FORDHAM AT LEHIGH 10/26/2024: Exactly What Do We Have Here, Mountain Hawks?

BETHLEHEM, PA – The 2024 Lehigh Mountain Hawk football season has been one of the more interesting ones in recent memory.

Before the season, Lehigh, picked to finish sixth of seven teams in the Patriot League at Media Day, would have been seen to be double-digit underdogs to Fordham, who were picked by some to possibly challenge for the Patriot League title.

As the season went along, a very young Lehigh team (3-3, 0-1 Patriot) started out the season strong, going 3-1 and in general showing a lot of promise – enough so that people started to maybe convince themselves that maybe, just maybe, the Mountain Hawks might make a run through the league and compete for a title ahead of schedule.

Meanwhile, Fordham (0-7, 0-2 Patriot) suffered injuries and setbacks, a title run derailed, but not without drama. Against the top two teams of the league, Lafayette and Holy Cross, the Rams brought the Leopards and Crusaders down to the wire before falling.

As it stands, make no mistake, Lehigh’s 3-3 season is at a crossroads against a deceptively tricky Fordham squad that seems a lot better than their 0-7 record might seem at first.

Coming off a two game losing streak and a rare two-week bye, what was an early 3-1 season full of good vibes at Murray Goodman and dreams of challenging Holy Cross and Lafayette became a month of the bitter taste of losing.

Photo Credit: Hannah Ally

Early on, the Mountain Hawks looked prepared and mature beyond their years, with some true freshmen and a sophomore running back in RB Luke Yoder looking spectacular.

In their last two games, though, mistakes – especially turnovers, as head coach Kevin Cahill and countless others have emphasized – have made the path harder for the Mountain Hawks.

“The first thing is to take care of the football,” Cahill said right after last week’s 34-23 setback at Yale. “We’re not talented enough to win a game with four turnovers right now. We didn’t play our brand of football. We didn’t represent ourselves to the best of our ability.”

For whatever reason – the double bye, the loss to Bucknell, or simply youth – Lehigh lacked some of the strong discipline they showed earlier in the season that led to such a great, comprehensive win over Princeton at home, a 35-20 contest coach Cahill called a “statement game”.

Despite their 0-7 record, as heard on the Happy Hour podcast, Cahill knows this is going to be a tricky game for the Mountain Hawks.

“They’re explosive,” he said. “You’d watch the film and say, no way these guys are 0-7. They’ve lost two conference games [to Lafayette and Holy Cross] by a combined eight points, and in each of those games, they could have won the game on the last possession. They’re talented, their all-conference linebacker is back, they can move the ball all over the place, they make big plays. We, like them, are trying to get back on track to where we should be.”

Personally, I think this week is as much of a statement game for Lehigh as the game vs. Princeton.

It is Week 6, and we still don’t totally know what this Lehigh football team is.

Are they the young, mistake-prone team that left Yale that is a middle-of-the-pack Patriot League team, or are they dark horse candidates to win a wide-open Patriot League title race that looked so great at home versus Princeton?

This Saturday, we will find out.

FORDHAM RAMS (0-7, 0-2 Patriot) AT LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS (3-3, 0-1 Patriot)
WHERE: Murray Goodman Stadium/Bethlehem, PA, Saturday, October 26th, Noon
STREAMING: ESPN+
TV CREW: PxP – Marco Socci; Analyst – Matt Markus
RADIO: BROADCAST (Fox Sports Lehigh Valley 94.7 FM/1230 AM; LVFoxSports.com):
RADIO CREW: PxP – Matt Kerr; Analysts – Tom Fallon, Connor Brown

A Quick Note on the Fordham/Lehigh Series

It may seem strange today, but at one time Fordham used to be a cupcake on Lehigh’s schedule. In the early days of the Patriot League, Lehigh won 23 of the first 25 games of the series, including a very memorable win over RB Chase Edmonds at home in the Mountain Hawks’ 2016 season, a 58-37 drubbing that was even more lopsided than the final score indicated.

“In Lehigh’s 58-37 statement win over Fordham,” I wrote, “the same Ram team with potential future NFL player RB Chase Edmonds, the main headline wasn’t the aerial show, though there were a few highlight-reel plays there, too. Instead, the headline became Lehigh’s six rushing touchdowns, three from senior QB Nick Shafnisky and three more from sophomore RB Dominick Bragalone, and 349 yards on the ground.”

That game, however, signified the end of an era. Since that comprehensive win over the Rams, Fordham has won five of the last six, and eight of the last ten meetings between the two teams. While most of the games have been close, their last win over Fordham was the dominant performance versus Chase Edmonds.

Last year was a heartbreaker of a loss for Lehigh as Fordham PK Brandon Peskin sank a career-high 45 yard FG to beat Lehigh 38-35 in a wild shootout that saw Lehigh get a two score lead in the second half, but unable to close the deal.

Lehigh Rundown

This week’s game notes don’t reveal too much in terms of injuries or new developments, though it looks like Lehigh has settled into a 4-2-5 defense with DL Tyler Ochojski as a down lineman instead of a linebacker, though he could slot back at linebacker in a 3-3-5 if necessary. It might be interesting to see if Lehigh plays more 3-3-5 in order to counteract Fordham spreading the field.

One player who quietly has had a very good year for Lehigh I’d like to highlight is CB Aidan Singleton, who has notched two interceptions in two of his last three games and will be angling for a third this week. He’s been a part of a very good Lehigh secondary that has seen great improvement from last season.

LFN’s Drink of the Week

Lehigh needs to reinvent itself this week. We need to reinvent a Drink of the Week that is brand new in light of this. In that spirit, I’m going to introduce the Aperoni – a Negroni made with Aperol, which hopefully you have lying around, like we do.

  • 1 part gin
  • 1 part sweet vermouth
  • 1 part Aperol
  • Orange twist or slice, for garnish

Just put in a shaker with ice and pour, garnishing with the orange twist. This will taste sweeter and less bitter than a typical Negroni, so be prepared, but it will definitely be a winning combination.

Scouting Fordham

How true is the adage “Fordham doesn’t look like an 0-7 team?”

Certainly the last couple of weeks, the scoreboard didn’t lie. The Rams indeed played arguably the two top teams in the Patriot League down to the wire, having the ball on the final possession in a position to tie or win the game at the end. That they were able to do that is to be respected.

And it is true that injuries have been a big issue for Fordham, with experienced WR Garrett Cody the latest Ram to get healthy just in time for the Lehigh game. QB CJ Montes is out for the year – at least – and mobile QB Jack Capaldi has been slinging as the starter in the last four games (805 yards passing, 4 TDs, 4 INTs).

Fordham spreads the field on offense and does not have one go-to guy that beats you consistently. The closest thing that Fordham has to that is RB Julius Loughridge (566 yards rushing, 5 TDs), but the Rams have always had a stable of receivers. Perhaps most notably is that in the last two weeks, Capaldi has only one interception in two Patriot League games. That unquestionably is one of the reasons why they were able to hang around against Lafayette and Holy Cross.

Defensively, too, the return of LB James Conway certainly helped Fordham’s defense contain Lafayette’s and Holy Cross’ offense below their season averages – and again, kept them in the game. Bottom line, there is some truth to the statement that the Rams don’t look like a 0-7 team, and that should worry Lehigh fans.

LFN’s Keys to the Game

  1. Stop the Run. Holy Cross’ formula for stopping the Rams was to shut down the run game and wear down Fordham over the course of the game. Loughridge’s 18 rushes for 52 yards was critical in their hanging on to win.
  2. Long, Sustained Drives To Dominate Time of Possession. Taking another page from the Crusaders, Holy Cross dominated the time of possession 36-23 two weeks ago. Doing so will require few or zero turnovers, and long drives punctuated by touchdowns. The Mountain Hawks will have to do the same this week to win.
  3. Crisp Special Teams. Taking a page from the Lafayette game, the Leopards were up comfortably when two blocked kicks – a punt and a field goal – set up Fordham’s final touchdown and Fordham’s potentially game-winning drive. Fordham is too good a team to be handed extra opportunities like that one again. Lehigh’s special teams will need to be on point.

Fearless Prediction

Patriot League football action is a lot of fun to follow week in and week out. Those in the know understand that records tend to matter little, and pride matters more. It’s a lot more than a gambling line. There is true pride of competition, championship pride, and team pride in the Patriot League. It keeps me coming back year after year.

And that’s exactly why I’m terrified of this game. You can point to statistics, records and the like, but the truth is Fordham has every chance to take the air out the balloon of Lehigh football this weekend, and that will be their goal – and they very much can.

A lot of positive progress and vibe has returned to Murray Goodman Stadium that has not been there in a long while. Watching this team beat Princeton was a delight in every way. But it can’t be taken for granted. It can all go away in a flash.

That’s why this game, to me, feels like the inflection point. Lehigh needs this to keep the good vibes going. I think they will manage to do so – but it’s not going to be easy. It might come to a heart-stopping finish. I think maybe, just maybe, they will find the way.

Lehigh 31, Fordham 26