Fordham Football

The Fordham Rams are headed to New Hampshire, where next Saturday they will take on the No. 1-seeded Wildcats (10-1) in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. 

On Saturday, The Rams beat Sacred Heart, 44-22, in the opening round in front of 2,442 fans at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx, New York.

It was a rematch of the first round of the FCS playoffs last November, when the Pioneers came to Rose Hill and lost, 37-27. The Rams would lose a week later at Towson. This year, the goal has been to get to Frisco, Texas, to play for the national championship on Jan. 10.

"Our kids did a fantastic job preparing this week," Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said. "They gave tremendous effort. For the most part we executed well. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't clean, but no game is."

"We had great urgency," he added. "They understood the magnitude of the game—with this being a single-elimination tournament."

Save for two games this year—one a 50-6 thrashing at Villanova in Week 2, the other a 42-31 loss last week at Army—Fordham has dismantled its opponents. In their 10 regular-season wins, the Rams averaged 46.9 points per game, scoring 50 or more four times.

Saturday's game did not play out like so many others did for Fordham this year, though the end result was a familiar one.

Fordham struck first when Mike Nebrich connected with Tebucky Jones Jr. on a one-yard touchdown reception. It was the 26th touchdown pass for Nebrich this season and the 62nd of his Fordham career. He would go on to throw three more, including one on the next possession, a 50-yard pass to Brian Wetzel that put Fordham ahead 14-0 less than five minutes into the first quarter.

Sacred Heart (9-3) would respond by scoring nine points in a row, though a blocked extra point and blocked field goal by the Rams kept it a five-point game early in the second quarter.

After a Michael Marando field goal for Fordham made it 17-9, Sacred Heart would score on its next possession. A 59-yard run by Sean Bell led to a two-yard touchdown pass from RJ Noel to Tyler Dube. A two-point conversion was nullified due to a pass-interference call and the Pioneers settled for the extra point and trailed, 17-16, with 4:10 to go in the second quarter.

On the Rams' final drive before halftime, Nebrich connected again with Wetzel, this time for 14 yards as Fordham took a 24-16 lead into the break.

A 97-yard touchdown pass from Nebrich to Jones put Fordham ahead, 31-16, early in the third quarter. Marando added a field goal to make it 34-16.

Keshaudas Spence then scored for the Pioneers on a 22-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion attempt failed, and Fordham still had a 34-22 lead midway through the third quarter.

Another Marando field goal made it 37-22 with 11:44 left in the game, and Chase Edmonds' 22nd touchdown run of the season, this one from 26 yards out, sealed the win.

"We had to fight for every inch," Moorhead said, giving credit to the opponent. "That's a well-coached football team. They're tough. They're disciplined."

Fordham's motto all along has been "next man in," a reference to everyone on the roster being ready when called upon. That was certainly on display Saturday when the Rams were without key players on both sides of the ball.

Tight end Dan Light and outside linebacker/defensive lineman Brett Biestek did not play due to injuries suffered a week earlier in the game at Army. Linebacker Stephen Hodge has been out all year.

There have been injuries and setbacks, but the Rams continue to roll on.

"I can't count on two hands the number of guys who have gone down," Moorhead said. "That's the culture we've tried to create here. We neither give nor accept excuses... It's a credit to our kids for their belief in the things we deem as important to being successful."

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

Fordham routed Georgetown, 52-7, on a sunny but cool Saturday afternoon at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx. It was the Rams' 10th win of the season, their ninth in a row, and it brought them one step closer to being awarded a bye in the first round of the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

The Rams passed for 352 yards, ran for 144 and held the Hoyas to just 80 passing yards. Kendall Pearcey ran for 89 yards and three touchdowns, Brian Wetzel caught nine passes for 103 yards and a touchdown and Chase Edmonds recorded his 21st rushing touchdown of the season, setting a school record.

But the story of the day occurred early in the second quarter when quarterback Mike Nebrich went down, spent a minute on the turf, then limped off the field in noticeable pain. Later, it was revealed that Nebrich had suffered a knee contusion. He did not return, and his status for Fordham's game at Army next Saturday is uncertain.

"We feel optimistic about it, but it takes a day or so," Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said about the injury. "He'll be evaluated tomorrow, and we'll go from there and hope for the best."

Peter Maetzold, who started the last two games after Nebrich had surgery to remove his appendix, was sharp. He had a 34-yard touchdown pass to Wetzel in the second quarter when Fordham went for it on 4th-and-11. He connected with Tebucky Jones Jr. for a 43-yard completion later in the quarter that set up another touchdown. Fordham led 24-0 at the half. Maetzold was just getting warmed up.

In the third quarter, Edmonds' 1-yard touchdown run made it 31-0. Maetzold then connected with Sam Ajala for a 54-yard touchdown to put Fordham ahead 38-0. A 60-yard completion to Sam Ajala on the Rams' next possession set up another touchdown to give them a 45-0 lead with 1:41 left in the third quarter. His day ended there.

"Pete's up for relief pitcher of the year," Moorhead said. "He's done an unbelievable job in three of the biggest games of the year."

Though he didn't get the start Saturday, Maetzold was clearly ready to play.

"It helps when you play the past two weeks, of course, but I think your mentality through the week is really important," Maetzold said. "If you're not preparing during the week, you're not going to succeed during the game."

On Senior Day, Fordham recorded a historic win: It's the first time in school history that the Rams have gone undefeated in Patriot League play.

"After the 1-10 season (2011) we turned it around," Wetzel said. "The new coaching staff came in, and we all bought in, came together and we clicked."

Now Fordham heads to Army, its only game this year against a Football Bowl Subdivision team. The Black Knights are 3-7 and coming off a 54-24 loss to Western Kentucky on Saturday. Still, this will be a huge step up in competition for the Rams.

"They're a very tough, physical Division I team," Moorhead said. "They run an offensive scheme that you don't see all season that you have to get ready for in one week's notice.

"They're a very storied and tradition-rich program. It's a great experience up 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 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.

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