idle. They’ll travel to Long Island to meet a Sharks team that is looking healthy. Not the best time to go up against LIU. Zaon Laney will redshirt for the remainder of this season but we expect him back next year.
RMU
The Colonials were still unable to get much going offensively and aside from one big splash weren’t able to do much against the Sharks. The defense is there, but Bobby Mo just hasn’t put together their best game yet. Against Saint Francis, the stakes will be high to end the storied rivalry on the highest note possible.
Saint Francis
The Red Flash were idle but have not yet won this season. They’ll play longtime rival Robert Morris in Loretto for the last time this Saturday.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 8: Game of the Century of the Week in Erie
It’s an old trope in college football.
But tropes are tradition, after all, and the best parts of our sport always seem to come from the past. You have a poll because there’s been a poll for 100 years; you call games “bowls” because it’s been that way for 100 years; you let Rutgers play because they’ve been doing it for so long that you can’t even ignore them anymore.
But one of the best tropes (and therefore, traditions) in college football is that when #1 plays #2 in-season, you call it the Game of the Century. In the NEC, our schools aren’t usually ranked even when they clearly deserve to be (i.e., Duquesne) and so we fall back on these power rankings to describe if a matchup is big or not in the NEC. In this case… it’s almost a game of the century. We’re seeing #1 head a couple of hours north to Erie, where Mercyhurst comes in at #3. A quick word on this.
I identify culturally as a Yinzer (look it up if you’re unfamiliar with the term!). It is also tradition amongst Yinzers to take a trip a couple of hours north to Lake Erie. You immediately go to Presque Isle (unless you stop at Waldameer Park instead). After you arrive, you go to the beach your family has always gone to. It doesn’t matter if one has less people on it; you have a pre-assigned beach from birth. Mine is Budny Beach. You hang out there, maybe walk a bit, throw popcorn at a seagull, and then before you go home you stop at Sara’s for food. I know one of my bosses on FCSNation is from South Carolina, so to Kevin: Sara’s is basically Cook-Out, except there’s only one, and you can’t have two corndogs as a side. In any case, it’s just part of growing up that you do these things.
Which is a long way of saying that Duquesne is making the trip north to Erie, and this should not be considered a road game so much as the typical migration pattern of the Wild Yinzer. They will be used to this at Duquesne.
Duquesne
Duquesne hosted Saint Francis in the 51st and final meeting between the two long-time rivals. It’s said that in 1976, the Saint Francis head coach (who was also a priest; college football is the best) prayed for fumbles during the game. Inexplicably, Duquesne could no longer hold onto the ball and the Red Flash won. It’s a great story, but none of it happened this time around, and the Red Flash offense was back to only scoring a single touchdown while the defense could not keep the Dukes out of the end zone. At this point, no one in the league has looked able to hang with the Dukes. This is your reminder that Duquesne was very competitive with top 10 Lehigh, yet are not ranked
Central Connecticut State
CCSU hit the road and met Robert Morris in Moon Township. The game was evenly balanced, with two offensive scores apiece, but special teams miscues for the Colonials and a pick six put CCSU in front with a final score of 24-12. The Blue Devils defense looked solid, but the offensive side of the ball is where you should be paying attention. Brady Olson still has just one interception on the year (12-1 ratio of TDs to INTs) and Elijah Howard ran for over 100 yards, having reached midseason form just as the Blue Devils hit the heart of conference play. CCSU is not the most talented team in the league, but they’re close, and they never beat themselves. You can win a lot of games playing just like that.
Mercyhurst
The Lake Show continued their run with a 19-7 win over the Wagner Seahawks behind backup QB Alex Gevaudan. Gevaudan, who I believe earned his scholarship in the offseason, performed admirably in Adam Urena’s stead, but Brian Trobel was the star here with 190 all-purpose yards and 3 TDs. We liked Trobel heading into the season and had him as probably the third best back in the league, but after the first two running backs in the league, it felt like there was a logjam that anyone could have emerged from in the NEC. Don’t call it a logjam anymore. If the season ended today, Trobel and Elijah Howard would be the two first teamers. The Lakers now host Duquesne in the biggest game in October, and one that may very well determine who gets to hang up a championship banner. It might not have playoff implications, though, as Mercyhurst is ineligible for the FCS playoff.
Stonehill
Stonehill heads to New Haven next week… to play Yale, who also shares the city with the New Haven Chargers. This is a non-conference game. Stonehill can impress a lot of people with a win here. The Skyhawks were idle last week.
Long Island
LIU was idle last week. Hopefully, it was a chance to get healthy, as they return to league play hosting Robert Morris. Ever since the Eastern Michigan win, we haven’t known what to make of the Sharks. A win against Bobby Mo would go a long way towards righting the ship. Of interest in this one is which two quarterbacks play.
New Haven
Points were in the street in the town of New Haven, as the Chargers blasted Division III WestConn 69-0. The Chargers were supposed to win this one going away, and they did that. AJ Duffy threw for 4 TDs but wasn’t recognized as one of the 5 stars, likely because of the level of competition. They’re now off this week and will return to unofficial NEC play against Long Island the following week.
Wagner
I wish Wagner and New Haven were playing this season. They feel so on par with each other, but you never do know until you see it. We’ll have to wait until 2026. The Seahawks were unable to do much offensively against a stout Mercyhurst defense despite playing Jordan Barton and Jack Stevens. Wagner falls to 1-5 (0-1) but has a big chance with Central Connecticut State up next. If the Seahawks are going to turn around this season, it has to start right here.
Robert Morris
The Colonials weren’t able to keep pace with Central Connecticut State despite having as many offensive touchdowns as the Blue Devils. Unfortunately, we saw another quarterback change for the Colonials after a big hit. Wolfe came in and delivered some good balls and had some great chemistry with big tight end Chaz Middleton- maybe the best tight end in the NEC this year- but the Colonials seemed to keep falling short of reaching the red zone until it was too late. They’ll go up against LIU next. The pieces are there for the Colonials- the defense looked good on Saturday and Middleton and running backs Ethan Shine and Donta Whack are talented. They’ve just got to put them together on Saturdays.
Saint Francis
The Red Flash only could post one touchdown in a loss to their rival Duquesne that was over before halftime. A week off will do the Frankies good before they face their other big rival in Robert Morris at home in Loretto- again, for the last time.
Game Notes: CCSU at RMU, 2nd Half
Once again, it’s not in my nature to ask, but tips through the button on the bottom right are always appreciated. We’re bringing radio in limited quantities this academic year and expanding it greatly next season, and that isn’t easy. The more you help, the more I can do- I promise.
CCSU is taking a 14-0 lead into the half. Certainly not insurmountable. It’s been one of those games where CCSU looks a little better and has moved the ball better than RMU, but they haven’t really been able to capitalize and we’re still in a tight ballgame. RMU will receive the kick.
Drive 1: RMU gets the ball after a touchback. A read option led to an accidental knee down to start the half, but a deep throw from Panteck to Middletown to the sideline gets them to the 40. Following that, a pick six on the screen pass puts CCSU up 21-0. There’s that opportunistic CCSU defense- two years in a row.
Drive 2: Touchback. RMU has to start it now if they’re going to comeback in this game. The first run from scrimmage is a hit out of bounds. RMU is already at midfield. RMU gets close on a safety valve pass to Donta Whack but the Colonials will have to punt.
Drive 3: CCSU from their own 13. Incomplete on another verts route down the sideline- a play both teams have liked today- and then Howard gets 5 on the read option. Interesting shift from RMU to Olson’s side- they recognized on the DL what was coming- but Howard cut away from the shift in response and won that battle. A first down on a short pass gets them to first down, where the Colonials defense has continued to get tougher to move the ball on. Another incompletion and the RMU pass defense has never looked better. A little mid screen to the TE doesn’t get more than a yard and CCSU will have to punt.
Drive 4: A huge hit on the punt, but RMU holds on to start at the 33. Incompletions follow and the Colonials need to punt again. The punt goes out of bounds and CCSU will start at the 31.
Drive 5: Elijah Howard starts off with a monster 26 yard run that saw him power through the Colonials defense. He’s closing in on 100 today and looks like he’s back at his midseason form. On a 3rd and 10 with a 5 wide set Olson runs a draw for 9 and the Blue Devils will go for it. Illegal motion, but with an incomplete pass RMU starts at the 35.
Drive 6: Holding on the first play negates a solid 5 yard gain for Donta Whack. A pass on second down will get the Colonials back to 2nd and 11, but this time Whack can’t get anything going. The RMU OL has looked excellent at times today, but they’re not dominating in this game. An excellent pass across the middle on a diving catch to Middleton who has been quietly having an excellent game. Panteck is sacked on the next play after attempting a scramble and again the OL didn’t look big on their play. Richard Ransom has a catch and run down the far sideline but steps out at the 38. That was inches from the big play the Colonials needed. A deep pass is completed- well out of bounds and Middleton is down.
Ethan Shine gets the Colonials into the Brewer Airport Toyota Red Zone for the first time today (19 yard line). Incompletions follow after a short gain and on 4th and 7 RMU misses the field goal. 21-0, CCSU.
Drive 7: At the 20, CCSU misses on a pass with a fair amount of pressure and we go into the 4th quarter. On the first play, Olson took a shot on a sack. The Blue Devils have to punt. It’s a great return negated by a running into the kicker. Rekick gets RMU to start at the CCSU 48.
Drive 8: Middleton just unable to pull in a tough pass to start the drive. Panteck somehow avoids the rush and gets a 2 yard drive out of what should have been a big sack. That’ll go on his film. He took a shot at the end of it and goes down. Jake Wolf comes in and hits Middleton on a deep ball and Middleton is down again. RMU is in the red zone at the 9 yard line. On 3rd and 6 the Central Connecticut fans get loud and the Colonials stay on for 4th down. This will get reviewed- called out of bounds on the field. Looks like a TD. Touchdown.
Drive 9: RMU recovers the onside kick and Wolf is in at QB. He gets 8 on the read option- hands off the next one, and the RMU OL is getting push again for the first down. The next play is a deep shot to Chas Middleton and Wolf is looking great. It’s completed and roughing the passer goes on top of it, and suddenly RMU is at the 7 yard line. Donta Whack takes it in and we’re looking at a two point conversion. Wolf has to throw it out of the back of the end zone and it’s still a two score game, 21-12 CCSU.
Drive 10: CCSU muffs a midrange kick and manages to recover. They’ll start at their own 37. Howard takes the ball twice- CCSU is bleeding out the clock, which I admit is my favorite strategy in football- and with an 18 yard gain goes over 100 for the day. Olson on a QB keeper after that, and the RMU defense is finally showing some signs of crumbling. As of right now , both offenses have scored 2 touchdowns. Special teams and a pick six are the real difference here. Howard carries the ball and is looking unstoppable with another big gainer and CCSU is in the red zone. A TD here is probably back breaking.
Donovan Marcus is in now and we’re at 3rd and 10 with the game bleeding past the 5:00 mark. another incompletion and it’s decision time for the Blue Devils. Hennessy comes on the field and drills the kick. 24-12, Blue Devils. I’m not sure RMU has 24 points in them today.
Drive 11: RMU starting at the 32. They get a swing pass to start but the clock is ticking fast. Wolf hits a big throw to Carter on the run and just behind the sticks. The Colonials aren’t ready to give this one up as we approach the 3 minute mark. Another pass to Carter on the sideline and we’ve found a good connection for the Colonials here. They go to the well a 3rd time and the Blue Devils nearly get an interception out of it. A scramble out of bounds gets the Colonials to the 30, but we aren’t in the 2 minute warning yet and the Colonials have got to get moving. False start on the next play.
4th and 11 and this is the game. RMU just gets the first down pending the spot but it looked like a false start. This one will go to replay as they’re marked short.
Game Notes: CCSU at RMU, 1st Half
We’'ll be providing live thoughts here to avoid flooding the Twitterverse. Not a bad turnout for CCSU fans. Saw a few very filled tailgates. I feel bad asking about this, but if you enjoy what we’re doing today, you can always buy me a coffee with the button in the bottom right of this page. (RMU provides me with free diet Mountain Dew; I don’t necessarily need it for today). But that kind of stuff is always appreciated, and it really does help to keep me coming on-site.
I guess moving forward, the Northeast Conference won’t be on these trophies.
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CCSU will receive t he kickoff. RMU won the toss and deferred. Definitely a big first series for the Colonials. They’ve been good in the first quarter all season defensively, but the weather favors the better offense, which has been CCSU so far this season.
Drive - 1: CCSU finds weak spots in the middle on the first 2 players but Marsh Jr. unable to hang on on the 2nd pass. Looks like an intentional strategy. The swing pass on the next play is big and the Blue Devils are past the 50 already. The Blue Devils are moving quickly. Working horizontal now. Olson with the scramble up the gut next play and we’ve got 3rd and 4 for a big stop chance for the Colonials. 4th and 4, CCSU stays on the field and overthrows. The Colonials bend but don’t break.
Drive 2: Cooper Panteck at QB. Big first throw as he underthrows just a little to perfectly place a deep ball and we’re on the CCSU side of the field. On 3rd down, Panteck has to throw the ball away and the Colonials punt.
Drive 3: High snap leads to a sack on play 1 for CCSU. If RMU is going to win this game, they’ll probably need a few of these plays to go their way. CCSU has to punt here and RMU starts at the Blue Devils 44.
Drive 4: RMU with a good gain from Donta Whack- UMass transfer, just like Brady Olson- for 5 yards on a play where RMU’s front looked spectacular. Panteck throws a pick, though, and that CCSU defense just keeps getting turnovers.
Drive 5: Near the 50 (good field position for everyone today), Olson fires another strike over the middle before Elijah Howard finally gets involved on a short gain. Marsh Jr. with a good 2nd yard gain and 3rd and 3 for CCSU to extend the drive although we’re in 4 down territory here. Howard catches a dink and dunk and stepped out of bounds before he could really get shifty. First down. Read option, Olson gets a yard and gets hit hard, but gets up fast and delivers a bomb next play to Wadley. Touchdown and CCSU is up 7-0 with 5:07 to go in the first. That was for 34 yards.
Drive 6: RMU had a shot to break a good one on the kickoff but just got tripped up. Their own dink and dunk attempt went for no gain and on a 3rd and 5 there’s an overthrow and the Colonials will punt again. CCSU should have good field position here.
Drive 7: CCSU starts modestly and on a 3rd and 5 Olson is just a little behind Ricky Ortega, but the former QB makes a great play on it and the drive continues into RMU territory. The Blue Devils are having some trouble on the run, but there’s not seeming to be any overarching strategy on the passing game- they’re doing just fine throwing to several areas of the field and it doesn’t seem to be middle only or going horizontal on the Colonials to gas them. Another bomb results in pass interference and CCSU is on the 29. Now Howard makes a few men miss, gets shifty, and this time Howard is having no trouble running. 14-0, CCSU.
Drive 8: Quarter ends and RMU gets to midfield. Donta Whack is looking good and RMU seems to have the OL to compete here, if they can sustain drives. Lots of good push up front and you have to give the Colonials the edge from an OL standpoint. On a 3rd and 1, read option for Panteck goes for a big run but the holding penalty sends them back. It’s still a first down but a shorter gain to the 39. As a runner, he’s looked good already. and he’s shown the ability to make big passes.
On the next two plays, Whack isn’t able to find room up the middle as CCSU gets stout up front. Panteck gets hit for a sack on 3rd down by #13 and #9 (!!!) and the Colonials have to punt on 4th and 17. A great punt and the Colonials down them at the 5. Running into the Kicker is declined.
Drive 9: Olson opens it up trying to get a lot of the yards back down the sideline. RMU looked a little early but not enough to draw the flag. Donovan Marcus is in this drive. A pass down the opposite sideline goes incomplete, but there’s an unsportsmanlike penalty after the play as there was a little too much chatter and CCSU retains possession. Another pass interference on the next play gives CCSU 15 more and the discipline has to be better here. Elijah Howard gets the ball and goes outside to the 27 yard line. Those penalties killed the Colonials. They had a real chance for great field position here. On a 3rd down, It appears there’s a TD deep but OPI should bring it back… only there’s a roughing the passer also, and two personal fouls and I’m watching the referees actually consult a rulebook on the field. Replay 3rd down. Marcus gets a few yards and CCSU will punt here. A very strange drive. RMU starts on the 6th after a punt.
Drive 10: Still looking solid on the run game. Ethan Shine now moving the pile. The offensive line really does look pretty solid for the Colonials even to the outside. Kai Holloway gets a first down on a out route and we’re close to midfield again. The teams have really kind of lived in the middle of the field. Jet sweep gets a first down and Ethan Shine gets a pancake (let’s remember here for my benefit- about 2:35 in the half). At the 2 minute wardning RMU gets to Kai Holloway again in the middle of the field and we’re closing in on field goal range. The Colonials get to the 24 on the next pass. You can really hear the Central fans here. 1:12 remaining; 4th and 9 after another one of those underthrows just doesn’t connect this time, and now the field goal unit comes out. No good- Doink.
Drive 11: 2 minute drill time. They get a big pass down the middle of the field (34 yard line). An 11 yard out gets a first down, but another dropped snap leads to the 3rd timeout being used by CCSU. On the 17, they’ll attempt to get to the end zone. A short pass gets them to the 10 and CCSU’s Hennesy will attempt from the 17 (ball spotted on the 10). RMU attempts to put Hennessy on ice. The kick is up and no good. 14-0, halftime.
Is Brady Olson the Best Quarterback in the NEC?
Heading into the season, the battle for best quarterback in the NEC was a two man race. Now that race has expanded a little, but the leader in the clubhouse was probably not one we saw coming.
Brady Olson isn’t a new figure to the NEC or college football. The Massachusetts product (and transfer, for that matter) has been playing in Division I since 2021. With that kind of backlog of games to look through, you can forgive us all for thinking that Olson kind of was who he was at this point.
In 2024, he was okay. I wish I knew a better way to describe his performance. He threw for 17 touchdowns to 12 interceptions and 51.1% accuracy. The key to CCSU’s offense was obviously Elijah Howard, and the offensive line that the Blue Devils sported last year would have led you to believe that Olson had the best possible conditions in 2024- and with that, he threw just a handful more touchdowns than interceptions. The addition of Donovan Wadley this year might help him a little, sure, but you can’t call him a game manager with those interception numbers. He’s adding just a little more than he’s taking away.
Enter 2025.
Through 6 games, he’s looked like a legitimate contender for offensive player of the year. Olson has done a whole lot more than throw touchdowns. He’s done that- he’s at 11 so far- but the real key to his improvement has been how well he’s done taking care of the ball. Again, Olson has played 6 games, including one against an FBS team. Despite that, he has thrown just one interception. One.
To me, ball security is paramount in quarterbacks. You can win the game, even with a low yards per play, if you don’t beat yourself. A punt isn’t a winning play, but it isn’t always a losing one. Not compared to desperation interceptions or fumbles from extending a play too long. So Olson has that box checked, and certainly has improved his performance from last season in that regard. But he’s done so much more than that.
Olson is now throwing 59.6%- a big jump from 51.1%. That’s an extra completion for every 10 throws. If that seems small to you, think get back to me after the next 3rd and 7 your team misses. Every little bit helps, and that’s a big jump. He’s been more accurate, but he’s not throwing for less yardage or taking strictly checkdown throws. There’s no indication at all that Olson’s been more careful with the ball by making high percentage, low upside throws. Quite the opposite, in fact. He’s taken his yards per game from 172.2 to 213. It’s not that he’s just throwing more, either. His yards per attempt has gone up a full yard from last year, too. Compare him across the board in college football, and you’ll see even more reasons for excitement. 21 quarterbacks have thrown for 1200 passing yards so far this season. Only Olson has thrown just one interception. It’s not a fluke, and it’s not something with a small sample size- obviously, on that last point. How can you play 6 games, throw 1200 yards, 11 TDs, and even argue that there’s a small sample size?
You can’t.
The cumulative statistics are great, but they’re not the whole story. This past Saturday against Sacred Heart, Olson accounted for five touchdowns. Five. He ran for one (including the 4th quarter one to put CCSU in the lead), threw for four (including the first play overtime touchdown pass), and, again, never put CCSU in a position where they could beat themselves. He’s no longer a decent player, someone we can refer to as “okay” but not in the conversation with the top quarterbacks in the league. He was serviceable. But that performance was not “serviceable.” It was not someone who doesn’t beat themselves. Olson had a running back that ran for 100 yards, but in the 4th quarter and overtime, he sure looked like someone who could- and did- put the team on his back. He refused to lose to Sacred Heart and to have a third last minute game slip through. The fire was evident after his late rushing touchdown as he headed towards the sidelines. He would not go off the field a late loser again. Olson willed the Blue Devils across the finish line. What a performance.
Coach Lechtenberg pointed out to us that what Olson achieved with that performance was the most important stat at all. “I've always asked him, how do you evaluate quarterbacks if not by winning? And he continues to prove that he can do that,” Lechtenberg said. “The thing about Brady, he's the same guy every week, whether he's playing great or playing good or whatever. He continues to play. We started three true freshmen on the O-line last week, and he didn't blink an eye. Whether things are going good or bad, he's the same person, and that's what I can appreciate about him. He's a competitor. He gives us a chance every week to win games, and I really appreciate that.”
We’re six games in. Not all of the answers are here yet. They haven’t named the first team QB yet.
But if Olson keeps playing at this level, you can’t make an argument for anyone else.
GAME PREVIEW: Central Connecticut at Robert Morris
Robert Morris has a new lease on life. It’s conference play now, and the winner of the NEC goes to the playoffs. That’s it. So flush away the tight loss to Dayton, the opener at West Virginia, and last
On Saturday, the first place Blue Devils (1-0) travel to Moon Township to tale on the Colonials, who will be opening up conference play. We had the chance to speak with Coach Lechtenberg prior to leaving New Britain for the unfriendly confines of Joe Walton Stadium. We’ll be on site on Saturday and will have the chance to speak to Coach Clark postgame.
When we asked Coach Lechtenberg about the evolution his team had taken- particularly in the aftermath of going from a pair of close losses with Merrimack and Dartmouth to then winning a close game against Sacred Heart- he told us “The evolution is we're trying to win close, tough games. Both of those were very hard-fought games. We've had a lot of hard-fought games, some that went our way and some that didn't. We understand that's just part of the process, and college football every week is a hard job. So as a young team, we're trying to continue to mature, continue to be tough enough to find a way to win these close games, and we expect to be no different this week.”
So we’re probably looking at another tight contest from Cardiac Connecticut State University. This is a team that plays tight games. They played them all last year and this season hasn’t looked too different. Coach spoke about the physicality that RMU brings and how this is likely going to lead to another game of football the way we like it in the Northeast- the kind where toughness wins. “On both sides of the ball, they're a big, athletic, and physical group,” Lechtenberg said. “We're going to have to have a physical and tough football team because we know they're going to be physical.”
Offensively, while the Colonials haven’t been able to avoid playing multiple quarterbacks, there’s a lot to like. “We expect their starter to be back and to play well. He can throw it. They've got good receivers. Their backs are bigger, physical running backs, so we're going to have to tackle well because they do run hard with a big O-line.”
And if this one goes down to the wire- it always seems to for CCSU- there’s a maturing process the team is going through. They’ve let up some late touchdowns, but last week seemed to be a turning point when they stopped a talented Sacred Heart QB from being able to score in overtime on a 4th down stop. To Coach Lechtenberg, it’s the confidence and t he experience of doing it that’s key to develop, because the playmakers are there. “I just think we have to continue to develop confidence because making those plays in clutch situations is all about confidence and believing you can do it,” Lechtenberg told us. “We've got a lot of guys that haven't played a lot of football, so the fact that we were able to make a play at the end and get it done, hopefully that breeds confidence for our guys because that's really what we're trying to do. We have enough guys that can make those plays. We just got to perform and get it done.”
Early indications are good football weather, so if you’re in the area, you should not miss this rematch of the best game all season in the NEC.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 7: Mercyhurst Has Never Lost a Conference Game
The Lake Show opened up their first conference slate in the NEC by upending LIU at home. It was the ESPN+ game this week for the NEC, which usually means that the league’s royalty (for lack of a better word) is present. With the mutterings about Mercyhurst after they were added (primarily that they weren’t much of a PSAC team and now they were heading up a level), the early part of this season for the Lakers has to be encouraging. I’m not saying overly encouraging- this was Mercyhurst’s 2nd win of the season, after all- but they were competitive in most of their heavy hitter non-conference games against teams like South Dakota State, Sacramento State, and Montana State. Against LIU, they proved it was worth it. That doesn’t mean the Lake Show is at the top of the charts, but they do happen to have a 1-0 record all time in the NEC (2-2 in “unofficial” league games prior to this one).
Duquesne
The Dukes, though. It sometimes feels like we don’t give this team enough due for being number one most weeks. It’s probably because we expect these kind of performances out of Duquesne. They played at the time #2 NEC Blitz Stonehill and won in a runaway victory. It seemed over at half time, and was. Duquesne’s defensive front was everything we had hoped they’d be this season, the linebacker corps (led by returning from injury Tyson Meiguez) is significantly better than we expected, and Ty Riddell has been the quarterback we thought he could be in a best case scenario. In our preview magazine, we talked about how Duquesne could probably stand to have a few things go wrong and still win the league; well, almost nothing is going wrong right now. Ryan Petras has been a revelation at WR; he was committed to Princeton and flipped to his hometown Dukes. Right now, he’s looking like a contender for the NEC Freshman OPOY.
Central Connecticut State
I agonized over this one. Do you make CCSU the 2nd best team after an overtime win, or do you give Mercyhurst the nod after beating a conference opponent? Ultimately, Sacred Heart came into this one at 4-1 and LIU now has an 0-2 conference record, so we had to go with which is looking like the better win right now. Coming into the year, you couldn’t quite call Brady Olson a game manager after an okay performance in 2024 that saw him throw 17 TDs to 12 INTs- he performed well, but was taking a little too much off the table with his ball security. That script has flipped in 2025. He accounted for 5 TDs against Sacred Heart and has thrown 1 pick all year. We have to start asking the question: is Olson the best quarterback in the NEC?
Mercyhurst
Here’s where the Lakers are. They once again flexed their defensive muscles in a tight win over LIU at home in front of a homecoming crowd (and ESPN+ viewers across the country) at Saxon Stadium. Brian Trobel looks every bit as good as we’d hoped, but there are three running backs for the Lakers who can make noise, including freshman Mookie Gamble. The Lakers have had about as good of an offense as we expected- maybe a step back from a ball security standpoint- but the defense has come out of nowhere. I love Erie’s team, but I did not see the defense coming at all and Mercyhurst has established themselves as a legitimate NEC contender.
Stonehill
Stonehill couldn’t force the Dukes into a low scoring game, and so they fell on the road in Pittsburgh to 1-1 in conference. I had kind of thought that if the Skyhawks allowed 24 points, they’d be in a tough spot to win. If they could muddy it up and control the game, if their elite defense could keep the Dukes from breaking through… it was definitely not a foregone conclusion that the Dukes would win this game, but Stonehill had to win it in their own way. Once it got away from that style, it was tough for the Skyhawks to come back and they dropped to 1-1 in conference. With that loss, they also dropped to #4 in our rankings.
Long Island
LIU has dropped to 0-2 in conference play. The Sharks just haven’t been able to get all of their best players on the field since the Eastern Michigan win. I can’t help but feel like this isn’t the last Jaws sighting, though. LIU is talented, but just like last season the early course of the year may not be going the way they wanted. What will count is if, just like last season, they finish it the right way. Keep in mind that LIU hasn’t played CCSU or Duquesne yet. If they can pull off wins there, they’ll still be in the title race. They' get a week to heal up now.
New Haven
The Chargers pulled off a 28-14 win against Division II Pace, a former conference foe that is having a poor season over in the NE-10. This pulled them up to 3-3 overall, with two of those wins coming against Division II opponents in their transition year. AJ Duffy didn’t have his best game, but he didn’t need to. NEC Blitz Preview Magazine cover athlete Zaon Laney ran for 143 yards, 2 TDs, and had a long of 61 after exploding for a long of 50+ last week. He’s looking healthy and New Haven will continue to look good on offense as long as he and Duffy are clicking. They have WestConn next week and should be predicted to win big.
Wagner
Wagner was idle this week, but will host Mercyhurst on Staten Island next weekend for their first conference game of the season. Coming off a win against Norfolk State and seemingly having locked up the quarterback competition with Jordan Barton, the Seahawks have their whole season and all of their goals in front of them, even with a 1-4 record.
Robert Morris
The Colonials traveled to Merrimack and unfortunately are still unable to scare up any offense with a 24-7 road loss. They scored in the first quarter but were unable to keep up the momentum, and eventually Merrimack was able to pull away as the game went on. The Colonials are 1-4 and welcoming Central Connecticut State to the Joe on Saturday for their conference opener. We’ll be there.
Saint Francis
The Red Flash were idle this week, but will travel to Duquesne for their 2nd conference game on Saturday. It’s a game that Duquesne is unlikely to overlook with the final battle against the long time in-state opponents on the line. The Red Flash are 0-5 and 0-1 in the NEC, but in their last game against Bucknell they looked their best and the offense seemed to finally be waking up a little.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 6: Stonehill Gets Elevated
We called our shot early, and it seems to be looking pretty good in the beginning weeks of league play.
Of course, anything can happen. But here’s how early season predictions work. When you’re winning during the season, at any point at all, you need to celebrate how brilliant you are. You ignore your misses. And if your early wins turn into misses, forget it. You’ve celebrated it. Now, just go ahead and ignore the downfall.
We liked Stonehill taking on LIU and we loved Stonehill’s defense coming into the season, but what we saw against the high powered, difficult to plan for Sharks was beyond what we could have expected. Accordingly, the big story this week isn’t the change at the top (funny how that works), but that Stonehill- picked 8th by every other outlet I’ve had the pleasure of reading, picked 4th by NEC Blitz- is in the top half of the rankings and has doubled their win total from last season, with chances to have two additional wins on their resume. There’s holes in that resume, and the season is young. We’re still in September. But, still- take the wins where you can get them.
Duquesne
The Dukes had no trouble handling New Haven in Pittsburgh, and while this is their best win to this point they looked dominant against the Chargers. New Haven was on a two game win streak including a big win over Albany, but after a good first drive the game was all Dukes. Joey Isabella had 3 touchdowns in the first half alone and Ty Riddell looked like one of the best quarterbacks in the NEC- he’s quietly been building a resume, and once the Dukes get into conference play we’ll get a chance to see him up against the rest of the league. He had no problems matching up with a stellar quarterback in AJ Duffy. Defensively, the Dukes once again looked dominant. The Dukes have won the two non-conference games they were supposed to win, lost the two expected FBS games, and were very competitive with a top 10 Lehigh team. They’re the favorite heading into conference.
Stonehill
Stonehill’s still having some trouble getting into the end zone, but the defense has made the huge strides we hoped and believed that they could. LIU was held to 3 points, and while Stonehill was only able to muster 10 of their own, you do tend to win football games when you only give up a field goal. They forced Ethan Greenwood into two interceptions and Charles Battaglia will probably be the defensive player of the week in the league with 9 tackles and 2 sacks. The less obvious downside? Stonehill had trouble with penalties (12 for 90). They’ll have to clean that up if the offense isn’t able to get more points on the board, but in a league that looks low on dominant teams, a defense this good should make some more noise through the rest of the conference slate.
Central Connecticut State
The Blue Devils traded two turnovers for two turnovers with Dartmouth, but it’s hard to win giving up 407 yards through the air. Nevertheless, there were still a lot of bright spots here and I’d consider them effectively tied with Stonehill- just better wins for the Skyhawks. Brady Olson continues to be careful with the ball and puts CCSU in a position to win every time Hard Hittin’ New Britain takes the field. He’s so seasoned that it’s hard to imagine the Blue Devils beating themselves this season. Unfortunately, there was just too much room for Dartmouth to throw, especially with a last second 50 yard touchdown to give the Ivy League school the lead and the win.
Long Island
Despite the loss to Stonehill, the Sharks are not done this season and still have the big win against Eastern Michigan to buoy them somewhat. It’s hard to tell if Stonehill’s issue was their own offense or the good defense that that Sharks have shown this season. When- not if- the offense gets back to scoring points, LIU will get the wins back.
Mercyhurst
The Lakers lost big in a buy game on the road to South Dakota State. Flush it and move on. We’re excited to see the Urena to Evans connection moving through the league slate.
Wagner
Wagner got their first win in pretty dramatic fashion against Head Coach Mike Vick’s Norfolk State. The Seahawks have decided to go with Jordan Barton at QB for the time being, and he was able to throw for 2 TDs against 2 INTs. The big story might be the 108 yard game from Andre Hines, who also provided a touchdown. It’s a good win against an opponent getting lots of press prior to entering conference play.
Robert Morris
RMU was idle this week. They’ll travel to former NEC foe Merrimack this Saturday before beginning league play (and a game we’ll be at!) with a big rematch against CCSU, which was the best game in the NEC last season.
New Haven
New Haven struggled against Duquesne, but an interesting trend we’ve seen is that New Haven seems to be fantastic at scripting drives to start games. Zaon Laney had his best game with over 60 yards and a 51 yard scamper, but this one looked an awful lot like the contest against Mercyhurst. Might set up an interesting match for the Dukes and the Lakers in a few weeks.
Saint Francis
Saint Francis was scoring points against Bucknell and went into the half with the lead. With the offense starting to wake up, the Red Flash are still only at 0-1 in conference despite the overall record and certainly have the potential to be more than a factor in league play- they still have the opportunity to make the playoffs with minimal help at this point! Without wins, though, there’s nowhere else to put them.
What Do We Really Know About CCSU?
Through four games, the league’s official favorite has gone 2-2. But with how strange out of conference schedules in the NEC can be, it’s an open question- well, what have we learned about CCSU to this point?
The Blue Devils have a win over in-conference Saint Francis, out of division AIC, a loss to FBS UConn, and a loss against non-conference Merrimack. It would be very hard to find a more diverse opponent pool than those four. Fortunately, I do think there are some insights to glean, even if nothing at this point in the season can really be concrete- especially when you’ve got four games against four categories of opponents. Here are three things we’ve picked up on so far:
Brady Olson Understands Ball Security
It’s hardly a surprise that the Blue Devils are valuing possession and taking care of the football. They had a monstrous +14 turnover margin in 2024, and with that being a now-proven recipe for success, there’s no reason to do anything except try to replicate it. Fortunately, they’ve got the right QB at the helm to manage that. Olson isn’t flashy- he’s not likely to be in the conversation for NEC First Team at the end of the season- but he’s not giving the ball away, either. He’s spreading the ball out and, of course, letting Elijah Howard get the ball downfield on the ground and through the outlet passes. It’s been enough to score points against AIC and, in the second half, Saint Francis. Most importantly, he’s not putting CCSU’s defense in bad situations. Football is a long game, not a sprint. If you can control the pace of the game, win field position, and win the turnover battle, you’re usually able to win.
Chris Jean Picked Up Where He Left Off
Jean has looked like the ballhawk he ended the season in 2024 as. It’s as though something fell into place for him at the tail end of last season. Sometimes those stretches look like variance, but the evidence is only compounding that Jean is a real force for CCSU- and that the opportunistic defense we saw last season might still be there in Hard Hittin’ New Britain. He’s already got 3 interceptions (including 2 against Merrimack) just 4 games into the season. He also picked up a blocked field goal in Merrimack game and returned it the length of the field, but a penalty brought it back to the 40 (Elijah Howard was able to score). Had the Blue Devils not had to spend the time marching down the field, the game against the Warriors could certainly have gone the other way.
The Defense Is Not A Problem
We had wondered about the defensive line being able to reload in New Britain. It’s not clear that they’ll be able to replicate the absurd success they had last season, but what is clear is that the Blue Devils defense can keep them in any game. Flush away the UConn game and you’ve got a 7 point outing against Saint Francis, 7 points against AIC, and 16 points against Merrimack- but with a huge asterisk. Merrimack blocked a CCSU punt and recovered on the 5 yard line to set up the first touchdown of the game, followed by Olson’s only interception on the year setting up a field goal. Finally, an Elijah Howard fumble returned to the CCSU 29 set up another field goal. The Blue Devils are used to being on the winning end of these kind of turnover battles, but came out on the wrong side against Merrimack. This won’t happen every game, and those 13 points off of turnovers were the only reason Merrimack was able to come out on top. The defense looks stellar early in this season, and they’re certainly good enough for the Blue Devils to repeat in 2025.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 5: Playing Darts Blindfolded
I think I quote it like twice a week. In my first conversation ever with an NEC head coach, he told me: “Well, the NEC is a funny thing.”
And it is. There’s a reason I always point to this as the most fun you’ll ever have watching football. You never really know what will happen. The unpredictable nature of football lives in the NEC, even when it’s sometimes hard to find at other levels of competition. I think I know what’s coming. I’m as well-studied as anyone out there to know what’s coming. And even then, I’m looking forward to my well-educated spectacular misses. It never stops being fun here.
I hardly know where to move things, or if I should even move things at all, after this week. But after some deliberation, this is what I’ve come up with:
Central Connecticut State
The loss to Merrimack was a heartbreaker and marked by a lack of points from the Blue Devils until the final frame. They took the lead with two touchdowns but lost on a last second field goal to the Warriors to drop to 2-2 overall. Elijah Howard ran for 91 and got involved in the passing game, but the Donovan Wadley revenge game was not to be and perhaps having this one in New Britain would have changed the outcome. Nevertheless, it was a fine defensive performance from CCSU and they remain the leader at 1-0 in conference play.
Duquesne
Even though CCSU lost and you can mostly write off FBS losses (especially after no one was going to let the NEC sneak up on them following Long Island’s win over Eastern Michigan), you can’t really reward the Dukes after the Akron game. Again, write it off. We have something far more interesting on Saturday when New Haven comes to the Bluff. You hate to rely too heavily on the transitive property, but this will give us a chance to see how Duquesne stacks up compared to their in-state competition up in Erie. New Haven is on such a roll, though, that any conclusions will have to wait until the Dukes and Lakers meet.
Long Island
It’s been two games since LIU was able to knock off FBS opponent Eastern Michigan, and in that time we’ve had two no-shows for Ethan Greenwood at quarterback and this past week Luca Stanzani did not participate. Chris Howell did what he could, but he ended up with a 0 TD to 2 INT ratio and the Sharks were able to score just 7 points on the #6 Rhode Island Rams. I would have loved to see what Long Island could have done if healthy- I think they could have absolutely hung with the Rams for the second straight season- but this is who they are for the time being and I’m not sure I can put them up any higher with the uncertainty at the most important position in football. A bright spot was here, though, with O.J. Ross running for 130 yards at the running back slot. That’s LIU. There’s 100 yard rushers all the way down.
Stonehill
We’ll bump Stonehill up to fourth here as they were able to mount a furious comeback against Penn of the Ivy League that just fell short. Stonehill is 1-3 and yet are probably just a handful of plays from 3-1. Fascinatingly, they’re also one play from 0-4. You expect this is a bit of growing pains from a team that’s just gained some experience from the year prior, has improved, but maybe hasn’t really learned how to win yet. The game against Maine was a big start, but they’ll have to grow up in a hurry now with conference play ahead of them. LIU heads to Easton next and while we’re just not sure what quarterback we’ll see from the Skyhawks, how they’re able to contain whomever it is we’ll see- and if they can find the end zone just a little more often- will probably determine how this one goes.
Mercyhurst
A virtual tie with Stonehill. I gave the Skyhawks the nod just because the offense was able to do a little more than Mercyhurst was, even against an absolute monster Montana State team that the Lakers had to go up against. They acquitted themselves well- incredibly well, actually- on defense, but the 3 red zone drives without points will probably go down as the missed opportunity for Urena and Co. The road trip goes on to South Dakota State this weekend before we get to see what the Lakers are really made of in conference play, and if they really are as good as the team that punched out New Haven just a few weeks ago.
New Haven
Speaking of New Haven, the Chargers are on a 2 game win streak but have had fast starts with furious comebacks against them in the past two weeks. They’ve been able to hold on, but a 4 quarter performance is still missing from their repertoire. A.J. Duffy remains a dark horse for the first team QB conversation in the NEC, and if they can give Duquesne a fast start this week they’ll have a chance to really shock the league and shake up the Northeast. Everyone in the league saw the performance against Mercyhurst, but you can be sure everyone is aware of what the Chargers were able to do against Albany, too. Really looking forward to this one on the Bluff.
Robert Morris
Bobby Mo had Dayton on the ropes in Moon Township but let the game slip away. A particularly troubling aspect was that quarterback Zach Tanner left the game and did not return. Quarterback was probably the one place with RMU where we really knew what they had and were excited about it, but now there’s a little more uncertainty for the Colonials. Ethan Shine is looking like a fine addition to their running back room, but after Tanner left the game the passing suffered a little and the offense had some of the trouble it’s shown earlier in the season.
Wagner
Wagner took on FBS Central Michigan this Saturday. You can flush it and forget it. Wagner gave significant attempts to Jordan Barton in this one, and my suspicion is that we may not be completely done with the quarterback competition on Staten Island. Freshman Benjamin Newton also saw some time. It’s a fine idea to use the FBS game to see what you’ve got across the board as the Seahawks prepare to welcome Michael Vick’s Norfolk State team to Staten Island before a bye week will recover them from NEC play. This is the time to work out the kinks.
Saint Francis
Against a team the Red Flash beat last season in a spectacular comeback victory, the offense yet again sputtered while posting its highest point total of the season, hitting double digits for the first time with 10 points. The bigger problem? Delaware State was able to score on Saint Francis early in the game, which we haven’t really seen much of to this point. We had wondered if the defense was finally getting tired late in contests and surrendering points. Now, you have to wonder if the frequent low scoring performances are becoming a problem, or if DeSean Jackson was just able to turn around the Hornets that fast. They’re not famous for winning performances at Delaware State, but unfortunately they were able to put together a convincing one in Loretto. With the Red Flash at 0-1 in conference, there’s just nowhere else to put them until they’re able to muster an offensive performance.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 4: I’m Blue
If you are my age, you will remember a crucial debate from childhood: Red or Blue?
That is, which version of Pokemon is best? (Conventional wisdom, by the way, favored Blue entirely on the basis of Raichu being available in the Power Plant in late game.)
I digress. This past week in the Northeast Conference, we got to see the Blue Devils take on the Red Flash. It looked close for a half, but no defense can hold on forever without the offense helping them out, and in the second half the Blue Devils prevailed and pulled away to make it look easy. A far cry from last season’s tight battle. With LIU losing a homecoming heartbreaker, we have yet another leader at the top spot in the volatile early weeks of the Power Rankings.
Central Connecticut State
No shocker here, as the Blue Devils pulled away from the Red Flash late and Elijah Howard made his presence known, returning to the field with a receiving touchdown on the second Blue Devils drive. His rushing totals were a bit limited (he only did have 12 carries), but his return means big things for the CCSU offense. It’s not clear they need him to have more than 12 carries at this point in the season, either. Donovan Wadley got going this week with a 39 yard catch, and Brady Olson has been taking care of the ball through the first 3 games with a 4 to 0 TD to INT ratio. And best of all? That defense looks like the same aggressive one that forced turnovers last year. I think we may have downplayed how good the Blue Devils really are up until this point.
Duquesne
The Dukes lost to #10 Lehigh but played them tightly, giving them a contest throughout the entire game after taking it to Lincoln (PA) the week prior. The Dukes travel on the road to FBS Akron this week, which often means it’s another game that we can’t learn too much from. Joey Isabella looks like the best WR in the NEC to this point. The linebackers, which we thought would be a weakness, are actually one of the strengths of the team with multiple players capable of being named Prime Performers each week. Daniel Tarabella has emerged as one of the NEC’s top tight ends. It’s hard to punish Duquesne for a loss to the #10 team in the country, particularly when they showed that they’re able to compete with anyone at this level of football, but polls like this are fluid and the Dukes certainly control their destiny even after they face Akron.
Long Island
The Sharks still have a dominant victory over FBS Eastern Michigan on their resume, but they fell to Sacred Heart in a tough loss on homecoming this past weekend and their ranking suffered for it. The Sharks surrendered 10 points in the 4th quarter including a winning field goal as time expired to fall by 3 points. Sacred Heart has looked better than expected this season (has also defeated Stonehill) but after a big run from Luca Stanzani (75 yards!) offense was tough to come by. Ethan Greenwood did not play in this contest. The Sharks have another big chance at an upset this week as they head to Rhode Island to take on a Rams team ranked as high as #6.
Mercyhurst
The Lakers were able to play with Sacramento State, even leading 18-7 in the 2nd quarter and had it within a touchdown in the 4th. New Haven’s win over Albany also gives us some good context for their victory over the Chargers in Erie. Rylan Davison and Dylan Evans each caught a Urena TD pass. They’ll head to #4 Montana State next.
Stonehill
Stonehill pulled off a road win at Maine which has been kicked around by football focused media in this part of the country as potentially the biggest win in program history. The miracle 4th and 21 pass to Brigham Dunphy shouldn’t take away from the overall season Stonehill’s had so far, though. They played Sacred Heart as well as LIU did, and this is a team that could certainly be looking at 2-1 right now. They’ll have to take on the Ivy League’s Penn next at home.
New Haven
New Haven got their first win as a Division I program, rocketing out to a fast start in Albany and holding off the Great Danes for the remainder of the contest, giving AJ Duffy his second Offensive Player of the Week nod in the process. New Haven will host Division II Saginaw Valley State (1-2) on The Blue for their first home game as a Division I program.
Robert Morris
RMU was able to beat West Liberty, but the offense still seemed to have some trouble getting started against the Division II program. The Colonials were able to get some touches in for Ethan Shine and Donta Whack, and Zach Tanner threw two touchdown passes to no interceptions although they limited their reliance on the pass game. They’ll host Dayton this Saturday.
Wagner
Wagner played Georgetown well on the road but was unable to get much going on offense against Marist, losing 21-10 behind a turnover-hindered performance (5 turnovers to Marist’s 1). You can’t win when you’re giving up possessions in bulk- a theme behind the bottom two in our rankings this week. Wagner is 0-3 but probably had opportunities to win their past two games. They’ll get back on the road to face an FBS opponent in Central Michigan.
Saint Francis
Saint Francis has a stellar defense that has kept them in games for a half most of this season so far, but the offense hasn’t been able to replace what they lost through the transfer portal including their top two running backs and best wide receiver. The Red Flash fumbled the ball 5 times, recovered only two of those, and threw 2 interceptions. You can’t win games giving up the rock five times. The Red Flash have been fantastic at playing defense, but their 7 points on Saturday was unfortunately their high on the season so far. You can’t win games in football unless you score points- it’s an obvious statement, but if you haven’t shown that you’re going to be able to win games, you can’t get out of the basement.
GAME PREVIEW: Saint Francis at Central Connecticut State
The title defense for the Blue Devils begins right here.
Central Connecticut welcomes in Saint Francis to Hard Hittin’ New Britain in a rematch of what was also the season opener for the NEC in 2024. (While New Haven at Mercyhurst is considered an NEC matchup, New Haven is not playing a full league schedule and so the game does not count in conference standings). Last year, it was one of the best games of the season: a game that could have gone either way with a fumble return setting the tone for CCSU’s opportunistic defense all season long, and winning them the close game in Loretto. It was a microcosm of Central Connecticut all season long, in one game.
This is Saint Francis’s last ever opener in the NEC with a move to Division III looming. They’ve yet to reach 7 points in a game with their first two contests coming against FBS opponents in Louisiana-Monroe and Buffalo. Meanwhile, Central Connecticut struggled against FBS and in-state rival UConn before dominating another long-time opponent in nearby Massachusetts, beating AIC 34-7. With one FBS opponent and one D2 opponent, it’s difficult to know what to expect out of the Blue Devils. The same could be said for the Red Flash, who have been punching up so far this season.
Looking at keys to the game, we expected a lot out of Saint Francis’s offensive line this season. It’s easily the most talented unit on their roster (Geno Calgaro does not count as a “unit” when we evaluate the linebackers) and an experienced group. The Blue Devils have had to rebuild and reload on the defensive front. It’ll be interesting to see if Saint Francis’s offensive line is able to push the Blue Devils back and get running room for their backs- and time for Nick Whitfield, Jr., to throw. Against FBS competition, it’s hard to evaluate who the Red Flash could be offensively. Against the top tier competition they’ve faced so far, they’ve looked like 2024 all over again.
If the Blue Devils defensive line isn’t up to the task against the Red Flash, they’ll have to rely on their ability to score. Elijah Howard was reportedly on crutches at the end of the UConn game, and he did not participate on Saturday against AIC. He’s the go-to for Central Connecticut, and his absence would be a major blow if he continues to miss time. We don’t speculate on injuries- hopefully he’s feeling well soon if he’s not well already.
The other interesting thing for the Blue Devils is that Donovan Wadley hasn’t really gotten going for them yet offensively. This would be a perfect time for a breakout game from the NEC 2023 Offensive Player of the Year, and the connection between veteran QB Brady Olson and Wadley is definitely one to watch, especially if Wadley has to become the primary weapon for the Blue Devils.
Defensively, we’ve already mentioned Geno Calgaro, and it’s likely that he’ll be a limiting force in the run game regardless of who lines up at tailback for Hard Hittin’. Calgaro has met the expectations placed on him this season by our outlet and others. While it’s been a tough two weeks for the Red Flash, they took a close game into the 4th quarter in Monroe although that success proved difficult to replicate in Buffalo. They’re still on the road when they travel to Connecticut, but the difference in depth an NEC team will see against any FBS team will not be present this Saturday. It seems likely that the Red Flash will be able to keep CCSU from being too explosive offensively.
This one is coming down to if Saint Francis can score. We think the defense will be able to keep it tight, but if they still can’t put points on the board, Central will be able to win in a close game.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 3: Sharks Jump
I don’t think this is any surprise heading into this week. If you beat an FBS team- no, if you control the game against them, have a 4th quarter drive that takes up over 9 minutes, and never trail- well, you get to be first place in the power rankings. Congratulations to the Long Island Sharks, but this early in the season, volatility in the power rankings is everywhere.
Long Island
You know the really brilliant thing that the Sharks have going for them? There can never be a quarterback controversy here. It was understood going into the season that Luca Stanzani and Ethan Greenwood would both play. Now that they’re doing that, it doesn’t really matter if Stanzani takes more of the snaps going forward; you can’t split the locker room when exactly what was expected to happen, well, happens. Long Island now has to take it back home to take on Sacred Heart; they’ll be expected to outscore the Pioneers easily, but if they can do that they have to hit the road to take on a Rhode Island team that’s been consistently ranked. You can’t get ahead of yourself, but taking on CCSU and Duquesne in subsequent weeks toward the end of the season might be the most important two game stretch in LIU Sharks football history. They just have to keep winning until then.
Duquesne
Through no fault of Duquesne, they fall to second place after taking care of business against Lincoln (PA). They’ll welcome #10 Lehigh to the Bluff for next week in what will be one of the biggest games of the week for the NEC. Ty Riddell looked every bit what he showed a few glimmers of against Pitt on Saturday, Joey Isabella found the end zone, and we’ve got a Dukes team that has been all over the place here in terms of opponents, heading from the P4 to D2 and finally to a top 10 FCS team. They’ll then head off to Akron to face a G5. We might not really know what we have with the Dukes until October, but what we saw against Lincoln looked very promising.
Central Connecticut State
The Blue Devils rebounded from facing a tough UConn team on the road to taking on American International at home. It was never in doubt for the Blue Devils, and now they’ll head straight into conference play by welcoming Saint Francis to Hard Hittin’ New Britain. An interesting wrinkle against AIC was that Donovan Wadley had one carry and one catch. You have to imagine that the former NEC Offensive Player of the Year is going to have a bigger role as the season goes on, and as he does that you’d assume that CCSU will further hit its stride. A big opportunity for him is coming up after the Saint Francis game when CCSU travels to former conference foe Merrimack- and Wadley’s former school.
Mercyhurst
The Lake Show was out in full force, defeating New Haven convincingly and confirming that Dylan Evans is here to stay. Adam Urena threw for 347 yards, but the show was more than the signal caller. The Lakers garnered a massive 647 yards of total offense, with Brian Trobel running for over a hundred, sometimes from the wildcat, and rookie Mookie Gamble earning NEC Rookie of the Week honors. Unfortunately, we might be taking a brief break from the Lake Show, as road games against Sacramento State, Montana State, and South Dakota State will challenge the Lakers heavily. On the other hand, Youngstown State is a traditionally strong foe, and the Lakers hung with them well. We’ll have to see how Mercyhurst handles top flight out of conference competition before re-entering conference play.
Wagner
Wagner led for much of the game against Georgetown, but couldn’t pull off the upset and dropped the decision to fall to 0-2. With how well they hung on, though, it seems unfair to punish them too hard. Wagner will be welcoming Marist to Grymes Hill for the first home game of their slate and the first time they’ve faced the in-state Red Foxes since 2008. They’ll be expected to win before they get back on the road to face FBS competition. Wagner looks like they’re talented, but it’s unclear yet if this is the breakthrough season that just feels like the program has been building up to.
Robert Morris
Unfortunately for the Colonials, they weren’t able to do much of anything against the Youngstown State Penguins who had difficulty handling Mercyhurst the week prior. The transitive property strikes and we’re left wondering how Robert Morris will fare against Mercyhurst late in the season. However, we would caution against panic just yet. RMU is a transfer heavy team this season and underwent a lot of coaching turnover, including some late changes. It just might not have come together yet for the Colonials. They’ll have a chance to get right against West Liberty and while there’s some consternation in Pittsburgh, our opinion is to just be patient. Top flight competition, new coaches, and a roster that hasn’t come together yet would make anyone look pedestrian.
Stonehill
The Skyhawks gave up 21 points in the 2nd quarter, but the offense looked to be making some improvements late in this contest. They’ll need it as they’re traveling 270 miles north to Maine. The 90 yard fumble scoop and score for the Skyhawks (Richard Mosley III) might have actually made this one look a little more competitive than it was. Jack O’Connell once again was completing passes, but this time he had some scoring and yardage might behind him, with 3 TD passes and 269 yards through the air. The best football for Stonehill is still up ahead for them this season, and I do still think this is a team with potential to make noise in league play. If they continue to make incremental improvements, you have to like them hitting their stride as conference play begins in earnest.
New Haven
The Chargers weren’t able to stop the Lake Show on defense and the offense struggled as well on the road in Erie. Unfortunately, they’ll hit the road against Albany yet again and won’t have many reprieves this season. AJ Duffy threw for 183 with one TD through the air (he rushed for another) in the losing effort against Mercyhurst. Interestingly, they looked like they’d be very competitive early with a TD drive on the first possession, but as the game wore on they were unable to keep pace with the Lakers. This is still not a team that’s been fully healthy, missing Zaon Laney, and perhaps they’ll get better football under them as the season goes on.
Saint Francis
The Red Flash dropped their second consecutive FBS game to Buffalo and scored their first touchdown of the season late. With CCSU coming up, we still don’t really have a great idea of what Saint Francis will do against like competition this year, but the defense had more trouble against Buffalo than they’d had against ULM and as such they’ll have to stay in the basement here. CCSU and Saint Francis played an incredibly close game in 2024, and an upset is certainly not out of the question as we’ll finally get a chance to see what the Red Flash will offer in 2025.
NEC Football Power Rankings Week 2: Mulligan!
There’s no point in doing power rankings in week 1; that’s just your season predictions. For the NEC, in a lot of ways, there’s not always a ton of value in doing Week 2 power rankings, either.
The membership of our league was not upset, nor did it pull any upsets; everything went pretty much chalk with one exception- S&P+ had New Haven, a school playing their first Division I football game with a new team as a road favorite against Marist. Just pointing that out to be truthful. I think it’s not a huge stretch to say that context matters and whatever metrics go into S&P+ create a strong, fun system. That said, you can’t draw on much of New Haven’s production or performance in prior seasons given both the transition and the team’s lightning-fast rebuilding effort. So we’ll chalk it up as a possible upset, but realistically, I’m not real sure I’d put a ton of stock into that one.
So there’s not too much movement here, but here we go: our power rankings after Week 1.
Duquesne
Duquesne had a tough first game against in-city rival (they call it the City Game, after all) Pitt in front of 53,006 fans. That’s actually more than the Dukes saw whenever they opened up the season against Florida State several years ago, but that makes a lot of sense. Not only were Pitt fans hyped up to see Duquesne, the Dukes faithful didn’t have much of a journey to go on a road trip, either. There was kind of a buzz around the game and in the press box opinion seemed fairly split as to whether or not Duquesne could muddy up the game with their offensive and defensive lines, or if Pitt was just too much for the Dukes to handle.
In the end, it was definitely the latter. The Dukes fell 61-9, but they were very competitive in the first quarter and Pitt certainly got off to a slow start. The offensive line wasn’t able to stay on the field with the Pitt pass rush or run stuffers, but Joey Isabella certainly handled himself well with over 100 yards through the air, Ty Riddell showed some promise with a great deep ball when he had the time to throw, and Jack Dunkley had some big moments from an athleticism standpoint. Point being, we’re not penalizing the Dukes for this one. But we will not tweet for them to be ranked this week.
Central Connecticut State
The Blue Devils had an in-state opponent of their own. While they got on the board first, they weren’t able to keep pace with what is expected to be a very good UConn team. Maybe the most troubling news is that Elijah Howard was on crutches on the sidelines during this game. Rob Gullo at the New Britain Herald tweeted out that it was a calf injury and that he’s been dinged up since camp. We do not speculate on injuries, but certainly hope Elijah is feeling better and is ready to go this week.
Robert Morris
We’re giving Bobby Mo a little bit of a bump northward here as they were able to hang with a West Virginia team for a half (heading into the locker room at 10-3) and the defense that we hoped for out of the Colonials seemed to be present. There’s been a lot of coaching turnover for Robert Morris, but we liked the promotion of Coach Makrinos to defensive coordinator and oftentimes the problem against FBS teams (and especially P4 teams) for FCS teams is depth more than first string talent. That seemed to be the case as the Colonials might have gotten a little gassed later on as the game got out of hand. This is a West Virginia team welcoming back a previous head coach, so we won’t know exactly what they’ve got until later in the season. Still, it was a solid first half performance and enough to get a bump up here.
Mercyhurst
I’m not all-in on the Lake Show after one week, but it would feel pretty criminal not to at least give them a few spots up after playing what was one of the most competitive games for the conference in week 1- in a situation where they were definitely expected to be playing up a few levels. The Lakers hung with the Youngstown State Penguins and showed off new wide receiver Dylan Evans, who caught 7 passes and looked like yet another weapon at receiver for Mercyhurst. Defensively, they hung well with well-regarded offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich’s first outing in Youngstown, although Gino Leone tells us that it may have been a somewhat vanilla gameplan. In any case, the Lakers were probably a handful of miscues away from winning this game. They’ve got a lot of tough road games ahead, but we’ll be in town to see them take on New Haven this Saturday.
Long Island
You just can’t take that much from a game against Florida with 89,000+ fans in The Swamp at night. You just can’t. The negative here for the Sharks from a ranking perspective is that we didn’t really see much to tell us who they are this season yet. Stanzani and Greenwood weren’t able to get much going through the air, and Ingram and Ross pretty much split the tailback carries. Greenwood wasn’t the same weapon on the ground against a top-15 team as he is against more reasonable competition. Deion Richardson had a 28 yard catch, but other than that it was tough going for the Sharks and we’ll have a better chance to truly evaluate them next week against Eastern Michigan. Don’t consider this the Sharks dropping from the preseason so much as getting a better idea of some of the other competition and some more standout performances from them. Teams moved up; the Sharks didn’t really get knocked down.
Wagner
The Seahawks opened up a new and improved stadium for Kansas on a weeknight and the atmosphere and talent from the other side was always going to be a little much to handle. We did get an idea on Wagner’s QB situation (it looks like it’ll be R-Fr Jack Stevens) and a viral interception came of the game from Jayden Brown. What did we say last year- the NEC is the Conference of Insane Interceptions. I’m not really convinced that there’s much to go on from the Seahawks offensively, but this might be an opportunistic team on Grymes Hill as Wagner did win the TO battle at 2-0 against Kansas.
Stonehill
The Skyhawks barely made it to their game (reportedly, they got a flat tire and were almost late) and that might have had an impact offensively. Defensively, they were stout as expected, giving up only one touchdown (they surrendered a field goal and the offense gave up a safety). A 12-7 win is a tough way to lose in week one, but there were bright spots here. Charles Battaglia was as good as hoped for with 9 tackles, and Jack O’Connell was 30-39 through the air. Offensively, they’ll need to turn those completions into yards (212 through the air for O’Connell) and points. It’s not where we hoped Stonehill would start on week one, but it’s a long season.
New Haven
New Haven hung with Marist in their first game in Division I and, much like Mercyhurst, had opportunities to win the game that weren’t able to be capitalized on, especially on special teams. You make your biggest improvement from Week 1 to Week 2, and gametime decision Zaon Laney will hopefully be healthy heading into Mercyhurst this weekend as we’re expecting rainy, grind-it-out weather up on Lake Erie. A.J. Duffy absolutely looks like the real deal, but we’re in a kind of wait-and-see mode on the Chargers until this Saturday when we get a real data point for them against Erie. The Chargers certainly look like they’ve got a playmaker under center, and I do not think next week is at all out of reach for this team.
Saint Francis
Saint Francis headed into Louisiana-Monroe and after a weather delay weren’t able to get off the blocks offensively. Geno Calgaro had an outstanding performance with 12 tackles, and the Red Flash were able to block two extra points. Unfortunately, the longest play for the other side of the ball was 14 yards, and while the Red Flash were able to go into half time at 10-0, Louisiana-Monroe is not traditionally the same level as a West Virginia and so you have to adjust the credit that you give the defense accordingly. Still, just like every season in the portal era, the Red Flash lost plenty and were still able to rebuild their defense. Hopefully, we get a little bit of a better idea of what to expect offensively next week before they open up the NEC season on the road in Hard Hittin’ New Britain.
GAME PREVIEW: Central Connecticut at UConn
Quotes courtesy of Rob Gullo with the New Britain Herald.
“We're gonna go take our shot and see what happens.”
Coach Adam Lechtenberg was just being realistic. FCS vs. FBS games are always a challenge for the lower-division team to win; that’s why the FBS teams schedule them in the first place. But there’s something fun about an in-state rivalry match between divisions. But this isn’t the UConn team we’ve seen far too much of since the Big East imploded. These Huskies can play, and they present a far bigger challenge to the Blue Devils than the last time they met in 2022, a 28-3 UConn win. The Blue Devils face as tough of a challenge as they will all season when they travel to The Rent.
We were able to speak with Bobby Wilson of the T’N’T’ College Football Podcast, a Lambert Trophy voter and noted UConn specialist.
Offensively, Wilson wasn’t holding back in his praise for the Huskies. “Joe Fagnano is a poised signal caller who doesn't make mistakes. The RB room is four deep with Cam Edwards, Mel Brown, Victor Rosa, and MJ Flowers. WR Skyler Bell is a future pro and Raymello Murphy and Shamar Porter will be known soon enough.”
While the Blue Devils can punch back offensively with Elijah Howard, who should hit 4th place all time in rushing yards for CCSU this season, they’ll face challenges, too. All-NEC Blitz second teamer AlecZander McCoy is expected to be out, along with projected right tackle Eric Nunez. This is on top of the loss of 2024’s offensive line coach to the P4 and most of the rest of their offensive line, easily the NEC’s best unit last season. They’ll have to rebuild and have some emerging talent here to slow down UConn’s pass rush.
The plus side is that it’s also a rebuilding position for UConn, although there’s still strength in the defense. According to Wilson, “Defensively, our front six will see a lot of new faces. We got bigger and stronger up front and the LBs have talent in Tyquan King, among others. However, all those new faces could lead to a hiccup or two in the 3-3-5 set. The secondary is extremely deep and talented, led by Cam Chadwick.”
The strong secondary may mean CCSU will have to be creative to get WR Donovan Wadley the ball. The 2023 NEC Offensive Player of the Year returned to the league this season and will be expected to be a difference maker for the offense, a weapon on the outside that Quarterback Brady Olsen hasn’t had previously. Coach Lechtenberg likes the way Olsen’s developed, saying of his signal caller “Brady's leadership has continued to evolve. I asked him, you know, one time in the off season, is how are quarterbacks evaluated, and it's on championships. He's done that. We want him to continue to improve. He's got all the skill set, and he's tough, he's smart, and he's a leader.”
The real test for the Blue Devils will be if they can continue to create turnover opportunities. They were an incredibly opportunistic defense last season. It gave them, for lack of a better word, a mystique that turnovers would happen when Hard Hittin’ New Britain stepped on the field. Things just seemed to go their way at times last year. There’s a luck component to that, but there’s a skill component, too.
Week 1 is always ripe for upsets. With this strong Huskies team coming off of a Fenway Bowl victory over UNC, it’s a tall order. But CCSU is coming off of a championship season and shouldn’t lack confidence. We can’t wait for this one.
