Patriot League Media Day 2024

[DFW HOYA]

Lafayette accedes to the top of the Not Yet Eight:

1. Lafayette, 72 points (12 first-place votes)
2. Holy Cross, 56
3. Fordham 53 (one first-place vote)
4. Colgate, 46 (one first-place vote)
5. Georgetown, 27
6. Lehigh, 24
7. Bucknell, 16

2024 Patriot League Football Preseason Major Awards
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year – Jamar Curtis, Lafayette, Jr., RB
Preseason Defensive Player of the Year – Matt Jaworski, Fordham, Sr., DL

2024 Preseason All-Patriot League Football Team
Offense (13)
QB: C.J. Montes, Fordham, Jr.
QB: Dean DeNobile, Lafayette, So.
RB: Jamar Curtis, Lafayette, Jr.
RB: Jordan Fuller, Holy Cross, Sr.
WR: Treyvhon Saunders, Colgate, Jr.
WR: Justin Shorter, Holy Cross, Sr.
WR: Eli Steward, Lafayette, Jr.
TE: Dallas Holmes, Lafayette, Jr.
OL: Bardhyl Gashi, Colgate, 5th
OL: Chance Niesner, Colgate, Sr.
OL: Ryan Joyce, Fordham, Gr.
OL: Ryder Langsdale, Lafayette, Sr.
OL: Brian Baucia, Lafayette, Jr.

Defense (13)*
DL: Matt Jaworski, Fordham, Sr.
DL: Claudy Robinson, Fordham, Jr.
DL: William Robinson, Holy Cross, So.
DL: Jaylon Joseph, Lafayette, So.
LB: Christian Sweeney, Colgate, 5th
LB: Frankie Monte, Holy Cross, Sr.
LB: James Conway, Fordham, Sr.
LB: Mike DeNucci, Lehigh, 5th
DB: Nahil Perkins, Fordham, Gr.,
DB: Wedner Cadet, Georgetown, Jr.
DB: Saiku White, Lafayette, Sr.
DB: A.T. Ntantang, Lafayette, 5th
DB: Nick Peltekian, Lehigh, Jr.

https://patriotleague.org/news/2024/7/23/patriot-league-football-announces-2024-preseason-honors-7-24-24.aspx

[KnightoftheRedFlash]

Folks are sleeping on Bucknell.

Fourth-place or higher. Their QB is the real deal.

[Gater]

Rucker was great against Colgate. Could certainly see him having a big year.

Sophomore Colgate RB Chris Gee is a guy who could break out. 5.8 yards a carry when no one else averaged over 4.

Colgate now with 101 guys on roster. Not sure if they have ever had that many.

Redshirting coming next year combined with increased roster sizes should help the PL compete at a much higher level.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Surprised Holy Cross was picked second over Fordham. I think HC is in for a rough year

Lehigh deserves to be picked 6th. They're going to struggle to win more than 3 games. The freshman class was very good but how many of these guys will stick around if the program continues to be among the worst in FCS?

[Wolffan]

Considering the departure of Coach Chesney (to JMU) and all the stars that graduated and moved on to FCS/NFL it is a big surprise Holy Cross is picked 2nd (just above Fordham).

IMHO they are in a transition year, will struggle quite a bit with their tough OOC (URI, UNH, Bryant, Harvard, Yale, and Syracuse), and could very well drop three games in the PL. (Last year - with a much stronger team - they lost to Lafayette and just barely squeaked by Fordham and Lehigh).

IMHO they are looking at .500 overall if things go well.

[IslandPard]

I haven't seen that many Lafayette players on the preseason team in...ever!

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Colgate at 4th, but their stock is clearly on the rise, based on this poll, seen as just behind Fordham.

Rucker sure is a dark horse for Bucknell - Lehigh was very lucky to miss him last year. Needs to stay healthy.

I personally put Fordham at 2 because they will have Montes with a year starting at Fordham under his belt. If he continues to improve I could see them really making a run at Lafayette.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Considering the departure of Coach Chesney (to JMU) and all the stars that graduated and moved on to FCS/NFL it is a big surprise Holy Cross is picked 2nd (just above Fordham).

IMHO they are in a transition year, will struggle quite a bit with their tough OOC (URI, UNH, Bryant, Harvard, Yale, and Syracuse), and could very well drop three games in the PL. (Last year - with a much stronger team - they lost to Lafayette and just barely squeaked by Fordham and Lehigh).

IMHO they are looking at .500 overall if things go well.

The trifecta of schedule, roster turnover, and coaching change is a bridge too far imo. I genuinely don't understand the rationale behind HC being #2. They were far from a dominant team last year with obviously more attributes.

I think Fordham is the most talented team with the league's best player but I trust Troxell far more than I trust Conlin. The PL usually runs through the best coaches (Duffner, Russo, Higgins, Biddle, Coen, Chesney, Moorhead).

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

Folks are sleeping on Bucknell.

Fourth-place or higher. Their QB is the real deal.

It takes far more than elite QB to overcome the lack of talent on the roster. With that said, they could finish 4th but still be a 3-9/4-8 type team. Beating Lehigh, Georgetown and maybe upsetting someone wouldn't shock me. I believe Colgate and HC will fight for a winning record.

[KnightoftheRedFlash]

It takes far more than elite QB to overcome the lack of talent on the roster. With that said, they could finish 4th but still be a 3-9/4-8 type team. Beating Lehigh, Georgetown and maybe upsetting someone wouldn't shock me. I believe Colgate and HC will fight for a winning record.

No way! Only a Ph.D. participant knows that!

[DFW HOYA]

Agree that Bucknell is underrated; then again, I'm already preparing myself for another three or four win season at Georgetown. This gets old as you get older.

Georgetown can't sign impact talent, then or now. Many reasons why, of course: it's the only PL school which still requires SAT's (the bottom 25th percentile is now at 1410), no NIL, and no recent tradition of success. Scholarships are an illusion--they would only provide money to some high income kid who is second team all-county at Deerfield Prep because it's not losing kids to scholarship programs to begin with.

Georgetown has finished 5-6 four times in the PL era, and in three of those they lost eight or more games the following season.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

No way! Only a Ph.D. participant knows that!

Why the recent outward spew of venom towards Lehigh folks? First it was LFN now you're jostling with me.

This is a college sports board. We all have connections to our institutions for different reasons and/or of varying capacities. I believe academic ties and family connections (blood) are equally powerful in forging who we are as college sports fans/AGS participants. That's the driving force behind my signature....

Do you reply with similar sarcasm when replying to our Ivy alums who proudly include their institution as part of their AGS identity?

[Southsider]

I still blame Sterrett for Lehigh's fall from grace. And to think he is still there. They deserve what they have been!

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I still blame Sterrett for Lehigh's fall from grace. And to think he is still there. They deserve what they have been!
'
There's no question the prolonged/drastic downfall of the program is the product of administrative incompetence. They failed 'Putting the right People in the Right Places 101'.....

The staff deserves credit for putting together a very good class. Landing two of the top QBs in PA is a huge deal. Unfortunately, I'm still not convinced the head Coach/OC/DC coalition has much of a ceiling. That's why I really don't expect much, if any improvement. To me there's very little difference between 2-4 wins given schedule variances. History has shown in the PL the top coaches win quick because it was/remains very much a coaches' league.

- John Troxell took over a program that didn't have a winning season (Covid excluded) in 13 seasons (2010-2022) and won the league AND posted the program's first 9 win campaign in over 40 years in his second year.
- Dick Biddle took over a Colgate program that was 3-7-1, 3-8, 0-11 and went 6-5 in year 1, won the PL (6-0) in year two finished in the Top 25
- Moorhead took over a Fordham program that was 5-6, 5-6, 5-6, 1-10 and went 6-5 in year 1, 12-2 in year two, finished Top 10 and beat Temple
- Heck, Tom Gilmore took over a HC program that was 4-6, 4-8, 1-10 and went 6-5 in year 2 which included an upset win over a Top 10 Lehigh team at Goodman in a monsoon....

What will Cahill and Company's encore look like?

[DFW HOYA]

'

History has shown in the PL the top coaches win quick because it was/remains very much a coaches' league.


College football still comes down to programs. Nick Saban wouldn't win an SEC title at Vanderbilt, and Jim Harbaugh wouldn't have taken Temple to the Fiesta Bowl. The programs you mention have struggled through ups and downs but are strong enough that they can rotate up and down the PL ladder. Lehigh will be back there soon, too.

Put another way, John Troxell doesn't lead Georgetown to a PL championship, and Dick Biddle wouldn't have put Bucknell in the I-AA final.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

College football still comes down to programs. Nick Saban wouldn't win an SEC title at Vanderbilt, and Jim Harbaugh wouldn't have taken Temple to the Fiesta Bowl. The programs you mention have struggled through ups and downs but are strong enough that they can rotate up and down the PL ladder. Lehigh will be back there soon, too.

Put another way, John Troxell doesn't lead Georgetown to a PL championship, and Dick Biddle wouldn't have put Bucknell in the I-AA final.

I completely disagree that Saban wouldn't win an SEC Title at Vanderbilt. James Franklin who is an excellent coach but clearly a step down from Saban, posted 2 9 wins season/Top 25 finishes in Nashville. There's no doubt in my mind that Saban could have elevated Vandy further which would have resulted in one or more SEC Titles.

Dick Biddle took over at Colgate a year after Tom Gadd took over at Bucknell. Both programs/coaches did very well from the mid 1990s through the early 2000s. With that said, I don't have to squint to see Biddle taking one of those Bison teams to the next level via a deep, magical playoff run.

Matt Rhule had Temple knocking on the door of one of the BCS/CFP affiliated bowls in 2015/2016. I absolutely think Harbaugh could have gotten us over the hump. Dude is an incredible coach! He would have run circles around the AAC.

[DFW HOYA]

I completely disagree that Saban wouldn't win an SEC Title at Vanderbilt. James Franklin who is an excellent coach but clearly a step down from Saban, posted 2 9 wins season/Top 25 finishes in Nashville. There's no doubt in my mind that Saban could have elevated Vandy further which would have resulted in one or more SEC Titles.

I have tremendous respect for Nick Saban and he is the greatest college coach since Paul Bryant. However, it it difficult to see that he would have assembled the recruiting and the coaching pipeline to elevate Vanderbilt to that level--would DeVonta Smith, Derrick Henry, or Bryce Young really have turned turn down USC or Georgia to play before 41,000 at Vanderbilt Stadium? (Yes, James Franklin took Vandy to two nine win seasons. Both teams finished 4th in the SEC East.)

Yes, Dick Biddle could coach, but the same question applies--could he have been able to sell Bucknell to recruits and maintain it against other PL teams? Similarly, could John Troxell win big at Georgetown?

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

I have tremendous respect for Nick Saban and he is the greatest college coach since Paul Bryant. However, it it difficult to see that he would have assembled the recruiting and the coaching pipeline to elevate Vanderbilt to that level--would DeVonta Smith, Derrick Henry, or Bryce Young really have turned turn down USC or Georgia to play before 41,000 at Vanderbilt Stadium? (Yes, James Franklin took Vandy to two nine win seasons. Both teams finished 4th in the SEC East.)

Yes, Dick Biddle could coach, but the same question applies--could he have been able to sell Bucknell to recruits and maintain it against other PL teams? Similarly, could John Troxell win big at Georgetown?

Nick Saban went 9-2 in his one and only season at Toledo as a first year head coach. He elevated the program by 3 wins over the previous 2 years. He hired Dean Pees to be his DC and would bring Pees to Michigan State to be a key cog in his staff. Pees is a well respected defensive mind in the NFL ranks. Saban knows how to win because he knows how to identify people to succeed regardless of time/place/ circumstance. Jackie Sherrill took Mississippi State (who like Vandy has never won the SEC) to the SEC Title Game and posted several other good years. Saban ups that standard too.

How was recruiting to Colgate/Hamilton any easier than Bucknell in the mid-1990s? If you look at some of the attendance figures, the Bison had a bit more in person support and equal or better stadium. Hamilton has to battle its own stigmas just like Lewisburg. Although, cold/snowy/gray/remote tend to be a bit more "off putting" than "living in Penn State's shadow".

I think Chensey has a consistent run of success at Georgetown. Troxell's success might be a bit more relative. As it is, the sample size is still small so that's why I replaced him with "Bob the Builder". There is obviously degrees of being transcended.

[Go...gate]

No way! Only a Ph.D. participant knows that!.

Nice. Real class.

[Go...gate]

Rucker was great against Colgate. Could certainly see him having a big year.

Sophomore Colgate RB Chris Gee is a guy who could break out. 5.8 yards a carry when no one else averaged over 4.

Colgate now with 101 guys on roster. Not sure if they have ever had that many.

Redshirting coming next year combined with increased roster sizes should help the PL compete at a much higher level.

I remember the Lahar and Wheelwright days when we had sixty-five guys tops and forty-five or fifty by the end of the season

[pardfan]

The very first thing Troxell said was, "Our kicking game could still get a lot better..." Can't imagine ANY Lafayette coach in the last 50 years listing kicking game as a top concern. (No doubt talking about punting and kickoffs. IMO, Fg guy was very good last year.) Team must be pretty solid.

[Pards Rule]

The very first thing Troxell said was, "Our kicking game could still get a lot better..." Can't imagine ANY Lafayette coach in the last 50 years listing kicking game as a top concern. (No doubt talking about punting and kickoffs. IMO, Fg guy was very good last year.) Team must be pretty solid.

And I suggest he included coverage - remember in the Delaware playoff game they got a kickoff back to our 1 and scored.

[KnightoftheRedFlash]

Why the recent outward spew of venom towards Lehigh folks? First it was LFN now you're jostling with me.

This is a college sports board. We all have connections to our institutions for different reasons and/or of varying capacities. I believe academic ties and family connections (blood) are equally powerful in forging who we are as college sports fans/AGS participants. That's the driving force behind my signature....

Do you reply with similar sarcasm when replying to our Ivy alums who proudly include their institution as part of their AGS identity?

It was a gag in response to a Captain Obvious statement.

You are a great poster.

No. I don't interact with fans with teams in conferences that don't appear in the playoffs. :D


.

Nice. Real class.

Light-hearted jabs exist.