LFN: Game Preview: Lehigh At New Hampshire, 9/25/2010

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com/2010/09/game-preview-lehigh-at-new-hampshire.html

I think this one will be close. Should be a really interesting game to follow. Working against Lehigh is that UNH absolutely needs to have this game in order to have any realistic shot at their goals this year.

Of course, losing to Lehigh and then running the table is fine by me... xlolx

[NHwildEcat]

http://lehighfootballnation.blogspot.com/2010/09/game-preview-lehigh-at-new-hampshire.html

I think this one will be close. Should be a really interesting game to follow. Working against Lehigh is that UNH absolutely needs to have this game in order to have any realistic shot at their goals this year.

Of course, losing to Lehigh and then running the table is fine by me... xlolx

Losing to Lehigh will just about end any hope we have of making the post season...unless everyone else in FCS tanks too...but more then likely a L on Saturday will end a realistic shot. I just don't see us dropping a 3rd straight game though...I think it won't be that close when it is all said and done.

[WrenFGun]

I'd be very surprised if this game weren't close. Given the injury situations at UNH, the poor OL play, the poor playcalling, etc., it's hard to imagine pulling away in this one. Color me pleasantly surprised if the game is of double-digit separation.

Looking forward to reading the write-up as well.

[UNH Fanboi]

I'd be very surprised if this game weren't close. Given the injury situations at UNH, the poor OL play, the poor playcalling, etc., it's hard to imagine pulling away in this one. Color me pleasantly surprised if the game is of double-digit separation.

Looking forward to reading the write-up as well.

Wren, the injury situation is making me worry a little, but even with those injuries, we should be able to beat Lehigh comfortably. Jackson is a huge loss, and losing Vines and Murray hurts too. But we still have our two best lineman--Young and McNally. And the secondary is still healthy and is very good. It took a perfect storm of incomeptence by UNH and inspired play by URI for us to lose that game. I'm expecting this game to look more like the CCSU game, but maybe not quite as lopsided.

I think the keys to this game will be (a) UNH establishing the run and (b) UNH jumping to an early lead so that Lehigh is forced to pass. I have a lot of confidence in our secondary.

If this game is close, god help us the rest of the season.

[WildCat In The Hat]

LFN great write up. Definitely appreciate the support you show your team. I don't really see this game being as close as you do, but UNH does have injuries to the middle of our D and a learning on the fly O line, so who knows how it will turn out. I just feel the coaching staff will have the team pretty angry this week. It is nice seeing Lehigh playing the Nova and UNH this year. Definitely walking the walk. I will say regarding strength of schedule, I think every CAA team is playing a more difficult schedule than Lehigh. We all have 5-6 top 20 teams on our schedule, as well as some tough FBS teams as well. Thanks again for the write up, very good job with it-it was pretty accurate representation of our team.
UNH 35-Lehigh 17.

[WrenFGun]

I think those that are supremely confident in this one simply didn't watch all of the last game or aren't seeing what I'm seeing. I'm seeing an offensive line that can't protect the passer, a defense that is suddenly depleted in their ability to stop a strength of Lehigh's, and a playcaller who can't call more than 4 plays on the offensive end. I particularly don't like the fact that Lehigh is going to own TOP.

I don't doubt Lehigh saw exactly what I did and intend to exploit the very things URI did.

[UNH Fanboi]

I think those that are supremely confident in this one simply didn't watch all of the last game or aren't seeing what I'm seeing. I'm seeing an offensive line that can't protect the passer, a defense that is suddenly depleted in their ability to stop a strength of Lehigh's, and a playcaller who can't call more than 4 plays on the offensive end. I particularly don't like the fact that Lehigh is going to own TOP.

I don't doubt Lehigh saw exactly what I did and intend to exploit the very things URI did.

Wren, a couple of points:

1. Re: Lehigh seeing how to exploit us - They may have learned something from watching the URI game, but so did our coaches. I don't think Lehigh will be able to just copy what URI did.

2. As I said earlier, it took a perfect storm for URI to win that game. The defense only allowed 21 points, and that's with a ton of stupid penalties giving URI second chances. I don't expect us to get penalized like that on a regular basis. I still have confidence in our defense. If you just watched last year's URI game, you would think our defense last year sucked too.

3. The O-line remains a concern, and will be a major concern throughout the rest of the season, but I think they're good enough to get us through this game. Look at Lehigh's defensive stats this season. They are not pretty: 528 yards v. Princeton and 495 yards v. Nova. I think there's a decent chance we see the offensive explosion that we've been waiting for.

UNH 34 (5 tds and a missed pat) - Lehigh 17

[LU65]

When a team with everything to lose (no shot at an "at large" bid to the playoffs with a loss today) and nothing to gain (we're from the CAA and expected to stomp all over any Patriot League foe and win our 11th in a row at home) meets up with a team with nothing to lose (hey, what's wrong with being 2-2 after 4 games...isn't this what everyone expected?) and everything to gain (national recognition, a chance at redemption after falling so badly to Villanova and gain some PL respect), all bets are off. This is not to saw Lehigh will win the game about to kickoff in Durham today, but anything is possible. For the unthinkable to possibly happen, the Mountain Hawks would first have to keep the Wildcats off the field, i.e., win the time of possession game with long drives featuring runs by Colvin and Campbell (maybe we can open up some holes as, due to injuries, UNH will features replacement(s) on their DLine); secondly, pressure their QB into mistakes (3-4 sacks would be nice...after all we did get to 'nova's Whitney 3 times); win the turnover battle by at least a 3:1 margin; and finally score every time we enter the red zone. Do it all and we're in the game; do less and we come out on the short end of a 34-17 final.