LEHIGH PRESEASON PREVIEW: Scanning the 2024 Schedule

BETHLEHEM, PA – Every member of Lehigh Nation wants to put last year’s 2-9 season behind them. In 2024, the Mountain Hawks will do just that with a highly unusual 11 game schedule.

Start with Army.

Lehigh will be visiting Michie Stadium for the first time since 1995, and this will be the Mountain Hawks’ first game against any FBS opponent since 2018 (when they played Navy in Annapolis, MD).

Around South Mountain, where FBS games have been very rare over the last decade, there is a lot of excitement.

“We’re excited,” head coach Kevin Cahill told me at Patriot League Media Day. “These games are fun to play in. I think they’re a great experience for our players, they’re excited for the opportunity to play an FBS opponent. As a kid, I went to a few Army games, loved it, and even went to a few Army/Navy games. To be able to go up to Army and be a part of the history of college football, that’s pretty cool.”

There was a lot of concern, at South Mountain and elsewhere, that Army’s football game with Lehigh might have gotten cancelled once Army-West Point declared they were joining the American Athletic Conference in 2024.

Happily, both teams were able to reschedule the game on Friday of Week 0 instead.

“I give them a lot of credit,” coach Cahill said. “Being a Patriot League institution, they held on to our game, and we’re thrilled to be playing Army to open up.”

The game with Army is not only Lehigh’s only FBS game on the 2024 schedule – it’s also their only game not played on a Saturday (it’s Friday, August 30th) and their only scheduled nighttime game (kickoff is at 6:00 PM at Michie Stadium). Every other scheduled kickoff on the schedule is before 1:00 PM.

Out Of Conference Games With the NEC On the 2024 Slate

While Army will be a huge challenge, the rest of Lehigh’s out of conference schedule will be a big proving ground for this Mountain Hawk team. On first look, there are some winnable games to give the Mountain Hawks some positive momentum.

Start with Lehigh’s home opener at Murray Goodman Stadium versus Wagner (September 7th, noon).

Wagner went 4-7 in 2023 with one of those wins coming Division II Post University (1-9).

The Seahawks, coached by former Boston University and Fordham head football coach Tom Masella, were picked to finish sixth in the NEC. Wagner will look to build off of an offense that had two 600 yard rushers last year and WR Jaylen Bonelli, who notched 40 receptions, 627 yards receiving and 4 TDs.

The following week Lehigh will travel to Long Island to play a brand new opponent, LIU – sort of.

The LIU Sharks are a new, fully Division I FCS football program which came about from the merging of two LIU campuses. As a result, they technically are the continuation of their former Division II program name, LIU-C.W. Post, which oddly enough has some history playing Lehigh.

Officially, the Mountain Hawks are 6-0 against LIU-C.W. Post, with one of those victories coming from Lehigh’s 1977 Division II National Championship team. The last time the two teams met were 1979.

More recently, last season the Sharks went 4-7, but finished the year strong with a 4-3 record in NEC play. This year, LIU is hoping to make a run at the NEC title and their first-ever FCS Playoff appearance. NEC Defensive player of the year DL Eric O’Neill departs after a tremendous career, but OL Jake Timm and highly regarded WR Mike Love return on offense.

Ivy Tests

Lehigh’s first league game, a home tilt against Bucknell, are sandwiched – sort of – between to Ivy League games. What is unusual is that the two Ivy League games are separated by almost an entire month.

Because the Army game was rescheduled, Lehigh has an ultra-rare double bye week during the first two weeks of October. Lehigh hosts Princeton on September 21st (Noon Kickoff), and Lehigh closes out the non-conference schedule at coach Cahill’s former employer, Yale (Yale Bowl, Noon Kickoff) on October 19th.

Both Ivy games will be big challenges for the Mountain Hawks.

Princeton, picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League, isn’t all that far away (80 votes) from the team picked to finish first, which is Yale (114 votes), and it’s a good bet that both the Tigers and Bulldogs will have plenty to say in regards to the Ivy League title race.

Last season, the top six teams in the Ivy League were separated by just two games.

Lehigh is the Tigers’ first opponent of 2024 – the Ivy League starts their season the third week in September, later than the rest of Division I – and the Mountain Hawks will get the very first look at Princeton’s team.

While QB Blake Stenstrom has graduated from Princeton, leading rusher RB John Volker (447 rushing yards, 7 TDs) should return as well as their leading receiver from last year, WR Luke Colella (620 receiving yards, 6 TDs).

On the other hand, Yale should be in mid-season form when Lehigh travels to New Haven this October.

Yale will have a different look than last year as dual-threat QB Nolan Grooms graduates, who was their starting quaterback and leading rusher. Like Princeton, though, they will have their starting running back returning in RB Joshua Pitsenberger (448 yards, 8 TDs) and a massive defensive line led by DL Alvin Gulley, Jr. (24 tackles, 2 pass break-ups).

Probably the most critical thing in Lehigh’s non-conference schedule is growth from week to week. Coach Cahill has said a lot about Lehigh “needing to worry about Lehigh” more than wins or losses, but getting two or maybe even three wins in these games would be an enormous sign that the Mountain Hawks are headed in the right direction and seeing their hard work pay off. We’ll see.

Lehigh Football Schedule 2024

(* denotes Patriot League Contest)

6:00 PM, Friday, August 30th
at Army-West Point
Michie Stadium, West Point, NY
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, September 7th
vs. Wagner
Murray Goodman Stadium, Bethlehem, PA
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, September 14th
at LIU
Bethpage Federal Credit Union Stadium, Brookville, NY
Streaming: NEC Front Row
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, September 21st
vs. Princeton
Murray Goodman Stadium, Bethlehem, PA
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, September 28th
vs. Bucknell *
Murray Goodman Stadium, Bethlehem, PA
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, October 19th
at Yale
Yale Bowl, New Haven, CT
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, October 26th
vs. Fordham
Murray Goodman Stadium, Bethlehem, PA
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

12:30 PM, Saturday, November 2nd
at Georgetown *
Cooper Field, Washington, DC
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, November 9th
at Holy Cross *
Fitton Field, Worcester, MA
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, November 16th
vs. Colgate *
Murray Goodman Stadium, Bethlehem, PA
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM

Noon, Saturday, November 23rd
The 160th Meeting of Lehigh and Lafayette in The Rivalry
Murray Goodman Stadium, Bethlehem, PA
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM