The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) has released the second Lambert football poll of the 2011 season, presented by FieldTurf. West Virginia maintains its spot atop the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision poll after a bye week, while No. 2 Penn State remains close behind after defeating Purdue, 23-18, on Saturday. Maine climbed to the top spot in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision poll after No. 8 William & Mary emerged victorious over then-No.1 New Hampshire, 24-10, Saturday. This weekend, two Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) matchups will place Lambert-ranked teams against each other as No. 8 Old Dominion hits the road to take on No. 6 UMass and No. 4 Towson travels to Williamsburg to face off against the William & Mary Tribe.
Bloomsburg remains perfect and at the top of the Division II poll after scoring 24 points in the fourth quarter of an eventual 38-18 win over Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) rival Shippensburg. In Division III, Wesley rose to the No. 1 spot after Kean, last week’s top-ranked team, suffered a 28-20 loss to conference rival Brockport on Saturday. No. 2 Thomas More rallied from a 10-7 halftime deficit to defeat Saint Vincent College 20-17, further closing the gap between the top two teams in the Division III poll.
Established in 1936 as the Lambert Trophy to recognize supremacy in Eastern college football, the award has since grown to recognize the best team in the East in the Bowl Subdivision. In 1957, the Lambert Cup was created to recognize non-Division I-A teams, and in 1966 a Division III award was added. In 1983, the Lambert family decided the Meadowlands Sports Complex would be the best organization with a sincere and involved interest in college athletics to sponsor and manage the award, and since that time, the awards have been known as the Lambert Meadowlands Awards.
To be eligible for the Lambert Meadowlands Award, a school must be located in the East or play at least half of its schedule against eligible Lambert teams. The territory includes New York, New Jersey, New England and Pennsylvania, while teams in the bordering states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia and the District of Columbia qualify if at least half of their schedule features eligible teams. Teams in Eastern-based football conferences, regardless of location, qualify if at least half their schedule is against Lambert
eligible teams.
The ECAC is the nation’s largest athletic and the only multi-divisional conference in the country with approximately 300 Division I, II and III colleges and universities. The ECAC stretches from Maine to North Carolina and westerly to Colorado. Established in 1938, the ECAC, a non-profit service organization, sponsors nearly 100 championships in 37 men’s and women’s sports and assigns more than 4,400 officials in 12 sports. The ECAC also administers nine affiliate sports organizations and six playing leagues, and through the public relations arm of
the conference, more than 2,000 student-athletes are recognized annually. Finally, the ECAC serves as the primary conference for select members in the sports of men’s ice hockey, women’s ice hockey and men’s lacrosse.
Division I – Bowl Subdivision Record Points Prev.
1. West Virginia 5-1 204 1
2. Penn State 6-1 195 2
3. Cincinnati 5-1 162 3
4. Rutgers 5-1 150 4
5. Temple 5-2 120 6
6. Syracuse 4-2 93 8
7. South Florida 4-2 78 5
8. Pittsburgh 3-4 72 6
9. Connecticut 3-4 57 NR
10. Navy 2-4 21 9
Also Receiving Votes: Army, Louisville
Division I – Championship Subdivision Record Points Prev.
1. Maine 5-1 198 3
2. Lehigh 6-1 192 2
3. James Madison 5-2 156 5
4. Towson 5-1 144 6
5. New Hampshire 4-2 138 1
6. Massachusetts 4-2 69 NR
7. Delaware 4-3 60 4
8. Old Dominion 5-2 54 8
(tie) William & Mary 4-3 54 7
10. Harvard 4-1 48 8
Also Receiving Votes: Brown, Albany, Richmond, Holy Cross
Division II Record Points Prev.
1. Bloomsburg 7-0 180 1
2. New Haven 6-1 162 2
3. Slippery Rock 6-1 144 4
4. Kutztown 6-1 126 4
5. California, Pa. 5-2 108 2
6. Edinboro 5-2 90 6
7. Southern Connecticut State 5-2 63 9
8. West Chester 4-3 45 10
9. Indiana, Pa. 4-2 36 NR
10. C.W. Post 4-3 27 NR
Also Receiving Votes: Bentley
Division III Record Points Prev.
1. Wesley 5-1 219 2
2. Thomas More 6-0 216 3
3. Salisbury 6-0 201 5
4. Montclair State 6-0 186 4
5. Delaware Valley 7-0 165 6
6. Johns Hopkins 6-0 126 8
7. Kean 5-1 108 1
8. Hobart 4-0 96 7
9. SUNY Cortland 4-2 42 9
10. St. John Fisher 5-1 21 NR
(tie) Endicott 7-0 21 NR
Also Receiving Votes: Brockport, Trinity, Amherst, Lycoming,
Widener, Rowan, SUNY-Maritime