The football team has seen its ups and down so far this season. The Jeffs currently stand at 3-1 and are tied for second place in the NESCAC. They have been led by a dominating defense that has held opponents to under 10 points a contest. The offense has been a little shaky, as a new starting quarterback and a new crop of starting receivers have tried to find their way. Nevertheless, the Jeffs are still in the hunt for a NESCAC title as they trail only Tufts University in the current standings.

The team came into the season with significant question marks on both sides after losing 14 seniors. Adding insult to injury, the annual football preview, published by The New York Times, excluded Amherst from the list of contenders in the NESCAC.

The Jeffs got to work right away dispelling that notion. In the team's first game of the year, the Jeffs steam-rolled Bates College 24-0 on the road. Sophomore tailback Aaron Rauh stepped up big, scoring three touchdowns and running for 48 yards on 16 carries. Eric NeSmith '08 was Amherst's other main weapon on the ground, earning 85 rushing yards on 17 attempts. Overall, the Jeffs finished with a 170-25 advantage in rushing yards and the Bobcats mustered only 131 yards of total offense all day long. Lucas Loeffler '10, making his first collegiate start at quarterback, was efficient, if not dazzling. Loeffler completed 13 of 23 passes and 132 yards with one interception.

After dismantling the Bobcats in the first game of the season, the Jeffs expected a greater challenge out of their next opponent, Bowdoin College, who had ended Williams College's league-leading 14-game win streak only a week earlier for the Polar Bear's first defeat of the Ephs since 1979.

"We're always happy to have an advantage over Williams, but that also meant that we had a challenging game ahead of us," said senior tri-captain fullback Chris Gillyard. "Two years ago, Bowdoin had a similar win against us. To keep this from happening to us this year, we made sure we had complete focus [that] week in practice" leading up to the game.

The extra effort immediately paid dividends, as Amherst had no trouble on either side of the ball. After running NeSmith on every play of their first possession, the Jeffs concluded with a touchdown, and, after a quick Bowdoin three-and-out, Amherst added another score, making it 14-0 after just two Amherst drives. The team took a 24-0 lead into the fourth quarter, giving the Jeffs an incredible streak of seven consecutive quarters without allowing a point. Bowdoin was able to score a touchdown in the last stanza, however, and the final score was 30-6.

The Jeffs finished the game with an impressive 331 rushing yards, including 159 from Rauh and 131 for NeSmith. "Bowdoin was very small upfront, and going into the game we thought we would be able to run the ball very well and we did that," said Loeffler. "We just ran the ball well from the beginning, and as soon as we got up by two scores, it seemed we just needed to stick with what was working." Loeffler picked the right game to struggle, completing only 6-14 for 59 yards, as was happy to defer to the Jeffs' running backs.

The Jeff defense was as dominant as usual, holding the Polar Bears to just 250 yards of total offense. Amherst was especially stiff against the running game, giving up only 23 yards on 31 attempts.

The third week brought the largest challenge of the young season for Amherst, as undefeated Middlebury College came into town. As usual, the game was extremely close and defensively-oriented as both teams struggled to get much of anything going on the offensive side of the ball.

Things did not start of well for the Jeffs, who went three-and-out on their opening drive and then immediately surrendered a touchdown, giving Middlebury a 7-0 lead. After the Panthers added another field goal, the Jeffs got their first points, pinning Middlebury in their own end-zone for a safety. Guy Matisis '09 was the linebacker who got into the backfield and made the tackle.

The success by Amherst's defense seemed to spark the offense, as Loeffler and NeSmith marched right back down the field for a touchdown off of a nine-yard pass from Loeffler to sophomore Brandon Bulluck. With 12:50 remaining in the second quarter, Amherst trailed 10-9.

The Panthers picked themselves back up though, and scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive, increasing their lead to eight points. After another Amherst three-and-out, an errant long snap sailed above senior punter Keith Erzinger's head and into the end-zone, resulting in the second safety of the game. Middlebury went into halftime leading 19-9.

The second half featured a complete defensive stalemate. The Jeffs were unable to capitalize on running plays due to the Panthers consistently stacking the box with eight or nine defenders. Amherst turned to an aerial attack, but did not find a great deal of success there either. Finally, in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, the Jeffs went on another successful drive, which concluded with Loeffler and Bullock's second touchdown connection of the day. With only 63 seconds remaining ,however, Amherst usuccessfully attempted an onside-kick. The Panthers ran out the last minute and held on win by a score of 19-16, protecting their perfect record.

Loeffler set a school record with 46 pass attempts on the afternoon, but he only completed 17 of them for 182 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Bullock had eight of those catches, finishing with 94 yards receiving and two scores. The Jeffs had only 82 rushing yards on the afternoon. The defense, led by Matisis' 13 tackles, did manage to hold Middlebury to 304 yards of total offense in the losing effort.

With the NESCAC still wide open, the Jeffs did not let the loss get them down, bouncing back nicely the following weekend against Colby College. Once again, the defense led the way for Amherst, holding the Mules scoreless for three quarters. The offense did its part as well, scoring all 28 of its points in the second quarter to take an overwhelming lead.

Loeffler began perhaps this most convincing drive of the season for the Jeffs' first score. After completions of 10, 11 and 15 yards, the Jeffs were in the Colby red zone and Loeffler registered the first points of the day with a 17-yard touchdown pass to Bullock, the pair's third touchdown connection of the season.

After kicker Matt Eberhart '10 converted the extra point, the Jeffs quickly put up another six points on the board. This time, it was the defense providing the offense for Amherst. Defensive back A.J. Scola '09 picked off the quarterback and took the return to the house for the score. The pick was one of two on the day for Scola. The strong coverage and pressure on the quarterback helped the Jeffs pick off the quarterback a total of four times in the game. Scola's two interceptions brought his total to four in the Jeffs' first four games of the season.

The scoring frenzy was only just geting started. First-year quarterback Dan Pozner was given the chance to enter the game for a drive. He was able to competently lead the Jeffs' offense, although the team mostly ran the ball. Nevertheless, Pozner completed both of his pass attempts for four yards. NeSmith capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.

After Colby quickly went three-and-out, Louffler came back into the game at quarterback and completed touchdown pass to Gillyard to score the Jeffs' final points of the game. Although the Jeffs gave up 13 points late in the contest, the victory was very decisive.

Currently tied for second in the NESCAC, Amherst knows that this Saturday's Homecoming game against Wesleyan University is very important. The Cardinals are also 3-1 on the season.

If the Jeffs are going to make the thousands of fans in attendance on Saturday happy, they will have to rely on their strong defense and two-headed running game. So far this season, Amherst has run for roughly twice as many yards as its opponents and the team has a positive turnover margin, largely thanks to its strong pass defense.