For the first time since 2007, the Fordham football team is playoff-bound.
The Rams, whose 11 regular-season victories set a school record for the most in the modern era (since 1920), will play host to Northeast Conference champion Sacred Heart University on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“Words can’t describe it,” redshirt senior running back Carlton Koonce said on Sunday morning, when the team and supporters gathered on campus to watch the selection show. “It’s unreal. Just think back to camp, everything you put into up to this whole thing, and to see your name up there and get the recognition that you deserve, that you play hard for, it’s awesome.”
While the season is far from over, 2013 already has been a tremendous success for the Rams.
Just two years ago, the team endured a 1-10 season, which ended up costing former head coach Tom Masella his job. Joe Moorhead, who quarterbacked the Rams in the 1990’s, came home to coach the team, and Fordham saw an immediate turnaround in 2012, posting a 6-5 record.
Fordham began 2013 amidst low expectations, starting off unranked. However, the Rams catapulted themselves into relevance early, first by defeating a top-10 FCS team (Villanova) at home and then relying on a last-second touchdown pass to knock off Temple, an FBS team, on the road in back-to-back weeks.
Two weeks after stunning the Owls, the Rams hung up 52 points in a home victory against Lehigh, which was ranked in the FCS top 10.
“Anytime you open the season like that, strong, 3-0, it’s saying a lot,” Koonce said. “After that, guys just got that confidence and that swagger that we all needed, and the rest is history.”
“I think at that point we had a pretty good feeling that we had the potential for it to be a pretty special season,” Moorhead said.
Coming out of its bye week at 8-0, Fordham recorded narrow home victories against Holy Cross and Bucknell. Against Bucknell, the team fumbled out of the victory formation while trying to run out the clock, and needed to block a last-second field-goal attempt to escape.
One week later, the team’s luck ran out, as quarterback Michael Nebrich sat with a knee injury and backup Peter Maetzold threw four interceptions in a 27-14 loss at Lafayette, the eventual Patriot League champion.
Going into this past Saturday, the Rams stood at 10-1, but still needed a victory to qualify for the FCS playoffs as an at-large team. Fordham was ineligible to win the Patriot League title because of its decision to award athletic merit aid scholarships to football student-athletes starting in 2010, before the league deemed it permissible.
However, with Nebrich back on the field, Fordham scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and rolled to a 56-19 victory at Colgate.
“It was good to get our confidence back on offense,” Nebrich said. “I think after that Lafayette game, we got a little down on ourselves. We haven’t had a lot of momentum since the bye week, so that was a good game to reestablish things before the playoffs.”
With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the Rams are now turning their attention to Sacred Heart. The Pioneers finished the season 10-2, a stark contrast to last year’s 2-9 mark.
“Just game planning for some the other teams we’ve played, I’ve seen their offense on film a few times,” Moorhead said. “They have a big, strong running back. They have a quarterback [sophomore RJ Noel] who can run around a little bit. They have one real good receiver [junior Tyler Dube]. They’re 10-2 for a reason.”
That big running back is junior Keshaudas Spence, who has rushed for 1,475 yards so far this season, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Sacred Heart’s strength appears to play to Fordham’s weakness, as the Rams have allowed 5.2 yards per rush this season.
Despite the challenge that Sacred Heart poses, senior defensive back Ian Williams said the defense is ready.
“Our defensive coordinator [David Blackwell] puts us in great positions all the time,” he said. “He just gives us great calls and gives us a great scheme to play. That’s all we have to do.”