Non-Conference Games

The first weekend of the season featured non-conference games that will go a long way to determining playoff positioning in November. For the NE-10, they went 3-7 in those games but despite the losing record, there were a lot of positives to take away from the weekend.

To start, Pace played well on the road and nearly pulled out a victory. They matched Alderson Broaddus in the first half before rallying in the second half to come up short. The Setters have struggled the past several years and it is a good sign for a young team to be competitive on the road.

Another team that showed a lot of improvement was Southern Connecticut. After a forgettable 3-8 season in 2012, the Owls were a big unknown. They battled # 10 IUP for 60 minutes and hung tough with a team picked to have a shot at winning the national championship. That is a good sign for a Southern Connecticut program that is used to being competitive.

The biggest upset belonged to Merrimack as they beat D1 FCS member Wagner last Friday night. The Seahawks made the playoffs last year that included a run to the second round after winning the opening game. But it was the Warriors that were the better team under the lights. Joe Clancy and Shane Ferguson made the right decision by coming back for another season as they hooked up for the game winner. Clancy is poised for another big season and a lot of defensive coordinators are already having nightmares in preparing to play Merrimack.

The NE-10 went 2-4 against the PSAC. That is not a great record but it is such an improvement from years past. Bentley and LIU-Post were the winners while New Haven, Stonehill, AIC and Southern Connecticut was on the wrong side of the scoreboard. The most impressive victory was Bentley over Mercyhurst while the toughest loss was West Chester manhandling New Haven. AIC struggled in the second half and Stonehill was overmatched at Bloomsburg.

Here is the breakdown of the weekend:

1-1 vs. D1 FCS
0-1 vs. D2 Independent
0-1 vs. CIAA
2-4 vs. PSAC
3-7 Overall

Despite the losing record, it was a positive weekend for the NE-10. A couple of small differences and it is a winning weekend for the league against non-conference opponents. The competitiveness shows that the league is continuing to move in the right direction.

First Year CoachesRight Decision

Joe Clancy was already one of the most decorated quarterbacks in NE-10 history. Now add a victory over a D1 FCS team in which he engineered a 96 yard game winning drive and he is quickly becoming one of the top quarterbacks in league history.

Clancy finished the game by going 35 for 50 for 309 yards and four touchdown passes. That is now a typical game for him as he routinely puts the ball in the air 50 times per game. The Warriors have always been known as a passing team and that will continue with Clancy under center.

He already etched his name in the history books last year and looks to continue that this year. Through one game, it looks like a good decision to return for his final year of eligibility.

Unknown Territory

It has been a long time since you saw a New Haven team that was just manhandled in a game. But that was the case last Saturday as the Chargers lost 45-14 to West Chester. The Rams scored 35 consecutive points in the middle part of the game to break the game wide open.

It was a long bus ride home after the game and that is a bad thing for the rest of the NE-10 especially their next opponent, Pace. New Haven will regroup and play better this weekend. They have a lot of talent still on the roster and maybe needed this wakeup call to show them that they are not as good as they thought.

The Chargers will see a lot of film this week with all of the mistakes pointed out again and again. That will add fuel to the fire for New Haven as the season is young and they are a lot better than the final score indicated on Saturday.