NEC Pick 'em - Week 8

[RedFlash]

NEC Week 8

Duquesne (+3) at Saint Francis (10/21)
RMU (+19) @ Sacred Heart
Wagner (+7) @ Bryant
CCSU (+35) @ Coastal Carolina

· The Dukes and StFU with their own version of Friday Night Lights this week. It’s the conference’s top offense (Duquesne averaging 448.3 yards/game) against the conference’s top defense (holding teams to 279.9 yds/game) The current forecast is for light rain and temps in the low 40’s so any advantage, presumably should go to the team with the better running game. Two things to look for this week: sacks and penalties. Duquesne is tied with Wagner for the fewest sacks in the NEC this season with nine. StFU leads the NEC with 30 sacks this season. Meanwhile, StFU is leading the conference in penalties, averaging over 8 per game for more than 90 yards. By contrast, Duquesne is the least penalized team in the NEC. If both trends continue – perhaps it’s a wash. If either team can improve in their league worst performance, it should benefit them immensely.

· After RMU’s play the last two weeks, if I was picking against the spread, I’d go with RMU. If they can’t generate TO’s though, I don’t see how they score against SHU this week. At the same time, however, Sacred Heart is facing the same issue that Duquesne faced last week – needing to avoid looking past the Colonials to next week’s match-up with StFU in Fairfield.

· Perhaps it’s the Week 5 loss to Columbia, but seeing Wagner as a 7 point underdog to Bryant this week was a surprise, especially after watching Bryant play last week. Wagner’s success so far this season has been with its ground game, averaging over 177 yards on the ground per game. While Bryant has been pretty good against the run, their defense is still giving up a lot of yards each game.

· I have to think CCSU getting +35 points has to be the largest point spread for any NEC vs. FCS team this year. CCSU showed some life against Wagner last week, but Coastal Carolina is in a different class.

Last week's record: 2-2. Overall 28-10

[Gangtackle11]

St. Francis (Pa.) 28 Duquesne 23
Sacred Heart 28 Robert Morris 7
Bryant 24 Wagner 21
Coastal Carolina 40 CCSU 7

Last Week: 3-1 Season: 30-8

[bonarae]

Duquesne
Sacred Heart
Bryant
Coastal Carolina

[MR. CHICKEN]

DUQUESNE
SACRED HEART
BRYANT
COASTAL CAROLINA

[Original_RMC]

Duquesne @ Saint Francis (Friday night game) - Early NEC Championship Game? Friday night at SFU and it's Homecoming!. The cards are stacked against the Dukes for this short away trip. The Dukes could have the best QB, best RB and best WR in the NEC this year. But they haven't played a complete game this season. Could this be that game? Time of possession and a late FG by Lance Geesey wins the game for SFU. 23-21

RMU @ Sacred Heart - RMU is leaving campus a Thursday...I was shocked to hear this. But I guess the old stories of waiting for players to wake up at 3am to catch the bus was too much for the coaches. The must win game of the season for RMU and the coaches. Long bus trip against a very pissed off SHU team that laid an egg @Wagner and now must win all of their games to have a chance. Verteran Team with perhaps the best D in the NEC. On paper, it doesn't look good for RMU even if they have Levcik at QB. 34-13

Wagner @ Bryant - giving Bryant the edge at home. Could be a high scoring game. 42-34

CCSU @ Coastal Carolina - Yuck...ranked CC has lost 2 games this year by 2 points. 56-0

[RedFlash]

RMU @ Sacred Heart - RMU is leaving campus a Thursday...I was shocked to hear this. But I guess the old stories of waiting for players to wake up at 3am to catch the bus was too much for the coaches. The must win game of the season for RMU and the coaches. Long bus trip against a very pissed off SHU team that laid an egg @Wagner and now must win all of their games to have a chance. Verteran Team with perhaps the best D in the NEC. On paper, it doesn't look good for RMU even if they have Levcik at QB. 34-13


I think leaving Thursday makes sense. That is a very long bus ride to Providence. If I recall correctly, StFU changed their travel plans last year and left Thursday evening for an away game at CCSU after looking half asleep when they played at Bryant two weeks earlier - when they left for Providence at 6:00 am on Friday and spent nearly 12 hours on the road after one of the buses broke down.

[eiu1999]

St. Franny
Sacred Heart
Bryant
Coastal Carolina

[Bluefish845]

Never got around to making picks last week too busy planning the Tailgate at Cornell...

The Dukes at the Flash is probably the Defacto NEC Championship game as mentioned by RMC. The Red Flash have a very opportunistic defense, I was quite surprised by the lopsidedness of the beat down the Flash gave to Bryant, 3 turnovers by the Bulldogs certainly helped. If The Dukes are able to establish the run with their freshman of the year candidate then it will open up the passing game for Beuchel as long as he gets some modicum of protection from the line. I still like the Flash here at home, they seem to have a certain mojo and probably should've won the Albany game.

As is SHU's game at Wagner is still unexplainable, just one of those days where nothing seems to be working; AGS!!! Last year at RMU vs SHU I witnessed possibly the ugliest game ever played at this level by both teams. RMU's defense showed signs of greatness as it has this year, however their offense is light years behind the defense. Sacred Heart pulls away in the second half and keeps hope alive for an NEC title.

Bryant is now fighting for their life and must win out to keep a shot at the NEC Title, Wagner crushes those dreams this weekend I think in a high scoring affair although SHU needs Bryant to win. There will probably be a 3 way tie for first in the NEC at the end of the season..


Chanticleers in a romp over CCSU, I give CCSU a ton of credit for their OOC schedule; Lafayette, JMU, Penn & Coastal (Bowie State not so much) but Coastal is a big big step up for them.

[blackbeard]

St Francis - should be a great game, still think SFU is the team to beat this season and that OOC schedule shoudl benefit them now
Sacred Heart - can't explain the Wagner debacle, think SHU wins by 14-17
Bryant - not sold on Wagner, losing to Columbia is hard to fathom
Coastal - why is this game scheduled?