Scouting Fordham

There's very little Fordham QB Michael Nebrich can't do

Offense

Pick your poison.

They can beat you with a super trio of receivers in speedster Sam Ajala, fast and big Tebucky Jones, or quick and devious Brian Wetzel.

Then there’s TE Dan Light, who may be the best in the Patriot League.

On the ground, Carlton Koonce is averaging more than 110 yards per game and he seems ready to really break off a dominant game soon.

And then you have QB Michael Nebrich, who is having a near perfect season with six TD passes, one INT, 777 yards passing and a near-70% completion percentage. He’s a dangerous runner, with three TD’s this season and a long rush of 32 yards.

There’s a reason why this team is 3-0 and scoring 36 points a game, and it’s not that they’ve taken on bad defenses. Two of the three games they’ve played have been against Villanova and Temple.

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The Rams are converting 3^rd downs at a 46% rate and are scoring 86% of the time they get into the Red Zone.

The offensive line has been solid, allowing two sacks per game despite the fact that Fordham is throwing the ball 32 times per game.

Defense

While this is the weaker of the two units, you can’t really call it “weak.”

The big stars are bruising DL DeAndre Slate, (three sacks), LB Stephen Hodge, who defends the run and the pass equally well, and DB Ian Williams who is the leader of the team.

The pass defense has been stronger, allowing just 155 yards per game.

But the rush defense is admittedly suspect, allowing a whopping 230 yards per game. In fact, why Tempe Head Coach Matt Ruhle didn’t just run the ball all day is really baffling.

Opposing teams are converting 3^rd downs at a pretty good pace too, at 44%.

Finally, it seems like Fordham’s opponents have a little better success scoring in the 2^nd half than the 1^st.

Special Teams

Don’t look for any weaknesses here.

Freshman PK Mike Morando doesn’t have the leg strength that the just-graduated Patrick Murray had for the Rams, but he’s still a perfect 6-6 on FG’s and 12-12 on PAT’s. That includes 47 and 44 yard FG’s at Temple.

Jorge Solano is a dangerous returner, with a 69 yard kickoff return already this year.

The Rams are covering kicks okay, but just okay.

Early Lines

Fordham is a 19 ½ point favorite over Columbia right now.

Other Ivy games:

Colgate favored by 10 ½ over Yale

Brown favored by 16 over Georgetown

Cornell favored by 3 over Bucknell

Harvard favored by 12 ½ over San Diego

Princeton favored by 2 ½ over Lehigh

Penn favored by 10 over Lafayette

Dartmouth favored by 6 ½ over Butler

Slight Roster Move

-Freshman Anthony Bonadies has officially been moved to number 63 now that he is officially an offensive lineman. His http://www.pennathletics.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1700&ATCLID=3741320 older brother Joe was a super OL for Penn and just graduated in May.