Fordham Football: Rams Getting It Done on Both Sides of the Ball

Fordham's game last Friday night was a chance for the Rams to show the nation that they were a championship contender. In no way did they disappoint.

Playing in front of a national TV audience (the game was broadcast on the CBS Sports Network) and the 4,376 in attendance at Jack Coffey Field, Fordham put together a convincing 42-18 win over Lafayette.

"When you first put the pads on the kids, this is the kind of night you dream about," Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said after the game. "Nationally televised game, at home under the lights, against the defending league champion who ruined our undefeated season last year."

In 2013, Fordham was 10-0 before the Leopards beat them, 27-14. Fordham rebounded from that loss, finishing the regular season with a 12-2 record and advancing to the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs.

Nobody who spoke after last week's game tried to hide the fact that the loss to Lafayette lingered in their minds. But the focus was on getting a win, no matter the opponent.

"There were a lot of different factors that motivated us for this game," Moorhead said, "but the most important thing was to get Patriot League win No. 2 and keep our streak rolling at home.

"It's a credit to these young men, how well we practiced this week, how hard they played and how well we executed our scheme. It was a tremendous win."

In many ways, it was a win that symbolized the type of team this is.

Fordham is now 5-1 heading into its matchup with Penn this weekend. Halfway through the regular season, the Rams are firing on all cylinders. They've scored 42 or more points in each of their wins.

They're loaded on offense.

Senior quarterback Mike Nebrich has a ton of options at his disposal. Last week, he finished 23-of-32 for 287 yards and three touchdowns, connecting seven times with Tebucky Jones Jr., six times with Brian Wetzel and five times each with Sam Ajala and Dan Light. Just another day at the office for Nebrich and company.

"It's huge as a quarterback knowing that you have really five guys that you can potentially get the ball to every single play and have full confidence in them," Nebrich said. "You know that whoever gets the ball is going to make a play for you. You don't have to try and force it to one of your big playmakers, if you really only had one or two. It's a great luxury to have for me."

Another great luxury for the offense has been freshman running back Chase Edmonds. Edmonds ran for 187 yards and two touchdowns last week, his latest spectacular effort. This week, Edmonds was named to the 2014 Rice Award watch list, named after NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and given to the FCS's top first-year player.

Edmonds, who has been named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week five times this season, leads the FCS in all-purpose yards, averaging 212.7 per game, and he has 910 rushing yards (151.7 per game) and 10 touchdowns in the first six games. His 44-yard run late in the first quarter of last week's win got the Fordham offense going. It's one of many times that Edmonds has done that this season.

"That long touchdown was a spark," Moorhead said. "We were sputtering for the first couple of drives. We got it rolling from there. It was certainly the spark that we needed offensively to get us going."

When you score like the offense does, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the defense has played a big part in the wins as well. Though the offense has been great, there have been games when it's needed time to get going. That means the defense has had to keep the Rams in games to give the offense time to click. With the exception of the Villanova game, when nothing worked for Fordham, the defense has done just that.

"Our defense has played fantastic for the past four weeks," Moorhead said. "If you can keep the opposition under 20 with the ability we have to put points on the board, it's going to give us an opportunity to win on a weekly basis. "

Defensive lineman Brett Biestek led the way last week, recording nine tackles and four sacks. When it was over, he captured what's become a familiar theme for the Rams: The offense might get most of the attention, but the defense has the ability to win games, too.

"Tonight the whole defense really had a great night," he said. "The momentum of the game turned with some of the plays."

On both sides of the ball.

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Twitter: @CFCostello