Quote from: unionpalooza on Yesterday at 11:49:52 AM

Quote from: Bartman on Yesterday at 11:14:37 AMIthaca gets 8 votes in this week's poll. No love for RPI yet, as that Utica loss looks worse than the loss by Ithaca to JHU. No one is following the LL this year except it's fans. D3Football is not showing any love despite having one of the most active boards on this site .

I have found that D3 football in general is more enjoyable to follow if I just focus on what's happening in NY and the northeast - the things that make trying to rank D3 teams nationally an objectively silly exercise (the small number of data points, the lack of any real national crossover play, the heavy year-to-year changes at each program) are exactly the same things that make regional competition and focus so cool.  We can have a fun, thoughtful debate about who the best team in NY is, and the answer to that question is something that we would all agree does and should matters - for pride, for recruiting, etc.  But a debate as to whether Ithaca is better or worse than Linfield?  Who cares.  Impossible to tell, nothing at stake - unless and until they meet in a playoff matchup, in which case that question is actually settled on the field.

But of course, I'm a regional play guy - I have said for a while now that we'd be better off if we went to regional seedings and brackets for the tournament.

All of which reminds me - does anyone else remember when the NY SIDS has a little consortium that kept stats for the state and had a weekly poll for all of NY?  That's a poll I would find interesting and useful, if they ever resurrected it.

And a final question, while I'm at it - for fans of other LL schools, how is your local press coverage of the program? I am also impressed that Schenectady's Daily Gazette covers Union football well - a preseason story, Friday previews and Saturday evening game stories, etc.  And the local TV stations tend to cover and tape footage at Union's home games. Do other programs have that with their local paper/TV?

I think it was the Hobart SID who did that on his own.  It had all of upstate NY involved (including Hamilton) and had individual and player stats.  He would send it out to all the schools.  I remember Ithaca had it posted on the wall in the coaches hallway in Cerrache.

Quote from: stlawus on October 11, 2025, 02:45:37 PM

Quote from: Jonny Utah on October 11, 2025, 01:11:06 PMOn St. Lawrence's schedule the day after they play RPI it says they are playing Clarkson in a "scout team scrimmage".

What is that??

It's against Clarkson's club team, just a way to get the scout team a competitive game.

Too bad they can't get an actual team. That would be a fun rivalry up there. 

On St. Lawrence's schedule the day after they play RPI it says they are playing Clarkson in a "scout team scrimmage".

What is that??

TOP UPDATE AND LL TRIVIA:

What team leads the LL in TOP as of 10/7/25?

(HINT:  This team is ranked 33rd in the country in TOP)

And all this previous talk about booting Hilbert or someone out of the LL.  Rochester should be booted for charging for their video streams. 

Dear Pat Coleman,

You win.  Let me know where to send the check.  The ads are killing me.  $100 fair?  I'm 90% serious here. 

I hope you are doing well and are having a fun October.  Halloween is almost here and I know how much you like pumpkin lattes and cinnamon beer during the fall.  Let's hope November brings us all good tidings and peace of mind.

Wishing you peace and good things ahead.

Your friend (and All-American poster with over 9,000 quality posts),

Jonny Utah

PS:  I think your poll is amazing and Ithaca should be where they are. 

Hilbert running the triple option....Bombers up 7-0 early.  I have a feeling this could be a record day for the bombers.....

And back to football, it was nice to see Ithaca get their act together.  Maybe JHU really is just that good.  Still hard to watch as Ithaca has been very competitive with them the past 3 years. 

Ithaca also has a few new faces on offense and defense.  Two freshman starters on defense and overall 16 of the 22 starters are underclassmen.

Hilbert next week should be a good chance for experience for the younger players and then on the the Finger Lakes Fiesta with Hobart.

Quote from: IC798891 on September 14, 2025, 09:28:55 AMI don't think it's live internet keeping students away.

I think, increasingly, college is about internships, work experience, and extra circulars. If you're a journalism major, and all you're doing is getting a degree, you're wasting money and setting yourself up for a hard time getting a job after graduating. More and more, students are just *doing* more. The skill sets they graduate with are insane

And, the arms race of college has resulted in so many more amenities for students across the board. There's just more to do on campuses

You know one thing that impacts crowds and gatherings in general is the ability to text and call people at will.  I know cell phones and texting have been around for 25-30 years but I think way back when people and kids just knew they would go to the game (or any event) meet people and find out what was going on later.  Now you can just text a group of friends and find out exactly where they are going to be without the meet up.

I've thought about this in my job.  I've worked in law enforcement for 25 years now, and 20 years ago (in a college area of Boston) we would have 100 loud party calls a weekend.  Students, younger grads, HS students etc would have bashes and keg parties that got out of control.  This past weekend there were zero calls for this.  This has been consistent the past 10-15 years or so.  I also get the sense kids drink less alcohol than they used to. 

Anyway just my two cents on the issue.

Quote from: IC798891 on September 08, 2025, 02:58:48 PMFellas help me out here:

My daughter, who is eight, just started Girls' flag football like a month ago. We just got an email from her coach that said:

"It's time to introduce the first 8 plays of the playbook.  Please see attached and share them with your kiddos.  If you can print them and they can familiarize themselves with the basics, even better.  We will start drilling these on Tuesday and run them in the scrimmages.These plays are all in our base formation that we have been teaching. The left or right side refers to what side the running back is on.  The numbers are the hole the running back will run through on running plays.

For Example: 
Base Left, Z4 sweep

Routes used by the wide receivers are the routes we have been training on since the beginning.  You can use the following links to better understand the route tree.  It is basically just a diagram of all the main routes wide receivers use.  All receivers (this includes lineman) will be expected to know all the routes. 

https://gorout.com/football-route-tree/
https://www.thephinsider.com/2016/6/20/11975890/football-101-wide-receiver-route-tree

Is this in line with the ages this stuff should be getting introduced? They just started this girls' flag team this year, and my very initial reaction was that memorizing playbooks and route trees for 8-year olds is a lot, especially if it's not stage 1 of "Well, if you're going to play varsity tackle some day..."

But obviously, I never played football, so I could be way off base

Ha this is great!.  I have coached flag, youth and HS at different levels the past 25 years.  One of the issues I have always found is some inexperienced coaches tell kids to "learn" the playbook, before they assign the kid an acutall position.  Even worse is when the coach has the team stand around for 10 minutes explaining it verbally to a bunch of 8 year olds when none of the kids know exactly which position they will be playing. 

Route trees are fine but coaches or parents shouldn't expect kids to "memorize" them.  They need to be coached up. A hitch looks like a staight line with a back line on paper with an arrow.  but in reality a hitch is having a good stance, exploding off the ball, running at the defenders outside or inside shoulder, dropping the hips, planting that foot and then coming back to the ball and expecting it in the air before they turn.  Looking at a diagram means nothing without practicing it and coaching it up.  That is one problem with "memorizing" anything at that age. 

But it all depends on how the coach is.  I wouldn't expect a bunch of 8 year olds to know how to run a post by looking at a route tree.

How did I miss the fake Cortland news blurbs???  TASTE IT!

Quote from: Bartman on September 06, 2025, 02:15:50 PM

Quote from: Jonny Utah on September 06, 2025, 01:59:19 PMThe Randolph Macon game was maybe the worst Ithaca loss I've ever seen.  This Hopkins game is shaping up to beat that.  JHU is either really good or Ithaca is gonna need a lot of help this year.  One of those games where the talent level isn't even close.

Hopkins is so much better, I think this game tells us very little about the competitiveness of Ithaca in the LL. The Bluejays are earning their pre-season rating. Let's see what adjustments Ithaca makes for the second half, and whether it matters.

Hopefully.  But Hopkins was a top 4-10 team last year and Ithaca was very competitive with them.  This game today is ugly.

The Randolph Macon game was maybe the worst Ithaca loss I've ever seen.  This Hopkins game is shaping up to beat that.  JHU is either really good or Ithaca is gonna need a lot of help this year.  One of those games where the talent level isn't even close.

Quote from: UfanBill on August 25, 2025, 01:39:44 PMUnion has released their 2025 Football Roster... https://unionathletics.com/sports/football/roster ...One name noticeably absent is punter Hayden Hall. Hall burst onto the scene last season as a surprise D1 transfer (Monmouth/UConn) and his booming punts were instrumental in the Garnet defense. He averaged a 10th best in the country 41.5 yds/punt which repeatedly changed field position in Union's favor. Hall was named All-Liberty League second team and D3football.com All-Region 2 Third Team (2024) I'm guessing his punting prowess enabled him to get a better offer. Good luck to Hayden but he'll be missed.

Union traveled to Hartwick yesterday for a controlled scrimmage which was unfortunately interrupted by a 45 minute weather delay. With a lot of holes on both sides of the ball to fill the Garnet had many new faces in new places. The 1st team offense led by QB Patch Flanagan moved the ball reasonably well and the defense had an early pick-six. The place kicking of sophomore Francesco Pileggi was a solid plus.  Sadly the injury bug bit the Union O-line. Versatile senior Davis Cooperstein, who started games at RT,G and Center last season went down with what appeared to be a significant injury. "Coop" was set at starting center this season and with him out the back-ups had problems with the shotgun snaps, hiking the ball over the QB's head multiple times. That needs immediate fixing. Hopefully Cooperstein is a fast healer. 

union has 39 players from ma and 16 from ny.  I'd say they are the favroite to win the LL

Quote from: Pat Coleman on August 06, 2025, 02:42:36 PM

Quote from: Charlie on August 06, 2025, 02:34:01 PMIS there a reasoning behind the number of Coaches in NESCAC football.

There are probably 10 reasonings, one for each school. And while the number itself does have meaning, I think it has more meaning to know the number of full-time coaches, as in number of coaches who are on campus full-time -- perhaps split jobs within the department or the college/university, but full-time at their school. That's often a differentiator.

Teams don't always update their coaches (or rosters) on their websites until the first week of the season.  There are also a few additions/subtractions around this time as well.  I also think many schools simply don't list part time assistants on their pages but Nescac Schools should be including them when the season starts.