It was a battle on the gridiron that divided an entire state. It pitted the only two football-playing programs in this New England member against each other in a be-all, end-all for statewide bragging rights. Going 1-7, with the one win coming in this contest, was considered a success.
Amherst-Williams? Nope. With all apologies to The Biggest Collection of Hothea—ERR, Biggest Little Game in America, this game literally enveloped an entire state. (And as is known to anyone who is aware that Wesleyan played Tufts last week, Amherst and Williams are not the only schools in Massachusetts that sponsor football.) No, this particular clash happens to be one that most people reading this are probably much less familiar with: Middlebury-Norwich.
Pause for a moment. No, the person who just wrote an article on the NESCAC’s schedule changes doesn’t think that the NESCAC now has 12 teams. Yes, I realize Norwich is not a member of the NESCAC and never has been. And therein lies the reason so few people remember this rivalry: the teams last met in 1991.
1991. It was a long time ago. George Bush the elder had just informed us that he was aware a majority of Americans are not lip-readers, Florida still didn’t have professional baseball, and Amherst was mired in what would become a 20-game losing streak. Think about some notable college football rivalries: Amherst-Williams, Alabama-Auburn, Ohio State-Michigan. Now imagine that none of these teams had met since 1991.
Scary thought, isn’t it? Century-old rivalries such as these deserve better than meeting an abrupt end at the hands of the conference powers. Do you think the Southeast Conference (SEC) would ever enact conference-only play and bar its marquee Florida Gators from traveling to Ron Zook Field? Never, because Florida-Florida State makes a lot of money for all parties involved. But that’s exactly what brought an end to the Battle of Vermont: the NESCAC switched to a conference-only schedule in 1992, bringing an end to nonconference games.
Middlebury-Norwich wasn’t the only rivalry snuffed by this decision. Both Wesleyan and Trinity—the only NESCAC schools in Connecticut that field teams on the gridiron—had a long-standing rivalry with Coast Guard that ran through 1991. Wesleyan last met its New London foes on October 5, 1991, a 16-13 Cardinal victory on Andrus Field. It was the 52nd game in a series that dates back to 1935. And then it all came to a sudden end in what would have been the 57th year.
But why stop there? Only four Division III teams in the Nutmeg State field football teams (Western Connecticut is the other). Wesleyan already plays Trinity every year in a season-ending clash, and used to square off against Da Bears from the coastline each season, as well. Why not throw in the Colonials, too? The Connecticut quartet could institute a round-robin schedule, giving the Wesleyan-Trinity battle the potential to decide the state champion. Western Connecticut plays a ten-game schedule; nine games are against New Jersey Athletic Conference teams, while the season opener is a nonconference match that came against Albright College this year. Coast Guard plays a nine-game schedule that includes two nonconference games. It’s do-able from a schedule standpoint—all that’s missing is the consent of the NESCAC.
Certainly, there may be some people who are against this and want to keep the NESCAC a playing conference. Here’s the thing—when it comes to football, it really isn’t a playing conference. There are ten member schools with football programs, but the schedule is only eight games. The astute of you may recall that Wesleyan opened its season on the gridiron against Middlebury the previous two seasons, and hopefully at least one person reading this knows that Jake Fay ’00 threw seven TD passes at Middlebury in 1998.
Look at Wes’s 2008 schedule. Do you see Middlebury on there? I hope not, because it isn’t. Each team’s season opener is on a four-year rotation—two years against one school (for example, Wesleyan vs. Middlebury) and then two years against another (in this case, Tufts). In short, a conference champion is declared even though every school only plays eight other teams. Barring the NESCAC adding a ninth game—which is about as likely as the Rams winning the NFC West this season—this injustice will continue ad infinitum. As such, reinstating nonconference games won’t be nearly as drastic a transition as it might seem.
Amherst and Williams happen to have the fortune of being members of the same conference, which has allowed its rivalry to continue uninterrupted over the past 16 years. Unfortunately, few other schools in the region have been as lucky. If the NESCAC played an all-inclusive nine-game schedule (a la basketball, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer), I could understand the decision to abolish nonconference play. But, considering Wesleyan played seven of its eight games against NESCAC schools each season from 1980 through 1991, how much did the shift to NESCAC-only play really change?
Every other sport has been allowed to keep its nonconference rivalries intact, even after the NESCAC became a playing conference in all sports at the turn of the century. Why should football—arguably the most tradition-rich and visible sport in any college’s athletic program—be any different?
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