Patriot League Football

Fordham quarterback Mike Nebrich is the leader of an explosive offensive attack.

The Rams entered Saturday's home game against Colgate having scored 350 points in their seven wins this season. Nebrich, who admittedly wasn't at his best at the start of the year, has put up numbers any quarterback at any level of football would take: 190 completions for 2,596 yards and 22 touchdowns. An offense loaded with stars revolves around him.

Except on Saturday, he was on the sideline, unable to play after having surgery Wednesday to remove his appendix.

Thank you to all my friends, family, and teammates for their prayers and concerns. Been a rough 24hours, I'll be back on the field soon

— Michael Nebrich (@YoungNeebs) October 31, 2014

In stepped Peter Maetzold, a senior quarterback who has been a backup for most of his Fordham career.

How much would change with Nebrich out and Maetzold in? On the surface, not much if you consider what took place on Jack Coffey Field Saturday as Fordham beat Colgate 37-13 to improve to 8-1 on the year (4-0 in the Patriot League).

With a number of receivers at his disposal, Maetzold came out of the gates firing. He was 11-for-14 for 126 yards in the first half, throwing two touchdown passes to Tebucky Jones Jr. in the first quarter that gave the Rams a 13-0 lead.

He connected with Brian Wetzel early in the third quarter to put Fordham ahead 25-6. It wasn't until later in the quarter that Maetzold threw his first interception. How did he respond? On Fordham's next possession he led an 82-yard scoring drive that sealed the win.

"You accept your position, but when your name’s called upon you want to perform your best," Maetzold said about getting the chance to start. "We’ve been rolling here for six weeks. It’s great I got to go in there in a more substantial role and keep things going."

Maetzold finished 27-for-38 for 279 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 35 yards.

"It’s a very good job particularly under the circumstances," Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said about Maetzold's performance. "I think it’s indicative of the type of team player Peter is in the way he’s approached his role as a backup—understanding he’s one play away.

"Every day he comes in he prepares like he’s a starter, he practices like he’s a starter. Peter would be the starter for a lot of other teams at this level. He just happens to be behind arguably the best player at this level.

"I couldn’t be more proud of how he’s approached his role with the team. His number was called upon and he came in and led us to victory. I couldn’t be more proud of him. He’s earned it."

This was not Maetzold's first start. In 2011, he started the Rams' first four games. Last year, he replaced Nebrich in a game against Bucknell and led Fordham to a win.

"The whole team had confidence in Peter," Jones, who caught eight passes for 97 yards, said. "We knew coming in he could do just as good as Michael. We knew Peter would get the ball to the receivers."

No Nebrich, no problem? Not exactly. Though Colgate is a formidable opponent (it entered the game 4-4, 2-0 in the Patriot League), this is a regular season game in November against a non-ranked opponent coming off two straight losses. Fordham will need a healthy and productive Nebrich later this month and in December if it is going to make a run at a Football Championship Subdivision title.

Moorhead said it's too early to know if Nebrich will be able to play Friday night at Bucknell.

"It's day to day from what the doctors say," Moorhead said. "We basically get an update every day and we'll go from there."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Twitter: @CFCostello

Fordham's Chase Edmonds has encountered no problems taking his game from Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx.

In Week 1, he ran for 181 yards, a school record for a freshman. In Week 3, he ran for 231 yards, breaking his own record. He followed that up with 174 yards the following week, 142 the next and back up to 187 in Week 6.

On Saturday, in Fordham's 60-22 win over Penn in front of 3,081 at Rose Hill, Edmonds rushed for 101 yards, putting him over 1,000 yards in just seven games. He's the first freshman in school history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season.

"I came in ambitious," Edmonds said after Saturday's game. "I came here with the mindset to compete for the starting spot. Whether 1,000 yards was my goal, I just wanted to contribute to the team as best I could. Anything positive that I get I just take as a blessing."

Edmonds has already been named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week five times this season. He's first in the league and second in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) in rushing yards with 1,011, and he's scored 11 touchdowns.

Edmonds' coach, Joe Moorhead, has been impressed with the rookie from day one.

"From the second he stepped foot on campus for summer workouts he's conducted himself like a fifth-year senior," Moorhead said after the Rams' win over St. Francis to open the season. "His approach to the game, his practice habits, his workout habits, his study habits—he treats the game with the respect it deserves and practices as hard as he plays. ... You don't have to be a senior to lead. He doesn't say two words, but he leads by example."

Moorhead added to his praise of Edmonds following the victory over Penn, the sixth win for Fordham this season.

"Guys that can combine the athletic ability and football skills that he has with the intangibles, the work ethic and the practice [and] preparation...everything he's gotten he's earned," Moorhead said. "He's done a fantastic job with his preparation. He does a great job at practice; [he] practices hard. When it comes to games, it's not a surprise why he's having the success he's [had]."

Forget about comparing him to freshmen—Edmonds is one of the top offensive players in the FCS. Last week, he was named to the Rice Award Watch List, an honor given to the top first-year player in the FCS.

Losing Carlton Koonce (1,462 rushing yards last season) to graduation meant that one of the few holes the Rams had to fill was at running back. Ironic, then, that on a team with so many returning starters, Edmonds would be one of its offensive stars.

"He's huge for me personally, for this offensive unit and for the team," said quarterback Mike Nebrich, who threw for a school-record 566 yards and tied a school record with six touchdown passes Saturday. "The guys watch how hard he works in practice. You can lead as a freshman, and I think Chase has proven that with his work ethic.

"Offensively, he's a big part of why we're doing what we're doing. When you have a guy like him who's running for 100 yards a game, it really opens up the defense. It creates a lot of one-on-one matchups, and with the guys we have at wideout, that's usually a favorable matchup for us."

While Edmonds has quickly become a household name around campus, talk to anyone inside the program, and to Edmonds himself, and it's obvious that this is the same old Chase.

"One thing I've learned [is] not to read your press clippings," Edmonds said. "I understand why Coach Moorhead talks about [that] a lot. When you have all these people telling you you're going to be so successful, it's much easier said than done. You really have to focus on the process. You have to take it practice by practice, game by game and so on."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Twitter: @CFCostello 

Fordham's game last Friday night was a chance for the Rams to show the nation that they were a championship contender. In no way did they disappoint.

Playing in front of a national TV audience (the game was broadcast on the CBS Sports Network) and the 4,376 in attendance at Jack Coffey Field, Fordham put together a convincing 42-18 win over Lafayette.

"When you first put the pads on the kids, this is the kind of night you dream about," Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said after the game. "Nationally televised game, at home under the lights, against the defending league champion who ruined our undefeated season last year."

In 2013, Fordham was 10-0 before the Leopards beat them, 27-14. Fordham rebounded from that loss, finishing the regular season with a 12-2 record and advancing to the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs.

Nobody who spoke after last week's game tried to hide the fact that the loss to Lafayette lingered in their minds. But the focus was on getting a win, no matter the opponent.

"There were a lot of different factors that motivated us for this game," Moorhead said, "but the most important thing was to get Patriot League win No. 2 and keep our streak rolling at home.

"It's a credit to these young men, how well we practiced this week, how hard they played and how well we executed our scheme. It was a tremendous win."

In many ways, it was a win that symbolized the type of team this is.

Fordham is now 5-1 heading into its matchup with Penn this weekend. Halfway through the regular season, the Rams are firing on all cylinders. They've scored 42 or more points in each of their wins.

They're loaded on offense.

Senior quarterback Mike Nebrich has a ton of options at his disposal. Last week, he finished 23-of-32 for 287 yards and three touchdowns, connecting seven times with Tebucky Jones Jr., six times with Brian Wetzel and five times each with Sam Ajala and Dan Light. Just another day at the office for Nebrich and company.

"It's huge as a quarterback knowing that you have really five guys that you can potentially get the ball to every single play and have full confidence in them," Nebrich said. "You know that whoever gets the ball is going to make a play for you. You don't have to try and force it to one of your big playmakers, if you really only had one or two. It's a great luxury to have for me."

Another great luxury for the offense has been freshman running back Chase Edmonds. Edmonds ran for 187 yards and two touchdowns last week, his latest spectacular effort. This week, Edmonds was named to the 2014 Rice Award watch list, named after NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and given to the FCS's top first-year player.

Edmonds, who has been named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week five times this season, leads the FCS in all-purpose yards, averaging 212.7 per game, and he has 910 rushing yards (151.7 per game) and 10 touchdowns in the first six games. His 44-yard run late in the first quarter of last week's win got the Fordham offense going. It's one of many times that Edmonds has done that this season.

"That long touchdown was a spark," Moorhead said. "We were sputtering for the first couple of drives. We got it rolling from there. It was certainly the spark that we needed offensively to get us going."

When you score like the offense does, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the defense has played a big part in the wins as well. Though the offense has been great, there have been games when it's needed time to get going. That means the defense has had to keep the Rams in games to give the offense time to click. With the exception of the Villanova game, when nothing worked for Fordham, the defense has done just that.

"Our defense has played fantastic for the past four weeks," Moorhead said. "If you can keep the opposition under 20 with the ability we have to put points on the board, it's going to give us an opportunity to win on a weekly basis. "

Defensive lineman Brett Biestek led the way last week, recording nine tackles and four sacks. When it was over, he captured what's become a familiar theme for the Rams: The offense might get most of the attention, but the defense has the ability to win games, too.

"Tonight the whole defense really had a great night," he said. "The momentum of the game turned with some of the plays."

On both sides of the ball.

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Twitter: @CFCostello 

What a difference a year makes.

Last season, Fordham beat Villanova—which was ranked in the top 10 at the time—27-24 at Jack Coffey Field in the second game of the season. The Rams ran for 173 yards and forced five fumbles.

Last Saturday, Fordham was routed at Villanova 50-6. The Rams ran for 18 yards and turned the ball over twice.

Fordham and Villanova entered Saturday's game ranked in the top 15 of both The Sports Network FCS Top 25 and the FCS Coaches Poll. This was an early-season matchup between two teams with championship aspirations.

Villanova struck first, and it struck often. And, after lightning struck, the Wildcats really poured it on.

With the Rams trailing 7-3 early in the second quarter, the game was delayed more than an hour due to inclement weather. When play resumed, Villanova scored touchdowns on three consecutive offensive drives and returned an interception for a touchdown, resulting in the Wildcats taking a 33-3 lead into halftime.

Villanova rushed for 300 yards and passed for 214 more. The Rams had 219 yards of total offense. Villanova picked up 28 first downs to Fordham's 14. The Wildcats converted 10 times on third down while the Rams were 4-of-14 on third down.

Nothing went right for Fordham. But guess what? Games like that happen.

They happen to teams that don't win a single game all season. They happen to .500 teams that look good one week and bad the next. And they happen to championship teams. No one said you had to win them all.

Conclusion: No matter how badly Villanova outplayed the Rams Saturday, and no matter how down you might be after a clunker like that, Fordham is still very much in this thing. The goals are still attainable: win the Patriot League title, get into the FCS playoffs and bring home a championship.

There might not be a better coach in the FCS to lead a team out of a game like last Saturday and into a new week with a new opponent than Fordham's Joe Moorhead. In the best of times, he preaches preparation, effort and execution. In the worst of times, he preaches preparation, effort and execution.

Moorhead has shown an incredible ability to rally and lead the troops.

Since he took over as head coach prior to the 2012 season, Fordham is 5-0 after a loss (not counting games that ended a season). That bodes well for a team with a resiliency that has yet to be tested.

Also working in the Rams' favor is the fact that this is a veteran team that's been focused since day one on winning an FCS championship. No one embodies that philosophy and belief more than quarterback Mike Nebrich, one of the top players in the FCS.

Nebrich spent most of Saturday afternoon getting to know the field turf before he was given the rest of the afternoon off after being removed from the game late in the third quarter with his team trailing 40-3.

He finished 14-of-28 for 182 yards and two interceptions. In the opener, he was 11-of-26 for 188 yards and three touchdowns. This is a quarterback who threw for 4,380 yards and 35 touchdowns a year ago, leading his team to a 12-win season.

He's a winner, and he'll respond. My guess is that he has a huge game this Saturday at home against Rhode Island.

Just like you shouldn't have crowned them national champions after their blowout win over St. Francis in the opener, no one should consider the Rams done after a few bad hours of football at Villanova.

On Saturday, they'll have a chance to get back on the right track. Knowing Moorhead, that process started in the Villanova Stadium locker room with his team believing, before it even got on the bus, that an FCS championship is still very much within reach.

Statistics and game information courtesy of FordhamSports.com.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter @CFCostello.

They are Bucknell Football. They are those guys. 

There are a few in every group—the clowns who take it upon themselves to spice up a lame, mandatory event.

In this case, it was a group of Bucknell football players who brought the ruckus to a team photo shoot. A small cross section of the Bisons’ most dedicated goofs arrived for their close-ups looking like a mixed bag of carnival workers and 19th-century robber barons. 

Deadspin’s Sean Newell spotted the pictures of the ragtag troupe, which had enough mustaches, mullets and raised eyebrows on hand to start a stock car race. 

Let’s begin with wide receiver Brandon Farrell, who looks like he just hot-boxed a tanning bed.

Here’s Troy “You talking to me?” Glenn. 

C.J. Williams enjoys yards after contact, fast lawn mowers and Aaron Rodgers cosplay.

Louis Taglianetti will remove your restrictor plate and wax your chest for a nominal fee.

Ben Schumacher can make an orange mocha Frappuccino from scratch.

Jimmy King misses summer lovin’ and having a blast.

He is Clayton Hoffmaster, earl of sandwiches.

Last but not least, we have Matthew Steinbeck, a modern-day Bronalisa and almost certainly the progeny of John Steinbeck. The stare-into-the-middle-distance look is a dead giveaway. 

Well done, Bucknell. You took the preseason by storm. 

No matter what happens this season, you are those guys, and no one can take that away from you. 

Follow Dan on Twitter for more sports and pop culture news.

Follow @Dr_Carson_

When Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead met with reporters at media day on August 11, he started off by thanking members of the press for coming out to cover his team.

That's what happens when you give the media one heck of a story to cover, Joe.

Because of Moorhead, Fordham football is once again relevant. He took over a team that went 1-10 in 2011, and he's won 18 games in his first two years.

This year, Fordham won't just be competing to win games. The Rams have a legitimate shot at the Football Championship Series (FCS) title.

"It feels great," Moorhead said about where the program is. "To come in in year one [and] kind of establish the foundation of our program from a philosophical and expectation standpoint, [and to] go 6-5 and have a winning season, it felt good to get the program headed in the right direction.

"To be able to go into year two and build off of that to a degree of success I don't think any of us were anticipating. [And] now to go into year three and have these expectations.

"It's great for the school, it's great for the athletic department, it's great for our program. Most of all, I'm happy for our players."

Moorhead is all about the process. Perhaps that explains why his program has gotten better each year. Goals are great, Moorhead will tell you, but ultimately, it's what you do on the way to getting to those goals that matters most.

"We want to remain a process-oriented team as opposed to a goal-oriented team," Moorhead said. "Our goals here haven't changed since day one when we stood in the locker room and addressed the team.

"We have a series of goals that we want to accomplish. If you're focused on the goals rather than what it takes to get there, I think sometimes you lose sight of the little things necessary to develop a championship team."

After going 6-5 in his first year, Moorhead led the Rams to a 12-2 record last season.

As a result of what they accomplished a year ago, and with 15 of their 17 All-Patriot League players returning this season, the accolades have poured in. In July, Fordham was picked to win the Patriot League, and 13 Rams picked up preseason awards at the league's media day.

Moorhead said his players have done a good job staying focused on what they need to do as individuals to help the team win games instead of getting caught up in all the preseason hype.

"It's not easy for those guys, particularly with the amount of postseason recognition that we had last year and the amount of accolades that we received heading into this year," he said.

"They're kids. That's our job as coaches to remind them on a daily basis of the things that it takes to be successful—hard work, discipline, accountability, attention to detail—all those intangible things. And then your preparation, effort, execution on a weekly basis.

"You try to go 1-0 every week," he added.

That was a motto that worked well for the Rams last year when they emerged as a top FCS team. This year, they won't be sneaking up on anyone.

"That ended last year with the Villanova win and the Temple win," Moorhead said. "People have their bull's-eye on our back, we've got our bull's-eye on their back. We'll find out who has the best aim and the best shot, and we'll go from there."

Fordham will open its season on Aug. 30 at home against Saint Francis. The Rams won't start preparing for that game until Aug. 22. Moorhead said there's still a lot they need to work on in camp.

"We talk about the season in different phases," he said. "Right now, we're in phase four, which is preseason camp. We need to worry about our camp goals: to improve our knowledge of our scheme and our fundamentals and technique, and then come out and compete on a daily basis.

"At this point we're concentrating on what we need to do to improve [individually and as a team]."

Moorhead said stopping the run has been a big focus of preseason camp.

The Rams have an explosive offense, one that last year averaged 37.6 points per game and scored more than 50 points in four contests.

Defensively, however, they allowed 25.4 points and 202.4 rushing yards per game.

"The biggest thing that I'd like to see an improvement on is rushing defense," Moorhead said. "At the end of the day, we need to do a better job stopping the run."

Moorhead said that they've been working on that in practice and that it has just as much to do with the mental approach as it does scheme.

"We were very opportunistic on defense [last year]," Moorhead said. "The biggest thing that I talk about defensively as a barometer for success is scoring defense and forced turnovers. We gave up a lot of yards, but we were able to keep people out of the end zone."

As Moorhead pointed out, Fordham accomplished a lot last year—12 wins, a victory over a Football Bowl Subdivision School (Temple), a home playoff triumph and two wins over top-10 teams at home for the first time.

Still, what players and coaches remember is what Moorhead called the "sinking feeling" following the loss to Towson in the second round of the playoffs.

"As much as those things are memorable and are great moments for our team and for our program, the thing that sticks out to a lot of these guys is the sour taste in our mouth after the Towson game," Moorhead said. 

"This year, I want us to be a team [that] thinks we can win a championship."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

Quarterback Mike Nebrich and the Fordham Rams have a chance to do something special this year. As if last year wasn't special enough.

The Rams won 12 games in 2013 and made it to the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. They got a taste of the postseason.

This year, they want the full meal.

The FCS national championship will take place on Jan. 10 in Frisco, Texas. There's no reason to believe that Fordham can't get there.

The Rams were the unanimous pick to win the Patriot League and are ranked in both major national polls—No. 11 in The Sports Network FCS Top 25 and No. 12 in the FCS Coaches Poll.

Nebrich, who put up eye-popping numbers a year ago, will be a key to it all.

"We're a very confident team, but we know that we're not going to sneak up on anybody this year," Nebrich, a senior, said at Fordham's media day on Monday. "We've gone into every practice with the mentality that we need to get better every single day or else we're not going to have the season that we know we're capable of."

Nebrich said that while the Rams' success last year may have surprised people on the outside, everyone inside the program knew they were a good football team. This season, they want to be even better.

"Last year, we had the mindset that we were going to sneak up on some teams," Nebrich said. "We knew how good we were going to be. That's why we came out of nowhere in a lot of people's minds.

"We've always believed in ourselves. We've always known that we're a good football team. All the preseason accolades and hype hasn't affected us. We've just been doing what we do each and every day. We've been doing the exact same thing with the exact same mindset every single day since Coach Moorhead got here."

Joe Moorhead took over the program prior to the 2012 season. In his first year, the Rams finished 6-5. Then last year happened, and as a result, the lights are shining a little brighter on Jack Coffey Field.

On a team of stars—13 Rams received preseason awards at the Patriot League's media day in July—Nebrich's shines brightest.

Maybe that's because he's the quarterback. More likely than that, it's because of what he did last year, when he threw for 4,380 yards and 35 touchdowns while completing 73.5 percent of his passes. Oh, and he also rushed for 513 yards and nine touchdowns.

Nebrich was named the 2014 Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, and he's a candidate for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top player in the FCS.

What can he do to top what he's already accomplished? How about a national championship? That's the goal. Last year was just the beginning.

"It means more for the program and the school," Nebrich said about the team's success last season and the expectations for this year. "Three years ago, we were 1-10, and nobody had any respect for us as a football program.

"Coach Moorhead has turned the program around. He instilled some things in the players that we've used to go forward. Everything we've learned from him, we've put onto the field. People are really starting to respect us as a football team now. We have to respond to it and not get complacent. If we do that, we'll continue some good things here."

The Rams are a senior-laden team that will benefit from having so many players from last year's playoff team returning this season. All but two of the Rams' 17 All-Patriot League players from a year ago are back.

"It carries over a lot," Nebrich said. "With all the starters coming back, there's a lot of game experience there. When you have guys that have been in big games, that experience really helps you going forward into a season, teaching the young guys exactly what it takes to win football games.

"The biggest thing for us is having that experience. Getting later into the year, we know exactly what we need to do and why we fell short last year."

That may have been the most impressive takeaway from media day on Monday. Everyone who spoke was focused on the upcoming season. Last year was great and all, but this year could be special. This year could be the year that the Rams compete for the national championship. Preseason awards and prognostications are nice, but a national championship is the reason they play football in the first place.

"I don't think it adds any pressure," Nebrich said about the preseason talk. "Our ultimate goal is to make it into the playoffs and win the national championship. Whether that comes by an at-large bid or winning the Patriot League, we're going to be the best we can be week in and week out. Ultimately, the goal is being in Frisco, Texas, in January."

Nebrich's individual numbers last year were off-the-charts good, as were the numbers put up by the offense he led. Fordham averaged 37.6 points per game and scored more than 50 points on four different occasions en route to a 12-2 record.

Nebrich said it can be better.

"The numbers speak for themselves," he said. "We were a good offense last year, but we weren't the best. We have work to do there. We have work to do on defense, too.

"We weren't the best in anything last year. I think that's really propelled our guys to push each other on both sides of the ball to get that upper edge and hopefully be the best on both sides."

Adding to the excitement heading into this season is the fact that Fordham is once again eligible to compete for the Patriot League title. Because the Rams broke from league tradition and started awarding scholarships in 2010, they have been ineligible for the league title for the past four seasons.

"Last year, we went into the year knowing we weren't eligible for the title and knowing we had to be almost perfect to even have a chance to make it into the playoffs," Nebrich said. "Going into this year, knowing all we have to do is win the Patriot League to make it into the playoffs, it's not a safety net, but it puts a little less on our shoulders knowing we don't have to be perfect every single week. If we lose a game early, we know that's not the end of our season."

Of course, the goal is to win them all, something the Rams are capable of doing.

"It's a pretty special feeling," Nebrich said about the team's potential. "We certainly have the tools, we have the coaching staff, we have everything we need in place to make a deep run in the playoffs.

"The biggest thing is staying healthy and not getting complacent. This team has done a great job so far dealing with the preseason hype. If we play our best game every day, it's going to be tough to beat us."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello

The Fordham Rams are not eligible for the Patriot League title this season or for the automatic bid to the FCS playoffs given to the conference champion. 

The conference ruled them ineligible due to the school offering athletic scholarships starting in 2010, while the rest of the conference still offered only need-based scholarships. 

The Patriot League has since adopted athletic scholarships, but the Rams will not be eligible for the conference title or conference playoff bid until next season, once the other schools in the conference have had two full classes of scholarship players.

They are left hoping for an at-large bid, which is almost unheard of for a Patriot League team to receive. The last Patriot League team to receive an at-large bid was Lafayette in 2005.

This season though, Fordham was starting to make a pretty good case for itself to receive one of those bids, and to be considered a major contender in the FCS.

Coming into their game against resident Patriot League powerhouse Lehigh, the Rams had a 5-0 record that included impressive wins over FBS team Temple and 2009 FCS National Champions Villanova.

The Rams emphatically answered the question of whether or not they should be considered a playoff contender, getting a big 52-34 win over Lehigh at home in the Bronx.

If there were any doubts about Fordham's worthiness, those are effectively gone.

The Rams' offense continued to roll along, putting up 630 total yards and 52 points on the Mountain Hawks. QB Michael Nebrich showed that his impressive season thus far has been no fluke, throwing for 384 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions, while adding 56 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

After this performance, Nebrich should be considered one of the front-runners for the Walter Payton Award, although his performances leading up to the game had already warranted national recognition.

It wasn't just Nebrich who came through for the Rams against Lehigh.

Running backs Carlton Koonce and Jared Crayton combined for 193 yards and two touchdowns rushing, while averaging over six yards per carry between them.

Looking at the rest of Fordham's schedule, they are the clear favorite in every remaining regular-season game.

Barring major upsets, the Rams could very well enter the postseason undefeated. If that is indeed how things play out, not only are they a lock for an at-large bid, but they would also have to be considered one of the favorites to take home the national championship.

Fordham faced its most important test of the season against Lehigh on Saturday, and they passed with flying colors.

Their fate is squarely in their own hands at this point, which is a great position to be in for a team without access to an auto-bid.