Lehigh Lafayette

Back-to-back PL champs 2016 and 2017.... but need to get back to relevance in the national FCS scene.
ngineer
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Re: Lehigh Lafayette

Post by ngineer » Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:46 pm

Agreed, under the conditions Gilmore has encountered realism dictates at least 3 years at this level of football to get a program turned around. Obviously, our major concern is offense and I believe we need a "Quaterback Whisperer". Our QBs are inexperienced, and need good mentoring. I would have loved to have seen Stambaugh brought in years ago. We have some decent receivers and I believe the OL will be much better once we have a full contingent and time to play together. Special teams also needs to be a focus. We have some new guys, also little collegiate experience and at first blush, I haven't seen any impressive legs. At this level accuracy from 35 on in is a must. We'd all love to have someone with an accurate 50 yard cannon, but that is rare in PL. I'll take accuracy over distance. Heck we might have won two games with decent PK game. With our D, we just need a competent offense to be competitive next year. Plus, never forget the injury bogeyman who has bitten us significantly over the years..especially on the OL. The OOC is very tough, but it can pay dividends when the league starts.


LUopa
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Re: Lehigh Lafayette

Post by LUopa » Fri Apr 23, 2021 4:33 pm

I see Yale dropped us for playing at UCONN in mid Oct. CAA team should cover the opening...but wouldn't it be cool to play one of the big guys in the East? Like BC, Cuse, Army, Rutgers?
JAD77
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Re: Lehigh Lafayette

Post by JAD77 » Tue Apr 27, 2021 9:33 am

LUopa wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 4:33 pm I see Yale dropped us for playing at UCONN in mid Oct. CAA team should cover the opening...but wouldn't it be cool to play one of the big guys in the East? Like BC, Cuse, Army, Rutgers?
Those days are long gone. When you can't even beat a PL team, playing one of those teams would just be embarrassing.
TMH
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Re: Lehigh Lafayette

Post by TMH » Tue Apr 27, 2021 11:27 am

The success of athletic programs at Lehigh's level ebbs and flows with time. Talent wise we look for players in all sports that either slip under the radar or are diamonds just needing to be polished. When we find them, we are generally successful.

Scheduling, IMO, is similar to applying to college. In the latter, students apply mostly to schools that are in their wheelhouse but then allow for a couple of reach schools and a couple of safe schools. IMO only, scheduling is maximized when approached the same way.

Right now, lacrosse is on a peak and we were right in trying to schedule Duke, Virginia and later Syracuse. When wrestling went through its rough period in the 90s we were right to downgrade the schedule significantly.

Football, right now is in a state of correction. Schools like Villanova and Richmond will be a lot to handle. Right now,an FBS school does nothing for the program but provide a nice payday but this too shall pass.

Just my opinion.
LUFAN
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Re: Lehigh Lafayette

Post by LUFAN » Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:52 pm

Go Lehigh TU Owl wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:51 pm
TMH wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:56 pm If anything, I think we have learned to temper our expectations. :-)

Personally, I was amazed at how many fans thought that we should compete for the PL Championship in 2019.
Gilmore was hired in mid January and over the next 2 months, he needed to replace most of his staff, try to fill a vastly undermanned roster with those who had not committed early then get to know each of his players personally before he could even get to know what their skill sets were like.

He inherited a team that was in bad shape in all 3 phases of the game. The defense was among the worst in the nation. On offense, the OL was in disarray and most of his high powered skill players graduated. He was left with a group of untested QBs. On special teams, we lost both our kicker and punter (same guy) to graduation.

By any definition, that is a recipe for failure. As fans, we set ourselves up to fail. We are in a better place right now, and the recruiting class is a good one. What we need to do is get all the pieces to gel and 2020 was no friend for a team desperately in need of cohesion.

I have no anticipation of beating CAA teams especially so early in the season. What I want in 2021, is a team that competes week in and week out against the PL and leaves it all on the field. I would love to see the offense grow like the defense did last year but mostly I want to see us get better every week. I'm really optimistic though for the intermediate future.
I don't anticipate beating Villanova or Richmond to start the year but I'd like to think the coaching staff can put a team on the field that is at least competitive with those two teams; don't get blown out. Unfortunately, I have my doubts on so much as a moral victory. As for the PL, it's currently the lowest ranked FCS conference in the country so simply being competitive within it at this point is not going to cut it for me. Although, with this current coaching staff that's probably the best we can reasonably hope for. 2 or 3 wins at most.

I just wish we had a truly competent, top shelf coach like Chesney at Holy Cross. Gilmore isn't qualified to be his water boy.
+1
TMH
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Re: Lehigh Lafayette

Post by TMH » Wed Apr 28, 2021 11:14 pm

Startled that no one posted this.

South Dakota State 31 Holy Cross 3

Total Yards

South Dakota St 439 Holy Cross 198

Personally, I'm taking nothing away from this game. That was Holy Cross's 4th game. SD State played 7. It's South Dakota so they probably didn't shut down at all.

But if we are going to be fair, start yelling at Chesney for not being competitive. :-)
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