#NECFB On The Run - Wagner's Jack Stevens

It is time for our opening segment that we like to call the pick six and today we're going to take a look at the top six storylines going into the brand new season.

And we start at number one by kind of going back to where we left off in 2025.

Central Connecticut State winning their eighth NEC football championship and their second in a row.

They went 6-1 in league play.

They started 5-0, and they could have clinched the title with a win at Duquesne in the penultimate week of the regular season, but they lost to the Dukes 3-0.

38-33, which opened the door wide open to almost everybody in the rest of the league.

Going into the final game of the season, there were five teams, Central Connecticut State, Duquesne, LIU, Mercyhurst, and Wagner, that were still in the running to clinch at least a share of the NEC title.

You hear it every year, so much parity in the league.

Anything can happen in the NEC.

Well, last year was very much parity.

uh, you know, evidence piece a on that.

And we expect that to kind of be the same going in to this year that this league is so tight.

There's so much parody that anything can happen.

There are so many contenders.

And that's why, as you mentioned in our open, a week one conference game could make all the difference when all is said and done come November.

But going back to last year for a second, again, five teams were in the running for that championship going into the final week.

But it all proved to be a moot point because Central Connecticut State took care of business.

They defeated Mercyhurst 35 to 28 at home in the finale.

to claim the crown all to themselves.

Mercyhurst, who could have earned a share of the title with a win, they were down seven points.

They had first and 10th to Central, 12 with under a minute to go, but four straight incompletions let the celebration begin in New Britain for the Blue Devils.

For the second straight year, Central Connecticut earned the league's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, where also for a second straight year, they fell to URI.

Two years ago, it was by four points.

Last year, it was by eight points, 27 points.

to 19.

It is time for our opening segment that we like to call the pick six and today we're going to take a look at the top six storylines going into the brand new season.

And we start at number one by kind of going back to where we left off in 2025.

Central Connecticut State winning their eighth NEC football championship and their second in a row.

They went 6-1 in league play.

They started 5-0, and they could have clinched the title with a win at Duquesne in the penultimate week of the regular season, but they lost to the Dukes 3-0.

38-33, which opened the door wide open to almost everybody in the rest of the league.

Going into the final game of the season, there were five teams, Central Connecticut State, Duquesne, LIU, Mercyhurst, and Wagner, that were still in the running to clinch at least a share of the NEC title.

You hear it every year, so much parity in the league.

Anything can happen in the NEC.

Well, last year was very much parity.

uh, you know, evidence piece a on that.

And we expect that to kind of be the same going in to this year that this league is so tight.

There's so much parody that anything can happen.

There are so many contenders.

And that's why, as you mentioned in our open, a week one conference game could make all the difference when all is said and done come November.

But going back to last year for a second, again, five teams were in the running for that championship going into the final week.

But it all proved to be a moot point because Central Connecticut State took care of business.

They defeated Mercyhurst 35 to 28 at home in the finale.

to claim the crown all to themselves.

Mercyhurst, who could have earned a share of the title with a win, they were down seven points.

They had first and 10th to Central, 12 with under a minute to go, but four straight incompletions let the celebration begin in New Britain for the Blue Devils.

For the second straight year, Central Connecticut earned the league's automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, where also for a second straight year, they fell to URI.

Two years ago, it was by four points.

Last year, it was by eight points, 27 points.

to 19.