Another football season is just 10 days away. All of the NE-10 schools have been in training camp for the past week or so getting reading for the 2012 season. I figured that I would update you on some of the happening over the off-season in preparation for the kickoff of the season.

All but one of the NE-10 teams will be in action week one including two conferences games. It is very tough to play a conference game week one as you have not a chance to work out the kinks against a non-conference foe. But you must play the schedule and if you have a conference game week one, the goal is to win that game.

NE-10 Championship Game

The worst kept secret in the league was the installation of the championship game the final regular season weekend. It will pit the two best teams in the league as well as the other top six teams get one final game.

The main reason for the championship game is to help with strength of schedule for the league's top teams. One more game against a team with a winning record will help aid a team in the playoff chance.

The championship game for the PSAC since it was reinstated a couple of years ago has obviously helped them with playoff positioning and the NE-10 will take a page from them. That will leave the soon to be defunct WVIAC as the only conference in Region One not to have a championship game.

I also like the idea of the majority of the teams getting to play the final weekend unlike other conferences that just the top teams battle it out. All but the last place team in the NE-10 will get one final weekend of football in November.

We will see which two teams will battle for the championship on November 10th.

2012 Coaches Poll

The NE-10 coaches poll was released earlier Monday and to no one's surprise, New Haven is the favorite to take the title in 2012. They are the defending champions after making a run to the national quarterfinals in 2011.

They return a lot of firepower including quarterback Ryan Osiecki who changed his number from 15 to 6 for a fresh start. The Chargers lost very little from last year and have the depth to fill in those openings with quality players.

New Haven received seven first place votes as Southern Connecticut and AIC also received one first place vote each.

Here is the full poll:

1. New Haven (63) (7)
2. Southern Connecticut (53) (1)
3. AIC (50) (1)
T-4. Bentley (41)
T-4. Merrimack (41)
6. Assumption (29)
7. Stonehill (24)
8. St. Anselm (15)
9. Pace (8)

I agree with the coaches for the most part. My only difference is sliding Southern Connecticut back to fifth and every one else up from them. I feel that the Owls lost a lot of talent to graduation and will need a couple of games to see what they have.

Addition

There is a lot of speculation that LIU-Post will be back in the NE-10 for 2013. After the WVIAC's plans to disband, the PSAC scooped up two members from the league and it appeared that Post will be pushed out of the league for 2013.

Post is currently weighing all of their options and that includes playing as an independent. With the lack of an automatic bid for D2 football, playing as an independent is not that far-fetched. But it would cause a scheduling nightmare for Post as they would need to fill 10 games in between league schedules for the other members of Super Region One.

It seems to be a logical fit for Post to return to the NE-10 as it would help to balance the schedule in the future. Plus Post has been making noise in the PSAC and it will help the overall strength of the NE-10 to get Post back.

It is not a definite that Post will be back but we will follow the story during the season.

Plan for 2012

Here is my tentative plan for blogging in 2012. I hope to have my recap blog on the site either Sunday or Monday for instant feedback of the games from the previous weekend. I will also try to pass along articles and videos about the league as often as possible.

Previews for the upcoming weekend games should be posted on Wednesday or Thursday. Of course, this is based upon a number of factors but I will do my best to keep to this schedule for the next three months.

I also plan to try some new ideas this year as well. I have not nailed any of them down yet but I will let you know.

As always, any feedback, good or bad is welcome. You have my email address ([email protected]) and I always response to people when they email me. I will not duck anyone even if you say negative things about me.

Also, I plan to start using Twitter to promote the blogs and message board ideas so you can follow me at @paulfalewicz. I have been reluctant to use it but am going to give it a try this fall.