Eastern Collegiate Football Conference

Eastern Collegiate Football Conference
(ECFC)
Established 2009
Association NCAA
Division Division III
Members 8
Sports fielded 1 (football) (men's: 1; women's: 0)
Region Northeast
Headquarters Wilmington, Vermont
Commissioner Julie Muller
Website easterncollegiatefootball.com
Locations

The Eastern Collegiate Football Conference is a football-only intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA’s Division III. Founded in 2009, it combines eight school from various and spread across the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New York, and Washington D.C.

History

The Eastern Collegiate Football Conference was formed in the spring of 2009 as an NCAA Division III single-sport football conference. The conference, named after the geographic location of the institutions, began competition in the fall of 2009. Founding members were Anna Maria College, Becker College, Castleton State College (now Castleton University), Gallaudet University, Husson University, SUNY Maritime, Mount Ida College, and Norwich University.

Norwich was the league's first champion, posting a perfect 6-0 conference record and defeating Mt. Ida in the season-ending ECFC Championship Game.[1] In 2010, SUNY Maritime earned the ECFC's first bid to the NCAA Division III Playoffs after a perfect 10-0 regular season record.[2] SUNY Maritime would go on to lose 60-0 to Alfred University in the First Round of the NCAA Playoffs.[3]

2015 Realignment

In April 2015, charter member Norwich announced it would be leaving the ECFC to join the NEWMAC when that conference begins sponsoring football in 2017.[4] In November 2015, Becker announced it would also be leaving the ECFC in 2017 to join the Commonwealth Coast Conference.[5] Becker's departure would have left the ECFC without the minimum 7 teams necessary to maintain the league's automatic bid to the Division III playoffs. But on January 27, 2016, the ECFC announced that Alfred State College and Dean College would be joining the conference for the 2017 season.[6]

Member schools

Institution Location Nickname Founded Type Enrollment Primary
Conference
Alfred State College Alfred, New York Pioneers 1908 Public 3,500 Independent1
Anna Maria College Paxton, Massachusetts AMCats 1946 Private 820 GNAC
Becker College Leicester, Massachusetts Hawks 1784 Private 1,739 NECC
Castleton University Castleton, Vermont Spartans 1787 Public
(VSC)		 2,130 NAC
Dean College Franklin, Massachusetts Bulldogs 1865 Private 1,055 Provisional Div. III member1
Gallaudet University Washington, DC Bison 1864 Quasi-Private/Governmental 1,274 NEAC
Husson University Bangor, Maine Eagles 1898 Private 2,600 NAC
Mount Ida College Newton, Massachusetts Mustangs 1899 Private 1,300 GNAC
Norwich University Northfield, Vermont Cadets 1819 Private
(Military)		 2,200+ GNAC
SUNY Maritime Throggs Neck, New York Privateers 1874 Public
(SUNY)		 1,289 Skyline

1 - Alfred State and Dean will be joining the ECFC for the 2017 season.

Champions

[7]

NCAA Division III Playoff Performance

The ECFC is generally regarded as one of the weakest conferences in the country.[8] Throughout its short history, the ECFC is winless in the NCAA Division III Playoffs, posting an 0-6 record with its member schools' games decided by an average score of 51-9.

Year ECFC
Champion 		Playoff
Opponent 		Result Score
2010 SUNY Maritime Alfred University Loss 60-0
2011 Norwich Delaware Valley University Loss 62-10
2012 Mt. Ida Wesley University Loss 73-14
2013 Gallaudet Hobart College Loss 34-7
2014 Husson MIT Loss 27-20 (OT)
2015 Norwich Albright College Loss 49-0

League Mission Statement

The Mission of the ECFC is to:

  1. Promote Intercollegiate varsity football as an integral part of the educational experience of all competitors.
  2. Establish a conference schedule and determine a conference championship that will represent the conference as the automatic qualifier to the NCAA national tournament.
  3. Adopt sportsmanship, fair play, moral integrity, and competitive excellence as cornerstones of the conference.[9]

Conference championship rules

Two teams will be selected to participate in the championship game. The two teams that are picked are the teams with the highest win percentage in conference play. The team with the highest win percent will get the chance to host. Ties are broken following these rules:[9]

Two teams

  1. Head-to-Head tiebreaker game

Three or more teams

  1. Best overall record among tied teams.
  2. Comparison of results against conference opponents one team at a time starting with the highest ranked team and continuing in downward rank order until the tie is broken.
  3. Results against non-conference opponents.
  4. Opponents Winning Percentage (OWP) for all Division III opponents as determined by the NCAA system.
  5. Overall Winning Percentage for all games against division III opponents.
  6. Coin toss to determine team.

Awards

The ECFC currently awards the following during the regular season:[9]

Weekly individual awards

The conference office shall award the following weekly honors:

1. Offensive Player of the Week

2. Defensive Player of the Week

3. Rookie of the Week

4. Special Teams Player of the Week

Annual individual awards

1. Offensive Player of the Year

2. Defensive Player of the Year

3. Special Team Player of the Year

4. Offensive Lineman of the Year

5. Rookie of the Year

6. Coach of the Year

7. All-Conference Offensive Team (First and Second Team)

8. All-Conference Defensive Team (First and Second Team)

9. Honorable Mention

A. An All Academic Team will be named following the Fall semester. Individuals selected for the All Academic Team must have earned a 3.3 cumulative g.p.a. with sophomore standing and two years of participation on the football teams. Castleton State College and Anna Maria College will be exempt from the participation criteria during their first two years of competition.

B. Conference Champion Awards: The conference will have a perpetual traveling trophy for the championship team and one additional trophy for the champions that will remain at the institution.

C. Statistics: The conference office will collect and maintain conference statistics on a weekly basis and post the statistics on the web site. In addition, it shall report conference statistics to the NCAA for its membership. The conference office will also report weekly honors to ECAC for its weekly honor consideration.

D. Certificates will be awarded to members of the all conference teams.

E. The selection process for all weekly and post-season conference awards will be the responsibility of the Sports Information Director. Weekly nominations are due on Monday at 10 a.m. with report to follow.


References

  1. ↑ "Norwich Defeats Mount Ida, 49-14, to Win ECFC Championship". Eastern Collegiate Football Conference.
  2. ↑ "Perfection! Football Ends 2010 Regular Season with 21-14 Win over Gallaudet in D.C.". Joe Guster, SUNY Maritime Sports Information Director.
  3. ↑ 2010 NCAA Division III football season#Postseason
  4. ↑ "New shuffle begins as NEWMAC adds football". Pat Coleman, D3Sports.com.
  5. ↑ "CCC finds its seventh team". D3Football.com.
  6. ↑ "ECFC gains two members". D3Football.com. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "Eastern Collegiate Football Conference Champions".
  8. ↑ "Re-ranking the conferences for 2015". D3Football.com.
  9. 1 2 3 "Eastern Collegiate Football Conference Info".

External links

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